[en] DHQ in the Public EyeMelissa Terras, University College London
Abstract
[en]
This editorial reflects on developments to DHQ and the ways we can assess impact and
readership.
[en] Somewhere Nearby is Colossal Cave: Examining Will Crowther's Original “Adventure” in Code and in Kentucky Dennis G. Jerz, Seton Hill University
Abstract
[en]
Because so little primary historical work has been done on the classic text computer
game “Colossal Cave Adventure”, academic and popular
references to it frequently perpetuate inaccuracies. “Adventure” was the first in a series of text-based games
(“interactive fiction”) that emphasize exploring, puzzles, and
story, typically in a fantasy setting; these games had a significant cultural impact
in the late 1970s and a significant commercial presence in the early 1980s. Will
Crowther based his program on a real cave in Kentucky; Don Woods expanded this
version significantly. The expanded work has been examined as an occasion for
narrative encounters and as an aesthetic masterpiece of
logic and utility ; however, previous attempts to assess
the significance of “Adventure” remain incomplete without
access to Crowther's original source code and Crowther's original source cave.
Accordingly, this paper analyzes previously unpublished files recovered from a
backup of Woods's student account at Stanford, and documents an excursion to the
real Colossal Cave in Kentucky in 2005. In addition, new interviews with Crowther,
Woods, and their associates (particularly members of Crowther's family) provide new
insights on the precise nature of Woods's significant contributions. Real locations
in the cave and several artifacts (such as an iron rod and an axe head) correspond
to their representation in Crowther's version; however, by May of 1977, Woods had
expanded the game to include numerous locations that he invented, along with
significant technical innovations (such as scorekeeping and a player inventory).
Sources that incorrectly date Crowther's original to 1972 or 1974, or that identify
it as a cartographic data file with no game or fantasy elements, are sourced thinly
if at all. The new evidence establishes that Crowther wrote the game during the
1975-76 academic year and probably abandoned it in early 1976. The original game
employed magic, humor, simple combat, and basic puzzles, all of which Woods greatly
expanded. While Crowther remained largely faithful to the geography of the real
cave, his original did introduce subtle changes to the environment in order to
improve the gameplay.
[en] All Hope Abandon: Biblical Text and Interactive FictionEric Eve, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford
Abstract
[en]
Among the alternative kinds of narrative opened up by computer technology, one of
earliest is interactive fiction (and specifically the “text adventure” or
“adventure game”), which first came into being in the 1970s. Text-based
interactive fiction enjoyed a brief period of commercial success in the 1980s until
it was overtaken by advances in computer graphics, but it continues to be read and
written by enthusiastic amateurs. Although interactive fiction clearly has roots in
computer gaming, it also has potential as a new form of literature.
Since interactive fiction may be a medium unfamiliar to some readers, this article
will start by defining it, explaining some of its conventions, and outlining its
origins. It will then describe how one recent piece of interactive fiction, “All Hope Abandon”, explores aspects of Biblical Studies
through the medium of IF, and will end by suggesting a number of fruitful links
between interactive fiction and biblical text. In the course of the article several
examples from “All Hope Abandon” will be given, and
instructions on how to install and play the game will be provided at the end.
[en] Aporias of the Digital Avant-GardeSteve F. Anderson, University of Southern California
Abstract
[en]
This article maps two divergent trajectories within a narrowly defined sphere of
short-form, time-based digital media created between 1995 and 2005. These works are
considered in relation to the historical avant-garde - particularly the Structural
film movement of the 1960s and 70s - and analyzed as responses to a range of cultural
concerns specific to the digital age. The analysis identifies movement toward two
terminal points: first, a mode of remix-based montage inspired by open source
programming communities and peer-to- peer networks; and second, the emergence of a
mode of imaging termed the “digital analogue”, which foregrounds the material
basis of digital production.
[en] The End of the Irrelevant Text: Electronic Texts, Linguistics, and Literary
TheoryDavid Hoover, New York University
Abstract
[en]
The close study of literary texts has a long and illustrious history. But the
popularity of textual analysis has waned in recent decades, just at the time that
widely available electronic texts were making traditional analytic tools easier to
apply and encouraging the development of innovative computer-assisted tools. Without
claiming any simple causal relationship, I argue that the marginalization of textual
analysis and other text-centered approaches owes something to the dominance of
Chomskyan linguistics and the popularity of high theory. Certainly both an
introspective, sentence-oriented, formalist linguistic approach and literary theories
deeply influenced by ideas about the sign's instability and the tendency of texts to
disintegrate under critical pressure minimize the importance of the text. Using
examples from Noam Chomsky, Jerome McGann, and Stanley Fish, I argue for a return to
the text, specifically the electronic, computable text, to see what corpora,
text-analysis, statistical stylistics, and authorship attribution can reveal about
meanings and style. The recent resurgence of interest in scholarly editions, corpora,
text- analysis, stylistics, and authorship suggest that the electronic text may
finally reach its full potential.
[en] Revista Digital Universitaria: A Workshop of Digital Editing at the Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoErnesto Priani Saisó, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Abstract
[en]
The Revista Digital Universitaria (http://www.revista.unam.mx) at the
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) is an experimental digital magazine
that serves as a “workshop of digital editing at the
university”. In this article its editor explores how its authors and
producers have experimented with the form and content of the publication.
