[game_preservation] Game preservation research news, etc.

[Vowell, Zachary W]

Hello everyone--
Well, I thought I'd finally introduce myself to the list and quit lurking,
so.... my name's Zach, and I work as the archivist for the UT Videogame
Archive in Austin, TX.  It's been so helpful to listen in on the list's
discussions of problems/challenges facing the preservation of games and
their history, and here's hoping I can contribute a little more to those
discussions in the future.

Plus I had a piece of news that might be of interest.  A professor here at
UT (Univ. of Texas) has received a grant from the Institute of Museum and
Library Services (IMLS) for a research project entitled: "Video Games and
the Cultural Record: Studying the Creation Processes and Artifacts of the
Video Game Industry for the Purpose of Collection and Preservation."

I'll be involved, because the Videogame Archive is serving as the repository
of record for the project-- the grant stipulates that a project must partner
up with a repository.  From what I know, the prof., Megan Winget, will be
interviewing a lot of videogame professionals as part of the project (the
interviews eventually ending up in the archive), and there will probably be
other valuable by-products of the project, aside from, you know, her
findings.

That's all for now.  I included a longer description of the project below if
anyone's interested.  Best--


--
Zach Vowell
Archivist, UT Videogame Archive
Center for American History
zvowell at austin.utexas.edu
http://www.utvideogamearchive.org




"This Early Career Development grant will provide support for Assistant
Professor Megan Winget to study the collection and preservation of
'massively multiplayer online' (MMO) games. Currently, preservation models
for many types of digital creations focus on the end product, resulting in
the loss of most of the artifacts from the creative process. This becomes
especially problematic as an increasing number of digital products have no
definite completion. Using ethnographic research techniques, Dr. Winget will
seek to better understand the video game industry's methods, behaviors, and
attitudes for the purpose of building more meaningful models of collection
and preservation of complex, community-built digital creations. This
research carries the promise of informing a wide array of issues in digital
preservation, from digital media art to immersive learning environments."