digital archaeological landscapes & replicated artifacts: questions of analytical &...

DIGITAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES & REPLICATED ARTIFACTS:

QUESTIONS OF ANALYTICAL & PHENOMENOLOGICAL AUTHENTICITY

& ETHICAL POLICIESIN CYBERARCHAEOLOGY




I’m an Archaeologist who works in the field, in the lab, and with museums and cultural

heritage sites on building pipelines for digital data capture, processing, visualization, and

effective dissemination systems

– I’m looking at the anthropology of the adoption of technological dissemination systems in archaeology




Semantic Debate Qualifying Different AspectsI actually prefer Cultural Heritage Diagnostic Visualization or

Space/Spatial Archaeology if we’re getting specific…

3D Digital Heritage

Ashley M. RichterAnthropological Archaeology

[email protected]

Vid PetrovicComputer Science and Engineering

David VanoniDepartment of Computer Science

Dr. Steven M. ParishDepartment of Anthropology, Psychological Anthropology

Dr. Falko KuesterDepartments of Structural Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering

Dr. Thomas E. LevyDepartment of Anthropology, Anthropological Archaeology

Note the Exciting InterdisciplinarityRepresenting the

Philosophical Confluences

We’re going to Discuss

Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture, and Archaeology (CISA3)

University of California, San DiegoQualcomm Institute,

the UCSD branch of the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology

mailto:[email protected]

UBIQUITOUS DIGITIZATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

Archaeological excavations are the test beds of new diagnostic imaging techniques and

methodologies. The CISA3 Laser Scanners at work in

Jordan & Italy

Museums have become the training grounds for augmented reality systems.

This is ARtifact – the CISA3 Augmented Reality System

which presented its user study results in the poster

hall this morning

UBIQUITOUS DIGITIZATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

Digitization of the past provides new ways to see and think about humanity. But while it heralds a new shiny epoch of data transparency and access, it also represents a series of ethical quandaries which are looming on civilization’s horizon which we ought to be discussing as we evolve

our digital systems.

If something can be perfectly digitally replicated, what need is there to keep the

original?

What role does this intangible digital copy or any tangible physical copies made from it via

techniques like 3D printing mean in comparison to the original?

What does transparent access to digital cultural heritage mean for an engaged

present?

FOR INSTANCE:

Investigative Projects in Florence, Jordan,

Mongolia, Mexico, and back home in San Diego

Balboa ParkPetra & The Sites of the Wadi Faynan, Jordan

Mongolia

Palazzo Vecchio

Projects for the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

CULTURAL HERITAGE AS A PATH TOWARDS ADVANCING

TECHNOLOGY AND SIMULTANEOUSLY IMPACTING LEGAL

AND ETHICAL POLICY DEVELOPMENTBut we need to be

ready for where we’re heading …even if we don’t know exactly

where we’re headed.

We Can’t and Shouldn’t Build blindly

without any blueprints and

without engaging the public further STEM -- STEAM education

Speaking @ IEEE Aerospace 2014 on this

subject

LAYERED REALITIES IN DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURES FOR VISUALIZATION AT CISA3

Built on a Digital Scaffold

We are refining the way we replicate space & contribute towards humanities indexical

relationship with the past.

What fits where, and how? - Visualization Makes Things Make Sense & Expand our Awareness &

Analytical Potential

– be it in Immersive Realities or Virtual Realities

IN STRENGTHENING THE DIGITAL SCAFFOLD

WITH EXPANDED AND ENHANCED

VISUALIZATION METHODS….

THE CREATION OF REMOVED AUTHENTICITIES

Building hetero-utopias: Do they enhance and make the past accessible? Or threaten

the real space or artifact ? Shifts in phenomenological perception between

authentic and copy?

REPRODUCTION OF ARTIFACTS

If we can have a “perfectly” phenomenological digital copy- do we need

to keep the original?

We absolutely should keep everything if we can…but

there is a storage space limit (physical & digital!)

How do we access both effectively? Who should access and analyze these?Limitations of “trained” people (or will open access change this?)

NEW ERA OF “AUTHENTIC” AND AUTHENTIC COPIES

OF ANTIQUITIES

GAME CHANGER for:

*Antiquities Trade/Collectors

*Looting & Local Economies

*Museum Replication Economics

*Digital Access & Data Collection Quality Policies

Science fiction TV writers guess that the authentic artifacts will continue to

hold prestige

3D PRINTING

Expanding and Augmenting

Perception of the Past- (Auras)

Threatening the Original OR

Allowing Access and Engagement?

3D Printed Artifacts by CISA3 Collaborator

Cosmos Wenman

SCIENCE FICTION

INCREASINGLY

BECOMING

SCIENTIFIC

POSSIBILITY AND

REALITY

Star Trek Holodeck = Phenomenologically

Accurate Spatial Reconstruction CISA3 building up immersive

visualization systems for cultural heritage to make

things like holodeck a reality

Future possibility of Phenomenological Experience of Re-created Time? Questions of Programming Reliability &

Variations?

If and when everyone can experience the past-what does this mean to their sense of self in time?

• Globalism = awareness of space

• Social Media/Internet= awareness of society

• What happens when there is a global awareness of time and one’s place in it?

THE DANGERS OF DATA TRANSPARENCY & (QUALITY) SECURITY

What does this transparency of data mean and how we create navigation systems that mediate bias and political agenda?

Cultural heritage big data should remain a tool for preservation, analysis, and engagement, but not for politics and mis-information.

Past Misuse Present Misuse, Misunderstanding &

Sensationalism

Dangers of the

Augmented Future

STRIKING A BALANCE IN THE MUSEUM

The Digital as Enlightened Augmentation – for scholars and the public alike.

Should augment but not replace

The UCSD Exodus Exhibition & CURII

Presentation

AUTOPUBLICATION

Rapid Access = Publication Issues but also greater expansion of access, engagement, and potentially

citizen science opportunities

A Democratized Past with Open Access-

Challenges the Current Paradigm of Authoritarian Education and Historical Engagement – pushes for positive shifts (STEM -STEAM again)

DEALING WITH THE DATA AVALANCHE

How much information is too much? And how do we find meaning (especially archaeological analytical meaning) from within it?

Technology is rapidly allowing us to efficiently and cheaply do more and more….

Graph: M. Mansour

Conclusion: Constructs need to be meaningful & navigable

Escher WikiCommons

BUT:

THANK YOU FOR

YOUR ATTENTION!

PLEASE COME MAKE FRIENDS-

LARGER NETWORKS OF

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INFORMATION & VISUALIZATION SYSTEMS WILL ONLY

SUSTAINABLY & EFFECTIVELY WORK

THROUGH GLOBAL COLLABORATION