Methods and Models for Teaching Digital Archaeology and Heritage
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)
As the role that digital methods play in heritage and archaeology has increased in importance, so has the challenge of teaching those digital methods. Who should be taught digital methods? Should undergraduate and grad students be taught digital methods alongside non-digital methods? Should instruction in digital methods be curricular or extra curricular? Should instruction in digital methods take place in the classroom, the lab, or in the field? How should existing scholars or professionals be taught digital methods? What concepts, platforms, or technologies should be taught? What underlying values about the application of digital methods in archaeology and heritage should be expressed in teaching programs? All are relevant questions whose answer requires measured design, careful planning, and thoughtful implementation. The purpose of this session is to explore these critical issues by highlighting a series of case studies, each of which approaches the challenge of teaching digital methods within archaeology and heritage differently. Beyond the case studies themselves, the session hopes to highlight generalizable models that might be adapted and adopted in a wide variety of institutional, professional, or scholarly settings.
Other Keywords
Pedagogy •
digital archaeology •
digital heritage •
Education •
Training •
Public Archaeology •
3D scanning •
open data •
digital media •
Higher education
Investigation Types
Heritage Management
Temporal Keywords
All periods
Geographic Keywords
North America (Continent) •
United States of America (Country) •
Georgia (State / Territory) •
Mississippi (State / Territory) •
Tennessee (State / Territory) •
North Carolina (State / Territory) •
South Carolina (State / Territory) •
Alabama (State / Territory) •
Florida (State / Territory) •
North America - Southeast
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-11 of 11)
- Documents (11)
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Building a Virtual Bridge Connecting Indian Himalayan Archaeology with a Virginia University and the World (2017)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The Virtual Curation Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia, and the Archaeology Department of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna (HNB) Garhwal University, in Garhwal (Srinagar), India, have partnered to create three-dimensional (3D) models of artifacts and sculptures from the trans-Himalayan region of northern India. Many of these items are on display in the HNB Garhwal University Museum of Himalayan Archaeology and Ethnography. This partnership seeks to preserve these...
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Building Scholars and Communities of Practice in Digital Heritage and Archaeology (2017)
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As digital methods have become more ubiquitous in archaeology, the challenge of teaching those methods has become important. Beyond the question of how and what we teach, however, there is an equally important challenge - how do we build communities of practice populated by scholars who are connected through a shared perspective on both the methods and the thoughtful application of those methods. In is within this context that this paper will explore an approach developed at Michigan State...
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A Course on "Digital Heritage Tools": A Reflexive, Engaging, and Ever-Changing Pedagogical Experience (2017)
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Digital Heritage…? A definition could be "the valuing, protection, documentation, and understanding of humanity’s shared heritage through the application of digital tools, media, and digitally-enabled spaces." The take-away—Digital Heritage is a big concept. As scholars and educators making use of digital tools and methods, we face challenges of big data, rapidly changing technology, proprietary vs. open source, and the list goes on. Yet, increasing use of technology necessitates that we teach...
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Digital Archaeological Data in All the Classrooms: Case studies using the Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) for Teaching Digital Methods in Graduate and Undergraduate Curricula (2017)
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This paper presents case studies in developing information literacy about archaeological methods and heritage resources, involving use of the Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) in graduate and undergraduate programs at Adams State University and Indiana University. DINAA is a linked open data hub which uses archaeological site definitions as a core from which to explore further information, including excavation and collections data, scholarly publications, and related...
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LEADR at MSU - A Lab Approach to Digital Cultural Heritage in the Classroom (2017)
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Founded in August 2014, LEADR is both a physical space and a curriculum development initiative established as a collaboration between the Departments of History and Anthropology, and Matrix at Michigan State University. Fully equipped with large screens for group work, computers, cameras, 3D printers and scanners, microcomputing equipment, and other technology, LEADR is well equipped to facilitate innovative digital cultural heritage instruction and project development. The decentralized...
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Looting, Robotics and Experiential Archaeology for non-Archaeologists (2017)
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This paper will examine a recent effort to develop an interdisciplinary graduate level digital media and physical computing course, framed as experiential archaeology for non-archaeologists. By combining theory and practice of digital media, archaeology and a computer science course in robotics as an introduction to the cultural heritage destruction of the el-Hibeh site in southern Egypt due to pervasive looting, graduate students in digital media worked alongside undergraduate students in...
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Online and In-person Professional Training for Archaeological Data Management and Digital Curation (2017)
DOCUMENT Full-Text
This presentation describes a series of professional training workshops created by the Center for Digital Antiquity that are designed to introduce archaeologists to the basic aspects of managing and curating digital archaeological data. In the last quarter century, the creation and use of digital data in archaeological investigations has become routinely. Documents, images, data sets, and geospatial data in modern archaeology are now nearly always in digital formats. Research projects, CRM...
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Searching for Reflexivity in Digital Archaeology and Heritage (2017)
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The general enthusiasm for all things digital applied to archaeological method and research makes teaching a course on digital archaeology tailor-made for the kinds of experiential learning approaches archaeology does so well within the academy. That enthusiasm facilitates an archaeologically creative engagement with digital technologies and information management that, at its best, re-imagines the archaeological enterprise and advances stunning new research applications. But what is sometimes...
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Teaching Atlanta: Using local projects to bring digital heritage into the classroom (2017)
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How do English, History, and Archaeology professors begin collaborating? In our case it was our mutual interests in the history of Atlanta and incorporating digital methods into our courses. In this paper we discuss our intertwined collaborations at Georgia State University. These involve Wharton's incorporation of archaeological materials from the MARTA archaeological collection in her Expository Writing course. Students in this course take advantage of the computing resources in the library's...
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Teaching Digital Archaeology as Public Anthropology: Models for Using Social Media & Technology to Move Beyond the Classroom (2017)
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Higher education pedagogy and university administration are pushing technologies as a way of increasing engagement and contact with students, rolling out digital learning environments and handheld devices aplenty. This shift has been critiqued as a fad but can it be harnessed to address the longstanding goals of public anthropology and calls to decolonize the classroom? Embracing multivocality, diversity, inclusivity and collaboration is complex, and opportunities to teach in a way that moves...
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WTF do API, JSON, CSV, and LOD mean? Instruction and professional development in digital archaeology (2017)
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Digital data play increasingly prominent roles in archaeological research. At the same time, the Web has become the key medium for professional and public communication including the transmission of research data. The "Web of Data" represents a fundamental paradigm change. Increasingly, data are no longer packaged in discrete files (spreadsheets, database files) for download. Instead, many datasets come from dynamic information services (APIs, or Application Program Interfaces) and link with...