[game_preservation] New Year's Greeting and Preservation SIG news

[Henry Lowood]

Hi Melanie,

No, nobody has claimed that yet, so that role is yours.  Jason della 
Rocca is just now resetting the password, so I'll let him know.

Thanks very much!

Henry

At 03:18 PM 1/8/2007, Melanie Swalwell wrote:

>Hi all,

>

>Good to see some game preservation discussions kickstarting the year.

>

>I would be happy to take on the mailing list moderator role Henry 

>has suggested, if no one has yet put their hand up to do this.  I am 

>assuming that this would entail minimal moderation per se; more just 

>being a contact to help people subscribe etc and keeping things 

>ticking over in the background.

>

>For those of you who don't know me, I'm a new media/games studies 

>researcher, based at Victoria University of Wellington (in New 

>Zealand) where for the last few years I've been researching the 

>early local history of digital games, c. late 1970s- mid 80s.  Based 

>on this research, I have assembled a team of colleagues at VUW (from 

>Computer Science, IP Law, and Archiving), who are working with me on 

>NZ game preservation issues/game preservation in NZ.  Our "NZTronix" 

>blog is at www.nztronix.org.nz.  This year I will be working on a 

>project to dig around for further info on what software was locally 

>written in the 1980s, while the rest of the team work on piloting 

>the preservation of game titles that we already know exist, namely 

>that written for the Sega SC3000 home computer - see 

>http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/atari/sc3000lists.html.  (The Sega 

>was an important system in the 1980s here, it seems because there 

>wasn't much software in English available...thus people wrote their

>   own.)

>

>cheers

>

>Melanie

>

>VUW homepage 

>http://www.vuw.ac.nz/seft/media-studies/staff/melanieswalwell.aspx

>"Cast-offs from the Golden Age" 

>http://www.vectorsjournal.org/issues/03_issue/goldenage/recollection.php

>NZTronix, the blog http://www.nztronix.org.nz

>

>

>

>-----Original Message-----

>From: game_preservation-bounces at igda.org on behalf of Henry Lowood

>Sent: Tue 1/9/2007 7:10 AM

>To: IGDA Game Preservation SIG

>Subject: Re: [game_preservation] New Year's Greeting and Preservation SIG news

>

>Hi Simon,

>

>Thanks!  Is there any chance you could migrate that information over

>to the shiny new (I think) SIG wiki?   If not, let me know, and I'll

>figure out some way to do it.  This is why it would be great to have

>a wiki editor or coordinator, of course ...

>

>The DMCA exemption is great news.  I was a bit worried about

>that.   I note that it is again necessary to renew in three years,

>right?  That's a problem, or does the Internet Archive have a good

>system for making sure that the renewals are tracked in perpetuity

>(well, as long as necessary)?

>

>I've circulated the letter to a bunch of interested people, but I'm

>not sure if the curator of the Game On show was included on this list

>or any of the others.  That's Lucien King, right? My understanding

>was that he is (or was) a developer at Rockstar?  I don't have

>contact info, but if anyone in the SIG has that, feel free to forward

>the e-mail to him.

>

>Henry

>

>

>

>At 08:53 AM 1/6/2007, you wrote:

> >Hurray!

> >

> >Nice to see you starting things up again, Henry. I think you may have

> >the chops to get things going properly! Also, I strongly feel that

> >university faculty, professors, and researchers should be the core of

> >this preservation group for one simple reason - they are the ones likely

> >to actually HAVE TIME to work on this problem, esp. if funding can be

> >finagled. (I'm not saying you lay around with a mojito, but things like

> >the Machinima archive and the Cabrinety Collection are more directly

> >related to your day job, and if you get funding for the digital

> >preservation, all the better!)

> >

> >One thing I wanted to mention before I forgot - my version of the

> >Preservation SIG page, which got wiped over (make preservation joke

> >here!) has a few useful links on it that someone might want to include

> >on the sidebar of the blog or similar:

> >

> >http://web.archive.org/web/20050309001205/www.igda.org/preservation/

> >

> >I would like to see the NDIIPP proposal and Expression Of Interest

> >posted, yep - also, who else is involved with it, and are they also on

> >this mailing list?

> >

> >Something else I want to mention is that the Internet Archive managed

> >again to get the DMCA exemption passed about archiving old software with

> >access protection:

> >

> >http://www.copyright.gov/1201/

> >

> >'Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have

> >become obsolete and that require the original media or hardware as a

> >condition of access, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose

> >of preservation or archival reproduction of published digital works by a

> >library or archive. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine

> >or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format

> >is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the

> >commercial marketplace.'

> >

> >This is useful for obvious reasons, but the Archive has not had much

> >traction on working in this area since my first experiments, and since I

> >no longer have time to work there, they've mainly been leveraging the

> >Softpres.org work as examples, I think. The Softpres.org guys seem

> >pretty busy with real-life work, too. So I really _do_ think that grant

> >funding is the only way to get going on a lot of this time-intensive

> >stuff nowadays. I believe that Brewster @ the Archive would be open to

> >helping fund some software preservation efforts, probably in-house at

> >the Archive, but his interest is in both software _and_ games - and

> >probably more software. The exemption again runs out in 3 years and has

> >to be proved again.

> >

> >The Speed Runs guys are still doing sterling work in terms of how to

> >play through new _and_ old games swiftly in video format -

> >http://www.archive.org/details/speed_runs - I think in a few years, this

> >is going to be a totally great resource, incidentally, because it

> >included footage of old games and lots of info on tactics that people

> >will quickly forget.

> >

> >Also, I know that the Computer History Museum is still cracking on with

> >work, but I don't know that any of it is in the game field. Also their

> >software curator changed recently.

> >

> >Is the maintainer of the Game On exhibition on this list? He probably

> >should be if not, I've chatted to him before, nice guy! It's at the

> >Science Museum in London right now:

> >http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/gameon/

> >

> >There's my braindump for the morning! I'll post about the SIG on our

> >editor blog, GameSetWatch.com - hopefully that'll get some more people

> >interested.

> >

> >Regards,

> >Simon.

> >[Editorial Director, Game Developer magazine, Gamasutra.com;

> >Chairman, Independent Games Festival.]

> >http://www.mono211.com/ffwd

> >

> >Henry Lowood wrote:

> >

> > > Dear Preservation SIG members (and a few others I have included):

> > >

> > > First, this is not spam. It's a real message to the list.  Sorry, it's

> > > a long one!

> > >

> > > Second, Happy New Year!

> > >

> > > Now that I have all that out of the way, let me start off the new year

> > > with three blocks of news about the IGDA Preservation SIG. Here's a

> > > table of contents, so to speak:

> > >

> > > 1. Plans for moving the SIG forward in 2007.

> > > 2. SIG events at GDC.

> > > 3. Some preservation news.

> > >

> > > 1. Plans for moving the SIG forward.   Beginning with this new year,

> > > I've agreed to chair the Preservation SIG.   Many thanks to Simon

> > > Carless and Kieron Wilkinson for starting and leading the group since

> > > its inception, I believe, at the 2004 GDC.

> > >

> > > Following up on the roundtable meetings at 2006 GDC, we are going to

> > > try to start up some ambitious activities this year in game

> > > preservation and history, and the first order of business is to

> > > solicit some help from you.  We need volunteers for several SIG projects:

> > >

> > > * Blog author(s).  See http://www.igda.org/preservation/ for a sample

> > > * Wiki editors and contributors. See

> > > http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Game_Preservation_SIG for some

> > > stubs and

> > > http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Game_Preservation_SIG/Projects/ for

> > > a start on an important page.

> > > * Mailing list moderator.

> > > * Forum moderator. See start here:

> > > http://www.igda.org/Forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=202

> > >

> > > The first two roles in the SIG team are especially important, as the

> > > blog and wiki can play important roles in fulfilling the SIG's mission

> > > as far as being a meta-resource and clearing house for information.

> > > Oh, we have a mission statement here:

> > > http://www.igda.org/preservation/about.html.

> > >

> > > There are a number of projects about to get underway in game

> > > preservation, game library collections, etc.  I know of several of

> > > these, but I'm sure that the group collectively has a wealth of

> > > knowledge to share.  Let's use the blog and wiki to establish a

> > > presence both in the industry and in academic and cultural resource

> > > circles.

> > >

> > > Ok, so part 1 ends with this appeal: Please help out by volunteering

> > > for one of these posts, and we can get started!

> > >

> > > Also, please spread the word about the SIG to anyone you think may be

> > > interested in either game preservation or history.

> > >

> > > 2. SIG events at GDC.

> > >

> > > There will be three important events for us in the IGDA tracks at

> > > GDC.  This is a heads-up to let you know about them.

> > >

> > > The first is a panel called "10 Games You need to Play," with Warren

> > > Spector, Christopher Grant, Steve Meretzky, Matteo Bittanti and

> > > myself.  (The math works: 2 games each ...) Matteo has dubbed this the

> > > "canon fodder" session.  Here is the description:

> > > https://www.cmpevents.com/GD07/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=3885

> > > <https://www.cmpevents.com/GD07/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=3885>

> > >

> > > This will be mentioned at the panel, but it's closely linked to the

> > > U.S. Library of Congress' interest in funding a major project towards

> > > game preservation as part of this program:

> > > http://www.digitalpreservation.gov, specifically this call for

> > > proposals:

> > > http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/partners/creative_rfei.pdf.  I can

> > > tell you that a consortium consisting of Stanford, U. Maryland and U.

> > > Illlinois has put together an expression of interest for a major

> > > preservation project, though we do not know yet if it will be funded.

> > > However, we hope that it will be, and that the panel will play a role

> > > in defining an initial project focus around a canon of important

> > > titles in game history.  Anyway, this is just to let you know about

> > > this context; the event will surely be fun and interesting on a number

> > > of levels.

> > >

> > > The other two events are roundtable meetings under the title,

> > > "Preserving Games: Saving the Past and Setting Safeguards for Today."

> > > As has become traditional at GDC, we will have two meetings of this

> > > roundtable, I believe. Perhaps one will focus on "saving the past" and

> > > the other on "setting safeguards" but we'll see how that works out.

> > > The roundtable is described here:

> > > https://www.cmpevents.com/GD07/a.asp?option=G&V=3&id=99189

> > > <https://www.cmpevents.com/GD07/a.asp?option=G&V=3&id=99189>

> > >

> > > Please plan on attending these events at GDC, if you can.

> > >

> > > 3. Some preservation news.

> > >

> > > Well, I already spilled the beans about the NDIIPP proposal, which was

> > > my major piece of news.  If anyone is interested in more news about

> > > this, please let me know and perhaps I'll add a wiki page for it to

> > > the SIG.  Any interest in seeing the Expression of Interest?  If so,

> > > I'll ask my colleagues for permission to circulate that.

> > >

> > > Another piece of news is that Machinima Archive -

> > > http://www.archive.org/details/machinima - has archived nearly 500

> > > movies and will probably hit that number before GDC.  So that project

> > > has proven itself.

> > >

> > > Last, I am hearing from a number of libraries that are starting up

> > > game collections.  It's amazing for me to compare this to the

> > > situation in the late 1990s when Stanford acquired the Cabrinety

> > > Collection.  At the time, I feared (not really) that acquiring such

> > > materials was as likely a professional death wish as a bold, visionary

> > > move.  Not even a decade later, libraries are moving quickly into this

> > > area.  If any of you individual collectors, metadata creators (hello

> > > Mobygames!) or those with experience in museums, libraries or

> > > companies would be willing to post about your experiences with such

> > > collections, that would be a great use of the blog or esp. the wiki.

> > > It would be wonderful to be able to refer institutions or individuals

> > > to this information; maybe we could try to assemble three sets of

> > > resources for individual collectors, institutional repositories, and

> > > metadata/folksonomy projects.

> > >

> > > That's all for now.  Please volunteer for one of the areas I have

> > > mentioned or just feel free to dive into the wiki and start working on

> > > it.  Also, please direct anyone interested in our topics to IGDA and

> > > encourage them to join the SIG. And do feel free to forward this e-mail.

> > >

> > > See you at GDC,

> > >

> > > Henry

> > >

> > > Henry Lowood

> > > Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections;

> > >    Germanic Collections; Film & Media Collections

> > > HRG, Green Library, Stanford University Libraries

> > > Stanford CA 94305-6004

> > > lowood at stanford, edu; 650-723-4602

> > >

> > >------------------------------------------------------------------------

> > >

> > >_______________________________________________

> > >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

>

>Henry Lowood, Ph.D.

>Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections

>Curator for Germanic 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

>

>_______________________________________________

>game_preservation mailing list

>game_preservation at igda.org

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


Henry Lowood, Ph.D.
Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections
Curator for Germanic 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 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_preservation/attachments/20070108/73d343d4/attachment.html