The vast majority of computer wizards may talk only to one another, and express themselves solely through their cybersorcery. Not so the tech support wizards of href="http://www.upenn.edu/DCCS/">Penn's Data Communications and Computing Services (DCCS).

Take David Deifer, for example. A senior network specialist, he is, first and foremost, a writer and poet. Working at Penn pays the bills.

Deifer is just one of the DCCS staff members who, anxious to get their words in print, helped create XConnect (pronounced "cross connect"), a literary journal with a twist.

Most publications start with a printed version before making the jump to the Web. Not XConnect. The national literary publication has been on-line since April of 1995 (http:techl.dccs.upenn.edu/-xconnect); it jumped off the screen to the printed page last week with a run of 1,000 copies. The Penn Bookstore has copies and the Center City Borders will host a reading Sept. 19.

"At present we have over 500 orders," crows Deifer, who is marketing the literary review coast to coast to the general public, "to bring poetry and fiction back into the limelight. The web has proved there is a large audience for creative writing, and ... the arts will continue with or without government funding."

XConnect is a success thanks to support from some members of the English Department, and from the University, as well as to the hard work of Deifer and others at DCCS.

XConnect came about as the result of a conversation Deifer had with Leah Sheppard, a DCCS network technician who shares Deifer's love for writing. Since both were both looking for outlets for their work, they decided to search the 'Net for Web sites that would post their writing. But they were disappointed by what they found.

"After looking at the many different literary Web sites, we just thought we could just do a much better job," Deifer says.

And they did -- with the help of two more DCCS employees. Mike Dettinger, help desk analyst, chipped in with the htmi coding and design, and Cliff Robinson, operations technician, put together the hardware needed to power the Web site. Marvin Jackson, now from Penn's new Institute for Medicine and Engineering, came on about the same time as XConnect Editor Alex Edelman (C'97). Edelman, an English major, had created an on-line magazine for undergraduate writers.

"He did such a good job and we needed help with our Web journal, so we promoted him to senior editor for our magazine," Deifer explains.

Edelman came to XConnect through Al Filreis, undergraduate chair of the English department and an early advocate of XConnect. Filreis is just one of the many Penn professors who have been impressed with the on-line publication.

"We had a lot of support from the different professors at Penn in the English department," Deifer notes. "Now, in the last two issues, maybe a quarter of the contributors are English professors or other types of professors at this, and other, universities."

Deifer and company are pleased that so many prominent scholars are backing their venture. They're particularly proud that Penn has been so cooperative, with Penn providing the technological resources necessary to keep XConnect on line.

"We feel lucky to have this opportunity, and it's all because of Penn," Deifer says.

As a show of gratitude, the XConnect staff are giving something back to their employer. The electronic and print versions of the publication are bringing positive publicity to the University, and XConnect's editors are planning courses for the Writer's House.

"Dave and I are going to be offering seminars on publishing on-line," Edelman says.

Perhaps these students will be the next crop of XConnect contributors. The first crop came mostly from cyberspace.

"We took people who had really good reputations on newsgroups and listservs and from that we were able to get more contributors because of those names," he explains.

XConnect still solicits on line, but now also uses snail mail to attract contributors. Four editors from around the country also actively seek out writers and artists.

"Now we're in a position where we can carve out each issue the way we want to," Edelman says. "We publish two percent of our submissions."

Of all the contributors featured in the on-line publication, only 43 made it into the printed version. The 188-page magazine boasts a four-page, four-color insert of original artwork.

Although the on-line version comes out quarterly, XConnect will only print annually. With the right support, it could come out more frequently; however. Deifer, who funded the project himself, doesn't welcome the creative "advice" financial backers would undoubtedly bring.

"I wanted to do it myself so we have complete control over what goes into the magazine, as well as the marketing," he says.

Deifer may provide the money, but Dettinger keeps track of it. A Wharton graduate, Dettinger is XConnect's general manager. A jack of all trades, he does just about anything the publication needs -- except write. That could change. Working with Sheppard and Deifer has shown him that DCCS employees are capable of much more than tinkering with computers.

"Surrounded by all this greatness, it's hard not to try writing," Dettinger says with a laugh.

Return to Compass Features for September 10, 1996