Re: [-empyre-] Current preservation discussions and resources.

["Marjorie C. Luesebrink" <luesebr1@ix.netcom.com>]

Dear empyre folks -

I have been avidly following this discussion from the outset - thank you
Melinda and empyre for showcasing this important issue.  I wanted to take a
couple of days to see what directions the discussion would take, the scope and
intent.  Already, though, the posts are rooted and running - with many good
contributions and several key issues on the table.
First, Noah Wardrip-Fruin posted to mention the booklet he and Nick Montfort
authored:  *Acid-Free Bits* and to recommend the forthcoming companion booklet
in the collection, Alan Liu's *Born-Again Bits.*
Noah and Nick's work is particularly useful to the individual writer (touching
on issues brought up by Kom, Lisa, and Simon) -
and Alan's *Born-Again Bits* addresses questions of migration, access, and
overall access and storage structure (re:  Gerard and Margaret)
As Noah mentioned, these are available on the ELO Website - in the
Preservation, Archiving, and Dissemination section
<http://www.eliterature.org/pad/>
Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Nick Montfort
"Acid-Free Bits"
http://www.eliterature.org/pad/afb.html

Alan Liu
"Born Again Bits."
On this site, too, ELO/PAD has a list of Preservation/Archiving projects
(which will be expanded with the data from these discussions)

This project comes out of several years of work by members of the Electronic
Literature Organization to study, make recommendations, and set up
infrastructure to Preserve, Archive, and Disseminate e-literature.  Because
our focus is specifically on "literary" work, we have the advantage of a small
overall pool of artifacts to consider.  On the other hand, these creative
works tend to be technically more complex and to utilize technologies that may
become obsolete or continue to be protected by copyright.  It is both sobering
and encouraging to note that many of the issues faced by large-scale
harvesting initiatives are much the same as those we have encountered in
planning out strategies for saving e-literature.  Paul Koerbin notes questions
of selectivity, integrity of works, and reader/public access to the material,
for example.  Those issues are equally vexing even with a small pool of, say,
10,000 works!  What does seem promising is the fact that so many different
organizations are now working on aspects of the problem.  As we quickly
discover, the challenges of preserving and archiving (and possibly more
tricky, providing scholarly access and means of documentation) are extensive.
It seems to me that we will need to try many different approaches and that our
best chance might lie in a "distributed" effort.  Each organization, working
within its own constraints, is likely to solve a part of the problem - and
that solution can be adapted to projects working in overlapping or adjacent
areas.  In such a manner, we might build the necessary skills and information
bank to preserve as much of our electronic heritage as possible.  A discussion
such as this which helps create an awareness of what and who might be involved
is a fine step!   I look forward to the days ahead.

Always, Margie Luesebrink


Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Nick Montfort
"Acid-Free Bits"
http://www.eliterature.org/pad/afb.html

Alan Liu
"Born Again Bits."

noah wardrip-fruin wrote:

> At 5:50 PM +1100 2/1/05, Melinda Rackham wrote:
> >Preservation seems to be a hot topic at the moment:
>
> It's probably also worth mentioning the Electronic Literature
> Organization's project in "Preservation, Archiving, and
> Dissemination" (PAD):
> http://www.eliterature.org/pad/
>
> Nick Montfort and I have written a pamphlet presenting some of the
> PAD project's results, aimed at those who would like to create more
> preservable work. It's called "Acid-Free Bits," and may be of
> interest:
> http://www.eliterature.org/pad/afb.html
>
> Alan Liu has nearly completed the next PAD publication, "Born Again Bits."
>
> Noah
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre

--
Marjorie Coverley Luesebrink
AKA
M.D. Coverley

portal:  <http://califia.hispeed.com>
mailto:  <luesebr1@ix.netcom.com>

Electronic Literature Organization
C/o UCLA Department of English
2225 Rolfe Hall, Box 951530
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1530
310.206.1863
<http://www.eliterature.org>