Archiving Roundtable

Listed as one of the main themes of the Bergen 2015 ELO conference is the following question: is “electronic literature” a transitional term that will become obsolete as literary uses of computational media and devices become ubiquitous? If so, what comes after electronic literature?

The notion of obsolescence has been a recurring issue in electronic literature since at least 2002, the date of the ELO Conference at UCLA. At that time, archiving became a general concern in the field. ELO responded with documents such as Born-Again Bits, Acid-Free Bits, and the ELC 1 and 2 Collections. Since that time, with the continual evolution of computational media and devices, the problems of archiving have continued to grow more complicated. The panel proposes to address issues of Archiving based on this re-wording of the conference theme: is electronic literature a transitional practice that will become obsolete as the multiplication of forms of both computational media and devices make literary artifacts more and more difficult to preserve?

The panel will include Leonardo Flores and the ELC 3 Collective, Marjorie C. Luesebrink (M.D. Coverley), Rui Torres, and Stephanie Strickland. Topics to be addressed by the panel will include the following: Stephanie Strickland, “Six Questions for Born-Digital Archivists”; Rui Torres, “Interfacing the Archive: (Ab)Using the PO.EX Digital Archive”; Leonardo Flores/Stephanie Boluk/Jacob Garbe/ Anastasia Salter, “The Electronic Literature Collection Volume 3 (ELC3) Editorial Collective presentation”; Marjorie C. Luesebrink, “The creation of Women Innovate: Contributions to Electronic Literature (1990-2010) by Marjorie Luesebrink and Stephanie Strickland”.

(source: ELO 2015 conference catalog)