Digital Preservation of Videogames! (Crowdfunding Campaign)

[Bojay1997]

So, about 20 hours left on this thing. Got just a hair over $400 so far.

The good news is they only have to deliver one t-shirt and one poster so they get to keep most of that $400....well, after Indiegogo fees that is.

[JSoup]

The good news is they only have to deliver one t-shirt and one poster so they get to keep most of that $400....well, after Indiegogo fees that is.

I'm under the impression that most of the bigger donations came from staff members themselves, so delivery might be as simple as reaching into a box, turning around and saying "Hey, Jerry, catch." So good luck abounds.

[Greg2600]

Well they really shouldn't keep the money, even though I know they have the option.

[JSoup]

Indiegogo let you keep any donated money, even if the project isn't fully funded? Wasn't aware of that.

[Ed Oscuro]

I think what's really going on here is that there is a little bit of the various old biases (both good and bad) making it hard for people with different ideas about contributing to digital preservation to feel that there is a site they can really organize on. Of course there's nothing about Digital Press that makes it unfriendly towards digital preservation. Something like Wikipedia only manages to squeak by because there are literally dozens of people at any time ready to have long discussions to defend and enforce their institutionalized viewpoint. At the same time, they have not gone out of their way to make decisions about digital preservation that could damage the interests of their volunteers. Call this a retrograde feeling if you will - I've made a few (just a few) high-resolution scans in my time, but the fear that they will be abused is well-founded, and it's hard to see how helping scammers pass off convincing fakes is helping preserve video games. Sure, it would be nice to have a print-quality copy, and someday we may end up with a system for tracking the provenance of some items, as is done with some fine art. But it doesn't seem like it makes perfect sense yet. This is not to say that it's a bad project, but I don't know if the world is quite ready for it yet.

If I had money to spend on digital preservation, I'd put it towards a good N64 emulator.

I didn't read every page but it seemed that HappehLemons and the writer from Polygon had two totally different types of projects in mind, with Lemons talking about artifact preservation and moss_11 talking about doing documentaries of various sorts. Both are fine goals but I don't see where you get super efficiencies out of trying to allocate the same resources to both. That doesn't mean they shouldn't collaborate when they can, but it'd be like asking the RetroRealities people to organize translations or do something else that takes time away from what they are doing right now.

I also think it's a mistake to pass over realizing that a lot of what is going on is based on the feeling that if you just have one project, you can get great standardized formats. Well, for one, standardization is overrated, unless you are dealing with something that allows an exact bit-by-bit (or print dithered, I suppose!) representation of the original, AND it's something necessary. Exact bit-by-bit backups of ROM images is necessary. For scans of Master System titles, it's not realistically possible. The other issue here is that just assuming that a big project will magically create an umbrella of happiness is a very, very wrongheaded assumption to make. Even on Wikipedia people do what they can to carve out their personal fiefs, and a lot of valuable time is wasted just trying to keep things working.

Basically, we are only ever going to get what people are interested in working on.

[JSoup]

If I had money to spend on digital preservation, I'd put it towards a good N64 emulator.

I'd back that as well, and while we're on it I'd back a good Saturn emulator.

[Greg2600]

Indiegogo let you keep any donated money, even if the project isn't fully funded? Wasn't aware of that.

It gives you a choice, when the campaign ends.

[Bojay1997]

It gives you a choice, when the campaign ends.

I don't believe that's correct. You have to opt in for either fixed or flexible funding from the outset. If you take flexible, you get whatever is raised, but if you meet your goal Indiegogo takes 4% and if you don't, Indiegogo takes 9%. I don't believe that includes payment processing fees. For fixed funding, Indiegogo takes 4% only if you meet your goal.