How authorship is made and named: a meta-aggregator / Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953–2023
Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953–2023
historical lineageMachine participation in authorshipAvant-garde and experimental archivesactive
The archive's reading. The publisher's page sets the anthology against the claim that text generation began recently and admits only implemented systems, so the record is a lineage of machine output. The archive reads it as a historical map of generated text whose attribution practice (system, programmer, editor) the saved page leaves unrecorded; the anthology itself was not read.
| Relation to this census | historical lineage |
|---|---|
| Record type | anthology |
| The question it answers | generative transformation: which implemented text generation systems produced which outputs, 1953 to 2023, as the editors select them |
| Kind | in the publisher's words, 'An anthology of seven decades of English-language outputs from computer generation systems' |
| Operator | edited by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram and Nick Montfort; published by Counterpath, co-published with MIT Press |
| Evidence | anthology; publisher description |
| Unit of record | an excerpt of output from a text generation system, introduced individually and organized by fine-grain genre (conversations, humor, letters, poetry, prose, sentences), with bibliographic references |
| What it records | English-language texts produced by generation systems and software, 1953 to 2023: creative writing, research-system output, reports and utilitarian texts |
| Whose authorship it keeps | the editors' selection and introductions; the authorship of each output is not recorded on the saved page |
| Under what name | not recorded: the publisher page does not say whether an output stands under a system's name, a programmer's or both |
| Who holds it | Counterpath, co-published with MIT Press (October 2024, $40.00, ISBN 978-0262549813); rights not stated on the saved page |
| Authorial function and responsibility | the admission rule constitutes the record as output of implemented systems: 'Purposefully excluded are human–computer collaborations that were conceptually defined but not implemented as a computer system'; how a given output's authorship is attributed is not recorded on the saved page |
| Method | an edited anthology: selected, introduced and organized by two editors, each excerpt with its own introduction and bibliographic references |
| Coverage | geography: English-language outputs; period: 1953 to 2023 |
| Count | value: 500 pages; as_of: October 2024 (publication) |
| Holdings | seven decades of English-language outputs of generation systems, with an overall introduction and an introduction to each excerpt; 500 pages, October 2024 |
| Stated limits | English-language outputs only; 'Purposefully excluded are human–computer collaborations that were conceptually defined but not implemented as a computer system.' |
| Data access | a printed book, for sale; the publisher page links to purchase |
| Licence | not stated on the saved page |
| Lifecycle | state: active; detail: published October 2024 and offered for sale on the publisher page on 2026-11-01 |
| Version and time | published: October 2024; read: 2026-11-01 |
| Founded | October 2024 (publication) |
What its record can settle
- which implemented text generation systems and outputs the editors gather for 1953 to 2023
- where to find bibliographic references for a given system or output
What it cannot settle
- how each output is credited (system, programmer, editor), on the saved page
- whether any example is contemporary LLM co-writing (historical scope alone does not show it)
- anything from the MIT page, which could not be read
Kept apart
- NOT a record of contemporary LLM co-writing alone: it spans 1953 to 2023 and includes reports and utilitarian texts
- NOT a collection of conceptual human–computer collaborations: those are purposefully excluded
- NOT read in full: the row rests on the publisher's description
Relations
- neighbour: rerites (co-editor Nick Montfort writes a response essay in ReRites)
Evidence
- self_description (the resource's own statement):
An anthology of seven decades of English-language outputs from computer generation systems, chronicling the vast history of machine-written texts created long before ChatGPT.
https://counterpathpress.org/output-an-anthology-of-computer-generated-text-1953-2023-edited-by-lillian-yvonne-bertram-and-nick-montfort · read 2026-11-01 · http 200 · sha256 9290267e59a0571a… - aim (the resource's own statement):
aims to correct that omission by gathering seven decades of English-language texts produced by generation systems and software.
https://counterpathpress.org/output-an-anthology-of-computer-generated-text-1953-2023-edited-by-lillian-yvonne-bertram-and-nick-montfort · read 2026-11-01 · http 200 · sha256 9290267e59a0571a… - scope (the resource's own statement):
The outputs span many different types of creative writing and include text generated by research systems, along with reports and utilitarian texts, representing many general advances and experiments in text generation.
https://counterpathpress.org/output-an-anthology-of-computer-generated-text-1953-2023-edited-by-lillian-yvonne-bertram-and-nick-montfort · read 2026-11-01 · http 200 · sha256 9290267e59a0571a… - unit (the resource's own statement):
each of the excerpts is introduced individually and organized by fine-grain genre including conversations, humor, letters, poetry, prose, and sentences. Bibliographic references allow readers to learn more about outputs and systems that intrigue them.
https://counterpathpress.org/output-an-anthology-of-computer-generated-text-1953-2023-edited-by-lillian-yvonne-bertram-and-nick-montfort · read 2026-11-01 · http 200 · sha256 9290267e59a0571a… - exclusion (the resource's own statement):
Purposefully excluded are human–computer collaborations that were conceptually defined but not implemented as a computer system.
https://counterpathpress.org/output-an-anthology-of-computer-generated-text-1953-2023-edited-by-lillian-yvonne-bertram-and-nick-montfort · read 2026-11-01 · http 200 · sha256 9290267e59a0571a… - editors (the resource's own statement):
thoughtfully selected, introduced, and edited by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram and Nick Montfort
https://counterpathpress.org/output-an-anthology-of-computer-generated-text-1953-2023-edited-by-lillian-yvonne-bertram-and-nick-montfort · read 2026-11-01 · http 200 · sha256 9290267e59a0571a… - copublished (the resource's own statement):
October 2024 co-published with MIT Press
https://counterpathpress.org/output-an-anthology-of-computer-generated-text-1953-2023-edited-by-lillian-yvonne-bertram-and-nick-montfort · read 2026-11-01 · http 200 · sha256 9290267e59a0571a… - size (the resource's own statement):
500 pgs.
https://counterpathpress.org/output-an-anthology-of-computer-generated-text-1953-2023-edited-by-lillian-yvonne-bertram-and-nick-montfort · read 2026-11-01 · http 200 · sha256 9290267e59a0571a… - isbn (the resource's own statement):
ISBN 978-0262549813.
https://counterpathpress.org/output-an-anthology-of-computer-generated-text-1953-2023-edited-by-lillian-yvonne-bertram-and-nick-montfort · read 2026-11-01 · http 200 · sha256 9290267e59a0571a… - price (the resource's own statement):
$40.00; 7″ x 9″
https://counterpathpress.org/output-an-anthology-of-computer-generated-text-1953-2023-edited-by-lillian-yvonne-bertram-and-nick-montfort · read 2026-11-01 · http 200 · sha256 9290267e59a0571a…
Unchecked
the MIT page (output-anthology--mit, cmsw.mit.edu): the fetch failed with a TLS certificate error (http 000, no text); unread and unquoted; this row rests on the Counterpath page; the anthology itself (not read); the publisher page's title spells the first editor 'Lillian Yvonne-Bertram', its body 'Lillian-Yvonne Bertram'; the row follows the body
Cite: Lee Sharks, ed. "Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953–2023." How authorship is made and named: a meta-aggregator, leesharks.com, compiled 2026-11-01. https://www.leesharks.com/apparatus/aggregators/output-anthology