Rebooting Electronic Literature: Documenting Pre-Web Born Digital Media

Authors' and Contributors' Bios

This book was created by faculty and students working in the Electronic Literature Lab at Washington State University Vancouver. Each were responsible for specific duties, but in the end they undertook whatever tasks were needed to complete the book by deadline. During the course of the year, the students gave a formal presentation at INKE 2018 in Victoria, B.C. about their work on the book. They also won two awards for their research: the Gray (2nd Place) award at the 2018 Student Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Competition held at the Pullman campus of WSU and 1st Place at WSUV's Research Showcase. The two seniors graduated in May 2018. One took a position with a local law firm at its digital media marketing specialist; the other, who wants to get her masters degree in Library and Information Science, will teach at a course in born digital archiving at DHSI with Nicholas and Grigar in June 2018. In sum, we followed the "best practices and better understanding how authorship and contributorship models emerge in heterogeneous teams of students, faculty, staff, #alt-ac roles, librarians, programmers, and community partners," as argued by Aaron Mauro et al. 

Dene Grigar is Director of the Creative Media & Digital Technology Program at Washington State University Vancouver, whose research focuses on the creation, curation, preservation, and criticism of Electronic Literature, specifically building multimedial environments and experiences for live performance, installations, and curated spaces; desktop computers; and mobile media devices.  She has authored 14 media works, such as  “Curlew" (with Greg Philbrook, 2014), "A Villager's Tale" (with Brett Oppegaard, 2011), the "24-Hour Micro-Elit Project" (2009), When Ghosts Will Die (with Steve Gibson, 2005), "Fallow Field:  A Story in Two Parts” (2004), and “The Jungfrau Tapes: A Conversation with Diana Slattery about The Glide Project” (2004), as well as over 50 scholarly articles. She also curates exhibits of electronic literature and media art, mounting shows at the Library of Congress and for the Modern Language Association, among other venues. With Stuart Moulthrop (U of Wisconsin Milwaukee) she is the recipient of a 2013 NEH Start Up grant for Pathfinders. She serves as Associate Editor for Leonardo Reviews and is President of the Electronic Literature Organization.  Her website is located at http://nouspace.net/dene.

Nicholas Schiller is the Associate Director of the Electronic Literature Lab and a member of the library faculty at Washington State University Vancouver. He is also on faculty with the Creative Media & Digital Culture program where he teaches information structure and leads workshops on search engine optimization. He has published and presented on a variety of topics including current efforts to preserve and archive early works of electronic literature, metaphor and structure in information literacy instruction, and learning in video games as a model for library instruction. He is a previous contributor to the ACRL Tech-Connect blog. He is teaching a course in born digital documentation at the 2018 Digital Humanities Summer Institute in Victoria, B.C. 


Vanessa Rhodes is the primary Digital Archivist for the Electronic Literature Lab at Washington State University Vancouver. She is projected to graduate from WSUV in May 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Digital Technology and Culture. She will pursue her passion of becoming a librarian specializing in archival work. With the Electronic Literature Lab she has presented at Implementing New Knowledge Environments (INKE), a Digital Humanities conference in Victoria B.C.. She will also present at WSUV’s research showcase and SURCA to spread the results of the ELL’s Traversal Project. She was a contributing author to the forthcoming Rebooting Electronic Literature on USC’s Scalar platform. She also enjoys creating 2d and 3d animations one of which was featured at the CMDC’s A Digital Canvas in 2018.
  Veronica Whitney serves as the Catalog Content Specialist for the Electronic Literature Lab. She is projected to graduate from Washington State University Vancouver in May 2018 with her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Digital Technology and Culture with a focus in content creation and copywriting, along with a Professional Writing Certificate. She was a contributing author to the forthcoming Rebooting Electronic Literature on USC’s Scalar platform. In January 2018, she presented at the Implementing New Knowledge Environments conference in Victoria, B.C. with her fellow Electronic Literature Lab colleagues. She plans to continue sharing the lab’s Traversal research at future research showcases.

Mariah Gwin is the Games Research Assistant for the Electronic Literature Lab at Washington State University Vancouver. She is pursuing a B.A. in Digital Technology and Culture with a certificate in Games Studies and Design as well as a B.A. in English with a certificate in Professional Writing. She is projected to graduate in Spring of 2020. With the Electronic Literature Lab she has presented at Implementing New Knowledge Environments, a Digital Humanities conference. She also plans on presenting at research showcases to spread the results of the Traversal project.


Katie Bowen is the Document Specialist for the Electronic Literature Lab at Washington State University Vancouver (WSUV). She is pursuing a B.A. in Digital Technology and Culture with a minor in Psychology. In Fall 2018 she will graduate magna cum laude. With the Electronic Literature Lab she has presented at Implementing New Knowledge Environments (INKE), a Digital Humanities conference in Victoria B.C.. With the team, she won second at Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA) for her project. In addition, as a team they won first at Research Showcase at WSUV for their workShe was a contributing author to the upcoming Rebooting Electronic Literature. Her plan after graduation is to focus on project management and web development.

Will Luers, a digital media artist and writer, has been on faculty in the Creative Media & Digital Culture program at Washington State University Vancouver since the fall of 2010. In 2008, he was invited to the university as an artist-in-residence to work with students on location-based media projects. At the CMDC, he teaches "Digital Publishing," “Multimedia Authoring”, “Advanced Multimedia Authoring”, and “Digital Storytelling.” His current research and artistic interest is in designing and publishing multimedia books as mobile apps. In general, his interests are in the proliferating forms and expressive possibilities of web-based and digital cinema, including database documentaries, multimedia hypertext, networked video, and locative storytelling. In 2010, he was awarded the The Vectors-NEH Summer Fellowship to work on his database documentary, The Father Divine Project. His video art has been selected for the Media Arts Show at the 2010 and 2008 ELO Conferences.

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