Projekte unter der Leitung von Dr. Peter F. Biehl

"New Media - New Perspectives in Archaeology / Neue Medien - Neue Perspektiven für die Archäologie" Session at the 7th annual meeting of the EAA

Laserpantograph, CD-ROM, Internet and the virtual university - Enumerating all of the archaeological possibilities of new media would be an endless exercise. New media allows ever more data to be recorded at increasingly quick speeds with great precision. Data has been "globalized," as information passes quickly between scholars and disciplines. But how can archaeologist use this tool and what are the consequences for archaeology? Up to now in the humanities scholars have been skeptical with regard to "new media". However, especially for archaeology these "media" provide a new perspective of how archaeologist will work in the future - e.g. in regard to data and information flow, knowledge transfer and exchange, publication as well the understanding of archaeology in the public. Furthermore, the "new media" could have a tremendous impact on teaching and learning at the universities. Some people have even begun to speak of "virtual universities." In this session we want to discuss methodological and theoretical issues as well as the practical application of new media in archaeology. Since "new media" is still far from being defined and understood, we elaborate on the terminology and explain terms such as multimedia, hypermedia, hypertext, virtual museum and the potential advantages and disadvantages they offer archaeology. Clearly, one of the most obvious advantages is the possibility at virtually no cost without the encumbrances of selective editing. The flip side of this, is naturally, that the volume of new data can be overwhelming and impossible to digest, let alone to test for legitimacy. We will both explore ways to guarantee accuracy and to cipher through the plethora of information. The second part the session will focus on applications of the "new media" in archaeology. Contributors will make presentations of work published on the Internet as well as demonstrate the use of interactive CD-ROMs, virtual museum exhibitions etc. We will discuss who can use the applications - specialists, university professors, the public, or everyone. In sum, the session will explore the technological and epistemological potential of new media in archaeology. The contributors have diverse academic and cultural backgrounds and can therefore speak to the range of applications that can be used to further studies of European archaeology.

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