Entering the cyberdebates, Scott Rettberg moves beyond technique and proposes a more generative approach to hypertext, in which an author's intention and poetic purpose have a role.

A revaluation and appreciation of Stanley Elkin on the occasion of the Dalkey Archive reprinting of four separate volumes.

Matt Kirschenbaum, a longtime ebr contributor who actually does some programming and much reading in electronic environments, sought to ground the discussion.

Daniel Wenk was living in Paris on a Fellowship during the initial discussions. He would eventually give the discussions their name, End Construction!, after treating a street sign in Chicago. Using black electrical tape the same width as the sign lettering, he formed an exclamation mark and so turned the statement into a command.

Eugene Thacker, who went on to help design the Alt-X e-book series, suggested some models for ebr designers to consider.

In response to Bill Wilson's provocation (about not "getting through" to a younger audience), Linda Brigham introduces a cognitive perspective and closes with a metaphor from music - eventually the design-governing metaphor for the site design.

William S. Wilson, author of the story collection, Why I Don't Write Like Franz Kafka, audited the discussions on the new ebr Interface and posted a series of letters (backchannel), under the header, Why I Don't End Construction. His reasons have to do with audience building.

Elisabeth Joyce, co-editor of ebr3, Writing (Post) Feminism, entered the discussion on the new interface after the initiating posts by ebr design editor Anne Burdick, publisher Mark Amerika, editor Joseph Tabbi, and barker Rob Wittig. Joyce's post drew our very first gloss - by ebr contributing editor Steve Tomasula.

Responding to the potential for having "all of ebr current" and even viewable on a single screen, Brigham wonders if it might not be better to kill off content. Brigham's model is the Blair Witch project.

Steve Tomasula, who co-edited the two "image + narrative" issues of ebr in 1997, came in at the tailend of the discussions, when we stopped talking and began the three-year-long process of buiding the database/interface.

Brian Lennon, who at the time of the discussions was reviewing a book on experimental poetry and poetics, joined the END CONSTRUCTION discussion as its first phase was winding down.

Rob Wittig, since composing this response, has been serving as the "street barker" who announces the appearance of new ebr content.

Joseph Tabbi responds to posts from the journal design editor and publisher, using terms derived from an essay he was editing at the time. The audience database mentioned here was implemented for ebr11, wEBaRts, and further developed for the launch of End Construction! (Feb 2002)

Publisher Mark Amerika's reaction to Burdick's proposal for ebr3.0...

A note on the origins and development of ebr version 3.0, End Construction!