Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, the Discovery Channel: media has, to an unprecedented degree, shaped public perceptions of the discipline of archaeology, its practices and its values. This course will build critical awareness of how the media uses archaeology and how archaeologists use the media, for good and ill. Students will create digital narratives from their own research, and become competent ambassadors for presenting archaeological research and work in a scientific and engaging way.
MW 1:00-2:20 pm. Instructor: Meg Watters.
Course Description
This course focuses on the role of digital media, its portrayal of the discipline of archaeology and its role in entertainment, education, and the presentation of archaeology.
Through the course, students build an expertise in media literacy through a critical awareness of the way in which digital media are used by archaeologists, journalists, TV producers, and film producers to express in how archaeologists and others construct knowledge about the past, and about the many pasts that they have created. The ultimate aim of the course is to enable students to both design a ‘media’ narratives of their own research and to be competent ambassadors for presenting archaeological research and work in a scientific and engaging way.
The content of the course will be centered on the public representation and re-mediation of a variety of archaeological sites in the context of the worldwide representation of cultural heritage sites and landscapes. The course will collaborate with university and local media resources throughout the class and will include a number of guest lecturers representing the many approaches to presenting archaeological information to the public. The aim of this course is to focus on the history, current state, and theory behind the use of digital media to express archaeological narratives. Digital media (including film/video, websites, and 3D games) and presentation/communication (TV, Internet) about the topic are explored and critically evaluated and compared to non-digital sources. In this course students will gain an appreciation for the production and representation of an archaeological narrative through their final project which will combine research, planning for the design of a media narrative representing an archaeological (or related) project of their choice.
Course Goals
At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the research, interpretation, and concepts of the course theme: public re-presentation and re-mediation of archaeological sites in the context of the worldwide re-presentation of cultural heritage sites and landscapes
- Locate, utilize and cite the basic sources for the theme including library, internet and professional organizations.
- Critical analysis and constructive evaluation of the digital and non-digital media presentation of archaeology.
- Communicate in written (including digital format) and oral form a design (treatment) for a linear narrative about a research project that focuses on the public presentation of an archaeological site.
- Based on individual research projects, plan in detail (storyboard) a 10-minute video on the research topic.
- Understand the rudiments of media production, including the use of interviews.
- Be able to collect existing media through research, citing sources, and prepare for use in digital videos.
