The Crime Scene Approach
An Umbrabyte (like a Flash game in 2025) is a ghost. We cannot make it playable without massive effort (Emulation). If resources are low, the Evidence Archive is the fallback. It asks:
- What did it look like? (Screenshots)
- How did it move? (Video capture)
- Who used it? (Traffic logs)
This is Digital Forensics applied to culture. We may not save the building, but we save the blueprints and the photos.
Field Notes
Youtube as Archive: Ironically, many dead games exist only as "Let's Play" videos on Youtube. These videos are the Evidence Archive of a lost generation of software. They are secondary sources that have become primary.