Video game preservation in the UK: a survey of records management practices

Video games are a cultural phenomenon; a medium like no other that has become one of the largest entertainment sectors in the world. While the UK boasts an enviable games development heritage, it risks losing a major part of its cultural output through an inability to preserve the games that are created by the country’s independent games developers. The issues go deeper than bit rot and other problems that affect all digital media; loss of context, copyright and legal issues, and the throwaway culture of the ‘next’ game all hinder the ability of fans and academics to preserve video games and make them accessible in the future. This study looked at the current attitudes towards preservation in the UK’s independent (‘indie’) video games industry by examining current record-keeping practices and analysing the views of games developers. The results show that there is an interest in preserving games, and possibly a desire to do so, but issues of piracy and cost prevent the industry from undertaking preservation work internally, and from allowing others to assume such responsibility. The recommendation made by this paper is not simply for preservation professionals and enthusiasts to collaborate with the industry, but to do so by advocating the commercial benefits that preservation may offer to the industry

An environment for sustainable research software in Germany and beyond: current state, open challenges, and call for action

Research software has become a central asset in academic research. It optimizes existing and enables new research methods, implements and embeds research knowledge, and constitutes an essential research product in itself. Research software must be sustainable in order to understand, replicate, reproduce, and build upon existing research or conduct new research effectively. In other words, software must be available, discoverable, usable, and adaptable to new needs, both now and in the future. Research software therefore requires an environment that supports sustainability. Hence, a change is needed in the way research software development and maintenance are currently motivated, incentivized, funded, structurally and infrastructurally supported, and legally treated. Failing to do so will threaten the quality and validity of research. In this paper, we identify challenges for research software sustainability in Germany and beyond, in terms of motivation, selection, research software engineering personnel, funding, infrastructure, and legal aspects. Besides researchers, we specifically address political and academic decision-makers to increase awareness of the importance and needs of sustainable research software practices. In particular, we recommend strategies and measures to create an environment for sustainable research software, with the ultimate goal to ensure that software-driven research is valid, reproducible and sustainable, and that software is recognized as a first class citizen in research. This paper is the outcome of two workshops run in Germany in 2019, at deRSE19 - the first International Conference of Research Software Engineers in Germany - and a dedicated DFG-supported follow-up workshop in Berlin

Why Do Developers Get Password Storage Wrong? A Qualitative Usability Study

Passwords are still a mainstay of various security systems, as well as the cause of many usability issues. For end-users, many of these issues have been studied extensively, highlighting problems and informing design decisions for better policies and motivating research into alternatives. However, end-users are not the only ones who have usability problems with passwords! Developers who are tasked with writing the code by which passwords are stored must do so securely. Yet history has shown that this complex task often fails due to human error with catastrophic results. While an end-user who selects a bad password can have dire consequences, the consequences of a developer who forgets to hash and salt a password database can lead to far larger problems. In this paper we present a first qualitative usability study with 20 computer science students to discover how developers deal with password storage and to inform research into aiding developers in the creation of secure password systems

Searching for Health and Wellbeing: Commercial Real Estate Actor Encounters with Planning in the Urban Decision-making ‘Black Box’

A body of research has highlighted the transformative effects of the financialization and internationalization of real estate investment for city and regional development. However, little attention has been paid to the human health and wellbeing implications of the practices of the actors who mediate commercial real estate investment flows and their encounters with urban planning. Based on interview evidence from twenty-one senior international real estate industry actors, this paper addresses this gap. Using actor-network theory to assist with deconstructing the interaction between the actors and planning in the urban decision-making 'black box', we offer a new way to strengthen theoretical understanding of 'black boxing'. We find that despite a common perception that the interests of commercial real estate investment and urban planning actors are generally dichotomous, awareness of health and wellbeing has become prevalent amongst major real estate actors as an important component of sustainable investment. We conclude that robust public health evidence is needed to place human health and wellbeing at the forefront in the urban decision-making black box

Information Outlook, May 2006

Volume 10, Issue 5https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2006/1004/thumbnail.jp

Information Outlook, May 2006

Volume 10, Issue 5https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2006/1004/thumbnail.jp

Expert Consensus on Barriers to College and University Online Education for Students with Blindness and Low Vision

The availability of online college and university courses have continued to grow, offering opportunities for education to students that may find attending in a regular classroom difficult, if not impossible. The number of students with disabilities enrolling in online courses is also growing. However, because of the mode of delivery (via computer/internet), blind and low vision college and university students can find it difficult to participate fully in an online course if it is not designed with accessibility in mind. Education is directly related to blind and low vision individuals becoming fully employed and independent. Blind and low vision college and university students who have previously taken an online course and used assistive technology devices to access the computer are aware of the issues of accessibility to online courses. The current study began by asking a group of blind and low-vision students to answer seven open-ended questions regarding their experiences accessing online courses at their college or university. The group responses generated 25 survey items and participants were asked to rate each item. Survey items were evaluated and participants were given the opportunity to re-rate their answers based on the group’s responses. The final results were evaluated and ranked in importance according to participant responses. Results were discussed along with the implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research