[game_preservation] DiGRA panel further information

[Andrew Armstrong]

First thing to note is the deadline, a very fast approaching Friday 6 
March 5pm GMT!

For paper one, well, it's difficult - while there are academics on here, 
there are not, I'm led to believe, a lot (or a lot of active ones who 
read this list at least). You might need to solicit views or a writer 
from outside the SIG when it comes down to it, just to be honest :) (I 
can't write it myself, I'm not an academic and it'd take a fair bit of 
research on my part to get ideas together for the paper since I don't 
work in a University, as such :) ).

One other quick suggestion, since I'm not good on the paper writing 
front (although I'll chip in after discussions have started here :) ) 
would, in a pinch, the SIG's white paper on the importance of videogame 
preservation be suitable to fill a slot? I'm sure we could get it edited 
by March.

Looks good though, if I can help (and as a last resort I can help write 
a paper or I can review some), please keep me in mind.

Also, can you explain to someone who hasn't been what the format of past 
events has been? I presume doing an hour-ish presentation on your paper? 
or what? discussions? panels? I'm not too straight on that :) it'd be 
nice to know before I go to it.

Andrew

Dan Pinchbeck wrote:

> Hi all,

>

> As promised, so more information on the DiGRA conference and the

> proposed panel session. 

>

> This is from DiGRA's site (www.digra.org) regarding the call for papers:

>

> DiGRA 2009 - Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice

> and Theory

>

> Brunel University, West London, United Kingdom, Tuesday 1st September --

> Friday 4th September 2009

>

> The South of Britain Consortium are pleased to announce the Call for

> Papers for the Digital Games Research Association 2009. DiGRA is an

> organisation that embraces all aspects of game studies, and the

> conference aims to provide a diverse platform for discussion, and a

> lively forum for debate. We therefore welcome papers from any discipline

> focused on any aspect of games, play, game culture and the games

> industry. The conference will be the fourth DiGRA conference, following

> Utrecht, Vancouver and Tokyo, and welcomes contributions from scholars

> working in any area of interest to the association. 

>

> :

>

> DiGRA themselves are a body of academics and researchers ranging right

> across games as a field, with a tendency toward the theoretical, and a

> focus best described as humanities and social sciences, rather than

> technical. The last few conferences have been extremely interesting and

> generally speaking, pretty much all games researchers keep a close eye

> on the proceedings or attempt to present (or at least attend). In terms

> of games and culture, in which sub-field I'd position preservation

> (please correct me if that's horribly out of line), it's basically *the*

> academic conference to be at. 

>

> :

>

> In terms of the panel, this is what is required:

>

> Panel proposals – 3 – 4 papers which address a common theme, a common

> research method, a shared conceptual issue etc.

>

> or 

>

> Workshops – proposals are invited for 2 – 3 hour workshops that address

> a range of themes relevant to the aims of the association. Workshops

> that are particularly targeted at a wide audience are most welcome.

>

> To submit, abstracts (500-700 words) of each paper are required (full

> papers can also be submitted, but it's a little tight on time for that).

> The workshop is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure we have enough

> time to fill it. What I'd suggest is therefore the following:

>

> Game Preservation Panel 

> Paper One: The state of play in game preservation and the role of the

> academic community in this 

> (Please excuse the corny pun, and note this really is a suggestion only.

> I think this would be the opportunity for the SIG to plant it's flag in

> the ground and gather support and encourage debate amongst the academic

> community)

> Paper Two: Migration, Emulation and the KEEP project

> (in which we discuss the particular issues with game preservation, the

> methodologies adopted, and why KEEP is a significant project)

>

> That leaves two papers to fill. We can do this in one of two ways:

>

> 1. Come up with a prioritised paper: in other words, a topic the SIG

> agrees must be covered in the panel and that someone agrees to write and

> present

> 2. Place an open call on the SIG and through games network and archiving

> email lists to invite contributions. I prefer this option - it also

> gives us a chance to see what academic work is being done out there and

> possibly draw new researchers to the SIG

>

> The work to be done would therefore be:

>

> a. Write the draft core proposal (I can do this)

> b. Agree who is writing and presenting Paper One (I can't do this, I'll

> cover paper two with colleagues here, and I'm happy to offer to chair

> the session)

> c. Either agree on 1-2 papers and authors and write those abstracts!

> d. Or draft a call (I can do this), release it (I can do this, but

> others will need to spread the word too) and put together a small

> editorial team to read any abstracts received and decide what will be

> included (I can co-ordinate this, but will need 2-3 other names to

> undertake the review process)

>

>

> Think we can do this? Please let me know thoughts, etc.

>

> Dan

>

> PS - GDC: not sure it

> 's going to happen this time around, but we will

> probably disthat it would be a very good thing to have something technical, rather

> than just conceptual, on the table before attending... ;)

>

>

>

>

>

> Dan Pinchbeck

> Advanced Games Research Group

> School of Creative Technologies

> University of Portsmouth, UK

>

> www.thechineseroom.co.uk

>

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