Opening the ARK: Uncovering the socio-technical evolution of an archaeological database

Opening the ARK: Uncovering the socio-technical

evolution of an archaeological database

Jessica Ogden @jessogden

L - P : Archaeology

31st March 2015 CAA 2015, Siena, Italy

Process and Transformation


1. the archaeological process

2. the development process

‘Technical Code’ and the Blackbox


“When an instrument...assumes the status of an accepted means of producing valid phenomena, then it can be said to have become a ‘black box’…

…this is not simply a matter of [hardware configuration], but also involves the creation of a consensus of how the hardware should be understood.”

The ‘Blackbox’

Golinski, J., 1998. Making Natural Knowledge: Constructivism and the History of Science, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

‘Technical Code’ and the Blackbox


• “technical artefacts are embodiments of the design values that were embedded at the stage of technological design and development” (Pinch and Biker 1984)

• Proposed by Feenberg (1995) to identify (social) values - explored by examining the technological design, use-cases, and policies which dictate the use of technologies

Social Construction of Technologies (SCOT)

Pinch, T.J. & Bijker, W.E., 1984. The social construction of facts and artefacts: Or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. Social studies of science, pp.399–441.

‘Technical Code’

Feenberg, A., 1995. Alternative Modernity: The Technical Turn in Philosophy and Social Theory, London: University of California Press.

Some Questions.


• Have archaeological databases been ‘blackboxed’?

• Are we overlooking the influence of software developers in the c reat ion o f a rchaeo log ica l representations?

• What might a ‘technical code’ approach reveal about the soc io - technica l deve lopment and evo lut ion of archaeological database software?

• What are the consequences of this critical engagement for archaeological practice?

The Archaeological Recording Kit


• Using ARK to track the evolution of an archaeological DBMS

• Understanding the socio-technical constraints which have influenced its development

Proposing a Case Study

ARK Background


• Multivocality

• Reflexivity

Post-processual Theory Aims

• Ted Nelson’s Docuverse/Transclusion

• Hyperlinks, Eternal Revision

Hypertextuality

Flexibility Open

Web-based Spatial

Eve, S. & Hunt, G., 2007. ARK: A Development Framework for Archaeological Recording. In The

Past. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. Berlin, Germany.

Mapping Aims to Functionality


Ethernet icon by Márcio Duarte from the Noun Project



Ethernet icon by Márcio Duarte from the Noun Project



Share icon by Anand Nair from the Noun Project

Looking Forward


Future Development…

• Hybrid interfaces

• The ‘Tyranny of the Table’ (?)

More on this see Sebastian Heath’s presentation at the #mobilearc conference: http://bit.ly/heathmobilearc

APITransclusion revisited


Looking Forward


Future Development…

• Hybrid interfaces

• The ‘Tyranny of the Table’ (?)

More on this see Sebastian Heath’s presentation at the #mobilearc conference: http://bit.ly/heathmobilearc

APITransclusion revisited


• From a ‘media container’ towards a wider machine-readable interaction with ARK

• Development continues to highlight questions around sustainability of dynamic technologies/data

Critical Engagement

Thanks!


Jessica Ogden @jessogden

[email protected]

ARK @ARK_db

ark.lparchaeology.com

Technology

Opening the ARK: Uncovering the socio-technical evolution of an archaeological database