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Polygamer #97: Dr. Carly Kocurek of Save Point & Games for Girls

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Ken Gagne

Dr. Carly Kocurek is an associate professor of digital humanities and media studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Her work in the analysis and preservation of games includes Save Point, a zine about the history of video games whose second issue is currently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. She is also researching the “Games for Girls” movement of the 1990s, courtesy a grant from the National Science Foundation.

In this podcast interview, we discuss why a zine is a format uniquely suited to this topic; how Save Point is able to be published with such a modest budget; how to make academic subjects accessible to a lay audience; what the “Games for Girls” movement was, and how it’s evolved over the last 25 years; the research that the NSF grant enables her to conduct; and how listeners can support game preservation efforts.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Polygamer #66: Charles Babbage Institute on historical diversity & representation

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Ken Gagne

The Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota is an archive and research center dedicated to preserving the history of information technology. Instead of physical hardware and software, the CBI preserves the culture and stories of the IT industry, as told by both those who created it and those whom it impacted. Its extensive collection on Social Issues in Computing exemplifies the many challenges that have arisen as the result of the evolution and proliferation of technology, including gaming.

In this episode, I chat with CBI’s current and former archivists, Amanda Wick and Arvid Nelsen. The archive has a growing collection of video game materials, leading me to ask: does the larger technology industry have the same issues of diversity and representation as gaming? Is gaming uniquely a bellwether, or an exemplar, for social issues? Is technology inherently neutral or even positive, as the industry often purports? In what ways are marginalized voices excluded from the authorship of IT’s history? And what does the archive have to say about the classic survival game Oregon Trail, created right in CBI’s home state of Minnesota?

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Polygamer in the Internet Archive

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Ken Gagne

Polygamer provides a platform for marginalized voices — those who are often excluded from mainstream dialogue and debate. I founded Polygamer on the belief that it’s important for all voices, regardless of race, creed, origin, ability, gender identity or preference, to be heard. A podcast provides a permanent, sustaining record for those voices, so that their experiences and lessons can be shared not just in a moment, but for all time.

It’s vital that those voices never be silenced — that they ring out long after Polygamer‘s run concludes. Although I see no end for this show, there is always the unseen: hacks, accidents, and major life events. So I am taking steps now to ensure that even those events will not mute that which has been heard here.

That is why, as of today, the entire collection of Polygamer podcasts is available in the Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit digital library. For over two decades, the Internet Archive has been collecting, digitizing, storing, and serving media: books, movies, videos, and, via their popular Wayback Machine, websites. The Internet Archive has been particularly active in the games industry the past few years with their Console Living Room, which makes games for classic consoles — the Atari 2600, Mattel Intellivision, the Colecovision, and more — playable right within a user’s web browser. The Internet Archive’s dedication and action in support of gaming history is powerful and undeniable.

By accepting Polygamer into their collection, the Internet Archive ensures that each MP3 and its transcript and metadata will be available to listeners and researchers for years to come. This decision is consistent with the show’s Creative Commons license, which empowers any listener to copy or modify the podcast.

Polygamer recently celebrated its second anniversary and its fiftieth episode. I’m eager to feature the stories and successes of many more voices in future episodes, all of which will be added to the Internet Archive as they are made available.

(My thanks to Jason Scott for uploading the first fifty episodes and providing a metadata exemplar.)