Rebooting Electronic Literature, Volume 2 is the second of a series of open-source, multimedia books documenting works of electronic literature held in Dene Grigar's Electronic Literature Lab (ELL) library at Washington State University Vancouver. The seven works selected for this volume are among the most unique and fragile in the collection. All constitute long-form writing produced with stand-alone hypertext authoring systems available during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The hypertext novels include Kathryn Cramer's In Small & Large Pieces (1994), Richard Holeton's Figurski at Findhorn on Acid (2001), Tim McLaughlin's Notes toward Absolute Zero (1995), Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden (1991), and M.D. Coverley's Califia (2000). Also featured is Stephanie Strickland's long narrative poem, True North (1997) and Deena Larsen's anthology of interconnected hypertext stories, Sampler's (1996). All but Coverley's Califia, which was programmed with Toolbook, were produced with Storyspace, the software programmed created by Michael Joyce, Jay David Bolter, and John B. Smith in 1987 and licensed by Mark Bernstein of Eastgate Systems, Inc. in 1990. [1] All works, no matter the authoring system used, were published by the company. Additionally, all but Califia––which was published only on CD-ROM––were released originally on 3.5-inch floppy disks and later migrated to CD-ROM technology. With the demise of the CD-ROM drive on contemporary computers, all of these works are in danger of being lost to the public.

The documentation methodology, expanded from the Pathfinders project pioneered by Grigar and Moulthrop [2], centers on two important processes: First, live performances––or what they call Traversals [3]––streamed on YouTube by readers and/or authors performing the work on the hardware and software on which the works were originally intended; second, the addition of audience engagement via Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube live chat. Along with videos of the live stream Traversals and screenshots of social media posts, the book features images of the packaging of the work, such as folios, floppy disks, manuals, and paper inserts. It also includes historical information about the work and summaries of each work.

In developing the project, we aim to provide information helpful to scholars. Publication dates, versions, and production methods have been vetted by publishers and artists and, when possible, verified with archival material collected by the Electronic Literature Organization or found at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University with the intent of clearing up discrepancies relating to this information as well as offer previously unknown details about these works. The three versions of Strickland's True North, for example, have been known for a long the as having been published in 1997. Through conversations with Strickland during her visit to ELL to give a Traversal of True North and subsequent email exchanges, as well as research on the work in the Stephanie Strickland Papers at the Rubenstein Library, Grigar was able to provide a more exact order of the work's release in its various versions and formats. The PC version, for example, was produced first because Strickland used a PC to create the work and never had access to a Macintosh, the operating system in which Storyspace was originally built. The PC version, therefore, preceded the one released for the Macintosh computer and reflects the first work of electronic literature created for the Windows operating system. The CD-ROM version was released later that same year. The three versions held in the lab are those Grigar purchased directly from Eastgate Systems, Inc. upon their release. Thus, providing precise information regarding the development and provenance of the work ensures authority control, mitigates potential confusion and ambiguity, and, most importantly, helps to explain the development trajectory of particular works and establishes their contribution to the field. The publication history of True North, especially, shows the speed in which digital technology changed in the late 20th century and exerted pressure on publishing houses to stay abreast of technological innovation.

It is important to note that while the book is intended to document the works featured in the year's Traversals, readers will find two included in this volume that fall outside of that structure––Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden and M. D. Coverley's Califia. Both hypertext novels, however, have been previously featured in Traversals that Grigar organized. Victory Garden served as the proof of concept for the Pathfinders methodology in 2015 when Moulthrop and Grigar were developing the concept for the National Endowment for the Humanities grant they had received. At the time they opted not to include it since Moulthrop was co-author of the Pathfinders book that reflected the project. That said, his hypertext novel is considered one of the most important works of the period, lauded in various publications like The New York Times Book Review in 1992. Omitting it now from Rebooting Electronic Literature, a book in which he is not involved, makes no sense. Likewise, in 2017, just before she had begun work on Rebooting Electronic Literature, Volume 1, Grigar had invited another pioneering e-lit author, M. D. Coverley, to the lab for a Traversal of Califia. During that visit Grigar had collected a wealth of material that had not, heretofore, been published. It is included now in our book. Like the other works found in this volume, both were published by Eastgate Systems, Inc.

When producing the essays and other materials for the book, we had to imagine what people who had absolutely no access to these works would want to know about them. Thus, the essays and the descriptions of the material aspects of the works take an explanatory approach, providing as much detail as possible.

Written and produced by the ELL Team––Dene Grigar, Nicholas Schiller, Holly Slocum, Mariah Gwin, Kathleen Zoller, Andrew Nevue, and Moneca Roath––Rebooting Electronic Literature features approximately 85,000 words devoted to artist biographies, descriptions of media, and essays; over 350 photos of artists, works, and their original packaging; and over 50 videos of artist readings and interviews and Live Stream Traversals. Producing a collaborative book such as this one meant we had to draw upon specific expertise and strengths each team member possessed and, at the same time, all be willing and able to jump in where needed. [4] We also recognized that because five of our team members were undergraduate researchers who may want to apply to graduate programs or one day seek employment––and one of which was graduating in December 2019––we acknowledge the importance of calling out each member's primary duties on the development of this book:
 

• Dene Grigar, PhD: Conceptualized the book, wrote the introduction and all seven essays, and developed all of the materials for the resource pages
• Nicholas Schiller, MLIS: Copyedited the book and wrote the bios for all authors
• Greg Philbrook, B.A.: On-going technical support
• Holly Slocum: Managed the project, and wrote the copy for all photo descriptions for each of the works
• Mariah Gwin: Edited videos from the Live Stream Traversals for each of the works
• Kathleen Zoller.: Photographed all works and wrote the descriptions of the Traversal videos for most of the works
• Andrew Nevue: Edited all of the social media photos from all of the Live Stream Traversals and wrote the copy for each of them
• Moneca Roath: Videotaped all Traversals and edited the videos for the book

We also wish to acknowledge artist Will Luers who developed the art for the "cover" of the book and along with Greg Philbrook, helped us to style some of its pages. 

This open-source, multimedia book is made possible by Washington State University's Lewis E. and Stella G. Buchanan Distinguished Professorship and support by Washington State University Vancouver. 

Finally, we thank the Electronic Literature Organization for its leadership in developing methods for evaluating quality of digital creative and critical works and its insights into cataloging its growing body of digital fiction, poetry, and other literary forms––activities from which this research grows.