Hi all! My name is Rebecca Voyce and I am in my last semester of the MLS program, and in the Individual Program Plan, but following along the Archives and Digital Curation track. I am from Los Angeles, CA and came out here just for Maryland’s program. I have had an interest in film and television history, theatre, and other types of art since I was very young.
I chose to take this class because it is right up my alley. My goal is to work in a film and television archive, and I am very interested in all things digital. Specifically I am interested in how film and television has moved from traditional film to digital film and finding ways to make it all last and accessible. Currently, I work with Hornbake’s Special Collection’s Maryland Public Television. There is no in-depth record or inventory of this collection and I have been working on collecting all metadata for these films.
Last semester I took a Digital Preservation course where we reviewed all of the basics. I was really drawn to Andrew Russell’s quote in the “Gone in a Flash” article, “I think we’re also deceiving ourselves if we pretend that digital technologies mean it’s possible to save everything from everywhere, forever.” I also found it interesting the discussion of problems that come with trying to preserve and maintain Flash-based websites. However, if we truly do want to preserve websites and artwork that is made with Flash, then it is important to find ways to make it stable and accessible.
I am actually a big fan of the Internet Archive’s project to preserve and release of old CD-ROM games, because that is what I was raised on. I have played Oregon Trail as an adult more times than I would like to say! I think it is important that these types of games are not only preserved, but also are able to be played for the rest of time. These games can be educational for future gamemakers, or even young game enthusiasts. It also brings a fresh perspective to these games, “Espenschied and Rhizome want to create their own narrative, in which pastel picture books can sit comfortably alongside guns and gibs in gaming history.”
I am so looking forward to this class and I will see you all next week!
Hi Rebecca!
I didn’t know Internet Archive preserved Oregon Trail! Now I’m also going to waste entirely too much time trying to get the wagon across a river.
Are there other games you wish they’d preserve and release? Do you see a pattern in the kinds of games they focus on, specifically related to the programming used to create the games?
Hi Rebecca!
Welcome to the course. It sounds like you are getting some great experience working in exactly the area you want to go into. It is also great that you are focused on digital media as at this point more or less all of the television and film industries have transitioned to born digital processes and practices. My sense is there is an increased need for folks in these industries that can do this kind of digital preservation planning and work. So that kind of industry track around digital asset management is something worth considering too.
Given your interest in Oregon Trail, you might dig the part of this post I wrote a while back on tombstones in Oregon Trail and how they are connected to the Mechanisms book we read this week. http://www.playthepast.org/?p=4811