Paper, video, Internet: new technologies for research and teaching in archaeology: the Sphakia Survey

Journal article

Archaeology has always been a multimedia discipline in terms of teaching and publication. From the earliest days of archaeology as an academic subject, archaeologists have used museum collections, slides, and actual site visits as well as 'chalk and talk' for teaching. Archaeological publications are almost always illustrated. The Sphakia Survey is an interdisciplinary archaeological project whose main objective is to reconstruct the sequence of human activity in a remote and rugged part of a Crete (Greece), from ca 3000 BC to AD 1900. In addition to preliminary reports, we have published specialised articles on paper, and part of the final publication will also be in hard copy. But in order to reach other, broader audiences, we have used two other modes of publication. In 1995 we produced a video, which was intended for university teaching; it has also been useful as anther kind of preliminary publication. In 2000 we launched a website, The Sphakia Survey: Internet Edition (http://sphakia.classics.ox.ac.uk). The website, which is part of our final publication, has enabled us to make our work known to other constituencies, as well as to scholars. Most recently we developed an online course, Archaeology for Amateurs: The Mysteries of Crete, which builds on the Survey website. It introduces students to archaeology in general and to the archaeology of Crete in particular (http://crete.classics.ox.ac.uk). This paper examines the impact of video and the Internet on the work of the Survey. It concludes that these new technologies add new opportunities, though not always those that one might expect; and that they make it possible to do things better, in connection with research, teaching, and dissemination of results, both to academic and to general audiences.

Authors: Nixon, L; Price, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Open University
• Journal: Journal of Interactive Media in Education (JIME)
• Volume: 17
• Publication date: 2004-09-01
• Edition: Publisher's version
• ISSN: 1365-893X
• Language: English
• Subjects: Internet research; Archaeology; Multi-period field survey; Internet and science and learning; Greek archeology