Digital heritage and archaeology in practice comprises two companion volumes: Presentation, teaching, and engagement (from here on, PTE) and Data, ethics, and professionalism (DEP). The chapters present some of the outputs of the Institute for Digital Archaeology Method and Practice, based at Michigan State University and funded by the National Endowment for Humanities Institutes for Advanced Topics in Digital Humanities programme.
Before exploring some of the specifics on offer, it is worth pausing to recognise the particular challenges that edited volumes such as these can present. Digital heritage and digital archaeology have revolutionised the ways in which heritage practitioners collect, analyse, interpret and disseminate data. This is a multidisciplinary field that combines heritage-related sciences, computer science and information technology, to name just a few of the specialisms involved, for the study and preservation of cultural heritage in new ways. Digital heritage and archaeology have rapidly evolved in recent years, benefiting from the emergence of new technologies and the increasing availability of digital data. With this rapid development, however, comes the challenge of defining the field and of mutual understanding.
It is safe to say that digital heritage and archaeology is no longer in its infancy, but as these volumes show, the field is still rapidly growing and changing, making it difficult to establish exactly what it encompasses. New methods and techniques are being developed and employed all the time, presenting a challenge for those keen to keep up with the latest developments in the field, and making it impossible to provide a comprehensive overview. A second challenge is communication. For example, a computer scientist might use language and details that were acquired through years of experience and research in the field but would be meaningless to an archaeologist. Conversely, an archaeologist will have the knowledge and understanding of technique and context that comes from years of work and which we cannot expect a computer scientist to achieve. We can see this tension played out in the volumes, where some chapters may be more appropriate for the computer scientist, while others are more appropriate for the heritage specialist. Hence, whilst attempts are made to bridge these gaps, I sense that the authors or editors did not expect all chapters to be appropriate for all audiences. The volumes therefore do not attempt to offer a definitive voice or approach, but rather present specific experiences and applications across a variety of settings.
In the face of these generic challenges, these volumes are valuable contributions to the conversations around digital heritage and archaeology. As noted below, each of the two volumes is divided into three sections, offering a total of six themes that touch upon a wide variety of the facets of current cultural heritage practice. Broad themes crosscut the chapters, both at the volume level, as well as within their respective sections; the editors recognise, however, that the lines between these themes are blurred.
The Presentation, teaching, and engagement volume comprises three sections: ‘Digital methods and computation approaches in museums, collections, and archaeological archives’; ‘Digital approaches for public and community engagement in heritage and archaeology’; and ‘Teaching, pedagogy, and capacity-building in digital heritage and archaeology’. The three sections of the Data, ethics, and professionalism volume are: ‘Digital methods and computation approaches for archaeological analysis and interpretation’; ‘Working with digital data in heritage and archaeology’; and ‘Engaging with ethics and professional issues in digital heritage and archaeology’.
There is insufficient space here to review every chapter, so I highlight a few to give a sample of what the reader might expect to find in these volumes. I divide these illustrative examples into two sets. The first focuses on the more pragmatic chapters that might serve the reader in designing their own applications of new technologies in heritage and archaeology. The second set concerns the more theoretical chapters that deal with broader issues, such as ethics or long-term strategies that do not necessarily involve a single application, but rather focus on the bigger picture.
First, among the more pragmatic studies is Chapter 12 (PTE), ‘Teaching archaeological mapping and data management with KoBoToolbox’, by Camp and colleagues. Here, the authors introduce a readily available software package, KoBoToolbox, originally developed by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. The chapter demonstrates a practical approach to digital field documentation, which the reader could easily apply to their own projects.
Another example is the chapter, ‘Narrating transitions and transformations in cultural heritage digital workflows using a JSON-encoded dataset of Roman amphitheatres’, by Sebastian Heath (Chapter 3, DEP). Here, the author demonstrates the use of JSON as a format for storing, analysing and sharing data about Roman amphitheatres, providing a great example of the challenges of discussing digital archaeology and of being relevant to all audiences. I suspect many heritage professionals will appreciate the outputs from a project such as this, but might struggle to comprehend some of the technical details describing how these systems are actually brought together. While this does not detract from the chapter, it does highlight some of the difficulties in working across the multidisciplinary span of digital heritage and archaeology.
A second set of chapters explore the more theoretical aspects of the field. Heather Richards-Rissetto's chapter, ‘Technological challenges to practicing 3D ethics in archaeology’ (Chapter 8, DEP), discusses some of the ethical issues and concerns encountered when dealing with 3D data in digital heritage and archaeology; for example, open geospatial information and looting, or issues of (un)certainty in 3D representation. Similarly, Lorenzon, Bonnie and Thomas debate similar issues in their chapter ‘Discussing ethical practices in archaeology: decolonization, open data, and community interaction in Jordan’ (Chapter 5, PTE), also focusing on some of the ethical issues with open access to geospatial information, as well as decolonisation in the context of digital archaeology. Finally, Carrie Heitman's chapter, ‘Theorizing the archive and ethics of open access archaeology’ (Chapter 10, DEP), introduces the idea of ‘moderated openness’, amongst other ideas. One example would be withholding images of human remains from the public, while still allowing access to the textual information to permit appropriate uses, and users, to request access.
I conclude with some thoughts on who the intended audience of these volumes might be. One obvious answer would be any practitioner of digital heritage and archaeology, as they would likely find the entire contents of both volumes to be engaging, interesting and useful contributions to the conversations around digital heritage and archaeology. As noted above, however, conversations around the ethics of and access to data go well beyond the category of the ‘digital’. These are imperative conversations to be had as more of the field—like all disciplines—shifts to digital publication and open access. In short, these volumes are valuable contributions to discussions around heritage and archaeology, whether digital or otherwise.
