It was summer, I was searching for new books for my to-read pile and I came across Graeber’s latest work, Bullshit jobs (Graeber 2018). Right after buying it and reading the short essay it started with, I posted a question on Twitter: “Is archaeology a bullshit job?” Instantly, he answered—without even quoting him in the tweet—that it was not because people valued it. I did not want to engage into a debate, but the question stayed in my head, as I was not so convinced. He suddenly died a few days later. The book was next in my pile and I compulsively finished the one I was reading to start with it as soon as possible. Now, with a forum about the future of public archaeology in this celebratory volume, I thought it would be timely to add this opinion piece to celebrate his memory and wake up.
The value of open data is transforming archaeological practice while also introducing new concerns relating to the ethics of studying the dead. This paper uses the Monumental Archive Project, recently launched as a public database of cemetery records from Barbados, as a case study to critically examine the realities of platforms created to bring together academic and general audiences in open mortuary archaeology. Digital literacy and support structures are significant barriers to digital data within the discipline, while the impact of open data on the public(s) that archaeologists seek to engage and collaborate with is rarely considered let alone measured. Is it possible to serve diverse audiences with a single platform? What are the implications (social, ethical, emotional) for sharing cemetery data? When digitizing the dead, strategies in platform design, marketing and communication for public interest and use becomes even more complex and necessitates further attention.
In recent years archaeologists have asserted the value of social media for achieving goals such as ‘shared authority’ and the ‘empowerment’ of various communities. These assertions often resemble techno-utopian discourse. However, it is essential to critically consider these assertions with reference to the important studies emerging from the fields of new media studies and Indigenous and collaborative archaeology, which have particularly emphasised the need for a greater awareness of sociopolitical contexts. Informed by this literature, this paper surveys some of the emerging and established uses of social media by archaeologists and museums, and proceeds to introduce factors that challenge the broadly positive discourses about the impact of social media on various communities. It also highlights the need for short- and long-term impact studies.
AP,CSE,Erode Sengunthar Engineering College(Autonomouc), Erode, India., Dr G. Revathy*, Mrs.N.S. Kavitha
et al.
“Smiling face of every girl child is presence of God”. In recent times there are lot of issues in security of female children that too especially under the age of 10. Hence forth to assure the safety of every girl child I propose a novel approach which ensures the safety of a kid. In recent times there are huge advancement and development in field of wireless networks. I assure safety of each girl child by a small wearable IoT sensor embedded with a GSM kit. IoT sensors monitor the pulse, heartbeat and pressure of the kid and using GSM I can assure the location of the kid. I fix upon a particular value in the sensor so that if there are any upnormal conditions as well as there is a change in the location of the kid there will be a message alert to the people and the nearby police location. The nearby location is traced by Tabu search optimization.