Rebooting Electronic Literature Volume 3: Documenting Pre-Web Born Digital Media

Photos of M. D. Coverley's "Califia"

The photos of M. D. Coverley's Califia found in this chapter are copies Grigar owns and holds in her library in the Electronic Literature Lab. The beta versions and the virtual machine versions were donated to Grigar by the artist for the exhibition Grigar curated at the University of Victoria Library, "Next Horizons: Historical Archives of E-Lit" on 6-17 June 2016. Copies of the other versions were purchased by Grigar from Eastgate Systems, Inc.

 

Eastgate Version 3.0 (2000) Jewel Case, Front

The front of the jewel case shows the title, Califia, in a pink and white italic bubble font with a thick yellow line across the cover behind the title. There is a crescent moon along the right side that spans from top to bottom just above the author’s name, and three stars spaced out along the top above the title. At the base of the cover is the author’s name printed as “M. D. COVERLEY.” There is a personal note written down over the crescent moon that reads, “Kate- to the paradise of dearest friendship! Love Margie.” Over the top of the jewel case on the lower left side is a white sticker with black serif lettering that reads, “Property of Katherine Hayles” placed just above the author’s name at the bottom.


Eastgate Version 3.0 (2000) Jewel Case, Back

The back of the jewel case repeats the title in a pink and white italic bubble font with a thick yellow line across the cover behind the title. There is a crescent moon in the top right corner that travels down approximately half-way across the case leading down to the author’s name, “M. D. COVERLEY.” On the lower half of the case the platform and system requirements are listed in a grey sans-serif font. The first line reads: “for Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, or later.” The second line reads: “requires: Pentium, Celeron, or faster processor, Intel or Intel compatible. Requires hard drive & sound card.” The contact information for Eastgate Systems, Inc. including the company’s toll free and MA phone numbers, fax number, email address, website address, and street address are also included.
 

Eastgate Version 3.0 (2000) Jewel Case, Opened with CD-ROM

The opened case reveals the back side of the cover sheet on the left hand side and the disc on the right hand side. The cover sheet as shown inside the case provides installation instructions in numerated points from 1 to 5. At the top of the sheet in yellow it reads, “TO INSTALL CALIFIA:” followed down the page in grey lettering, “1. Insert this CD into your computer. 2. If there is a ‘read-me.txt’ file on the CD, please read it. (This file may contain last-minute changes to these instructions.) 3. To begin reading, run ‘CALIFIA’ from this CD. 4. Follow the instructions given by the program. 5. When you are finished reading, remove the Califia CD, and store it in a safe place.” The copyright information is provided below the installation instructions for Califia. The contact information for Eastgate Systems, Inc. including the company’s toll free and MA phone numbers, fax number, email address, website address, and street address are also included. On the right hand side, the CD is prominent with the title Califia across the top. The Compact Disk is readable by Windows systems. On the middle-right side of the disk is a copyright statement. Eastgate’s copyright date is given as 1992-2000. The author’s name appears in large capitals along with the publisher information at the bottom.


Author's Beta Version 1.1a (1997) Jewel Case, Front

The title Califia is written by hand in sharpie on the front of the jewel case, followed by the author’s name written below atop a gold circle. Underneath the author’s name is written “Beta 1.” The main background of the cover is black. In the top left corner in white text is an icon made of triangles next to which are the letters “TDK.” Below is printed “BESCHRERIBBARE COMPACT DISC” followed by “COMPACT DISC ENREGISTRABLE.” Beside the text on the left is a solid gold line. The text on the upper right corner in white reads, “RECORDABLE COMPACT DISC.” Underneath that text in gold it says, “CD-R74.” In the lower left corner in white text is printed, “Compact Disc Recordable” while in the lower right corner it shows “74 min” over “650 MB” with the numbers in green and the letters in white with a dividing white line.


Author's Beta Version 1.1a (1997) Jewel Case, Back

The back of the jewel case displays precautionary and warranty information in three languages including English, French, and Spanish. The text is printed in the form of a circle separated into three columns.

Column one:
“PRECAUTIONS
1. Avoid getting fingerprints, dust or smudges on the green side of the disc. This is especially important when handling discs that have not yet been recorded.
2. Do not attach labels or protective sheets, or apply any coating fluids to the disc.
3. When writing titles and other information on the label (gold) side of the disc, these should be written in the printed area using an oil-based felt-tipped pen. Please do not use a ball-point pen or other writing instruments having a hard tip.
4. The disc should never be exposed to excessive heat or humidity. Avoid any exposure to direct sunlight.”
“PRECAUTIONS
1. Eviter les empreintes de doigts, la poussiére ou les taches sur la partie verte de ce disque. Ceci est surtout valable lors de la manipulation de disques vierges.”

Column two:
“2. Ne pas coller d’étiquette ou tout genre d’adhésifs surr le disque. Eviter l’enduction de la surface avec des agents fluides.
3. Pour inscrire des titres ou toute autre information sur la partie dorée du disque, n’utiliser qu’un instrument á encre indélébile á une pointe souple. Les insttrrumentst d’écriturer á pointe duer ou á bille sont á proscrire.
4. Ne jamais exposer les disques á une chaleur ou humidité excessives. Eviter l’exposition aux rayons solaires directs.”
“PRECAUCIONES
1. Evite dejar huellas de dedos, polvo o manchas en la cara verde del disco. Téngalo en cuenta sobre todo en discos que aun no hayan sido grabados.
2. No adhiera etiquetas ni pegatinas protectoras al disco ni le aplique ninguna clase de liquidos.
3. Cuando escrriba titulus u otras inforrmaciones en el lado de la ettiqueta (dorada) del disco, hágalo en la zona impresa y utilice rotuladorers en lugar de bolígrafos de punta redonda.
4. Nunca exponga el disco a calor o humedad excesivos. Evite su exposición directa a los rayos solares”
“FULL LIFETIME WARRANTY
Replacement is the sole obligation under this warranty. See details inside. (Effective only in U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico)”

Column three:
“GARRANTIE À VIE
La presente garantie ne couvre que le remplacement du produit. Lire details à l’intérieur. (En viguer seulement au Canada, aux États-Unis et au Mexique)”
“GARANTIA DE POR VIDA
El reemplazo es la unica obligación bajo esta gararntia. Detalles adentro. (Efectivo solamente en los Estados Unidos, Canadá y México)”
“This disc has been produced in accordance with Orange Book standards. It is also compatible with the quadruple-speed CD-R writer.”
“Ce disque a été fabriqué conformément aux norms du Orange Book. Il est également compatible avec le CD-R drive á Vitesse quadruple.”
“Este disco ha sido producido siguiendo las normas del libro Naranja. Es asimismo compatible con el registrador de velocidad cuádruple CD-R.”


Author's Beta Version 1.1a (1997) Jewel Case, Opened with CD-ROM


Jewel Case, Blue, Front

The front of the jewel case is dominantly white with a somewhat cobalt blue circle in the center. The circle has white lines and two additional circles sketched inside the design, surrounding a sliver of a crescent moon with circles appearing to fall from it beside the title Califia printed beside it on the right in the innermost circle. In the bottom left corner, the title Califia is printed again. Underneath the title reads, “fall, 1998.” In the bottom right corner is the author’s name printed as, “by M.D. Coverley.”

Jewel Case, Blue, Back

The back of the jewel case has the title Califia featured at the top in the center, and underneath is the author’s name. In the top right corner it states, “Beta 2.2 Version.” Underneath the title and author name is printed, “an experimental, interactive, multimedia hypertext forthcoming from Eastgate Systems,” followed by, “Copyright, 1998: Marjorie C. Luesebrink.” In a smaller font size further down on the sheet it has printed, “M.D. Coverley is the pen name for,” then further down it states “Marjorie C. Luesebrink” followed by her shipping address, phone number, email, and web address.


Jewel Case, Blue, Opened

Upon opening the case, the left side shows in the top left corner the title Califia and underneath the author’s name “M.D. Coverley” printed in blue. In the right corner it states, “Beta 2.2 Version.” The information sheet provides information for program requirements, “For Windows 3.0, 3.1, 95, 98. Califia runs best on a Pentium-speed processor with sound card and 65,000 colors.” Underneath is the directions for running the work, “1. Insert Califia into CD-ROM Drive. 2. In Win 3x, from Program Manager, select Run. Choose ‘Califia.exe.’ Click OK to open. In Win 95, 98, open window for CD Drive. Select Blue Icon file, ‘Califia.exe.’ Double click. 3. Open file to largest window and follow footsteps.” The contact information for Eastgate Systems, Inc. including the company’s toll free and MA phone numbers, fax number, email address, website address, and street address are also included.
The inside of the case on the right houses the disc. The top half of the disc is predominantly blue with the same sliver crescent moon and circles from the cover, with the moon positioned on the far right and the circles spaced out across the top from left to right. On the bottom half of the disc is the title of the work followed by the author’s name, and underneath is printed, “Forthcoming From Eastgate Systems
Beta 2.2 Version
Copyright, 1998”

 


Virtual Machine, Folder, Front

The front of the folder is entirely written in pen, with “Dene Grigar” written in the top left corner and “Pathfinders 2016 written in the top right corner. Underneath in the center of the folder is written, “VMWARE Virtual Machine for Playing Califia.”

 

Virtual Machine, Flash Drive, Front

The flash drive containing the Virtual Machine for M. D. Coverley’s Califia is entirely black, with the Staples logo on the right and the number “64” beside it to indicate the storage space on the drive. It is larger on the left and smaller on the right where the drive would connect to a USB port.

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