Pre-web Digital Publishing and the Lore of Electronic Literature

Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-1-108-82888-8
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 75 Seiten, Format (B × H): 127 mm x 178 mm, Gewicht: 132 g

Reihe: Elements in Publishing and Book Culture

This Element examines a watershed moment in the recent history of digital publishing through a case study of the pre-web, serious hypertext periodical, the Eastgate Quarterly Review of Hypertext (1994-1995). Early hypertext writing relied on standalone, mainframe computers and specialized authoring software. With the Web launching as a mass distribution platform, EQRH faced a fast-evolving technological landscape, paired with an emergent gift and open access economy. Its non-linear writing experiments afford key insights into historical, medium-specific authoring practices. Access constraints have left EQRH under-researched and threatened by obsolescence. To address this challenge, this study offers platform-specific analyses of all the EQRH's cross-media materials, including works that have hitherto escaped scholarly attention. It deploys a form of conceptually oral ethno-historiography: the lore of electronic literature. The Element deepens our understanding of the North American publishing industry's history and contributes to the overdue preservation of early digital writing.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ensslin, Astrid

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Medien-, Informations und Kommunikationswirtschaft Verlagswesen
• Technische Wissenschaften Technik Allgemein Technik: Allgemeines

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; 2. Between Paradigms: EQRH as Digi-Modernist 'Little Magazine'; 3. EQRH Works; 4. Conclusion; Appendix: Technical details of individual EQRH works.