1. E-Publishing 2.0:Re imagining the Publication andPreservation 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 computationalconditions. 3. The Problem Computational conditions are alwayschanging Backwards compatibility is maintained todifferent levels Proprietary software is closed and restrictstampering Companies and software come and go Even open source code changes and becomesdeprecated 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 Flashin iOS devices. 2012: Adobe discontinues Flash for Androidtablets. Only developed for personalcomputers. As tablets become ubiquitous, the audiencefor e-lit in Flash will die out. 7. Digital Preservation Methodsfor Electronic Literature Bit-by-bit preservation of source materials. Documentation through image, audio, andvideo capture of a performance of the work. Emulation emulating the originalcomputational environment in another OS. Porting - translating software from oneprogramming language to another with thegoal of producing the same effect in differenthardware and software configurations. 8. Digital Publication Methodsfor Electronic Literature Online publication. Bit-by-bit preservation: provide access tofaithful copy of the original. Reader may notbe able to use copy. Documentation disables interface &interactivity. Emulation reader needs to installemulators in their own computers to runfiles. Porting Produces new editions of the work.Changes work in subtle ways. 9. Example 4: First Screening Created on an Apple IIebetween 1983-1984 inApple Basic. Underwhich edition(1984): 100 copiespublished in 5.25 floppydisks. Apple II seriesdiscontinued by 1993. 10. First Screening on Hypercard J. B. Hohm startedworking on a Hypercardversion of First Screeningin 1992. It was published in 1993by Red Deer College Pressin 3.5 disks. Hypercard wasdiscontinued in 2004. Classic Environment notfunctional beyond MacOS 10.4 (Tiger), releasedin 2005. 11. Digital Preservation of FirstScreening 3-year preservation project (2004-2007) by JimAndrews, Lionel Kearns, Dan Waber, GeofHuth, 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: ProsCons Well documented Different formats Offers work in multiple presented as (more orformats less) equivalent Offers supplemental representations of workmaterials Porting focuses on Includes source codelinguistic text andanimation Javascript port Graphical text ispreserves:neglected Linguistic text Animation Work is different ineach format. Lovingly executed 14. Screen Text vs CodeJavaScript Screen Text JavaScript Code 15. REMarks about Screen & Code Differences between code and screen aresignificant in bpNichols work: Title First Screening evokes computer andfilm Early (est?) kinetic digital poem Offscreen Romance plays off of onscreenchemistry and off-screen romance betweenFred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Code poem is not a kinetic text Code poem engages REM programming code 16. Problems with Current ElectronicPublication Paradigm Publish works in Web deliverable format Assumptions: The material can survive changes incomputational environment. Readers are willing to: Switch browsers or compare how they renderwork. Install plugins Install emulators Watch documentation videos 17. New Paradigm Publish works inside of computationalenvironments customized to run workoptimally. 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 intoother machine. Readers input is mapped onto virtualenvironments input. Requires good bandwidth 19. VCL (Virtual Computer Lab) NC State University & Apache SoftwareFoundation are the leaders in VCLdevelopment. 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 onthe Cloud. Minimizes system requirements for users. Deliverable on iPads, tablets, browsers. Successful? Gaikai was purchased by Sony Onlive went bankrupt 22. Whats next? Research and development of virtualization &emulation. Identification and preparation of keycomputational environments to be replicated. Develop input mapping on different devices. Explore legal issues with software licences. Curate environments and works so readerscan understand older computationalcontexts. 23. Final Considerations Can be used to produce critical editions: Example: Arteroids Prepare virtual machine with old version ofMacromedia Director. Provide source files for scholars to performCritical 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 EnglishUniversity of Puerto Rico: MayagezFulbright Scholar in Digital CultureUniversity of Bergen Featured project: I E-Poetry http://leonardoflores.net