"CTRL + Z" : Resisting Permanence through the Digital (#RESIST – Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG – North America) Conference) (#RESIST – Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG – North America) Conference)
New York City, NY
Organization: Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) NYC
Event: #RESIST – Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG – North America) Conference
Digital workflows have become a nearly unavoidable default, even within a field so entangled in material realities as archaeology. Two decades after the London Charter for the Computer-based Visualisation of Cultural Heritage, we are confronted with rising technological challenges — open access, big data, artificial intelligence — and the ethical questions that accompany them everyday. Some challenges, though, remain unresolved twenty years on. As the penultimate principal of the London Charter, long-term sustainability is identified as an essential consideration for digital outputs. Even in surveys of digital archaeology (e.g. Colleen Morgan’s 2022 review of the field), permanence and maintenance are considered inherent to the work of digital archaeology. However, an unresolved tension between the necessity for documentation and the acknowledged limits of any preservation system persists; an incomplete archive is often accepted as a realistic compromise, given the unpredictable longevity of digital media.
This session seeks to explore the ongoing conflict between our expectations of permanence and the reality of obsolescence in any digital record. We welcome any work that falls under the large umbrella of digital archaeology, inviting participants to consider the impact of time and an ever-shifting digital landscape on digital workflows and outputs. We particularly encourage submissions that critically pair two projects (e.g. a project and its precedent), or that assess the evolution of a single project across various stages or drafts. The format of this session will follow a roundtable structure, with time built in for participants and audience to interact directly with the projects featured.
https://www.pratt.edu/events/resist-theoretical-archaeology-group-tag-north-america-conference/
Talia Perry