This episode reviews existing software collections and the users of those collections. In order to better capture current efforts in collecting software, Research & Facilitation Lead, Anne-Marie Trepanier, provides different collection profiles and the set of features that characterize each of them. Through round-table discussion, guests explore how collection development policies and strategies for existing collections impact community goals of sharing and reuse.
Discussion Questions:
- How did you get your hands on the material? Map out your acquisition process and your relationships with donors, loaners, sellers and manufacturers.
- Why are you collecting software and what are you collecting? Pinpoint your collection’s distinctive features and its (potential) users.
- What does collecting software entails? Describe what types of physical and digital components are found in your software collection.
- Are all software collecting entities ensuring preservation? Define and compare procedures and standards in collecting and preserving software.
Facilitators:
Speakers:
- Tim Walsh (Canadian Centre for Architecture)
- Paula Jabloner (Computer History Museum)
- Patricia Falcao (Tate)
Supplementary materials:
Websites & Blogs
- Depocas, A., Ippolito, J., & Jones, C. (2003) Permanence Through Change: The Variable Media Approach. Retrieved from http://www.variablemedia.net/e/preserving/html/var_pub_index.html
- DOCAM project, http://www.docam.ca/
- Dover, C. How the Guggenheim and NYU Are Conserving Computer-Based Art Part 1 https://www.guggenheim.org/blogs/checklist/how-the-guggenheim-and-nyu-are-conserving-computer-based-art-part-1
- Fondation Daniel Langlois pour l’art, la science et la technologie. (2009) Subtitled Public: Documentary Collection. Retrieved from http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=2117
- Kossow, A. (2012). Bit by Bit: Software Collecting. CHM Blog. Retrieved from http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/bit-by-bit-software-collecting/
- Matters in Media Art. (2015). Retrieved from http://mattersinmediaart.org/
Articles, Reports & Presentations
- Au Yeung, T., Carpendale, S., & Greenberg, S. (2008) Preservation of Art in the Digital Realm. The Proceedings of iPRES2008: The Fifth International Conference on Digital Preservation. London: British Library.
- Ball, A. (2013). Preserving Computer-Aided Design (CAD). DPC Technology Watch Report 13-02. Retrieved from https://www.dpconline.org/docs/technology-watch-reports/896-dpctw13-02-pdf/file
- Bearman, D. (1987). Collecting Software: A New Challenge for Archives & Museums. Archives and Museum Informatics. (Archival Informatics Technical Report [August 1985].1987;1, no.2) Retrieved from http://www.archimuse.com/publishing/bearman_col_soft.html
- Colon-Marrero, E. (2017). Image This! A Voyage Through Software Preservation [PDF]. Retrieved from https://osf.io/rwkx5/
- DiCosmo & Zacchiroli (2017). Software Heritage: Why and How to Preserve Software Source Code. iPRES 2017: 14th International Conference on Digital Preservation, Sep 2017, Kyoto, Japan. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01590958/document
- Engel, D. & Wharton G. Reading between the lines: Source code documentation as a conservation strategy for software-based art https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/2047058413Y.0000000115
- Fuller, M. (2002a). Behind the blip: Software as culture. Nettime mailing list, 7. Retrieved from http://noemalab.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fuller_sw_as_culture.pdf
- Lowood, H. (2016). It is What it is, Not What it Was, Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media, 27. Retrieved from http://refractory.unimelb.edu.au/2016/08/30/henry-lowood/
- National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, Preserving.exe: Toward a National Strategy for Software Preservation (2013) Retrieved from http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/multimedia/documents/PreservingEXE_report_final101813.pdf
- Rechert, K., Falcao, P. and Ensom, T. Introduction to an emulation-based preservation strategy for software-based artworks: http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/emulation-based-preservation-strategy-for-software-based-artworks
- SPN Metadata Standards and Policies Working Group. (2017) SPN Metadata Standards Survey: Initial Results, Analysis and Next Steps. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DERjYdU-90eaGImsbsWFBXMyftt0ymQF