Capacity Building or Community Making? Training and Transitions in Digital Archaeology

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Capacity Building or Community Making? Training and Transitions in Digital Archaeology," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Critiques of the limited use of digital data, advancement of data management, and alternative dissemination in archaeology consistently hinge on the lack of training and knowledge of digital theory and practice. This issue is complex, taking in different demographics, specializations, and perspectives in archaeology and deeply entangled in issues of access, inclusivity, expertise, and privilege. The solution, then, must also be multi-dimensional, developing active communities of researchers, data managers and developers, advocates, instructors and students to shape digital scholarship in future. Repeated calls for better training and support to create such communities have been heard for more than a decade at the SAA meetings, ranging from demands for capacity building in 2006 and 2009 to more recent concerns with the persistent lack of digital literacy in 2016 and 2017. This session will therefore bring together diverse approaches to transitioning students, organizations, and descendant and stakeholder communities toward effective digital practice through training, mentorship, and support across sectors (CRM, heritage, academia) and levels of training. It is the intention of this session to take stock of existing capacity building projects to mobilize new resources and initiatives with the express interest of contributing to the growth of strong communities of digitally-engaged scholars.