ࡱ> 7:8@ jbjb 2l m*,,,,,,,W w^XX^*""*** [p.**mm**CRITICAL RESPONSE 7 Ben Jones Digital approaches to archaeology and cultural heritage can be powerful tools, but we must avoid relying on them too completely. Though digital methods are exciting, and can seem to be a vastly more interesting way of presenting findings, getting too wrapped up in the desire to go digital can lead to information with less impact and staying power than a conventional written report or museum display. In order to effectively utilize digital methods of transmission, we must first be clear on what the objectives of our project are, who the audience is, and at the same time, ensure full openness and thoroughness of documentation. Digital methods can be seen as much more approachable by the general public, especially in this age where museums are moving away from simply presenting and archiving objects and becoming theaters for interactive educational experiences, to the extent that in some cases real artifacts are taking on a subservient role in the face of their own interpretation (Lewi 2003, 271). Opinions on this cultural shift vary: some think the abandonment of a focus on physical objects moves us away from a connection with the wider world, and deprives us of the ability to interact with something substantive, while those in favor of the shift argue that even excavated artifacts in museums are presented within a specifically chosen and manipulated context and can be just as unreal or as real as a digital presentation in terms of conveying the truth (Lewi 2003, 271). It is for these reasons that audience must be taken carefully into account. It is not possible to make the past available to wide audiences in an understandable form while at the same time visualize accurately the multitude of information required by experts (Roussou 2003, 232). While this is true to varying degrees for any presentational style, in todays Hollywood culture, the split between what the public and experts expect is broader with regards to digital presentation. While the digital medium can fulfill both roles, educational entertainment and multifaceted scientific recording, it is difficult to the point of impossibility to make a single project achieve both ends. This trend towards viewing the digital as suited for entertainment leads to significant issues when using digital methods for scientific research. Much more emphasis becomes placed on output to audience, whoever that audience may be, and in the rush to document, model, and present, crucial elements of provenance are lost (Addison 2008, 32). It is no wonder that archaeologists have often treated digital means with some measure of suspicion (Roussou 2003, 227) when digital data are often discounted or overlooked completely in analyses because thorough records were not kept on how it was taken, it is in an inaccessible format, or its existence is simply not publicized or offered freely to researchers (Addison 2008, 35). Thoroughness and openness are thus key with regards to digital data collection and storage. The way the data were collected must be documented in its entirety, no less than it would for a print publication, indeed perhaps more documentation is required to break through the distrust placed on the medium. Openness must also be ensured if the data are to reach those who would interpret them. Often digital reports are buried behind copyright, propriety, or simple obscurity. This results in the same research being done twice, and undermines the effectiveness of the digital media significantly. If our digital efforts are to outlive the heritage they are meant to record and protect, we must actively work to share data, work together and document our documentation (Addison 2008, 37). We are engaging in a significant number of digital presentations and information gathering techniques with our work at the JBH. Several projects center around GIS, and many presentational aspects focus on film or interactive elements to display their final products. Given the audiences we are likely to receive at the Joukowski Institute: a mix of interested classmates, staff, and RIHS members, we have a thoroughly mixed audience of both experts and non-experts looking for both entertainment and rigorous scientific information. Digital media can help us with this task, but as we have seen, digital media alone is not the solution, nor can it be used without proper attention to detail. We are fortunate in that we have many students working on a wide variety of projects; some cater more to a scientific analysis (site reports) and some toward entertaining an interested lay audience (video diaries). This follows Roussous exhortation that a distinction must be made between VR worlds intended for use by archaeologists, and environments created as a means to bring the past alive and educate about it (Roussou 2003, 231). We are doing well already to have projects that cater primarily to a wide variety of audiences, but we must be sure not to fall into the trap of entertainment focus in those projects meant for non-archaeologists. Care must still be taken to document our documentation, and the fact that it is easy to slip into a mentality that scientific rigor is less important in such projects must be taken into account. I believe that we can achieve these goals, and produce, whether in a digital context or not, scientific reports that are still readable by the public, and public displays that still contain value for scientific study. $\ fPJ5PJ 5>*PJ$d/ =!"#$% i(@(NormalCJmH <A@<Default Paragraph Font2!z z!zgN  v } JS  U a FL::: Harold Fagley4Home:Users:haroldfagley:Desktop:Response 7-Ben Jones@XP @GTimes New Roman5Symbol3 Arial3Times qhD&&JF&F %>0 Harold Fagley Harold Fagley Oh+'0`   ( 4@HPX'ososHarold FagleyoaroNormalFHarold Fagleyo38oMicrosoft Word 10.0@$e @]@ES ՜.+,0 hp  ' Macromediaa% $  Title  !#$%&'()+,-./014Root Entry F7L61TableWordDocument2SummaryInformation("DocumentSummaryInformation8*CompObjX FMicrosoft Word DocumentNB6WWord.Document.8Root Entry Fd}; 1TableWordDocumentA4SummaryInformation( I !9<=>?@BCDEFGHJKLMNOPQRDocumentSummaryInformation8 CompObjX0Table  !"#$%&'() FMicrosoft Word DocumentNB6WWord.Document.8 ՜.+,0 hp  ' Macromediaa% $  Title Oh+'0`   ( 4@HPX'ososHarold FagleyoaroNormalFHarold Fagleyo39oMicrosoft Word 10.0@$e @]@ES i(@(NormalCJmH <A@<Default Paragraph Font2!z z!zgN$!^!T*!}`$000\2Unknown Harold Fagley  v } JS  U a FL::: Harold Fagley4Home:Users:haroldfagley:Desktop:Response 7-Ben Jones@Xu(uP @Q2P*7@GTimes New Roman5Symbol3 Arial3Times 1hD&&JF'F %4 Harold Fagley Harold Fagley@ jbjb4l4~~~~  "Y,C c^,-,r2rrrjr""rr ]"\~>4YYrrCRITICAL RESPONSE 7 Ben Jones Digital approaches to archaeology and cultural heritage can be powerful tools, but we must avoid relying on them too completely. Though digital methods are exciting, and can seem to be a vastly more interesting way of presenting findings, getting too wrapped up in the desire to go digital can lead to information with less impact and staying power than a conventional written report or museum display. In order to effectively utilize digital methods of transmission, we must first be clear on what the objectives of our project are, who the audience is, and at the same time, ensure full openness and thoroughness of documentation. Digital methods can be seen as much more approachable by the general public, especially in this age where museums are moving away from simply presenting and archiving objects and becoming theaters for interactive educational experiences, to the extent that in some cases real artifacts are taking on a subservient role in the face of their own interpretation (Lewi 2003, 271). Opinions on this cultural shift vary: some think the abandonment of a focus on physical objects moves us away from a connection with the wider world, and deprives us of the ability to interact with something substantive, while those in favor of the shift argue that even excavated artifacts in museums are presented within a specifically chosen and manipulated context and can be just as unreal or as real as a digital presentation in terms of conveying the truth (Lewi 2003, 271). It is for these reasons that audience must be taken carefully into account. It is not possible to make the past available to wide audiences in an understandable form while at the same time visualize accurately the multitude of information required by experts (Roussou 2003, 232). While this is true to varying degrees for any presentational style, in todays Hollywood culture, the split between what the public and experts expect is broader with regards to digital presentation. While the digital medium can fulfill both roles, educational entertainment and multifaceted scientific recording, it is difficult to the point of impossibility to make a single project achieve both ends. This trend towards viewing the digital as suited for entertainment leads to significant issues when using digital methods for scientific research. Much more emphasis becomes placed on output to audience, whoever that audience may be, and in the rush to document, model, and present, crucial elements of provenance are lost (Add$\ f\2PJ5PJ 5>*PJ$d/ =!"#$%ain value for scientific study.