Rebooting Electronic Literature, Volume 2: Documenting Pre-Web Born Digital Media

Reader Traversal of M. D. Coverley's "Califia," by Ryan House

This Reader Traversal of Ryan House  . . .M. D. Coverley's Califia by Amber Strother took place on xxx in the Electronic Literature Lab. [Fix this :It was performed by Nicholas Schiller, Associate Director of the lab and faculty in the Creative Media & Digital Culture program at Washington State University Vancouver. The Traversal documentation includes three video clips of the performance itself along with introductory comments and the question and answer session with the audience that followed the performance. For the performance we used a Macintosh SE (circa 1987) running System Software 6.0.7 and a copy of the work from Grigar's collection. Schiller rehearsed during the weeks leading up to the event. Handling the technical setup on YouTube was Greg Philbrook, the Creative Media & Digital Culture program's technical and instructional assistant. All four of the four research assistants––Vanessa Rhodes, Mariah Gwin, Veronica Whitney, and Katie Bowen––oversaw the social media engagement and photographed the event.]


Reader Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, by Ryan House, Part 1
In this video clip, Ryan House begins the Traversal of M.D. Coverley’s Califia. The cover image appears on the screen which he clicks on and is greeted with a beach scene. Before continuing, he mentions that from reading Califia’s blurb on Eastgate’s webpage, he knows that Califia will be about California and treasure. House reads the narrative work before clicking on “come ashore”. He notes that the next screen shows an object that looks like a Mayan calendar. He has the option to “know more information about Califia” or to “follow me”. House clicks on “know more information about Califia”, which shows acknowledgements, graphics, and credits. He goes back to the calendar and as he goes through “welcomes you”, music begins to play in the background. The search for Califia begins and the three characters, Augusta, Kaye, and Calvin, are introduced. House clicks on “follow me” and the screen shows Calvin’s kitbag, which allows House to choose what to bring and what to leave behind. House comments that this is similar to a game. Next, House has the option to pick which character’s path to go on. He decides to follow the chronological order, going with Augusta’s path. The clip ends with House reading Augusta’s backstory.


Reader Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, by Ryan House, Part 2
House continues the Traversal and reaches the docudramas of Calvin. He comments that the cursor has changed and that there are images of the Chinese Theater at night on the screen. House selects “paradise home” which brings a screen that talks about Violet Summerland living in a paradise home. Next, House clicks on “Nelly” to discover who the character is. After reading about Nelly’s character, Calvin’s Random Access Themes appears and House clicks on “treasure map”. He comments that he clicked too many times causing the work to crash, but it also has given him a second chance to go through the work again.


Reader Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, by Ryan House, Part 3
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Reader Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, by Ryan House, Part 4
In the last clip of House’s Traversal of Coverley’s Califia, House begins with Kaye’s path to the journey east. The next screen brings up Kaye’s sun, moon, and stars, and House has to find the hidden links. Next, he selects “star lore” and spins the sky. House goes back to the stars and reads through family mythology. The clip ends with music playing in the background as House reads about the mystery behind who started the Chinatown fire.

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