A web-book showing the history of electronic literature launched online June 1, with live tweeting and blogging by co-creator Dene Grigar, associate professor of English at WSU Vancouver, and her project partner.
Made for a wide array of digital devices, “Pathfinders: Documenting the Experience of Early Digital Literature,” is available free through the open-source platform Scalar at http://scalar.usc.edu/works/pathfinders.
The Web-book provides readers with access to four important computer-based works of literature that were among the first to be sold commercially in the United States but are now threatened by obsolescence.
All four are acclaimed works of fiction representing the cultural impact of digital technologies that resonate today in experimental writing, video games, cinema and virtual reality experiences.
“Pathfinders” captures demonstrations of the works performed by their authors on vintage computer systems.