Searching for Reflexivity in Digital Archaeology and Heritage

Summary

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 lost in all that enthusiasm is a reflexive gaze: just because we can do it (scan, print, share, make accessible online, etc.), should we do it? For what purposes? Is it ever not okay to do "it?" And how do the technologies obfuscate those decisions, or facilitate a wider reflexivity on archaeology and heritage? In this paper I consider my own attempts to balance coming up with a digital archaeology and heritage cross-listed course, while trying to find ways for that class to ponder the reasons why.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Methods and Models for Teaching Digital Archaeology and Heritage

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16894