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

Traversal of M. D. Coverley’s “Califia,” Part 2

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Traversal of M. D. Coverley's "Califia"
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Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 1
The video begins with M.D. Coverley’s introductory of Califia. She notes that the work was published in 2000 with Eastgate Systems and she shows the beta 1 version of Califia that was done in 1977. Next, she shows the 2.2 version that she produced in 1998 and also notes that the commercial version of Califia was published in 2000. The cover has pink, yellow, navy blue, and gold colors, which are also the colors of California. Coverley opens up Califia on the computer and the files for the work appear. Next, the title screen for Califia shows up and it matches the cover and she notes that the work has a lot to navigate through as it has 3000 screens, 2400 images, 30 soundtracks, and 6 architectures of different sections. She starts with the first section and mentions that “there’s sound accompanying many of the screens [and] the sounds are just as important as the images, text, and architectures [and] to the meaning of the story”. Coverley explains the first image and says she took the picture herself at Newport Beach. She added the footsteps onto the images and the footsteps will continue the entire manuscript. A single footstep will be a linear way to go straight through the manuscript without any hypertext. The next screen establishes The Voice of Augusta. The graphic of the house was the house that was owned by Coverley’s family in Hollywood in 1906. In the story, Augusta continues with her description of the dig in the backyard and Coverley notes that where Augusta digs are important because the elements of the mines across California are patterned in a different shape like the ones Augusta’s father had dug. On the next screen, it has The Voice of Calvin being established. A fellow searcher begins Augusta’s journey to find the treasure of Califia and the footsteps have now subsumed into a platform and there’s also a real ancient medieval navigation chart, which is also on the cover of the beta 2.2 version. Coverley clicks on “information about Califia” and it shows full disclaimer, audio credits, acknowledgements, and contact information. She notes that the music comes from several Californian artists who allowed her to use their sounds.

Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 2
Coverley continues her traversal through her work Califia. She returns to the previous screen after finishing reading through the acknowledgements. She clicks on “Follow me” and it takes her to the next screen. On the left hand side, it has a location bar, and the right hand side has a page bar. On the screen, it shows a message to the reader from the three narrators: Augustus, Kaye, and Calvin. She clicks “Follow me” again and the medieval navigation appears again and it talks about the journeys. Coverley notes that the reader is allowed to go in any of the four journeys or they can click on “Follow me” to find out about navigating Califia. She chooses to go to the navigation to see how it sets up the structure for the story of Califia. The next screen shows the road-head and it talks about the project. Coverley mentions that the medieval navigation runs counter-clockwise because the story moves both forward and backward in time. Solar Navigation is associated with Augusta, who does the chronological journey through each of the directions. Celestial Navigation is associated with Kaye, who likes widgets. Dead Reckoning is associated with Calvin, and it also provides a kitbag and it’s always available on any screen on “Path Name and Location”.

Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 3
As we progress through the work, Coverley notes that there’s information on how to navigate Califia because at the time, Coverley wasn’t sure if people were going to know how to follow the links. Next, Coverley divides the journeys in terms of the narrators. Augusta is a straightforward, organized, and linear person. Calvin is a strategic and sees things in artistic pictures. Kaye is mystical and communes with spirits. Sounds plays as she goes to the next screen. Next, Coverley explains the image on the screen, which is her father, Jack Coverley, with his best friend and her aunt, and they all fit into the narrative. Coverley notes that Augustus’ path is the chronological narration and Kaye’s path will always look the same. She also notes that each of the path has a color associated with the characters: Augusta is blue and white, Kaye is black, red, yellow and gold, and Calvin is pink and turquoise.

Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 4
This video clip displays Coverley continuing to discuss her choice of features in Califia. She notes that her intent was to build an architecture that would be predictable enough that the reader could find a way to navigate through it in many different modalities such as the kitbag, the toolbar, and the pocket compass. Coverley continues by discussing how each character has their own backstory. She reads Augusta’s story and notes that her story is important. Augusta goes to Paradise Home and the plot starts to grow. Paradise Home is where Augusta’s mother is currently residing and it's also the house across the street of Coverley’s grandmother’s house. Coverley stops to play the sound because each sound is different depending on the story. Augusta goes to Paradise Home to visit her mother and doesn’t have enough money to pay her bills because she can’t find her stack of gold coins and Augusta also doesn’t have access to her bank account since her father died. Next, Augusta gets a call from a man and he wants to lease the land that Augusta’s father had owned, and put windmills on it. Calvin and Kaye both show up to warn Augusta and to talk about the gold mines.

Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 5
In this video clip, Coverley continues Augusta’s story and the convergence of the three characters. At the end of the journey, Coverley notes that the reader can review what didn’t happen and what would’ve happen if they took a different character’s path. The reader can also return to any part of the story. Next, Coverley follows Calvin’s path and notes that the text from the paths start to overlap and becoming transparent and more layered. She plays the song that Calvin has on the screen before going to his home page. Next, Coverley goes to Augusta’s path and meets the same man.

Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 6
In this video clip, Augusta, Calvin, and Kaye set off on the journey north. Coverley follows Kayes path and listens to the music that’s being played. She notes that the pictures on the screen are the ones she took in the mountains above Santa Barbara. Next in this journey, Kaye gets information from the spirits in the Japanese gardens.

Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 7
In this video clip, Coverley goes to Calvin’s kitbag to go to the convergence again to see what happens on Augusta’s path. Coverley notes that she can also look at Kaye’s path and that regardless which path she goes on, they’ll all interact with each other. The characters are now going to the west and Coverley starts with Augusta. Music plays as she reads through the work. Next, the layered images and texts show that these have compounded together to tell the story. The characters go to fish camp and find the rest of the blue blanket that they had been looking for. The blanket’s fabric held in the sunlight shows designs and constellations of a map that shows where all of the gold in California is. Next, the characters meet the man from Wind Power.

Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 8
This video clip displays Coverley continuing on Califia. Augusta is arguing with Cramer about wanting to get the rights to the land and minerals, and the Wind Power man promises that his company will help with the development. Next, Coverley goes to back to the convergence and starts the journey west. She arrives at the navigation and returns to the shore, which marks the end of the work. Coverley also notes that the reader can revisit any parts of the work once they’ve reached the end.
Interview with M. D. Coverley about "Califia" This Interview of M. D. Coverley's Califia 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.]

Interview with M. D. Coverley about Califia, Part 1
The interview with M.D. Coverley starts off with Coverley speaking about how she feels about Califia. She says that “it’s an event to see it” and she feels a sense of joy because of how delightful it was to create the work such as writing the text, taking the pictures, and going on excursions to the Indian caves. Coverley notes that the work also brings back the remembrance of how fun it was to be involved with hypertext in the ‘90s. Dr. Dene Grigar brings up how it’s like a utopian vision because of how new and fresh the media is even after twenty years. Coverley agrees and discusses that computer-based electronic arts keeps rapidly evolving compared to film, television, and radio. Next, Dr. Grigar asks where the inspiration for Califia came from and if Augusta’s voice is actually Coverley’s voice. Coverley answers by saying that she isn’t Augusta’s voice, but in some sense it is her voice. She also notes that she always thought of herself as a writer and she was always interested in multiple voice narration and layering.

Interview with M. D. Coverley about Califia, Part 2
The Q&A interview with M.D. Coverley continues. Dr. Dene Grigar and Coverley discuss how hypertext worked better for the work than print would have. Coverley notes that she taught herself everything she could to do the work such as photoshop and sound editing. Next, Dr. Grigar asks what Coverley is doing now with the new affordances such as virtual reality. Coverley says that she sees all of the affordances as the same because they all have something in common than electronic literature does with print. The new technologies also still requires the same kind of vision and thinking to create art and a story.

Interview with M. D. Coverley about Califia, Part 3
Dr. Grigar asks how many hyperlinks Coverley remembers making. Coverley answers by saying that there’s about over 90,000 links. Next, Grigar asks Coverley if she would’ve used a different tool to create this work. Coverley answers by saying that she started using Storyspace before switching to ToolBook. Coverley adds that ToolBook was a useful system for database retrieval narrative authoring system, but by the time Califia was released, ToolBook was sold to another company and the company didn’t have a backward compatible version of ToolBook; therefore, Coverley wouldn’t be able to re-save her works.

Interview with M. D. Coverley about Califia, Part 4
In this video clip, Coverley discusses her experiences with multimedia hypertext in the mid 1990s. She notes that when Califia first started, she could only use 256 colors. Next, Grigar asks how Coverley planned out the schema in Califia. Coverley answers by saying she has been thinking about doing it for a long time. She mentions that there are always making recursions and re-telling old stories, and her stories that related to California inspired her to make Califia such as gold, airplanes, and land-buying. Next, Grigar asks about the parting images of the moving footprints going out to the shore and how it relates to accepting the way things are. Coverley answers by saying that it represents making your own path and that it was very hopeful.

Interview with M. D. Coverley about Califia, Part 5
The Q&A interview continues and Coverley notes that people loved Calvin the most out of the three characters. Next, Grigar asks about the moon and the Big Dipper, and how the Western culture sees craziness involved with the moon. Coverley answers by saying that she associates Kaye with the Sun, moon, stars, and that Kaye has the new age of California wisdom. Next, Grigar mentions the colors associated with each of the three characters, and Coverley adds that each of the journeys also had a different color: the journey west had gold, the night of the bear had a dark purple, the journey east had a light purple, and the journey south had a blue. Next, Grigar and Coverley discuss about the innovation with multimedia and having to re-think textuality and finding new ways to make things work.

Interview with M. D. Coverley about Califia, Part 6
In this video clip, Coverley notes that it is much harder to establish the authenticity of a voice in electronic media than it is in print because we already have a disbelief. She also notes that it was hard for her to distant herself from the characters as the authorial presence. Next, Coverley discusses how Deena Larsen influenced her writing and she hopes that her own writing influences others. Grigar asks about having an audience reading Califia and Coverley answers by saying that she was lucky to have sympathetic and supportive readers. She also mentions her smart and intuitive editor who made a lot of changes between the 2.2 and final version of Califia.

Interview with M. D. Coverley about Califia, Part 7
In the final clip of the Q&A interview with Coverley, she states that without Dr. Grigar’s lab and Pathfinders, she wouldn’t have been able to access the digital copy of Califia. Grigar notes that authors of printed works get to cheat death and that it’s harder for authors of digital works to cheat death unless they find a way to archive and preserve their works. Next, Coverley says that when she started using ToolBook to write Califia, she thought more people would be using it. She also mentions that both preservation and archiving need to be pursued. Dr. Grigar asks her last question to Coverley about how Califia relates to paradise and the bittersweet sides of California and Coverley answers by saying that one thing that she loves about California is that one hardly can go to California without hearing that they just missed out on paradise.
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.
Reader Traversal of M. D. Coverley's "Califia," by Amber Strother This Traversal of 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.]

Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, by Amber Strother, Part 1
Amber Strother begins her traversal through M.D. Coverley’s Califia. The work begins with an ocean scene with footprints. She clicks on the footprints and reads the poem on the screen, and is invited to join the character, Augusta, on her journey to find the treasure of Califia. Next, the four different journeys of north, south, east, and west are revealed and Strother picks the journey south. Strother looks through the kitbag and it tells what each of the three characters, Augusta, Kaye, and Calvin, roles are during the journey. In Calvin’s kitbag, Strother can decide what to use and what to leave behind. She also gets the choice of either getting a full tour or going directly to the story. Strother picks the story and between the three character’s paths, she chooses Kaye’s path.

Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, by Amber Strother, Part 2
In the second part of the traversal, Strother continues on Kaye’s path in the journey south. As she reads through, she clicks on “movie stars” and an animated picture of a movie star appears. Strother notes the music being played in the background.

Traversal of M. D. Coverley's Califia, by Amber Strother, Part 3
In the last part of Strother’s traversal of Coverley’s Califia, she clicks on “timeline” which brings up a starry screen with a cosmic timeline. In 1492 C.E., the western land was invaded by tribes from the east. In 1822, the control of California passed from Spain to Mexico. In 1917, there was a Chinatown fire. It ends with 1997 when Augusta, Kaye, and Calvin take up the trail population of Los Angeles’ 32 million. The video ends with a map of the constellations.
Reader Interview with Amber Strother about M. D. Coverley's "Califia" This Reader Interview with Amber Strother of M. D. Coverley's Califia 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 Interview with Amber Strother about M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 1
Following the traversal, the cameras turn and Dene Grigar asks Strother about her reading experience with Califia and how it differs from reading other media-based works. Strother answers by saying that she could interact with Califia and choose her own story. She also saw Califia as more pleasure reading than research. Dr. Grigar mentions that electronic literature is a long-form writing and is on a desktop, and asks Strother if Califia was similar to a gaming experience than a literary experience. Strother says that electronic literature has more freedom and more of a “choose-your-own-adventure” than books do. Dr. Grigar asks about what inspired her to go in the direction that she did in the work and Strother says that she’s a completionist and wanted to click every link within the narrative to get every information to construct the characters. Next, Dr. Grigar asks if the pictorial maps gave her any idea of direction. Strother comments that the pictures were neat and liked how it brought in actual events and actual people, but she was more drawn to the text and wanted to know more about the story. With Califia being a long-form writing, Dr. Grigar asks how much percentage Strother thinks she has seen of the work so far. Strother says 3% of what actually exists and that there were a lot more to click on that she didn’t get to, and even though she was focused more on the characters, she notes that there’s a lot more to the story than just the three characters.

Reader Interview with Amber Strother about M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 2
In the last part of the interview with Anna Strother, Dene Grigar asks how her experience with reading the work on a vintage computer impacted her. Strother says that she remembers when no one had a computer and that when she graduated from high school in 1997, the Internet was a big, new thing. She also notes that her experience with using the computer was normal and that it took her back to when she used them in college. Dr. Grigar mentions Victory Garden by Stuart Moultrop and how the work was also created during the same time of the machine itself. Next, Grigar and Strother discuss the authenticity of reading Califia on a medium that it’s meant for and how different it would’ve been if it was available on other mediums. Next, Dr. Grigar asks what Strother thought of Califia being California as an island. Strother says that she didn’t process that thoroughly and how it seems like an alternative geography to her. The clip ends with Dr. Grigar noting that there are over 3,000 screens in Califia, and with Strother's final thoughts on Califia.
Reader Interview with Ryan House about M. D. Coverley's "Califia" This Reader Interview with Ryan House of M. D. Coverley's Califia 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 Interview with Ryan House about M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 1
The interview with Ryan House starts off with House talking about his experience with Califia. He states that with Califia, he couldn’t tell where he was and it was very disorienting, but it still was a large, unique experience. Dene Grigar asks if he felt like the work was open-ended and House answers that the work was very open-ended. Dr. Grigar brings up her curiosity on what makes people click on the things they click on and what catches their eye while reading through electronic literature. House states that he used textual information by clicking on links that had the most relevance to the given path he was attempting to go on. Next, Dr. Grigar and House discuss about the pictorial metaphors in Califia and how much more there is to Califia that he didn’t get to go through. The clip ends with House noting that the sounds in the work adds characterization to the characters and the reading experience.

Reader Interview with Ryan House about M. D. Coverley's Califia, Part 2
The Q&A interview with Ryan House continues. Dene Grigar asks questions regarding reading Califia on a vintage computer and how it effects the experience. House states that he respects the medium and was delicate with the work. He also mentions that with current machines, we have lesser patience with it. Next, Dr. Grigar and House discuss the game-like experience and glitches in Califia. House notes that there was a lot of architecture in the work, including the Chinese theater. He also notes that he saw the beach as a dead end or a final resting place. Next, Dr. Grigar and House discuss what metaphor House would use to describe Califia and Dr. Grigar also brings up how difficult it is to use an authorial voice when writing a fictional story. The interview comes to an end with House’s final words about the work.