Preserving and sharing Australian games and media art with shared emulation infrastructure

Dr Melanie Swalwell¹, Mr Adam Bell²,Dr Cynde Moya³, Mr Seb Chan⁴

¹Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia, ²AARNet, Canberra, Australia, ³Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia, ⁴Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, Australia

BACKGROUND

Software and digital information that drives research, culture, industry and daily life is challenged by the complexity and inevitable obsolescence of technology. To ensure longevity of essential services and the record of digital heritage, many organizations are collecting and preserving software. Acquisition alone does not guarantee software will remain usable, now or in the future. Emulation of computing environments is recognized as a strategy for this problem but requires specialist expertise and financial investment in infrastructure.

ACTIONS

Emulation-as-a-Service-Infrastructure (EaaSI) is a framework to simplify the configuration and operation of emulators, and a curation and access system for the creation, management, sharing and use of emulated computers, software, and digital material. EaaSI is open-source, can run in the cloud and aims to provide emulation at scale.

RESULTS

Swinburne University, ACMI and AARNet are Partner Organisations on projects demonstrating this capability. “Play it Again” is providing researchers, archivists and users the tools to access and play media art and video games. “The Australian Emulation Network: Born Digital Cultural Collections Access”, funded by the ARC, aims to establish an Australian software preservation community of practice, building skills in preserving and emulating digital material.

CONCLUSION

EaaSI makes it possible to run obsolete computer environments, for multiple users, at scale, with a growing library of emulators and operating environments available to a network of peer users. EaaSI presents new possibilities for collaboration across and between institutions and has broad application for the continued access of obsolete digital material held in archives and research repositories.

Biography:

Dr Melanie Swalwell is Professor of Digital Media Heritage in the Centre for Transformative Media Technologies at Swinburne University. Melanie’s research focuses on the creation, use, preservation, and legacy of complex digital artefacts such as videogames and media artworks. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1873-3478

Adam Bell leads AARNet’s engagement with Australian cultural organisations and digital preservation initiatives. He is deputy chair of GLAM Peak and member of the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Australasian Stakeholder Group.