[game_preservation] Kotaku: Videogame History Museum Kickstarter short on funds
Henry Lowood
lowood at stanford.edu
Mon Aug 22 13:24:38 EDT 2011
Devin,
Sharing information is fine, and you are of course free as an individual
to say anything, so I don't think that was a problem.
Henry
On 8/22/2011 7:14 AM, Devin Monnens wrote:
> Was it then not a good decision to report this on the SIG Facebook page? I did after initial positive response, and because the article was by Frank.
>
> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>
> On Aug 22, 2011, at 12:32 AM, Henry Lowood<lowood at stanford.edu> wrote:
>
>> I'm a little uncomfortable with the SIG becoming too involved in fund-raising for specific institutions. For one thing, I work at an institution -- a University you may have heard of that raised a billion dollars three years ago -- and I would be personally concerned about conflict of interest. For another, there are currently maybe five museums or libraries in the videogame or arcade space that are seeking funds right now, not including established institutions such as the Strong Museum. At least three in California alone. I am on the Board of one and the Advisory Board of another; in both cases, I stated that fund-raising was not part of my role for them. I think it's ok to point people to fund-raising efforts, e.g. the one currently under discussion, but let's not identify the SIG too closely with any one project.
>>
>> Henry
>>
>> On 8/21/2011 5:13 PM, Martin Goldberg wrote:
>>> Honestly it's not different than Walter Day's or any other small
>>> group's project, where they think they're the only ones doing it or
>>> ever to try and do something like this. Usually oblivious to any of
>>> the previous or current professional/academic/etc. archival efforts
>>> already in place.
>>>
>>> I for one have a wait or see attitude as far as them being champions
>>> of digital preservation, and think Frank's jumping the gun in calling
>>> them that. It's basically their personal collections that have been
>>> acquired over time by any means necessary (I'm being polite there),
>>> that they've now decided to try and bring in money around to put on
>>> display - which they already do for much of it with CGE and E3. I
>>> don't see helping Activision out with Activision Hits by providing a
>>> few collectibles as being sign of serious intentions, that was years
>>> ago and there were other archives and collectors involved in that
>>> level as well. I would also have issues with the Preservation SIG
>>> getting involved with a group that's been known (for years now) to go
>>> beyond preservation and re-release materials they don't have copyright
>>> ownership of for a profit. I.E. a lot of the protos and unreleased
>>> games they've obtained copies of and make reproductions of to sell at
>>> CGE over the years.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 11:56 AM, Devin Monnens<dmonnens at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> http://kotaku.com/5832999/its-not-looking-good-for-the-videogame-history-museum
>>>> Following up on this earlier report, the Videogame History Museum project
>>>> begun by Digital Press is not meeting its goal of $30k. Is this something
>>>> that the Game Preservation SIG should be involved in with trying to promote?
>>>> It's not like they've contacted the list or anything about this...
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Jul 7, 2011 at 9:40 AM, Frank Cifaldi<fcifaldi at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Right now they're just trying to get a space so they can get started,
>>>>> other projects would follow. I don't know what their ultimate ambitions are,
>>>>> but I do know that these guys are big champions of digital preservation and
>>>>> of providing a place to conduct research. They once helped Activision out
>>>>> with one of its compilation packs by providing assets and data, and they'd
>>>>> like to start doing more of that sort of work. They also want to host events
>>>>> and talks like CGE.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>
>>>>> On Jul 7, 2011, at 6:22 AM, Martin Goldberg<wgungfu at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Collection and display. They're basically interested in formal
>>>>>> presentation of their personal collections (a portion of which they've
>>>>>> been showing off at CGE and E3 all these years).
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Thu, Jul 7, 2011 at 7:07 AM, Devin Monnens<dmonnens at gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>> Digital Press is taking donations for The Video Game History Museum,
>>>>>>> which
>>>>>>> first showed an exhibit at E3 this year as well as at the Classic
>>>>>>> Gaming Exp
>>>>>>> in Vegas.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2011/07/digital_press_veterans_kicksta.php
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1760848975/the-videogame-history-museum
>>>>>>> http://www.vghmuseum.org/
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> They're looking to raise $50k through Kickstarter, which actually seems
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> me like a very small number. Do you suppose they're looking more for
>>>>>>> collection and display rather than long-term preservation? I recently
>>>>>>> read
>>>>>>> an article about how museums are less interested in long-term
>>>>>>> preservation
>>>>>>> (i.e. making sure the thing works) than with having objects on display,
>>>>>>> so
>>>>>>> whether the data on a floppy disk is readable is kind of irrelevant.
>>>>>>> The
>>>>>>> curators pointed their fingers at libraries and archives as those
>>>>>>> responsible for the task of information preservation.
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Devin Monnens
>>>>>>> www.deserthat.com
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> game_preservation mailing list
>>>>>>> game_preservation at igda.org
>>>>>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Marty
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> game_preservation mailing list
>>>>>> game_preservation at igda.org
>>>>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> game_preservation mailing list
>>>>> game_preservation at igda.org
>>>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Devin Monnens
>>>> www.deserthat.com
>>>>
>>>> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> game_preservation mailing list
>>>> game_preservation at igda.org
>>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>> --
>> Henry Lowood
>> Curator, History of Science& Technology Collections;
>> Film& Media Collections
>> HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
>> 650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu
>> http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> game_preservation mailing list
>> game_preservation at igda.org
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_preservation
--
Henry Lowood
Curator, History of Science& Technology Collections;
Film& Media Collections
HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu
http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood
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