What Was/Is Your Major?

Talk about just about anything else that is non-gaming here, but keep it clean
User avatar
racketboy
Site Admin
Posts: 9784
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:28 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: What Was/Is Your Major?

Post by racketboy »

Ack wrote:I earned my B.A. in English, with a History minor, and am currently in graduate school for a MLIS degree. MLIS folks don't get paid much, sure, but there's almost always a shortage of employees so I'll always have something to fall back on. Plus it looks pretty good if I then want to try for a Doctorate...
Granted, I had to Google MLIS to figure out what it was, but I've always thought it would be cool to be a librarian (except for dealing with the type of people that are at my local library).

I've always told myself I'd love to be a classic gaming librarian :)
And actually the way I've been imagining my upcoming game database, I want it to be a bit of a virtual library of sorts -- organizing information and media related to different games -- in a way that makes it easy to learn about and research various games.
It may not appeal to the average gamer, but it's more of something I've wanted for myself.
There's so much information out there, and Google doesn't always help you find what you're looking for.
Along with Retromags I want to try to archive all the gaming history that is only in print form so we can do searches and organize the stuff that isn't on the net already.
User avatar
Ack
Moderator
Posts: 22581
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:26 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: What Was/Is Your Major?

Post by Ack »

racketboy wrote:
Ack wrote:I earned my B.A. in English, with a History minor, and am currently in graduate school for a MLIS degree. MLIS folks don't get paid much, sure, but there's almost always a shortage of employees so I'll always have something to fall back on. Plus it looks pretty good if I then want to try for a Doctorate...
Granted, I had to Google MLIS to figure out what it was, but I've always thought it would be cool to be a librarian (except for dealing with the type of people that are at my local library).

I've always told myself I'd love to be a classic gaming librarian :)
And actually the way I've been imagining my upcoming game database, I want it to be a bit of a virtual library of sorts -- organizing information and media related to different games -- in a way that makes it easy to learn about and research various games.
It may not appeal to the average gamer, but it's more of something I've wanted for myself.
There's so much information out there, and Google doesn't always help you find what you're looking for.
Along with Retromags I want to try to archive all the gaming history that is only in print form so we can do searches and organize the stuff that isn't on the net already.
On a funny note, video games have been becoming more popular with libraries in the last few years. They're being seen as a good way to draw people, mainly kids, into libraries as the current generation is reading less and less. Unfortunately they're still being opposed in the adult sections and by some of the "old guard" you might say, but it's only a matter of time.

Honestly I was considering different ways to apply my degree towards video games as a serious profession without necessarily gearing myself towards YA studies. There are already special libraries set up for film, and even national organizations to represent them...video game librarians seems like a logical step to me.

You probably do need permission from the authors and publishers of the various books and magazines, of course, though I'd be surprised if they don't post much of it themselves. Do you plan on copying manuals onto the internet? What about cover art? Publishing full credit lists or just partials based on publisher and developer?

And finally, perhaps most importantly...if you could do it professionally, what would you say to cataloging and archiving gaming hardware?
Image
User avatar
racketboy
Site Admin
Posts: 9784
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:28 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: What Was/Is Your Major?

Post by racketboy »

Ack wrote:
racketboy wrote:
Ack wrote:I earned my B.A. in English, with a History minor, and am currently in graduate school for a MLIS degree. MLIS folks don't get paid much, sure, but there's almost always a shortage of employees so I'll always have something to fall back on. Plus it looks pretty good if I then want to try for a Doctorate...
Granted, I had to Google MLIS to figure out what it was, but I've always thought it would be cool to be a librarian (except for dealing with the type of people that are at my local library).

I've always told myself I'd love to be a classic gaming librarian :)
And actually the way I've been imagining my upcoming game database, I want it to be a bit of a virtual library of sorts -- organizing information and media related to different games -- in a way that makes it easy to learn about and research various games.
It may not appeal to the average gamer, but it's more of something I've wanted for myself.
There's so much information out there, and Google doesn't always help you find what you're looking for.
Along with Retromags I want to try to archive all the gaming history that is only in print form so we can do searches and organize the stuff that isn't on the net already.
On a funny note, video games have been becoming more popular with libraries in the last few years. They're being seen as a good way to draw people, mainly kids, into libraries as the current generation is reading less and less. Unfortunately they're still being opposed in the adult sections and by some of the "old guard" you might say, but it's only a matter of time.

Honestly I was considering different ways to apply my degree towards video games as a serious profession without necessarily gearing myself towards YA studies. There are already special libraries set up for film, and even national organizations to represent them...video game librarians seems like a logical step to me.

You probably do need permission from the authors and publishers of the various books and magazines, of course, though I'd be surprised if they don't post much of it themselves. Do you plan on copying manuals onto the internet? What about cover art? Publishing full credit lists or just partials based on publisher and developer?

And finally, perhaps most importantly...if you could do it professionally, what would you say to cataloging and archiving gaming hardware?
Yeah, the copyright issue is the tough part. If they post it online themselves, that would be ideal. I want to have a library of links for stuff that is online, and maybe just have a description or except in the database to go along with the link. However, I don't think most gaming magazines have most of their pre-web stuff online at all as they figure its not worth their effort.

I probably won't spend a lot of my time doing manuals and cover art as I'm more interested in the magazines right now. However, everyone that has a forum ID will have the ability to add whatever they want -- images, text, and such. Files such video and audio will need to be hosted elsewhere, but they can add links/embed codes to help organize them. I want to be a bit wiki-like in terms of editing, but a different approach in terms of presentation and content.

As for archiving hardware, that's bit out of my capacity as I'm trying to reduce the amount of physical stuff I have as it is :)
fastbilly1
Site Admin
Posts: 13775
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:08 pm

Re: What Was/Is Your Major?

Post by fastbilly1 »

There is a long title but the short of it is Hotel and Restaurant Management. Yet I work for the embodiment of evil in the internet world...
User avatar
racketboy
Site Admin
Posts: 9784
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:28 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: What Was/Is Your Major?

Post by racketboy »

Yeah I wish I knew how close to the new 250GB cap I'm getting to.
If I get banned, can you pull some strings for me? :D
fastbilly1
Site Admin
Posts: 13775
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:08 pm

Re: What Was/Is Your Major?

Post by fastbilly1 »

I hoping groups like Netflix, Steam, and others who use the net to provide services will fight it. Its a long shot but I think it is the only way it is going to go away. If not I will have to change alot of what I do at home...
User avatar
racketboy
Site Admin
Posts: 9784
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:28 pm
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: What Was/Is Your Major?

Post by racketboy »

fastbilly1 wrote:I hoping groups like Netflix, Steam, and others who use the net to provide services will fight it. Its a long shot but I think it is the only way it is going to go away. If not I will have to change alot of what I do at home...
Yup -- just DLd a 40GB torrent on UG this weekend.
The last few months I've probably been pretty good though.
User avatar
Suraido
8-bit
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:31 am
Location: Tamworth

Re: What Was/Is Your Major?

Post by Suraido »

Electronic engineering, I'm in my second year.
Post Reply