the deep structure of the text/algorithm interaction inherent in all digital textuality — those places where the mathematical underpinnings of text as it appears on the screen (since there is always something at work keeping the text you are reading now visible) and how artists exploit them to create unique effects.
This, again, seems to be getting at the why of the medium, which is what I find most interesting in trying to define e-lit as a genre/canon.
this term and definition in itself brought together genres that in many ways were seen as separate in the early years
So here we're using the ELO's definition, but with the added insight that this definition has acted to consolidate diverse types of e-lit.
"literary works created with the use of a computer for the electronic medium such that they cannot be experienced in any meaningful way without the mediation of an electronic device"
This definition seems more concerned with how works are made and experienced, rather than why they are uniquely suited to this form.
works with important literary aspects that take advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the stand-alone or networked computer.
It's the relationship implied here between "literary aspects" and the "capabilities and contexts provided by the stand-alone or networked computer" that I find most interesting in this definition. Which literary aspects are uniquely positioned to do this work? What literary questions is e-lit best positioned to answer?