CfP: Digital Future of Archaeology at NTAG 2015

Submissions are invited for presentations at the Nordic TAG (NTAG) 2015 session on the The Digital Future of Archaeology. Paper abstracts should be of maximum 200 words with additionally author contact details. Please send your paper to bodil.petersson@lnu.se. Send your abstract (or inform the organisers on an incoming proposal) by January 30, 2015. NTAG conference is organised this year in Copenhagen on April 16-18, 2015.

Description of the session
In recent years, the sway of digital technologies and the influence ‘the digital’ has had upon almost every aspect of archaeology has become a fact. This is true for documentation as well as for analysis, research and presentation. As in the rest of society, digitization has become the fact of the matter very often celebrated as both part of and important for any "future" perspectives. But what is "future" from the perspective of digitization? Is it access, overview, analysis, new perspectives, new modes of presenting archaeology, or what? When thinking of interpreting archaeology, what impact does digitization have on the understanding of archaeology as a knowledge domain? How is digitization in itself affecting the knowledge base of archaeology? More - of what? More - of the same? More - of new stuff? The aim of this session is to critically elucidate how digitization affects archaeology as a knowledge domain within which the subject is filtered through digital systems often not built by, but rather adapted or appropriated by archaeologists for their purposes. We welcome papers on the present-day practice, future perspectives and historic views on the subject of archaeology and its adaptation to new digital contexts.

The session is organised by ARKDIS researchers Bodil Petersson (Linnaeus University) & Isto Huvila (Åbo Akademi University and Uppsala University). 

The full call for proposals and more information about the Nordic TAG (NTAG) conference on the NTAG conference web site.

New book: Perspectives to Archaeological Information in the Digital Society

Our new edited volume "Perspectives to Archaeological Information in the Digital Society" that explores the challenges of archaeological information work and research in the contemporary digital society is out both in print and as an open access edition online. The blurb in the back cover explains that "[t]he aim of this small book is to briefly discuss some of the premises for studying the implications and opportunities of the digitalisation of information and information work in the domain of archaeology and material cultural heritage."

The book is available as an open access PDF in DiVA-portal in http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-240334. Printed copies can be ordered by sending email to publikationer@abm.uu.se. Write "Perspectives to Archaeological Information in the Digital Society" in subject line. Printed copies cost 100 SEK (incl. 6% VAT) plus postage.



The volume contains following texts:

• Introduction / Isto Huvila
• Recuperating GIS data from excavations: On the use, or lack of use, of digital archaeological information/ Daniel Löwenborg
• Archaeologists and their information sources / Isto Huvila
• 3D Models and Archaeological Investigation / Nicoló Dell’Unto
• Dances with Petroglyphs : On Digital Agendas, Digital Tools and Heritage Communication / Bodil Petersson
• The Digital Time-Travels project in retrospect / Per Stenborg
• Epilogue / Isto Huvila

ARKDIS at GL16, Washington D.C. 8-9th December 2014

ARKDIS represented at Sixteenth International Conference on Grey Literature: Grey Literature Lobby - Engines and Requesters for Change at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

The GL16 conference covered the topics 'Public Awareness of Grey Literature', 'Publishing and Licensing Grey Literature', Open Access to Research Data' and 'Managing Change in Grey Literature'. The ARKDIS doctoral student Lisa Börjesson contributed by presenting her dissertation research concerning the understanding of professional reports in archaeology. Perhaps the most relevant conference contribution supporting the ARKDIS research in this area came from the research program Environmental Information: Use and Influence at Dalhousie University (CAN). In a conference paper researchers Bertrum H. MacDonald, James D. Ross, Suzette S. Soomi, and Peter G. Wells state "Advocates of grey literature may believe this genre is undervalued or misunderstood, but lobbying for grey literature in the absence of understanding the contexts in which it is or can be used will likely fail unless information activity in those setting is understood."  (GL16 program book, ISSN 1385-2308, p. 32). The ARKDIS research regarding the settings where archaeology grey literature take shape will arguably contribute to a better understanding of the possibilities and limitations of grey literature in Swedish archaeology. 

Report from the Workshop: Digital Communication, Cultural Heritage and Postcolonialism, held 20-21/11-2014

This workshop was held on 20-21 November at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg and at the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Gothenburg; including an open, public session on November 21 (see the previous entry, below).

Thanks to all participants who made this a very interesting workshop; which addressed a number of overlapping and interconnected themes and questions. The international examples and the presentations that took up communication and mediation of culturla heritage aimed at different target groups (including in school environment) gave wider perspectives on issues surrounding the goals and means of digital mediation & communication of cultural heritage. Unexpected fields of commun interest seemed to emerge during the discussions of the workshop.


Hopefully the workshop will generate "spin-off" in the form of new collaborations & partnerships - which also can reach outside the academic world.

Thank You! (Per - the workshop organizer)

Digital humanities in Sweden

An article by Thomas Nygren, Anna Foka and Philip Buckland on the current state of digital humanities in Sweden was recently published in German H-Soz-Kult journal. The text is interesting (not only because ARKDIS project is mentioned) and informative on how digitisation of information  and research infrastructures has influenced humanities research in the country. It is easy to agree with the conclusions of the authors  that digitisation is not an end by itself and that

"[f]or the future, it is vital to make use of the manifold possibilities offered by digital material and tools. To utilize their potential positively we must develop more cross-disciplinary collaborations; avoid dichotomies when quantitative and qualitative methods and analyses are separated; become better at illustrating and communicating uncertainties; and last, but not least, formulate solid and important research questions."

 This is quite precisely to which ARKDIS project aims to contribute in the context of archaeology. So far, it has become apparent that the dichotomies are not only related to qualitative versus quantitative methods, but to many different aspects from the aims of the technology use to institutional and everyday work related priorities and marginalising tendencies.

Workshop: Digital Communication, Cultural Heritage and Postcolonialism

ARKDIS project organises a workshop "Digital Communication, Cultural Heritage and Postcolonialism" in Gothenburg on November 20-21, 2014 with an open session on November 21 at the Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg.
Programme

• 12.30 Welcome!

• 12.40 Magnus Johansson, Museum of World Culture: Using Kringla & K-samsök to access collections – present possibilities and potentials for further development.

• 13.10 Valentina Vassallo, The Cyprus Institute/LU: So far, so close. A virtual bridge between Sweden and Cyprus.

• 13.40 Nicolò Dell'Unto, LU/ArkDIS: Digital methods of documenting and representing/visualizing archaeological investigations.

• 14.10 Coffee Break

• 14.40 Isto Huvila, UU, Åbo Akademi/ArkDIS: What is colonizing the continuum of archaeological information in the digital society?

• 15.10 Lisa Börjesson, UU/ArkDIS: Do policies for archaeological documentation serve cross-national information sharing (and digital repatriation)? -Reflections from an information policy point of view

• 15.40 General Discussion

• 16.00 End 

Upcoming presentation: Lost context - Limited Genre Understanding Hindering Access to Professional Archaeology Documentation

Seminar presentation by Lisa Börjesson at Information Access Seminar, 107 South Hall, UC Berkeley School of Information Friday November 14 2014, 4-5 p.m.

Abstract: Knowledge production in archaeology is heavily dependent on field 
work documentation, and on efficient dissemination and retrieval of that documentation. As most archaeological surveys and excavations are performed outside university research as contract archaeology, a majority of the documentation is produced and managed in professional settings. The genres of professional documentation, also known as ‘grey literature’, have an ambiguous status in archaeology. On the one hand they represent most of the archaeological undertakings; on the other hand they are accused of being inaccessible and of having low quality content. Academic archaeologists neglecting the grey literature are in turn blamed for being disrespectful of professional archaeologists’ work. The discussion of the ‘grey literature problem’ in archaeology is multifold, but often returns to a tension between academia and the professional sphere. In my dissertation research I argue the focus on the tension between academia and professional archaeology limits understandings and usages of professional archaeology documentation. I propose a perspective on professional archaeology documentation as shaped by a larger context, including policy, public administrative and market logics as well as those of academia and professional work. The seminar presentation will give a line of historical examples supporting the study of archaeology documentation as shaped by a larger context, explain my dissertation research design, and briefly touch upon findings this far.