The Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation has launched an initiative to preserve the legacy of video game pioneers through in-depth oral histories and preservation of original documents and other materials. The Video Game Pioneers Initiative is a unique opportunity to capture compelling personal stories in the words of the people who lived them and to trace the development of an industry that employs 220,000 Americans, generates $102 billion in worldwide sales, and has influenced fields as diverse as computer learning and medicine.
The Video Game Pioneers Initiative is integral to the Lemelson Center’s work to understand invention as a process, the making of inventors and innovators, and the role of risk-taking in inventive work. This Initative is also the first phase of a larger effort to create opportunities for the public to experience the history of gaming over the last fifty years through physical and virtual exhibitions with collaborating museums around the world.
For more information or to support the Video Game Pioneers Initiative, please contact Christopher Weaver, chairman of the Video Game Pioneers Initiative Advisory Board, MIT Comparative Media Studies and Lemelson Center Distinguished Research Scholar.
