[game_preservation] Personal/Oral Histories Discussion

[Andrew Armstrong]

Before I finish off my list of changes for the SIG's main wiki page 
(see: Spring Cleaning earlier. Comments still welcome!), I want to bring 
up the start of a discussion on recording people's personal histories.

I'm thinking that a guide written to provide a list of basic information 
that could be collected when interviewing or researching a person (who 
could be anyone from a developer, to a journalist, to a producer, to 
admin staff, to an academic, to a historian ;) "...related to videogames").

This would help firstly start out the project, and secondly, it'd be 
damn useful.

For instance, I might have possibly been able to discuss getting 
interviews, at least via. email or other mediums then face to face, with 
several classic developers when I've seen them at various events or 
places. However, not knowing what to ask, since the project wasn't 
started, lead to me not bothering.

Therefore, let's start outlining the kinds of things needed to be done. 
Here's some initial thoughts:

===================

Get their permission to print the information as freely available 
online, and if something needs to be withheld, mark it specifically as such.

Gather a factsheet (asking the person or researching elsewhere):
- Full name, and how they pronounce it (recorded if possible)
- Gender (sometimes this isn't wholly obvious in today's world :) )
- Date of birth
- Country of origin, places lived (perhaps)
- (Optionally) Marital status, spouse, children, relations (at least 
ones related in industry)
CV information
- place of education, degree type
- previous work (IE: the stuff on a person's CV), especially games 
developed and under what title.

A list of generic interview questions for necessary information, or just 
so you can compare answers between interviews.
- On work: How did you get involved in the industry. Why you left 
company X, or joined company Y (job changes). What inspires you at work. 
What resources do you use to work.
- On people: What are they like.
- On games: Why are they important to you personally. What do you enjoy 
playing in your spare time. Your most favourite games. What are you 
playing this week. If you can remember, what was the first videogame you 
played, and/or what was the first non-videogame you played.
- On other things: What activities do you enjoy outside of videogames. 
What physical activities do you enjoy (sports, gym, outdoor things).
- On other media: What do you think of other art (books, films, music, 
sculptures, paintings/artwork, dance, poetry, architecture, comics, 
opera, etc.)

Need more topics - perhaps depending on the person, certainly their age 
and experience, but also some generic ones about the time they've spent 
in industry too (perhaps on gender, pay, quality of life, the business 
side, etc.)

A photograph (or more then one) of the person if possible. Finding 
photographs of some developers is nigh on impossible, even if they are 
famous (I found a total of 1 for the Bubble Bobble creator!). They are 
more likely to have copies of photographs themselves. Highest quality is 
better.

A copy of their "signing" signature, most ones who get asked for one 
make their own up for this, so it's nice to have a record.

===================

I have a feeling that asking Jason Scott and a few people who do 
interviews at different historically-inclined sites would help too, and 
I might do this, and report it on the blog too. Here's the starting 
place however!

So, any additional generic interview questions, example interviews to 
take questions or ideas from, tips for doing specific types of 
interviews (written interview notes done in person, email, chat client, 
skype, doing a proper oral history in front of a camera or microphone), 
and advantages/disadvantages of them. Tips for a progression from 
initial contact to finished historical information. Tools of the 
trade...and so on.

Andrew