[game_preservation] Preservation SIG questions + helping out

[Andrew Armstrong]

Hi Henry,

I will get on with the IGDA wiki then, and update it as needed, and good 
news on the silence front - although seeing some of the other SIG's 
"visibly silent" never means they have nothing going on - just I didn't 
have any clue what might be! Sounds like some good news.

On interviews; having done quite a bit of student television (now 
Loughborough even has high definition cameras, which I will use next 
year). This is only a possibility, but if you knew of a game 
developer/company in the UK that could at least have a test interview 
done (because like games, TV needs prototypes too) I could possibly even 
do it all myself / with help of LSUTV. I have free rail travel for the 
next year, so at the very least I could snap a tripod and camera, take 
it off for a day somewhere in the UK, and get some stuff done. This 
would cost me nothing except time and a few bus tickets.

On the money side, of course I am currently helpless, but I do know my 
way around a TV camera and around encoding content, and editing TV shows 
(although I avoid being on-screen). Definitely something that would be 
perfect for preserving game history, since its a good medium to record 
thoughts, feelings and suchlike - better then text, and more interesting 
visually then audio (very important for games).

I have obviously no clue as to how this would work regarding hosting, 
money, SIG involvement, and I know nothing of America and grants/the 
universities there. The IGDA I presume hasn't got the resources since 
its a distributed organisation of members more then a single location.

Let me know if my help would be good, text interviews like Gamasutra's 
civilisation one are brilliant, I think Video can help in other related 
ways (I remember watching some NerdTV stuff from the USA before (I 
should finished watching them!), is this the kind of style? - 
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/nerdtv/ - actually, would something like 
PBS, or another TV station somewhere, be able to help in the USA? (I 
have no idea - in the UK, I'd find it doubtful, but the USA is huge))

Andrew

Henry Lowood wrote:

> 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 

> <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 

> <http://www.stanford.edu/%7Elowood>

>

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