Packaging videogames for long-term preservation: Integrating FRBR and the OAIS reference model

Abstract

The Preserving Virtual Worlds project has been investigating the preservation of computer games and interactive fiction. The preservation of games benefits from simultaneous application of the data models from the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records report, and the Open Archival Information System reference model. The article described efforts to integrate these two data models within a single Web ontology language for application with multiple XML‐based packaging formats.

Relationships among video games: Existing standards and new definitions

“…FRBR offers a set of relationship types with definitions and indication of relevant entities in the model (e.g., work‐to‐work relationship, work‐to‐expression relationship). The relationships in FRBR are designed to serve “as the vehicles for depicting the link between one entity and another, and thus as the means of assisting the user to ‘navigate’ the universe (IFLA Study Group on the FRBR, , p. 55).” There are fifteen different relationship types specified in FRBR (i.e., Abridgement, Adaptation, Alternate, Arrangement (music), Complement, Imitation, Reconfiguration, Reproduction, Revision, Successor, Summarization, Supplement, Transformation, Translation, and Whole/part), and some of them are effectively applied to describe video games from a preservation perspective (McDonough, ). Some of the FRBR relationships may be used as well within our modeling scope, although perhaps not to the desired level of granularity (See Table ).…”

“…55)." There are fifteen different relationship types specified in FRBR (i.e., Abridgement, Adaptation, Alternate, Arrangement (music), Complement, Imitation, Reconfiguration, Reproduction, Revision, Successor, Summarization, Supplement, Transformation, Translation, and Whole/part), and some of them are effectively applied to describe video games from a preservation perspective (McDonough, 2011). Some of the FRBR relationships may be used as well within our modeling scope, although perhaps not to the desired level of granularity (See Table 2).…”

“…In conjunction with this work, Jett et al (under review) created a conceptual model for video games designed to facilitate effective description, organization, and access from a user‐centered perspective. Although prior work such as McDonough () offers a FRBR‐based ontology for video games, their model is focuses on identification and preservation of different version of the code and their respective Representation Information, rather than how users perceive and interact with video games. The two models are related, yet serve different purposes.…”

Extending digital repository architectures to support disk image preservation and access

“…The inclusion of these images in repositories requires adaptation and extension of existing digital library conventions for representing objects and associated metadata [25]. The CAMiLEON project tested user interactions with different instantiations of a video game called Chuckie Egg, which ran on the BBC Micro: running natively on the original BBC Micro platform, a disk image used in a Windows environment using an emulator, and a version that was migrated to run directly in Windows [17].…”

A framework for applying the concept of significant properties to datasets

“…The concept of significant properties, properties that, in some given context, must be identified and preserved in any successful digital object preservation, is now common in data curation and preservation (Hedstrom & Lee, 2002; Hockx‐Yu & Knight, 2008; Brown, 2008; Knight, Grace, & Montague, 2008; Matthews, McIlwrath, Giaretta, & Conway, 2008; McDonough, 2011). This notion has demonstrated its practical usefulness in cultural heritage domains, and exploration of applications to scientific datasets is now underway.…”