I have a strong belief that the Internet is the way to make archaeology
available to many more people. Not just to scholars but the children of
today, who will become the keeps of our present and the past.

While the cost of having a site is next to nothing, the production process
is important to ensure that the users of the web site don't get lost or
bored. A common theme, navigation and control over image sizes, textural
lengths are just as important on the web as they are in any book. There are
lots of poor sites on the web, as there are poor books. It is in all of our
interests to raise the standard of web site to make the experience a good
and lasting one.

I have a rule that I apply to my web site, that nothing should be more than
three clicks away. I have tried to apply this rule to my site, but as the
volumes of data increase, mine runs about 10MB at present, I have looked and
applied different ways to make the navigation easier. Search pages for large
data sets, such as the genealogy pages and different ways to display mixed
images on a single page, where I used a scanned photo and an illustration
which overlap and are controlled by using the mouse.

Some site, such as the Shapwick site are based around the enthusiasm of
making the information available in a easy open format, without any real
technical data. This is good from the interest point of view, but now should
have added the technical elements more aligned to the traditional reports,
which will then provide the true values to the site. One that would then
appeal to both child and scholar alike. Allowing people to explore the site
to the depth they choose.

There is space out there for a lot more data to be available for all levels
of archaeologists, it just needs "us" to be able to identify ways of
presenting it to novice and expert alike.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask]
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Judith
> Winters
> Sent: 01 November 1999 13:16
> To: intarch-interest
> Subject: Re: Internet Archaeology - where to now?
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 01:36:33 +0600
> From: Day Brown <[log in to unmask]>
> To: Judith Winters <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Internet Archaeology - where to now?
>
> On Tue, 26 Oct 1999 11:28:41 +0100 (BST), Judith Winters wrote:
> > We understand that we are one of the first to dip our toes into these
> > still muddied and dangerous waters, so Internet Archaeology would very
> > much like to hear *your* reactions and responses to these plans. We are
> > sure that the journal is one of quality and that it is worth paying for,
> > but it is only with the support of the wider archaeological
> community that
> > Internet Archaeology, however it is funded, will succeed.
>
> In a world where the cost of information dissemenation
> is constantly falling, trying to find enough value in
> a presentation worth cash- as opposed to reputation
> and intrinsic artistry for the sake of art- is going to
> be increasingly difficult.
>
> The Chatal Hoyuk website comes to mind as an example of
> what will be funded, not directly by the web surfers,
> but by the institutions which funded the dig which gain
> support by the increasing audience aware of what they
> are using their assets for.
>
> The website itself is like a store window, but in and
> of itself is free for the looking.  Someone will get
> paid to lay out the page and update it, but because
> space is so cheap, the services of editors are no
> longer nearly so necessary. 'Just put it all out there.'
>
> Charging institutions for access while offering free
> for individuals has appeal, but institutions are also
> employing their own in-house editors to gather data
> and make presentations which relate to its calling.
>
> How are such editors going to be banned from free
> access? damifino.
>
> There may be an opportunity in breaking away from the
> traditional printed paper model, and finding niches
> where sound and/or video files can be funneled thru
> the portal of an organization which does not directly
> derive its funding from web hits.
>
> With a user base of 20k, there is the ability to set
> up polling and surveys for statistical analysis of a
> consensus in a given field.  The print media are not
> well suited for the interactive email venue.
>
> With a broad user base, fringe ideas get a hearing
> they would never receive in an edited format which
> has to pander to the priorities of the power structures
> which formerly funded the printing presses and the
> more limited space of the printed page.  Phenomena
> which formerly got ignored because they did not seem
> to impact enough people now get looked at.
>
> Large organizations which have always sought a mass
> market will find the market fractioned and catered to
> by a mass of volunteers serving small groups freely,
> rather than mass publications tring to make a living
> off the process of information distribution.
>
> I can see where the career in journalism will shift
> from- bringing the information provided by organizations
> to the mass audience- to looking at what the masses are
> saying, and bringing that information to the organization.
>
> Venues like this increasingly will belong not to the
> organizations which set them up, but to the users who
> inform the organizations as to what they are up to.
>
>
>
> Forwarded by:
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> Judith Winters
> Editor, Internet Archaeology  http://intarch.ac.uk
>
> Department of Archaeology,
> King's Manor,
> University of York
> YO1 7EP,  UK
> Tel: +44 1904 433955
> Fax: +44 1904 433939
>
>
>
>
>



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%