Preserving Virtual Worlds: Models & Community

The Preserving Virtual Worlds project, a research initiative funded by the Library of Congress’ National
Digital Information Infrastructure for Preservation Program, is currently investigating issues surrounding the
archiving of computers games, virtual worlds and interactive fiction, and developing technical solutions and
recommendations on practices to support the long-term
preservation of these unique cultural works. Participants
include the Rochester Institute of Technology, Stanford
University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Maryland.
This session will present results from some of the initial
research conducted as part of this project, with a focus
on re-examining existing conceptions regarding the
operations of digital archives with respect to both:
• the relationships between archivists and the communities they serve; and
• the applicability of traditional (and new) models of
bibliographic and archival description with respect
to archiving software generally, and games in particular.
The papers will focus on three key subjects: (1) the ontological issues surrounding the definition of a computer game and the problems they present for description
using models such as the entity-relationship model set
forth in the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic
Records Final Report; (2) the Open Archival Information
System’s notion of a designated community and examine whether it is an appropriate model for approaching
the archiving of games, given both the costs associated
with such archiving and the pre¬existence of preservation activities within the gaming community; and (3)
the problems presented by the existence of an extremely
heterogeneous community for dealing with issues surrounding documentation of both software and hardware
components of games and their use context.
All authors have indicated their willingness to participate in this session.