Electronic Literature Lab

For Advanced Inquiry into Born Digital Media

  • Home
  • People
  • History
  • Research Output
  • Projects
    • Rebooting Electronic Literature 1
    • Rebooting Electronic Literature 2
    • Rebooting Electronic Literature 3
    • Live Stream Traversals
    • Afterflash
    • Reconstructing Kanji Kus
  • Catalog
    • Beta Catalog
    • Expanded Catalog
  • Podcasts
  • Exhibitions
  • Home
  • People
  • History
  • Research Output
  • Projects
    • Rebooting Electronic Literature 1
    • Rebooting Electronic Literature 2
    • Rebooting Electronic Literature 3
    • Live Stream Traversals
    • Afterflash
    • Reconstructing Kanji Kus
  • Catalog
    • Beta Catalog
    • Expanded Catalog
  • Podcasts
  • Exhibitions
ELL icon

About

Founded and directed by Dr. Dene Grigar, ELL contains 61 vintage Macintosh & PC computers, dating back from 1977, vintage software, peripherals, and a library of over 300 works of electronic literature and other media. One of a handful of media archaeology labs in the U.S., it is used for the advanced inquiry into the curation, documentation, preservation, and production of born digital literary works and other media.

For more information about the lab or for help with preserving or recovering born digital work, contact Dr. Dene Grigar at dgrigar[at]wsu[dot]edu.

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CATALOG

Visit the online catalog of computers and media works; designed and coded by the CMDC technical assistant Greg Philbrook. The new version of the catalog with expanded entries is now on preview.

other labs icon

Other Media Archaeology Labs or Working Archives in the U.S.

Obsolete Computing & Media at the University of Victoria, directed by John Durno

Media Archaeology Lab at U of Colorado-Boulder, directed by Dr. Lori Emerson

The Trope Tank at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, directed by Dr. Nick Montfort

The Deena Larsen Collection at the Maryland Institute in the Humanities at the University of Maryland, directed by Dr. Matthew Kirschenbaum, with Amanda Visconti

The Bill Bly Collection at the Maryland Institute in the Humanities at the University of Maryland, directed by Dr. Matthew Kirschenbaum, with Amanda Visconti, and Porter Olson

  • Updates

    Ruffle Implementation Report #5

    April 12, 2021 /

    The team has completed implementing ruffle.js to all of the 231 Flash works in the anthologies and online journals held in the Electronic Literature Organization’s repository. The last journal, The Iowa Review Web (TIRW), was completed over the weekend by Andrew and Arlo. 8 of 33 works from the journal could be preserved, amounting to a 28% success rate. This number is in keeping with our efforts with the other publications we have tried to preserve with this approach. We have not yet tackled the two Showcases, Turbulence and The Museum of the Essential and Beyond That or the many works in the Individual Artists and Scholars collections. We need to turn our attention…

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    Dene Grigar

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    Celebrating Endangered Data Week with Tim McLaughlin’s Notes Toward Absolute Zero

    February 23, 2019

    Saving Flash Works: Report #1

    January 31, 2021

    Hacking Electronic Literature Workshop

    February 24, 2018
  • Updates

    Ruffle Preservation Report #4

    April 6, 2021 /

    We are making progress with the Ruffle implementation. Thus far, the Undergraduate Researchers who are undertaking the project have applied ruffle.js and the accompanying note to the Flash works found in the Electronic Literature Collections 1, 2, and 3; Cauldron & Net, frAme, Poems That Go, Riding the Meridian, Word Circuits, and BeeHive. Left to do of the seven online journals is The Iowa Review Web, which they plan to complete by next weekend. All total, the team has been able to preserve 58 of the 198 Flash works published in six of the seven online journals. Below are screenshots of the spreadsheet containing the works we have managed to save. You…

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    Dene Grigar

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    Week 3 Data Collection: The 1st Trial Run

    May 24, 2019

    Getting Ready for the Next Pathfinders Traversal

    July 27, 2013

    Ruffle Preservation Report #3

    February 20, 2021
  • Electronic Literature,  History,  Updates

    Woman E-Lit Event & Initiatives

    March 30, 2021 /

      Welcome to Woman E-Lit, a very special symposium that took place on March 30, 2021 during Women’s History Month celebrating women who have contributed to the field of electronic literature. It also celebrated the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Electronic Literature Lab (ELL). The two events intersect in that it was important to the ELL Team to celebrate the lab’s anniversary in a way that speaks to it mission––that is, to curate, document, preserve, and produce born digital literary works and other media. Hosting a symposium where women could come together to amplify achievements, provide a space of free and welcomed expression, and celebrate you, us, all of…

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    Dene Grigar

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    Michael Joyce’s Traversal of Twilight, a Symphony

    January 20, 2021

    Mellon Report Submitted

    March 28, 2019

    Saving Flash Works: Report #1

    January 31, 2021
  • History,  Updates

    Celebrating 10 Years of the Electronic Literature Lab, Part 1

    March 13, 2021 /

    As I mention in the History section of this website, the idea for the Electronic Literature Lab was born out of the successful “Early Authors of Electronic Literature: The Eastgate School, Voyager Artists, and Independent Productions—Special Collection on loan from N. Katherine Hayles,” exhibition that I curated at ELO’s Visionary Landscapes conference held at WSUV in the summer 2008. Using legacy computers that I had collected and those lent to me by a former student in my program, Jeff Grisso, I was able to provide conference participants with the opportunity to experience, first-hand, hypertext literature and other forms of e-lit published on floppy disks on computers for which they had…

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    Dene Grigar

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    Live Playthrough/Traversal/Performance of Robert DiChiara’s “A Sucker in Spades”

    September 3, 2020

    Linking Literature & Games

    August 21, 2019

    2018-19 Live Stream Traversals Schedule

    August 28, 2018
  • History,  Updates

    Women’s History Month 2021

    February 28, 2021 /

    Join us in celebrating Women’s History Month 2021. This year we are highlighting the output by women working in the area of born-digital literature from all over the world. Each day we will post, on Twitter, one work by one woman artist or scholar. All works will be accessible on the web and all posts will be archived at the Electronic Literature Lab’s (ELL) website for future study. Additionally, you are welcome to nominate works to be featured. Each Sunday during the month of March, we will post links to works by women you wish to honor. To nominate, contact ELL’s Project Manager. Posts Monday, March 1 Join us today…

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    Dene Grigar

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    A Successful Presentation at the MLA 2020

    January 12, 2020

    Why Collecting Is Important

    November 23, 2018

    Researching E-Lit and Its Printed Materials

    March 14, 2018
  • Updates

    Ruffle Preservation Report #3

    February 20, 2021 /

    This third report continues with our updates about the lab’s efforts to save Flash e-lit.  What Has Been Preserved Thus Far We finished preserving the Flash works published in the Electronic Literature Collections (ELC) 1, 2 & 3, Cauldron & Net, Word Circuits, and frAme. Yesterday Andrew Thompson and Arlo Ptolemy (the Ruff Rangers, as we now call them) began implementing Ruffle to the 37 works published in the 14 volumes of Poems That Go from 2001 to 2003. Ruffle Success Rate Here is the number of Flash works we have been able to save from each of the six publications: ELC 1: 12 of 26 ELC 2: 1 of…

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    Dene Grigar

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    Resetting the Table

    August 16, 2019

    2018-19 Live Stream Traversals Schedule

    August 28, 2018

    Coping with Bits Project Meeting

    December 20, 2018
  • Updates

    The Challenges of Born-Digital Fiction: Editions, Translations, and Emulations

    February 14, 2021 /

    Mariusz Pisarski and I signed a contract with Cambridge University Press this week for a book entitled, The Challenges of Born-Digital Fiction: Editions, Translations, and Emulations, for its Digital Literary Studies Element Series, edited by Gabriel Hankins, Adam Hammond, and Katherine Bode. It will be delivered in June 2022. The book will address the growing concern about how best to maintain and extend the accessibility of early interactive novels and hypertext fiction or narratives. These forms of born-digital literature were produced before or shortly after the mainstreaming of the World Wide Web with proprietary software and on formats now obsolete. Preserving and extending them for a broad study by scholars of…

    Read More
    Dene Grigar

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    Linking Literature & Games

    August 21, 2019

    Traversal of Rob Kendall’s A Life Set for Two

    March 18, 2018

    A Successful Presentation at the MLA 2020

    January 12, 2020
  • News,  Updates

    Ruffle Preservation Report #2

    February 7, 2021 /

    This is second report about the work the lab is doing to preserve born-digital literature created with Adobe Flash.  Today the team (CMDC juniors Andrew Thompson and Arlo Ptolemy) finished implementing Ruffle on the works published in the Electronic Literature Collections, Volumes 1, 2 and 3. This week we will begin adding scholarly commentary to their intro pages to alert visitors about their accessibility.  Sadly, of the 235 works published in the three anthologies, only 16 could be preserved with Ruffle. Some others appear to function, but when compared to their original files (using the Pale Moon browser on a Windows computer) actually showed problems. The sound files in Maria Mencia’s “Birds…

    Read More
    Dene Grigar

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    Linking Literature & Games

    August 21, 2019

    Saving Flash Works: Report #1

    January 31, 2021

    Inventorying Riding the Meridian

    February 8, 2019
  • Updates

    Saving Flash Works: Report #1

    January 31, 2021 /

    This is the first of several reports from the lab about its efforts to preserve born-digital literary works produced with Adobe Flash software. Where We Are and How We Got Here If you have been following us over the last two years, you may remember that we submitted a proposal, entitled “afterflash,” to the National Endowment for the Humanities in July 2019 to use Rhizome’s Conifer to preserve the 447 works published in the 12 publications hosted on the Electronic Literature Organization’s Repository. That proposal was rejected, but it received an evaluation of three “excellent” and two “very good.” We resubmitted that proposal in July 2020 with revisions that addressed…

    Read More
    Dene Grigar

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    Prof. Élika Ortega Speaks in ELL on March 9

    March 4, 2018

    Why I Care about Early Interactive Media

    February 22, 2020

    ELL’s Undergraduates Win Award

    April 12, 2019
  • Updates

    Michael Joyce’s Traversal of Twilight, a Symphony

    January 20, 2021 /

    Read More
    Dene Grigar

    You May Also Like

    Live Stream Traversal of Richard Holeton’s Figurski at Findhorn on Acid

    February 16, 2019

    Deena Larsen’s Donation to ELO

    December 1, 2018

    Coping with Bits Kick Off

    June 21, 2018
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Upcoming Exhibit
afterflash: Treasures from the Flash Generation, Launch: Sunday, May 24, 2021.

Podcasts
Listen to Traversals by and Interviews of prominent e-lit artists and scholars on our Soundcloud playlist

2020-21 Traversal Schedule
Friday, September 11, 10-11:30 am PDT: Robert DiChiara, A Sucker in Spades (1988)

Thursday, October 15, 10-11:30: Bernstein and Sweeney, The Election of 1912 (1988)

Thursday, November 12, 10-11:30: Carolyn Guyer, Quibbling (1992)

Thursday, December 3, 10-11:30: Deena Larsen, Marble Springs (1993)

Thursday, January 21, 10-11:30: Michael Joyce, Twilight: A Symphony (1996)

Thursday, February 18, 10-11:30: TBA

Friday, March 26, 1-2:30pm PDT: Kathryn Cramer, In Small & Large Pieces (1994)

Thursday, April 22, 10-11:30: Richard Smyth, Genetis: A Rhizography (1996)

Thursday, May 13, 10-11:30: Rob Swigart, Down Time (2000)

2021 DHSI Course for E-Lit Scholars “Retro Media & Machines.” Co-taught by Dene Grigar & John Durno. Digital Humanities Summer Institute 2020.  University of Victoria. 7-11 June 2021.

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People

Director: Dr. Dene Grigar, PhD, Professor, Creative Media & Digital Culture Program

Associate Director: Nicholas Schiller, MLIS, Associate Professor, Creative Media & Digital Culture Program

Technical and Instructional Assistant: Greg Philbrook, B.A., Creative Media & Digital Culture Program

Project Manager: Holly Slocum, B.A., Creative Media & Digital Culture Program

Videographer: David Alonzo, MFA, Creative Media & Digital Culture Program

Undergraduate Researchers: Kathleen Zoller, Betsy Hanrahan, Andrew Thompson, Arlo Ptolemy, and Dave Sabrowsky ELO Fellow: Sean Braune (Canada) Research Affiliates: Mariusz Pisarski (Poland) and Astrid Ensslin (Norway)

This website was created by Katie Bowen, Mariah Gwin, Holly Slocum and Austin Fields. Madeleine Brookman produced the ELL logo. All custom icons were designed by Holly Slocum. Header graphic design by Katya Farinsky.

Copyright © 2018