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

Traversal of Richard Holeton's "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid"


The Live Steam Traversal for Richard Holeton's Figurski at Findhorn on Acid was the first held in the newly created video and sound studio in the MOVE Lab at Washington State University Vancouver. The event took place on Friday, February 22, 2019 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. PST. For his performance Holeton used Figurski 3.3––the canonical version of the work, produced for Storyspace 2.X and published on CD-ROM––and a iMac G4 “Lampshade” (January 2002-August 2004), the last Macintosh that provided access to the Classic OS. [1]

Handling the streaming video was the CMDC’s tech guru Greg Philbrook. Sound production was overseen by CMDC faculty member and sound artist John Barber. ELL Associate Director Nicholas Schiller supervised the social media interaction during the event, with the ELL Undergraduate (UG) Researchers manning ELL’s Instagram, and Twitter channels, and Pathfinders’ Facebook account. ELL Director Dene Grigar oversaw the project and moderated the YouTube live chat during the event.

 


Traversal of Richard Holeton's' Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, Introduction 
This video clip shows Dene Grigar giving introductory comments prior to the live stream Traversal of Richard Holeton's Figurski at Findhorn on Acid. In it, she introduces Holeton’s work to the audience and lists those from the ELL who participated in the development of the project.
 

Traversal of Richard Holeton's' Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, Part 1
Holeton begins the Traversal by introducing the CD-ROM of Figurski at Findhorn on Acid. He then goes through the graphical map in the novel and comments on how “all texts are made from other texts in different combinations” and “how language is made from different combinations of words.” Throughout the Traversal, he shares fun facts about Figurski at Findhorn on Acid and how the links within the novel work.



Traversal of Richard Holeton's' Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, Part 2
Holeton starts off Figurski at Findhorn on Acid by sharing a fact about the work's structure by saying the work was “published in the year 2001 and [the work] has exactly 2001 links.” An example of user interaction with the work is displayed when Holeton must make a choice that will determine where in the story the reader will be taken to next by clicking one of the linked options below each page.



Traversal of Richard Holeton's' Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, Part 3
Holeton continues to read through Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, encountering more choices to make along the way. Holeton points out that the mechanical “pig is a metaphor for the novel.” Holeton also shares that by holding down the Option and Control key, hidden links appear on the page. One hidden link that Holeton clicks on shows actual photos of Universal Hall at Findhorn.



Traversal of Richard Holeton's' Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, Part 4
Holeton continues reading through the default route in Figurski at Findhorn on Acid and also reads through Questions for Discussions. Holeton then invites the audience to participate by throwing a beach ball into the audience. Whatever choice the audience’s hand lands on is the next choice that Holeton picks on the work’s map.


 
Traversal of Richard Holeton's' Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, Part 5
Holeton continues to navigate through the default route of Figurski at Findhorn on Acid and starts reading Option relating to The No-Hands Cup Flipper. He involves audience participation with the beach ball to figure out which Option to choose next on the Navigator. Holeton ends the Traversal after visiting a timeline that shows December 1993 through December 2000, which includes a time Option that points out more stories about the mechanical pig.


Traversal of Richard Holeton's' Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, Q & A, Part 1
Immediately after the Traversal of Figurski at Findhorn on Acid ends, a Q&A session begins. Dene Grigar reads the questions posed by audience members engaging in the live stream chat on the Pathfinders YouTube channel and in the room. Comments on the work’s structure are shared with the audience, and Holeton discusses how the pictures in the timeline were produced. In response to a question about the engagement and experiential reading with Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, Holeton notes that “readers today are much more prepared for it because of their experiences with the web” and are already aware of how to interact with links. The significance of text immersion is discussed.


Traversal of Richard Holeton's' Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, Q & A, Part 2
In this video clip, the Q&A session continues as Holeton addresses a question about the pros and cons of Figurski at Findhorn on Acid functioning as a printed novel instead of a hypertext. The Q&A concluded with Holeton discussing about having a linear route with hypertext.


Notes

[1] Figurski was one of the last works published by Eastgate Systems, Inc. that ran solely on the Classic operating system. Megan Heyward's of day, of night published in 2004 ran on both Classic and MacOS X.

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