[game_preservation] Before It's Too Late: A Digital Game Preservation White Paper Released

[Andrew Armstrong]

A new version has been released, the sites have been updated (all links 
are the same), this has included in the acknowledgements alterations to 
reflect who helped with the project :)

I'll be trying to publicise this through the IGDA newsletter and any 
other place on the web that might put it up as news. I'll contact 
developer orientated ones first, but really to test the waters I'll 
likely try every major site to see what they think. I think players can 
read this as much as developers can - it is of course saying why what 
they are playing is important for history! If anyone can help with this 
(emails, sites I might overlook, etc) - feel free to contact me off 
list. I just wish we had a new IGDA site already - the old one (thus the 
links on it) will disappear soon, so I can't just link them to the news 
item, but it'll have to be the wiki page.

The next white paper will be on the topic of "Best Practices for 
Preserving Digital Games" (my WIP title which is not a URL yet :) ) as 
described by Henry at the end of this years white paper:

> The next step is laying out the best methods for preserving digital 

> games and related archives, letting developers know how their 

> companies can help during the production process, and providing 

> working practices for both archives and companies. While museums and 

> archives can hold some material, much of it will be retained by 

> companies and individuals who should know the best way to store 

> physical materials and software to keep these materials safe and 

> secure for the future. Therefore, our next white paper will focus on 

> how you can preserve what you own. This will benefit companies that 

> hold copies of all their games and documentation materials and need 

> help in managing them for long-term preservation.

Depending on how much activity we see, this might or might not be done 
by next years GDC (which is earlier in March). Signups, ideas and offers 
to help are welcome now - Henry will head up the project, so feel free 
to email him or myself or add yourself to the brainstorm pages:

http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/White_Paper/2009_brainstorm

Andrew

Andrew Armstrong wrote:

> The 2008 white paper is now complete, titled Before It's Too Late: A 

> Digital Game Preservation White Paper:

>

> http://www.igda.org/wiki/Game_Preservation_SIG/White_Paper/Before_It%27s_Too_Late:_A_Digital_Game_Preservation_White_Paper 

>

>

> You can download it on that page, and find the link to Lulu for print 

> copies. Make sure to spread this far and wide, feedback is welcome 

> too, especially if we can improve anything for the next white paper.

>

> As I said in the news post:

>

> This is aimed at saying exactly why game history needs preserving, 

> what needs preserving, and what you can do to help preserve game 

> history! Spread this to anyone who is a developer or who is interested 

> in videogame history.

>

> Many thanks to Henry Lowood for leading the project and the 

> contributors Andrew Armstrong, Devin Monnens, Zach Vowell, Judd 

> Ruggill, Ken McAllister, Rachel Donahue, Jon-Paul Dyson, Stuart 

> Feldhamer and Jo Barwick.

>

> Look out for our next white paper looking at the best practices for 

> game preservation coming in 2010!

>

> Andrew

> _______________________________________________

> game_preservation mailing list

> game_preservation at igda.org

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