Archaeogaming Series Pt. 2: What can an archaeologist learn from a computer game?

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In this series of posts, I want to test in what capacity a AAA-game in a historical setting can actually teach me – as an archaeologist – something I don’t know about history. I have studied Near Eastern Archaeology, Prehistory and Assyriology, but never Egyptology, what would be the perfect branch of study for this game. Nevertheless I still can learn and by playing Assissins Creed Orgins and researching the scientific facts behind it, I want to find out if the game is well researched and document what I learned from it. Spoilers ahead!

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Wissenschaftskommunikation

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Wissenschaftskommunikation in der Archäologie. In den letzten Wochen scheint mir das Thema immer bekannter geworden zu sein. Vielleicht liegt das am “11. Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation”, das Anfang November in Bonn stattfand. So richtig qualifiziert fühle ich mich nicht, aber …

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Science Communication

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Science Communication in archaeology. In the last couple of weeks this topic seems to have gained a lot of attention in Germany, fuelled by the “11th forum on science communication”, which took place in Bonn beginning of November. I don’t feel entirely qualified to blog about this topic, but…

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Long term storage of things digital

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“Digitalisation” is a buzzword in the humanities, closely connected to the Digital Humanities, to open access, reproducibility, sharing heritage and so forth. I believe it is a very important step to a better and more open science. There is one point though, that is important to me: I’ve worked with books 115 years old. How can we make sure people will be able to read our digital output in another 115 years?

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Documentation: manual or digital?

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It is 2018! Time to document our archaeological digs digitally, wouldn’t you say? We have it all: CAD to draw plans; GIS for maps; photogrammetry / structure from motion for 3D models and rectified photos; databases to connect all this with feature description… why use paper at all?

Well… (more…)

Data what data?

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So, I found this cartoon and think it’s pretty funny.

I asked myself what it means in our discipline. Everyone is talking about “data“. Or “databases“. Or “big data“.  So, what the heck is this “data“? Or are these “data”, because, well, shouldn‘t it be a plural word from “datum“? (more…)

Academia.edu and its problems

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Academia.edu. Who doesn’t know it? By now this “facebook for academics“ is one of the first places students search for literature. Well known professors put their stuff there, you can find whole PhD-dissertations, loads of articles by almost anyone in any (archaeological) field. It is easy to “follow” someone and to get a message if they put something new online, you see recommendations and and and… and it is free and for everyone!

Great, no?

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