[game_preservation] Kotaku: Videogame History MuseumKickstarter short on funds

[Henry Lowood]

Interestingly, there is apparently some evidence (I've been told this) 
that leaving magnetic media in a plastic-sealed (shrinkwrap) container 
might accelerate the rate of data loss.  I was told this by conservation 
librarians, and the main reason appears to be that outgasing of 
materials inside the box is not vented through the shrinkwrap.  Also, in 
some cases, e.g., the packaging of audiocassettes in a plastic baggie, 
there is apparently a possibility of some static effects that might 
affect the magnetic media.  Again, so I've been told ...  I'm a little 
skeptical about the static issue, but the outgasing makes sense to me; 
that's an issue with other media as well, and indeed with any plastic 
materials.

Henry

On 8/23/2011 6:18 AM, Devin Monnens wrote:

> No, you're absolutely right, and this was something that came up in 

> the conversation awhile back (how a lot of museums don't feel 

> operability is necessary). The trouble with collectors is the value 

> that is placed on the object is dictated by its condition, and that 

> often includes the object being factory sealed. Whether or not that 

> factory-sealed object will still have worth another 10 years from now 

> when the contents become inoperable doesn't seem to be part of the 

> equation. As a researcher, I find the contents of the work to be more 

> valuable than the condition of the object, but I am also a collector, 

> so I have a significant number of factory sealed objects (nothing 

> that's one-of-a-kind, however, unless Softpres wants a sealed copy of 

> Barney Bear Goes to Space, which I think has already been preserved). 

> Digital Press are collectors. I would be interested in knowing what 

> their philosophy is.

>

> On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 6:08 AM, Christian Bartsch <cb at softpres.org 

> <mailto:cb at softpres.org>> wrote:

>

>     I don't know if I should say something because everyone will call

>     my opinion biased... But what sense does it make to put game boxes

>     on the shelves when the content (bits & bytes) is rotting away? I

>     actually have seen so many "museums" all over the world (mainly

>     judging by websites), but only very few actually care about the

>     contents of their assets. Some of them actually look like huge

>     collections that grew beyond something that can be handled

>     privately, but I often miss the professional approach to preserve

>     what was meant to be seen by the user (=the program).

>

>     We have developed preservation technology for about a decade now

>     and I am really curious how the actual contents are being

>     processed and analysed. I am not trying to upset anyone here, but

>     if there's another tech available for e.g. floppy disk

>     preservation, I'd really like to see and learn from it.

>

>     This is not meant to undermine efforts or discourage anyone. But I

>     wonder if the majority actually knows how digital preservation

>     works. Again, apologies for being so direct...

>

>     --

>     Christian Bartsch

>     The Software Preservation Society

>     http://www.softpres.org <http://www.softpres.org/>

>

>     On 22 Aug 2011, at 21:50, Martin Goldberg wrote:

>

>>     I'm just going by the link Alan posted.  Not the sort of content

>>     quality I would expect from a place championing preservation.

>>

>>

>>     On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 2:48 PM, Alex Handy <alex at themade.org

>>     <mailto:alex at themade.org>> wrote:

>>>     I think that's a different museum. There's rather a lot here in

>>>     the SF

>>>     Bay Area these days. There's the MADE (my group), the Digital Games

>>>     Museum, founded by Judith formerly of the Computer History

>>>     Museum, and

>>>     now there's the DigitPress guys, who are on Kickstarter right now.

>>>

>>>     Just to keep everyone clear on who's who.

>

>

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>

>

>

> -- 

> Devin Monnens

> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>

>

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-- 
Henry Lowood
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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