"Choices in Creating 'TWUMOO's Inactive Virtual Archives'"
by Dene Grigar, Texas Woman's University

In translating TWUMOO's archives from a synchronic medium to one that is not, I have had to make some choices along the way that I hope renders them familiar, engaging, and playful and which retains as much of their original flavor as possible.

I should say at the outset that demonstrating the virtual qualities of TWUMOO's archives for this webtext was not difficult mainly because virtuality is a characteristic indicative of both TWUMOO and the web---though, I should add, levels of "virtualness" become obvious when looking at a room created for a text-based MOO with a graphically rich browser like Netscape. In the same vein, interactivity can be a component of both media with this one caveat: Lost will be the real-time interaction between *visitors* of the archives. Retained can be the interaction between *a visitor and a space (and its objects).*

Choices about Spaces to Represent

For this webtext, I have recreated only those spaces leading in to the archives or those actually holding them, as well as those spaces enlarging an understanding of the purpose and meaning of TWUMOO. The Pioneer Commons, the center of TWUMOO where one lands after "teleporting in," is included, as is the Woman's Institute and the Learning Resource Center, where the three archives---The 2nd Biennial Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) Conference, the Women's Collection of Electronic Texts, and the Black Feminist Lecture Series---are located. So that visitors will be reminded that besides a place for research, TWUMOO is also a space for teaching and learning, I have also recreated my office, Beestone Place, where I meet students online for conferences and classes. Limiting my webtext to these few spaces allows me to maintain cohesiveness and guide visitors through to my work's main focus---TWUMOO's interactive, virtual archives.

Choices about Objects to Demonstrate

Also, in this webtext, visitors will find objects associated with the archives or other spaces utilized here. While some of these objects, like the plaque in the Woman's Institute, are necessary for understanding the events or activities surrounding the archives, others, like the fountain outside of the Woman's Institute, are representative of the playfulness of TWUMOO and of MOOs in general. Visitors familiar with the original TWUMOO archives will notice that I have changed objects that would not work outside of a synchronous medium, like the Pioneer Woman "bot," or eliminated objects superfluous to this webtext, like the Wine Bar in the Foyer of the Woman's Institute. Once again I have done this to maintain cohesiveness and provide a sense of eminent direction. One last comment should be made about the way I have represented the objects: Visitors may notice that the images of the objects have a "hazy" or "fuzzy" look. I have purposely chosen to take this approach in order to show that the objects in this webtext are a "representation" of objects found in an actual site.

Choices about Utilizing Synchronic MOO Archives

Whenever possible I utilized parts of TWUMOO and its archives, rather than creating pages resembling them. This decision was not made wholly out of the desire to save time, although, that idea did indeed drive my design of the Women's Collection of Electronic Texts where there are literally hundreds of artifacts to reproduce. In the case of the archives from The 2nd Biennial Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) Conference, this decision was based on my desire to show the collaborative relationship and respect the contractual agreement between the University of Minnesota and TWUMOO to give credit to that university and its the graduate students who designed and coded all of the seven hundred or so abstracts found on their website. I should also mention that by linking to some of the original pages from TWUMOO, I was able to provide a taste of the original space, which I believe to be crucial to understanding our purpose, goal, and mission.

But linking a webtext like this one (created to make a specific point) to MOOspaces (produced some time ago for a different purpose) does not come without challenges. Once inside one of TWUMOO's original webbed pages---pages that were not designed with navigational links to this webtext---visitors can get lost. Back buttons on the MOOspaces are designed to help visitors navigate around TWUMOO not around this webtext. For that reason I have produced pop up windows for these linked MOOspaces that can be easily identified as different from the pages of the webtext and, of course, closed without losing one's place in the webtext.

Choices about Language Usage

I have also changed some of the language in the archives to reflect its utilization for this webtext and provide an immediacy to visitors. The Learning Resource Center, the location of online classrooms and general information about TWU, TWUMOO, and MOOing in TWUMOO, especially has been redesigned so that it focuses primarily on providing visitors of this webtext with information needed to make sense of the archives. Furthermore, in creating this webtext version of TWUMOO's spaces, I have created links to pages within the webtext rather than recreated some of the original links for spaces with TWUMOO. This action was taken in order to enhance navigating and limit confusion.

Choices about Coding

Most obvious to visitors of this webtext is my use of features commonly associated with webpages and not generally utilized in MOOs, like mouseovers, tunnels, and banners. Use of these javascripts is intended to enhance the MOO experience. A case in point: Visitors cannot type commands associated with MOO programming code and which enable them to interact textually with the space and objects. Thus, the notion of "teleporting" into a room can only be recreated if I can provide a special coding for that experience to occur. Embedding a javascript for a mouseover at the starting window that tells visitors that they are about to be teleported, for example, helps to preserve a bit of that experience. Following that alert up with a tunnelling effect that moves visitors from the starting page to the Pioneer Commons where they would normally be teleported in TWUMOO, also helps that experience to come alive. Likewise, the use of the banner at the starting page of the webtext welcoming visitors to the webtext is intended to establish interactivity at the very start of the exploration.

I end this note with an excuse and an apology. All acts of communication are acts of translation, and all acts of translation are acts of betrayal of the original texts. Therefore, I, the betrayer of these media, apologize for any liberties I may have taken in my translation. But, you see, I believe William Weaver is right when he claims that "there are no perfect solutions. You simply do your best" (Biguenet and Schulte 119). This webtext about TWUMOO's interactive, virtual archives is the best I can do under these circumstances, with what I know about computer resources, and with the tools I have to work with right now. Mea culpa.

For a general idea about Translation Theory, which underlies most of my work about textual analysis, you are welcome to contact me directly about my ideas at dgrigar@twu.edu.