We learned today that we were awarded the Society of American Archivists (SAA) Catalyst grant. The funds will support video recordings of 78 works of born-digital literature, art, and games produced in Shockwave and held in archive at The NEXT (https://the-next.eliterature.org). These video recordings will follow the formal process that Stuart Moulthrop and I pioneered called a “Traversal.” By this, we mean a talk aloud protocol / performance by the artist of the work using the original hardware and software with which the work was created.
The 78 works included in this project are part of several different collections of born-digital archives that date back to the mid-1990s and published in online literary journals, like Riding the Meridian, BeeHive, and Vectors; by publishers, such as the Voyager Company and Eastgate Systems, Inc.; by art showcases, such as Turbulence; and online museums, like The Museum of the Essential and Beyond That. They represent the interest of artists and writers, globally, to experiment with new digital technologies for the purpose of human expression. The NEXT currently holds 47 collections consisting of close to 2500 works organized into six collection areas. All works in The NEXT are managed with permission and, so, are archived, and, when needed, restored and documented so that they remain accessible to the public.
The video recordings, once completed, will be added to the works’ exhibition space in The NEXT for open access by our visitors. We thank the SAA for their confidence and trust in providing funds in support of this work.