At the end of February (27-28) I will be attending the Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future workshop at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. The workshop is organized by members of the Athienou Archaeological Project on Cyprus, where they have been using a “digital notebook” since 2012.
The workshop’s program is an ambitious one, covering both academic and CRM archaeological data collection tools as well as the management and preservation of born digital material. As part of the events, I will deliver the keynote presentation: Why Paperless? Digital Technology and Archaeology where I will get to talk not only about work done at PARP:PS but other projects that I have been involved with prior to and since then.
This two-day, NEH-sponsored workshop brings together pioneers in archaeology and computing to discuss the use, creation, and implementation of mobile tablet technology to advance digital archaeology, i.e., fully digital recording systems to create born-digital data in the field. Session themes are aimed at facilitating presentation, demonstration, and discussion on how archaeologists around the world use tablets or other digital tools in the field and lab and how best practices can be implemented across projects. The workshop highlights the advantages and future of mobile computing and its challenges and limitations. The workshop consists of formal paper sessions and opportunities for informal discussion of the issues and themes at moderated discussions, demonstrations, round tables, and speaker meals. The workshop’s goal is to synthesize current practices and establish a blueprint for creating best practices and moving forward with mobile tablets in archaeology.
The events are free but you will have to register (by Feb 5) if you want to attend in person. If you can’t, the organizers have arranged for the conference to be live streamed. There will also be a twitter feed to follow: @MobileArc15.
Paperless Archaeology 