This is my presentation slideshow for the First International Conference on Electronic Literature and Virtual Art (ELVA), presented on October 4, 2012.

1. E-Publishing 2.0:
Re imagining the Publication and
Preservation of Electronic
Literature

2. The Situation
• Electronic literature
– “first generation electronic objects”
– “born-digital”
• Created in specific computational conditions.
– Hardware
– Platform
– Software
• Received in multiple computational
conditions.

3. The Problem
• Computational conditions are always
changing
• Backwards compatibility is maintained to
different levels
• Proprietary software is “closed” and restricts
tampering
• Companies and software come and go
• Even open source code changes and becomes
deprecated
• Backwards compatibility: 5-10 years

4. Example #1: Arteroids
• Created in
Macromedia
Director from
2000 to 2004.
• Published online
via embedded
Shockwave files.
• In 2004, Adobe buys Macromedia:
– Releases Director 11 in 2008, changing the audio engine and other
aspects of its code base.
– Importing old versions changes code, rendering it inoperable and
unreadable.
– Largely abandoned: minor updates in 2009 and 2010.

5. Example 2: Lexia to Perplexia
• Written in HTML,
DHTML, & JavaScript in
2000
• Runs in:
• Netscape Navigator 4
• Internet Explorer 4
• Incompatible with Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc.
• Standards change for HTML, DHTML, JavaScript:
– Deprecated commands & code
– New browsers designed to read newer versions

6. Example 3: Works in Flash
• Flash became an industry & e-literature
standard in the past decade.
• Many works of e-literature are
developed with this authoring software.
• 2010: Steve Jobs decides not to allow Flash
in iOS devices.
• 2012: Adobe discontinues Flash for Android
tablets. Only developed for personal
computers.
• As tablets become ubiquitous, the audience
for e-lit in Flash will die out.

7. Digital Preservation Methods
for Electronic Literature
• Bit-by-bit preservation of source materials.
• Documentation – through image, audio, and
video capture of a performance of the work.
• Emulation – emulating the original
computational environment in another OS.
• Porting - translating software from one
programming language to another with the
goal of producing the same effect in different
hardware and software configurations.

8. Digital Publication Methods
for Electronic Literature
• Online publication.
• Bit-by-bit preservation: provide access to
faithful copy of the original. Reader may not
be able to use copy.
• Documentation – disables interface &
interactivity.
• Emulation – reader needs to install
emulators in their own computers to run
files.
• Porting – Produces new editions of the work.
Changes work in subtle ways.

9. Example 4: First Screening
• Created on an Apple IIe
between 1983-1984 in
Apple Basic.
• Underwhich edition
(1984): 100 copies
published in 5.25” floppy
disks.
• Apple II series
discontinued by 1993.

10. First Screening on Hypercard
• J. B. Hohm started
working on a Hypercard
version of First Screening
in 1992.
• It was published in 1993
by Red Deer College Press
in 3.5” disks.
• Hypercard was
discontinued in 2004.
• Classic Environment not
functional beyond Mac
OS 10.4 (Tiger), released
in 2005.

11. Digital Preservation of First
Screening
• 3-year preservation project (2004-2007) by Jim
Andrews, Lionel Kearns, Dan Waber, Geof
Huth, and Marko Niemi produced and published:
1. The original DSK file of the 1984 edition, which can be
opened with an Apple IIe emulator, along with the Apple
BASIC source code as a text file, and scanned images of
the original printed matter.
2. A video documenting the emulated version in Quicktime
format.
3. The 1993 HyperCard version, along with the printed
matter of that edition.
4. A JavaScript version that runs in browsers.

12. First Screening (video version)

13. Evaluating First Screening Digital
Preservation at Vispo.com:
Pros Cons
• Well documented • Different formats
• Offers work in multiple presented as (more or
formats less) equivalent
• Offers supplemental representations of work
materials • Porting focuses on
• Includes source code linguistic text and
animation
• Javascript port • Graphical text is
preserves: neglected
– Linguistic text
– Animation • Work is different in
each format.
• Lovingly executed

14. Screen Text vs Code
JavaScript Screen Text JavaScript Code

15. REMarks about Screen & Code
• Differences between code and screen are
significant in bpNichol’s work:
– Title “First Screening” evokes computer and
film
– Early (est?) kinetic digital poem
– “Offscreen Romance” plays off of onscreen
chemistry and off-screen romance between
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
– Code poem is not a kinetic text
– Code poem engages REM programming code

16. Problems with Current Electronic
Publication Paradigm
• Publish works in Web deliverable format
• Assumptions:
– The material can survive changes in
computational environment.
– Readers are willing to:
• Switch browsers or compare how they render
work.
• Install plugins
• Install emulators
• Watch documentation videos

17. New Paradigm
• Publish works inside of computational
environments customized to run work
optimally.
• Technologies:
– Emulation
– Virtualization
• Apache VCL
• VMware
• Gaikai & Onlive
– Cloud-based services

18. Virtualization
• Run operating systems inside of other OS.
• Publish access to online virtual machines.
• The reader only receives a “screen” into
other machine.
• Reader’s input is mapped onto virtual
environment’s input.
• Requires good bandwidth

19. VCL (Virtual Computer Lab)
• NC State University & Apache Software
Foundation are the leaders in VCL
development.
• Concept:
– Terminal 2.0
– Centralizes computational infrastructure
– Users can request a variety of OS & software
– Minimal requirements for readers’ machines.

20. How VCL Works

21. Onlive & Gaikai
• Designed to deliver computer games on
the Cloud.
• Minimizes system requirements for users.
• Deliverable on iPads, tablets, browsers.
• Successful?
– Gaikai was purchased by Sony
– Onlive went bankrupt

22. What’s next?
• Research and development of virtualization &
emulation.
• Identification and preparation of key
computational environments to be replicated.
• Develop input mapping on different devices.
• Explore legal issues with software licences.
• Curate environments and works so readers
can understand older computational
contexts.

23. Final Considerations
• Can be used to produce critical editions:
• Example: Arteroids
– Prepare virtual machine with old version of
Macromedia Director.
– Provide source files for scholars to perform
Critical Code readings and study code.
– Have multiple running versions in machine.
• Added value = monetizable publication.

24. Thank you!
Leonardo Flores, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
University of Puerto Rico: Mayagüez
Fulbright Scholar in Digital Culture
University of Bergen
Featured project: I ♥ E-Poetry
http://leonardoflores.net