Electronic Literature Lab's Collection of Early Digital Literature
Pathfinders innovates the method of digital preservation called “collection” by making the collection experience widely available to audiences through traversals––that is, documentation of artists' performing their works or users' interacting with works on vintage computers in collections like the ones found in the Electronic Literature Lab (ELL) and at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH). ELL contains over 200 works of electronic literature––many of them produced and/ or published before the introduction of the browser––and over 50 vintage Apple computers dating from 1983. A complete inventory of works and computers can be found in the ELL Catalog. Early digital literature, like those featured in Pathfinders, was created with an authoring system or programmed in languages like BASIC and, then, published on either 5 ¼” or 3 ½ floppy disks. Some works completed just as CD technology was becoming prevalent, like Bill Bly's We Descend, were published simultaneously on both a floppy disk and CD. They were sold and distributed through catalogs or by publishers, like Eastgate Systems, the developer of Storyspace that also pioneered publishing methods for electronic literature. Artists who published with Eastgate have been referred as The Eastgate School. ELL’s Collection features 31 titles from Eastgate’s list of published works. These include:
Mary-Kim Arnold, Lust (1994)
Bill Bly, We Descend (1997)
Roderick Coover, Cultures in Webs (2003)
M.D. Coverley, Califia (2000)
Kathryn Cramer, In Small & Large Pieces (1994)
J. Yellowless Douglas, I Have Said Nothing (1994)
Edward Falco, A Dream with Demons (1995)
Diane Greco, Cyborg: Engineering the Body Electric (1995)
Megan Heyward, of day, of night (2005)
Richard Holeton, Figurski at Findhorn on Acid (2001)
Shelley Jackson, Patchwork Girl (1995)
Michael Joyce, afternoon, a story (1990)
Michael Joyce, Twilight, A Symphony (1996)
Robert Kendall, A Life Set For Two (1996)
David Kolb, Socrates in the Labyrinth (1995)
George P. Landow, The Dickens Web (1990)
George P. Landow & Jon Lanestedt, The In Memoriam Web (1992)
Deena Larsen, Marble Springs (1993
Kathy Mac, Unnatural Habitats (1994)
Judy Malloy, its name was Penelope (1989)
Judy Malloy & Cathy Marshall, Forward Anywhere (1996)
John McDaid, Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse (1992)
Tim McLaughlin, Notes Toward Absolute Zero (1995)
Judd Morrissey& Lori Talley, My Name Is Captain, Captain (2002)
Stuart Moulthrop, Victory Garden (1991)
Jim Rosenberg, Diffractions Through (1998)
Jim Rosenberg, Intergrams (1993)
Jim Rosenberg, The Barrier Frames (1996)
Sarah Smith, King of Space (1991)
Richard Smyth, Genetis: A Rhizography
Stephanie Strickland, True North (1997)