INFO 256 Module 5: Build a Historic Timeline- Sega home consoles
It was quite fun to research and build this assignment using this software. I learned about the history of some of my beloved childhood video game consoles. As a child, one of my favorite things to read was Video Games Magazine and learn about the release dates of upcoming video games, their reviews, and hardware specifications of the home consoles. Despite my best efforts to learn everything about my favorite video games and their parent companies, I had to rely upon the magazine's monthly issues to satisfy my thirst for this knowledge.
I know now that I was only able to learn a fraction of the history of these consoles from reading those magazines. One of the reasons I chose to use this theme for my timeline was that I read that another student had already made a Nintendo home console timeline. The proverbial fires of the console wars of my youth were stoked, and I had to prepare a response. Throughout my youth, I had friends who had some strong opinions about which console they thought was the best. I owned a few of each, and some of my best memories were from playing my Sega Dreamcast. By making this timeline it I was able to scratch an itch to research classic consoles and learn about a very cool outreach tool.
The secret to making your patrons excited about your collections is to engage with them in a topic you truly care about. This something I do every time I develop a display or give a presentation. Answering reference questions and assisting with research is part of the larger job of being an archivist. But outreach is where an information professional has a chance to showcase something they are interested in personally. While this may not always be the case, when it is, that is when this kind of work can be really fulfilling.
The modern internet made this assignment easy and accessible. Video game blogs, Wikipedia and similar style wikis like Sega Retro, were the places where I searched most to find where I could find out the most about the various systems Sega released over the years. On each wiki page I visited, I found a plethora of images and enough information to add several more events on my timeline. The media I found were all sourced on the wikis or on blog sites that are devoted to recording the history of classic video game consoles. I had little to no trouble setting up the timeline.
The Google sheet interface is straightforward, and the examples on the website make it easy for visual learners to understand the process of developing a timeline with this website. The toughest part of this project was which devices I wanted to prioritize and feature on the timeline. After making my initial selection, the other part was figuring out which media to feature. There were a number of images on the web showcasing these historical consoles. But some were grainy and not the best of quality. I opted for the best I could find since it would represent my work.
Resources:
C, I., & Webster, H. (2024, September 28). Every Sega console ranked worst to best. The Gamer. https://www.thegamer.com/every-sega-console-ranked-worst-to-best/
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, March 27). 32X. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32X
Sega Mega Drive - Sega Retro. (2025, March 11). Sega Retro. https://segaretro.org/Sega_Mega_Drive
SG-1000 - Sega Retro. (2024, November 16). Sega Retro. https://segaretro.org/SG-1000
SG-1000 II - Sega Retro. (2025, March 2). Sega Retro. https://segaretro.org/SG-1000_II
Sega Mark III - Sega Retro. (2024, November 6). Sega Retro. https://segaretro.org/Sega_Mark_III
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, April 11). Master System. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_System
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, March 12). Sega CD. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_CD
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, April 5). Sega Saturn. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Saturn
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, April 6). Dreamcast. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, April 11). Sega. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega
Media:
Landing page image: https://images.timeextension.com/13f400a0c0e69/sega-consoles.large.jpg
SG-1000-
https://segaretro.org/images/8/8e/Sg1000.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Sega-SG-1000-Console-Set.jpg/1280px-Sega-SG-1000-Console-Set.jpg
SG-1000 II-
https://segaretro.org/images/2/2a/SG1000Mk2.jpg
Sega Master System-
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Sega-Master-System-Set.jpg
Sega Genesis-
https://segaretro.org/images/3/31/MD1_JP_console_set.jpg
Sega CD-
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Sega-CD-Model1-Set.jpg
Sega 32X-
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Sega-Genesis-Model2-32X.jpg
Sega Saturn-
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Sega-Saturn-Console-Set-Mk2.png
Sega Dreamcast-
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Dreamcast-Console-Set.png
Comments
Post a Comment