[game_preservation] EFGAMP and Art History of Videogames

[Devin Monnens]

First off, I wanted to post this here on the list. Yes, I knew about it for
about a month now, but have been so busy with moving and a new job that I
haven't had time to sit down and actually READ the article to give some
sort of meaningful summary of it.

http://www.aiomi.it/news/efgamp-joining-forces-to-preserve-gaming-legacy/?goback=%2Egmp_4158855%2Egde_4158855_member_103892326

Basically, EFGAMP is Europe's answer to game preservation. This article
announces its launch and gives a detailed summary of everyone involved in
the project.

The thing is, while I know a lot of you here should know about it, I am
VERY surprised that it was never announced on the mailing list (or at least
I never saw it). I don't really see any involvement with the SIG in this
for that reason, and I think that's a bad thing, especially when we see one
of the bullet points farther down:

   - Network with other digital preservation communities worldwide

So yeah, that international game preservation network is something a bit
far off. I'm not blaming it on EFGAMP or the SIG, but I would have thought
the SIG would have talked about it sooner (or was that at the GDC meeting I
missed?).

Anyway, in relation to this is an interview from December with Chris
Melissinos. Is he on our list?

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/701849/qa-chris-melissinos-curator-of-the-smithsonians-art-of-video-games-exhibition/


Here's the section dealing directly with preservation:

*G4: So we should expect an entire video game wing of the Smithsonian in
the near future?*

CM: If I had my way, absolutely. And depending on the success of this, it
could be the very first step. And more than just the Smithsonian American
Art Museum. I see a real opportunity to create an advisory body or
consortium that drives a global standard for curation, information
gathering and collection. Adhering to this, we could still have the private
collections, and at the same time, able to cross-reference each other, so
we can get a holistic view, globally, of the entire industry.

And honestly, this sort of database was something I'd been interested in
doing for awhile. I started research on the database of preservation
institutions around the world, but I have to admit I never really got the
ball rolling on that one (online database is the trouble, and I know I'd
briefly discussed with Andrew on this). I think the EFGAMP project shows
that the Europeans are already taking that step forward.

My opinion was that we should:

   - a) provide a space for international conversation about preservation
   of games (basically, where anybody who is doing anything with preservation
   can share ideas) and
   - b) use that network to build the database. (i.e. Who is doing what,
   and what still needs to be done)

Any thoughts on this?

-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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