[game_preservation] Game preservation research news, etc.

[Andrew Armstrong]

Sounds awesome Zach, and glad you could join in the mailing list as well :)

Keep us all posted on the developments of the project, too. It'll be 
good to know what's going down at the UT archive as you wrok on it as 
well :-)

Andrew

Vowell, Zachary W wrote:

> Hello everyone--

> Well, I thought I'd finally introduce myself to the list and quit lurking,

> so.... my name's Zach, and I work as the archivist for the UT Videogame

> Archive in Austin, TX.  It's been so helpful to listen in on the list's

> discussions of problems/challenges facing the preservation of games and

> their history, and here's hoping I can contribute a little more to those

> discussions in the future.

>

> Plus I had a piece of news that might be of interest.  A professor here at

> UT (Univ. of Texas) has received a grant from the Institute of Museum and

> Library Services (IMLS) for a research project entitled: "Video Games and

> the Cultural Record: Studying the Creation Processes and Artifacts of the

> Video Game Industry for the Purpose of Collection and Preservation."

>

> I'll be involved, because the Videogame Archive is serving as the repository

> of record for the project-- the grant stipulates that a project must partner

> up with a repository.  From what I know, the prof., Megan Winget, will be

> interviewing a lot of videogame professionals as part of the project (the

> interviews eventually ending up in the archive), and there will probably be

> other valuable by-products of the project, aside from, you know, her

> findings.

>

> That's all for now.  I included a longer description of the project below if

> anyone's interested.  Best--

>

>

> --

> Zach Vowell

> Archivist, UT Videogame Archive

> Center for American History

> zvowell at austin.utexas.edu

> http://www.utvideogamearchive.org

>

>

>

>

> "This Early Career Development grant will provide support for Assistant

> Professor Megan Winget to study the collection and preservation of

> 'massively multiplayer online' (MMO) games. Currently, preservation models

> for many types of digital creations focus on the end product, resulting in

> the loss of most of the artifacts from the creative process. This becomes

> especially problematic as an increasing number of digital products have no

> definite completion. Using ethnographic research techniques, Dr. Winget will

> seek to better understand the video game industry's methods, behaviors, and

> attitudes for the purpose of building more meaningful models of collection

> and preservation of complex, community-built digital creations. This

> research carries the promise of informing a wide array of issues in digital

> preservation, from digital media art to immersive learning environments."

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