Presentation by Caspar Sonnen (IDFA DocLab) and Erwin Verbruggen (Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision) at the Update or Die Conference, Montréal, May 5, 2017.

1. Caspar Sonnen (IDFA DocLab)
Erwin Verbruggen (Sound and Vision)
Update or Die, Phi Centre, Montréal
(IM)POSSIBLE
APPROACHES TO
PRESERVING
INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Still from Decasia - Bill Morrison’s ode to decaying nitrate stock

2. “I believe our
medium – the online
medium – has the
potential to become
the next great way
of processing and
expressing our
world.”
- Jonathan Harris, ‘Beyond Flash’
(Flash on the Beach, Brighton, UK, 2008),
http://number27.org/beyondflash.

5. Image:DougHenschen,ComputerHistoryMuseumTour
http://www.drdobbs.com/parallel/computer-history-museum-tour/227200195
WHAT WE PRESERVE FOR

6. OWNING THE CONTENT
OWNING THE PROBLEM CHALLENGE

10. https://github.com/antimodular/Best-practices-for-conservation-of-media-art
“Mistrust anyone who has a
method for conservation of
Media Art.
Anyone who offers
a set of rules is not
considering the vast range
of disparate experiences,
methods, constraints and
dependencies that can
arise even within
the work of a single
artist.”

11. APPROACHES TO PRESERVATION

12. Hardware Preservation
Migration
Emulation / Virtualization
Documentation
Reinterpretation
de Vos, J. Preserving Interactives. Preserving audio-visual materials in a post-broadcasting paradigm.
Amsterdam: VU University, 2013.
http://publications.beeldengeluid.nl/pub/31/

13. Hardware Preservation
Migration
Emulation / Virtualization
Documentation
Reinterpretation
de Vos, J. Preserving Interactives. Preserving audio-visual materials in a post-broadcasting paradigm.
Amsterdam: VU University, 2013.
http://publications.beeldengeluid.nl/pub/31/

15. WE FEEL FINE

16. Hardware Preservation
Migration
Emulation / Virtualization
Documentation
Reinterpretation
de Vos, J. Preserving Interactives. Preserving audio-visual materials in a post-broadcasting paradigm.
Amsterdam: VU University, 2013.
http://publications.beeldengeluid.nl/pub/31/

17. WEB ARCHEOLOGY
The Digital City (1994-2001)

19. Hardware Preservation
Migration
Emulation / Virtualization
Documentation
Reinterpretation
de Vos, J. Preserving Interactives. Preserving audio-visual materials in a post-broadcasting paradigm.
Amsterdam: VU University, 2013.
http://publications.beeldengeluid.nl/pub/31/

20. FORAYS INTO GAME ARCHIVING
Selection criteria:
Dutch
80-90s
award winning
supported by government funds
Emphasis on:
Educational & applied games
Pioneering organizations &
individuals

21. https://www.nfb.ca/interactive-no-flash/

22. Hardware Preservation
Migration
Emulation / Virtualization
Documentation
Reinterpretation
de Vos, J. Preserving Interactives. Preserving audio-visual materials in a post-broadcasting paradigm.
Amsterdam: VU University, 2013.
http://publications.beeldengeluid.nl/pub/31/

23. LET’S PLAY VIDEOS
Newman, J. (2012). Best Before: Videogames, Supersession and Obsolescence. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
“The capturing of games in and at play
[…] should be the core objective of game
preservation” (Newman, 2012)

25. Hardware Preservation
Migration
Emulation / Virtualization
Documentation
Reinterpretation
de Vos, J. Preserving Interactives. Preserving audio-visual materials in a post-broadcasting paradigm.
Amsterdam: VU University, 2013.
http://publications.beeldengeluid.nl/pub/31/

27. Bear 71 VR National Film Board of Canada
Bear 71 National Film Board of Canada

30. Hardware Preservation
Migration
Emulation / Virtualization
Documentation
Reinterpretation
…

35. WHAT YOU CAN DO

36. https://medium.com/@benfinoradin/
digital-preservation-in-the-artist-s-studio-8951e564bb3e
PRESERVATION = MORE THAN TECHNOLOGY
Establish intellectual control
Centralize your assets
Distribute redundancy
Establish bit preservation

38. https://store.archive.org/internet-archive-gear/internet-archive-t-shirt-game-not-over/
THANK YOU!
Caspar Sonnen
caspar@idfa.nl
@doclab | @casparsonnen
Erwin Verbruggen
everbruggen@beeldengeluid.nl
@benglabs | @erwinverb
With thanks to:
Johan Oomen, Jesse de Vos,
Claude Mussou, Ben Fino-Radin,
& the Dutch Media Innovators programme
#Updateordie - #Memoirenumerique
Phi Centre, Montréal, 2017.05.04