[game_preservation] Preservation SIG questions + helping out

[Henry Lowood]

Hi Andrew,

First, let me welcome you and thank you very much for the interest in 
the wiki.  We sorely need attention to it and it's great that you 
will pitch in.

Second, as a kind of preliminary heads-up.  I've been silent for 
months longer than anticipated, but there's a reason: We are still 
not quite finished with the lengthy negotiation towards a game 
preservation grant from a (U.S.) national institution.   I think 
there will be a news release very soon indicating success, which I 
will send to you for the wiki before anyone else!   Then I'll chime 
in with some specific ideas that tie in from the project to your 
suggestions.  I'll be able to answer a couple of questions directly, 
like, "who is doing anything?"  Also, how we would like to continue 
the Digital Game Canon effort with an eye toward the preservation project.

Last for now, an interview project would be a great idea.  If we 
could do videotaped interviews and raise some funds, I could offer 
the resources we used at Stanford for the "Silicon Genesis" project 
on the history of the semiconductor industry -- 
http://silicongenesis.stanford.edu.   Namely, streamed interviews + 
searchable snippets + transcript + permanent preservation of the 
interviews and availability of them in High-Def for documentary 
purposes, etc.   The cost has been running about $800-$1500 per 
interview (depending on length), but surprisingly we have had little 
trouble raising funds from donorsfor the now circa 50 interviews, 
plus development of the website.  Donors have included individuals, 
companies, industry groups. If this is of interest, we can talk about 
this kind of a project on the list, perhaps being ready to launch 
something at GDC in February.

Linking the Gamasutra articles, btw, to the game canon page would be 
outstanding, which I think you had in mind to do, right?

Henry



At 10:25 AM 7/30/2007, Andrew Armstrong wrote:

>Hey anyone who is in the Game Preservation SIG,

>

>I joined up after seeing the Gamasutra Civilisation article, and 

>cleaning up some bits on the IGDA wiki to do with the project.

>

>Since I am a student currently, I think I could lend some support 

>(at least administratively) to helping the Preservation SIG. I'm not 

>old enough to be there at the beginning of history, and actually 

>think its vitally important to retain what happened before I was 

>born, even though I have not played most of the things from the time.

>

>Basically I'd love to help, but first maybe someone can answer these 

>questions so I know how I can help! These are some of the things 

>I've thought about:

>

>* Are things like the Classic Gaming Expo important? Should they be 

>kept track of, at least for informative reasons? What sorts of Game 

>Preservation things happen at conferences/talks, are there any?

>

>* How is the Digital Game Canon project going? how does it work/what 

>are its aims? Can I help?

>    o Are these some useful things to do: Collect interviews, 

> sources of information and game information for the digital game 

> canon, and other games that need preserving, on the IGDA wiki.

>    o And: Link to a variety of sites and articles (gamasutra has 

> some, others do) on old games / companies / history.

>

>* Is the SIG's aim *just software?* What about manuals, box physical 

>CDs/extras (or at least pictures of them), music and soundtracks, 

>game reviews/game magazines, advertising media (posters, trailers, interviews)?

>

>* On that note, apart from the Digital Game Canon, I can't find a 

>good list of things going on anywhere. Are there any? Who can I 

>help, or what can I help with? Is preservation just on "preserving 

>games" or the media as a whole (advertising, news articles, etc)? Is 

>it just to help archiving organisations (of which I don't know too 

>many exist), or more involved and historically "gathering 

>information"? What is historically important to the SIG anyway?

>

>* Can I update the IGDA wiki and fix some of the old broken links 

>and research some of the new physical archive locations?

>

>* Why has the archive.org DMCA exception not been updated? - 

>http://www.archive.org/about/dmca.php

>

>* Is there any major research into game preservation research and 

>news? Can the wiki be a bit more informative if so? (I can look into 

>this) since the area has not been as researched as well as film and 

>TV. Research on copyright and IP might be relevant (especially 

>length of such things), and I don't see any information available there.

>

>* Does anyone know what government agencies or media organisations 

>preserve film, tv, books, etc. and see what they might be doing 

>about games in the future, if they don't preserve them already?

>These are related, probably rhetorical "you can research" ones :)

>    o what laws, regulations and permissions do these organisations 

> have? DMCA is a problem in America, but what about elsewhere?

>    o What use is keeping a game preserved if no one is able to at 

> least buy it or play it somehow? - How does preservation work for 

> film and TV? Is hardware stored, or virtual machines created?

>    o What help does the archive organisations get from companies?

>

>* Is anyone seeing what game companies keep archives of media, 

>history or other information? Some might have vaults of the stuff 

>(at least publishers might).

>

>Whew, sorry about that, quick answers are fine I'll always ask again 

>if I am confused. Was thinking of this stuff last night actually 

>when I was reading Wired Classic Gaming Expo reports, so wrote a lot down.

>

>Also, I am more then willing to investigate more in the UK directly, 

>on behalf of the SIG, if I need to actually physically go anywhere 

>(out of the country I can't do at the moment however) since the UK 

>has some people who are important to gaming history. I will at least 

>update the IGDA wiki if no one objects.

>

>Feel free to email me directly if anyone wants. I'd have posted in 

>the forums, but they are pretty dead.

>

>Thanks,

>

>Andrew Armstrong

>_______________________________________________

>game_preservation mailing list

>game_preservation at igda.org

>http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation


Henry Lowood, Ph.D.
Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections
Curator for Germanic Collections; Film & Media Collections
HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford CA 94305-6004
650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu; http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/attachments/20070730/990727fb/attachment.html>