[game_preservation] [August SIG] So much stuff posted up!

[Henry Lowood]

About the White Paper, here is what I have been 
meaning to write and just have not had time to 
put down.  So I am giving up on the longer tome 
and summarizing what we need to do:

1) The discussion about methods for collaborating 
pretty much bogged down.   (I will reserve 
comment on the odds of a successful conclusion on 
any topic to discussion of meta-issues.) We do 
have a group of volunteers to work as a kind of 
committee for the project, plus we have the 
entire group.  So, let's just get started.

2) In that spirit, I have set up a "White paper brainstorm" page here:
http://www.igda.org/wiki/White_paper_brainstorm
Have a look, and get busy!   And if you do 
contribute, please consider adding yourself to 
the contributors page, which will then identify 
our de facto editorial committee.

3) IGDA has just opened up a fund for internal 
funding or projects.   In the next weeks, I will 
submit a proposal for a modest level of funds to 
produce a print version of the white paper.  If 
we are both good and lucky, we may have this to 
distribute at GDC 2009.  If not, well, we'll find a way to get it out there.

4) Keep in mind: This first paper is a "call to 
arms" effort.  It will focus on goals, benefits, 
reasons for worrying about this.   We need 
passionate and compelling arguments, good 
examples of positive efforts and painful losses, 
etc.  We can get into solutions with a second 
white paper on practices, which perhaps we could 
finish for GDC 2010.  However, if somebody would 
like to get us started now on the second text, no 
reason not to -- just set up a page for brainstorming!

5) Feel free to muck around with the wiki pages I 
set up for us to get started. That's what a wiki is for!

Best,

Henry

At 03:45 PM 8/5/2008, Andrew Armstrong wrote:

>So the month of August rolls around. This is 

>late coming due to posting a ton of new blog 

>links from me missing a week of content, but I 

>wanted to try out the monthly progress 

>reports/articles posted links. Helps me at least keep myself on track! :)

>

>Preservation SIG Updates

>

>If anyone remembers, the 

><http://www.igda.org/wiki/Memorials>Memorials 

>project was launched more officially in June. 

>This has lead to a total of exactly no one 

>emailing Devin about it as far as I'm aware 

>(boo!) however, we're working on it ourselves 

>(yay!). Contributions welcome, there's a lot of 

>Biographies to do. People who died in July added 

>to the project are 

><http://www.igda.org/wiki/Memorials/Randy_Pausch>Randy 

>Pausch (Professor), and 

><http://www.igda.org/wiki/Memorials/Melissa_Batten>Melissa 

>Batten (Xbox 360 Developer). Both are rather sad 

>cases - Randy for his inevitable death from 

>cancer, and Melissa because of it being a murder-suicide by her husband.

>

>I have been working on plans to update the SIG's 

>information lists - which are now outdated, and 

>in fact were always incomplete. Starting afresh 

>is the 

><http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/Contributions>Contributions 

>page, where museums and archives will be listed 

>who can accept material. I personally am working 

>on emailing who I can, and in am in contact in 

>person with the <http://www.tnmoc.org/>UK 

>National Museum of Computing (which I 

><http://aarmstrong.org/journal/2008/07/27/the-national-museum-of-computing>visited 

>recently). Contributions to this section or 

>knowledge of any computer museums welcome - I 

>have only two USA museums to contact at the moment, there must be more! :)

>

>Finally, as an aside project, I am gearing up my 

>uploading efforts at the 

><http://www.archive.org/details/gamevideos>Internet 

>Archive, despite my internet connection here 

>being absolutely terrible for uploads. I'm 

>uploading more Kikizo and Fileshack material in 

>bits and pieces, and also the online gamer show 

>Pure Pwnage, which is easier since Wikipedia 

>provides a nice description of the content :) - 

>Henry and his Standford groupies are doing some 

>work in the 

><http://www.archive.org/details/virtual_worlds>Virtual Worlds section too!

>

>I might also be onto getting some older E3 

>videos/documentary stuff up from someone who 

>might be interested, we'll see - the E3 of 

>yesteryear isn't going to come back so soon, so 

>it'll be interesting to put that material up. 

>There will also be some effort if I run out of 

>everything else to start uploading trailers and 

>promo material. I'll link to anything 

>interesting, and try and root out some strange stuff for the collection.

>

>August Preservation SIG Work

>

>I have no idea how Henry is doing for workload - 

>so I don't expect the whitepaper will get 

>started yet. I personally will try and finish in 

>as much as I can the contributions section 

>before tackling the projects & resources pages. 

>Not much else to note that's of any interest, 

>maybe you guys are up to something good this month?

>

>I'm also currently reading "The A-Zof Cool 

>Computer Games" - giving me the thought to 

>review it's contents for an updated "Resources" 

>section. You might well be asked for book lists, 

>reviews or anything else in the future once I 

>get some templates up. I am sure many of you 

>have shelves of the annuals of time, it might be 

>time to dust them off for a little while if I 

>can't find them online to index on our site! :)

>

>Preservation SIG Blog Updates / Links

>

>Note: Have I missed anything? Then email it in. 

>I really should get a "Preservation newsdesk" 

>email setup, there's a lot more I simply don't 

>know about which I keep missing. This is 

>everything from July (the August stuff is really 

>from July or the very start of August).

>

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/10_things_every.html>10 

>things everyone should know about Space Invaders

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/interview_with.html>Interview 

>with Benoît Sokal

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/discworld_game.html>Discworld 

>Game Remakes

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/the_first_video.html>The 

>First Video Game Sequel with modding?

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/henry_lowood_on.html>Henry 

>Lowood on Machinima and the History of Digital Games

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/the_importance.html>The 

>Importance Of History In The Excellence Of Video Games

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/stanford_worksh.html>Stanford 

>Workshop: “Preserving Knowledge in Virtual Worlds”

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/gog_from_cdproj.html>GOG 

>from CD-Projekt to Offer Classic Games

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/somethingawful.html>SomethingAwful 

>Game Articles

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/defenderin_a_fa.html>Defender...in 

>a Favicon

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/the_good_and_ba.html>The 

>Good and Bad of Sport Videogames

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/making_tennis_f.html>Making 

>Tennis For Two On Modern Hardware

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/07/journal_startin.html>Journal 

>Starting "Historical Studies of Digital Entertainment Media"

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/the_world_of_we.html>The 

>World of Western RPGs

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/word_play_the_e.html>Word 

>Play: The Evolution of Game Journalism

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/the_history_of_4.html>The 

>History of Video Games: The First Video Game?...

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/_a_history_of_g_2.html>A 

>History of Gaming Platforms: Atari 8-Bit Computers

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/simon_turns_30.html>Simon 

>Turns 30: The History of the Toy and Gaming's First Grudge

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/game_mag_weasel.html>Game 

>Mag Weaseling: Where to begin?

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/introducing_the.html>Introducing 

>the Stephen M. Cabrinety Collection Blog

><http://www.igda.org/preservation/archives/2008/08/lost_server_con.html>"Lost 

>Server Connection": The Last Minutes of a Virtual World

>

>Simon did suggest pictures - I must start doing 

>this, despite the fact this version of Movable 

>Type is rubbish for it (ie; there's no way to 

>upload pictures ;) ). The new IGDA site is not 

>going to be here quick - it's being redone, 

>although I'm not sure I can divulge in what software, and there is no timeline.

>

>Final Thoughts

>

>The 

><http://www.websitetoolbox.com/mb/brainygamer>Vintage 

>Game Club started up last month, with Grim 

>Fandango. Mine keeps crashing, I'll have to 

>tinker with it more, but the intro sure has me 

>in the mood for more despite the agonising cries 

>of "illogical puzzles". They're not doing a 

>"Game a month" but instead seeing what works, 

>and who knows what will be done in the future? 

>Might be worth keeping an eye out on.

>

>This is also a trial. I'll stick this on the 

>wiki, and all comments are welcome on format/content.

>

>Thanks all,

>

>Andrew Armstrong

>IGDA Game Preservation SIG Site/Blog editor

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Henry Lowood, Ph.D.
Curator for History of Science & Technology 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 
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