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---------- 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 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%