[game_preservation] Contributing Materials Information - help!

[Andrew Armstrong]

This is probably only going to be archives which can allow academic 
access to materials, and which have a certain level of independence from 
financial problems - ie; they won't sell any of it off if they are 
pressed for cash, and won't sell it all if the owner dies for instance. 
Collectors I don't think would be appropriate, although I am sure they'd 
like to have more stuff :-)

This list is a reference tool however. In some cases, if no 
museum/archive can take the things, and the person really can't keep 
them, obviously third parties would be a somewhat necessary step! I 
don't think the list will host individuals however, at least not from 
what was originally discussed at GDC.

An update on my original post: I went to the National Museum of 
Computing and will report on it later (very cool place), and the 
organiser there said he could get the UK details sorted since there is 
basically him and 2 other places, the other two likely not accepting 
much. I'll get this done then sort the other ones I think, in a week or 
so, since I can discuss it in person with him. There won't be much 
leeway sadly, and I think source code might be better handled if the IA 
was properly equipped and a project or collection there started, since 
the cost of running proper servers and backups is not something this 
museum will be doing right now. America etc. will be different of course :)

Andrew

Stuart Feldhamer wrote:

>

> You should put up some guidelines as to what types of organizations 

> are qualified to accept materials. Otherwise, hey, I'll definitely 

> accept contributions, as I'm sure would many of my colleagues on the 

> software collector's mailing list...

>

>  

>

> Stuart

>

>  

>

> *From:* game_preservation-bounces at igda.org 

> [mailto:game_preservation-bounces at igda.org] *On Behalf Of *Andrew 

> Armstrong

> *Sent:* Thursday, July 24, 2008 7:22 PM

> *To:* IGDA Game Preservation SIG

> *Subject:* [game_preservation] Contributing Materials Information - help!

>

>  

>

> Okay, so, as with the museums update (which I am sorting offline and 

> have noted all the information so far, thanks all!) there is this page 

> I need to update too:

>

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

>

> "You can find here a short directory of archives and museums who are 

> willing to accept developer materials, game source code and physical 

> materials (such as consoles, game copies, marketing materials and 

> documents)."

>

> Now, the question is, what information should these organisations 

> provide to be put up on this page? My first thoughts:

> - Full physical street address

> - Contact name, title/job

> - Phone number

> - Email address

>

> Optionally, would also have:

> - What types of material can be accepted (might be specific types - 

> such as "no software" or a specific era, or a specific console...who 

> knows)

>

> Can anyone think of anything else? This is all I've got on it so far, 

> but there is surely some meta data which would be useful to a would-be 

> contributor. Contributors can, of course, not just be developers - I 

> am sure a few collectors or interested parties might be able to 

> contribute and accidentally find the page too. Therefore: off the bat, 

> would this informtation be enough if you had something and wanted to 

> find somewhere to contribute it to?

>

> Hopefully once this is more up to date and complete, we'll be able to 

> advocate developers putting materials into archives :-) Show them this 

> link, and get the word out at least more reliably then "well, you 

> could probably...um...maybe...ring someone?...perhaps...".

>

> I'll also get together a list of rough guidelines (pending our 

> whitepapers!) on how to store material for future preservation (eg; at 

> companies who say "no way" at the moment :) ), or how to send it in to 

> these organisations in the best way possible. Opinions on this are 

> equally welcome.

>

> Reason for the "help!" part is I'm going to visit the National Museum 

> of Computing <http://www.tnmoc.org/> on Saturday where I might 

> volunteer, and this is something I will bring up - the same with a few 

> other UK places which might be able to accept material. I'll try and 

> visit them in person, and otherwise email out-of-UK places, and I 

> would love to send them a form to fill in for this to keep it 

> standardised.

>

> Thanks all!

>

> Andrew

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

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