Acid-Free Bits

Now available: Acid-Free Bits: Recommendations for Long-Lasting Electronic Literature, an electronic pamphlet by Nick Montfort and Noah Wardrip-Fruin. Published by the Electronic Literature Organization on behalf of its ongoing Preservation/Archiving/Dissemination project (PAD). From the document:

If special efforts aren’t made now, students, professors, authors, and readers won’t be able to access many important works of electronic literature in the future. For electronic literature to contribute to our culture, it’s important to have works that readers can return to later, literature people can recommend to others with some assurance that the work will still be available in readable form. Preserving e-lit, and creating e-lit that will remain available, is essential to the very concept of electronic literature, the basic idea that the computer can be a place for new literary works that make use of its capabilities.