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[crushinator]

Hello! My name is Cherie Heiberg, and I’m a Masters student at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. I’m writing my Masters paper on emulators. Specifically, I’m writing about how hobbyist creators of emulators and ROMs preserve video games. I’ll be comparing the work that hobbyists do to the work of professionals. The goal is to start building a professional model that can be used to preserve video games using emulators. A lot of the work will involve me observing what goes on in online communities that make emulators or deal in Abandonware. I’ll be looking at what kind of games get preserved, what kind of information/metadata gets attached to these games, how they’re distributed online, and how people get access to them. The most important part of the project, though, will be talking to the people who actually create ROMs and emulators.

That’s where you come in! I’m looking for people who would be willing to be interviewed about their process of creating ROMs and/or emulators. If you are over 18 and live in the United States, I really want to talk to you! I won’t be collecting any information that could identify you, like your real name or your home city or your birthdate. You don’t even have to use your handle; you can pick out a completely new pseudonym and that’s good enough for me. I want to know why you do what you do and how you do it. If you’re interested, let me know by replying to this post or emailing me at heiberg@email.unc.edu or responding to this post with your chat handle and your preferred chat client, and we can set up an interview by email or by a chat client of your choice.

-Cherie Heiberg
UNC SILS 2013

PS I'm willing to answer any kind of question you might have here!