Eastgate Systems, Inc. is an American electronic publishing and software company headquartered in Watertown, MassachusettsFAQ. Eastgate.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-28. Founded in 1982 by Mark Bernstein, the company is known for its role in the development of hypertext publishing and electronic literature.Hypertext connects disparate data: extract a world of data, layer by layer by Henry Fersko-Weiss, March 1st, 1989, Lotus Publishing Corp. Quotes Mark Bernstein: "In the next five to ten years," says Eastgate Systems' Bernstein, "hypertext will determine the way programs interact with people."Gutermann, Jimmy, 'Hypertext Before the Web,' Chicago Tribune, April 8, 1999 ("Thanks to some successful early attempts at hypertext fiction that Eastgate published (most notably by Michael Joyce and Stuart Moulthrop) and a front-page Robert Coover essay in the "New York Times Book Review," Eastgate and Storyspace were closely associated with the emerging field of literary hypertext.")Coover, Robert, 'And Hypertext Is Only the Beginning. Watch Out!' New York Times Book Review, August 29, 1993 ("...the primary source for serious hypertext fictions today is Eastgate Systems, the New Directions of electronic publishing and the supplier of the popular Storyspace software in which most of the hypertext authors I know about have written.")
Eastgate became one of the best-known publishers of hypertext fiction through works such as afternoon, a story by Michael Joyce and Patchwork Girl by Shelley Jackson.Murphy, Kim, 'Electronic Literature: Thinking Outside the Box,' Los Angeles Times, July 24, 2000; Zack, Ian, 'A Novel Approach to Literature,' The Roanoke Times, July 16, 1999. The company publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in hypertext formats and has developed software tools including Storyspace and Tinderbox.
It publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry hypertexts by established authors with careers in print, as well as new authors. Its software tools include Storyspace, a hypertext system created by Jay David Bolter, Michael Joyce and John B. Smith,Landow, George P. (1992). Hypertext: the convergence of contemporary critical theory and technology. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 40 in which much early hypertext fiction was written.Strange fiction by Jimmy Guterman, 05.23.97, Forbes. History Eastgate Systems was founded by Mark Bernstein in 1982 and developed hypertext tools. Joyce and Bolter launched Storyspace in 1987, at the first annual Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) conference on Hypertext. Joyce presented afternoon, a story as a case-study for the tool; the work is widely considered the first work of hypertext fiction and was published by Eastgate in 1990. In 1995, Eastgate published Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl. These legacy works can be found in academic libraries though not all institutions maintain the now obsolete hardware required to interact with these titles. However, a number of specialized media labs, such as The NEXT Museum, Library, and Preservation Space, do maintain both the software and the hardware to read these works.
Eastgate has published series of works as hypertext journals, including the Eastgate Quarterly.
Robert Coover highlighted Eastgate as "the primary source for serious hypertext" in The New York Times Book Review in 1993, a quote which still features prominently in Eastgate's tagline. Between 1993-6, Eastgate published eight issues of The Eastgate Quarterly Review of Hypertext.
Products Eastgate developed several software tools associated with hypertext writing and research. Storyspace, created by Jay David Bolter, Michael Joyce, and John B. Smith, allowed authors to create nonlinear works using linked text nodes and visual maps. Storyspace writing environment consists of boxes (nodes) and arrows (named links) that show connections between nodes. Much early hypertext fiction was written using the platform.
The company later developed Tinderbox, a note-taking and content management application designed for organizing, analyzing, and visualizing interconnected information in a hypertextual environment.
Publications
Fiction Michael Joyce: afternoon, a story (1987, 1990), Twilight, a Symphony (1996) (Storyspace) Sarah Smith: The King of Space (1991) (Hypergate) Judy Malloy and Cathy Marshall; Forward Anywhere Judy Malloy: its name was Penelope (1993) (Eastgate published the Storyspace version) Carolyn Guyer: Quibbling (1992) Stuart Moulthrop: Victory Garden (1992) (Storyspace, redone in The NEXT Museum, Library, and Preservation Space) Deena Larsen Marble Springs (1993), Century Cross (1994), Samplers—Nine vicious little hypertexts (1997) John McDaid: Uncle Buddy's Phantom Funhouse (HyperCard) Kathryn Cramer: In Small & Large Pieces (1994) (Storyspace) Shelley Jackson: Patchwork Girl (1995) (Storyspace) Bill Bly: We Descend, Volume One (1997) (Storyspace, Tinderbox) Richard Holeton: Figurski at Findhorn on Acid (2001) (Storyspace) J. Yellowlees Douglas: I have said nothing Kathleen McConnell under Kathy Mac: Unnatural Habitats Kathryn Cramer: In Small & Large Pieces Mary Kim Arnold: Lust Mark Bernstein: Those Trojan Girls (2016) Megan Heyward: Of day, of night (2004) Wes Chapman: Turning In Edward Falco: A Dream with Demons Rob Swigart: Down Time Tim McLaughlin: Notes Toward Absolute Zero Judith Kerman: Mothering (StorySpace) Richard Smyth:Genetis Clark Humphrey The Perfect Couple
Poetry
Robert Kendall and Richard Smyth: A Life Set for Two (Visual Basic) Stephanie Strickland, True North (StorySpace) Jim Rosenberg, Integrams (Hypercard)
Non-fiction Roderick Coover:Cultures in Webs David Kolb: Socrates in the Labyrinth Diane Greco: Cyborg, engineering the body electric Eric Steinhart: Fragments of the Dionysian Body George Landow: Writing at the Edge; The Dickens Web; George Landow and Jon Lanestedt:The In Memoriam Web Guiliano Franco: Quam Artem Exerceas
See also Electronic literature Hypertext fiction
Notes
References Miller, Laura (March 15, 1998). "Bookend; www.claptrap.com". The New York Times. Retrieved on August 13, 2007. Guernsey, Lisa (April 15, 1999). "New York Times: New Kind of Convergence: Writers and Programmers". The New York Times. Retrieved on August 13, 2007.
External links