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Searching For Sega In Periodicals & Journals

Discussion in 'General Sega Discussion' started by MrMechanic, Sep 3, 2020.

  1. MrMechanic

    MrMechanic

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    When I was at University, my status as a student gave me access to the university Library, it was a grand place, literally full of hundreds of thousands of books... and I probably only read 10.

    Anyway, having a student ID is quite a wonderful thing, it gives you access to A LOT, and some of these things you can't access without one (unless you pay a huge fee) and students don't realise the power of the Student ID and login credentials

    Sonic Retro: This is all very well... But what does this have to do with Sonic and Sega?

    Well a fun thing I used to do was log into my university Library and search the following.

    "Sega"

    Publication Date Range 1990-1999.

    Often you'd get a lot of junk, random newspaper articles and reviews of old games... And sometimes you'd get a fun story, maybe even a really obscure photo.

    Well... After I left uni and was doing research for Badnik Mechanic episodes it suddenly hit me


    Why didn't I ever search for Sega related content in the many journals and periodicals that I had access to?​


    If you don't know what a journal and periodical is. Basically, specialised magazines aimed at industry professionals, you won't find them in many newsagents without putting in a special order.

    So I tried to log in and... my student credentials were expired... But I still was able to pull a few potential interesting results which I forgot about until today when I got reminded and wondered if anyone on Retro could help with this.

    There's a few interesting periodicals and journals which might have some interesting content and potentially some 'new' photos.

    How to sell Segaworld - Did Eton prepare James Bidwell for marketing one of the UK's biggest entertainment venues?

    future imperfect: A visit to Segaworld goes horribly wrong for John Tribe

    My Life in Segaworld

    Game On: The opening of Segaworld

    Sonic boom: The launch of corporate hospitality at Segaworld

    Leisure: Burford irons the bugs out of Segaworld

    That's just by looking for the phrase "Segaworld" and setting a date limit. Potentially there's a lot more for searching Segaworld Sydney, or Sega London, Even Sonic the Hedgehog and a specific date range and even a periodical or journal publication.

    The problem is, because I'm no longer a student, I have very limited access to how I can even view the titles of the articles. Accessing them is another story.

    "Hey I'm a student! I have a student ID! How can I help?"

    So... From what I remember, unfortunately not all universities and colleges and students are made equal, some student credentials give greater access than others, and some universities have very good searching tools, and some are pants.

    My university was Hull and it had a very good online library... and I think... It did allow students who were not Hull students to log in and search, so you could try their library and see if you can get in.

    So the first thing you can try is simply searching for the ISBN number of the links posted above or title of the article and see if your uni has it. But even if it doesn't, you may still be able to access it.

    You see a lot of these periodicals and journals are now available digitally, just down to the fact there's literally hundreds of thousands of them, few places can keep the entire chronicle of just 1 publication of 1 magazine.

    And this is where the power of your student credentials comes into play.... Your ID can get you access to A LOT of these online article hosting websites. Like I said earlier, this does vary from student and university but more often than not I've found that student credentials work since most universities sign up to the same access groups.

    So... First point...

    Anyone here a student? University level is more likely to be successful, but college level might also get some access... Even a teacher role may also be useful.

    If so, this would be a potentially really unique way to get some obscure Sega history information and we may get some new content out of it.

    Also if I didn't make it clear. Access to these digital e-journal sites is usually completely free if you're a student.
     
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  2. Overlord

    Overlord

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    This is a bloody good idea and I wish I'd had it 15 years ago. Any volunteers?
     
  3. Asagoth

    Asagoth

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    Great... I was now thinking about a good bunch of newspapers where you guys can search for Sega ... and you guys don't even need to be students... you guys just need to know Japanese... :) ...
     
  4. big smile

    big smile

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    I actually did search the journal databases for Sonic related articles when I was in university which was circa 2004~ish.
    I saved them all on a CD-Rom somewhere, although it would probably be a struggle to find both the CD disk and a device that can play it.

    I don’t remember there being anything interesting on them at all. I think the most noteworthy thing was an article that had the sales figures for Sonic 2 and they seemed to have been shipment figures rather than hard numbers of purchases. Most the content came from sources like billboard.com, Forbes, Business Week, Asia Week and Media Week, so you could probably find it online without needing access to journals. The few academic papers that referenced Sonic were usually in relation to video game violence. There was one (written by my former professor) which made reference to the Sonic cartoon. Nearly everything was common sense stuff that I had seen many times before.

    That's not to say that this is a bad idea, just that I didn’t have much luck with it back in 2004. I believe since then, several journal databases have consolidated, so they'd probably have access to more content than back in 2004.

    It's also worth noting that many US libraries give access to journal databases as part of their digital services. It varies widely from state to state and even within the counties in each state. But as long as you have a login at a participating library, you don’t need to be a university student.
     
  5. MrMechanic

    MrMechanic

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    Regarding the US libraries.

    Yeah I saw something similar when I was searching. It seems that some libraries worldwide do have a lot of these available to check out.

    However the catch is it's mainly BIG libraries like either a capital city library or a major library in a major city.

    It's a much slower method to search from what i can see.

    Oddly though German libraries do seem to have some kind of linked search. So of one doesn't have it, then it gives you a list of every library in the country that does!

    The big problem though with this right now is of course lockdown and the social distancing even if your local one does have the goods.
     
  6. Laura

    Laura

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    I didn't think of doing this and I should. I often go to the two biggest libraries in London (British Library and Senate House Library).

    I'll have a browse and see what I can find, COVID chaos permitted.

    I'm doing a PhD so this is kind of my life at the moment.
     
  7. Pengi

    Pengi

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    Do you know if your course/university permits you access to Japan's National Diet Library digital collection?
     
  8. Laura

    Laura

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    I have access, is there anything in particular you need?
     
  9. Pengi

    Pengi

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    There was a Sonic manga strip that ran in Shogakukan's grade school magazines (小学一年生, 小学二年生, 小学三年生, 小学四年生, 小学五年生 and 小学六年生) from 1992-1993.

    Searching for ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ should pull through the relevant issues. Gonensei, Rokunensei and the earliest few Ichinensei are the main ones we're missing.
     
  10. Laura

    Laura

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    Sorry dude, the digital versions have been taken offline. They are only available on site at the NDL.

    I could try emailing the library team and asking nicely, since that's worked for me a few times.
     
  11. Pengi

    Pengi

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    No worries, wasn't sure if students would have the same access as on-site visitors. If you could get any images that would be great, but no need to go out of your way.
     
  12. Asagoth

    Asagoth

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    wiki stuff... and a beer... or two... or more...
  13. Laura

    Laura

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  14. Asagoth

    Asagoth

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    Chemical Abstracts, Volume 17, January - May 1923 (by the American Chemical Society) ...
     
  15. Laura

    Laura

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    I have access to the entire book, but I can't download it as a PDF because I don't have affiliate membership, just research membership.

    If there's anything you need chapter or page wise, let me know.
     
  16. Asagoth

    Asagoth

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    wiki stuff... and a beer... or two... or more...

    The same as me... well... technically I can download the page that I want as a PDF... but just one page ... I saved a copy of it externally which we use as a reference on this page (see Patent JP40366)... but I would really love to have the whole book... but thanks for the effort anyway ;) ...