Archiving Knowledge : Digital Materialities, Affordances, and Challenges in Opening up Digital 3D Data for Reuse
Olofsson, Tobias LU
(2026)
Sociologidagarna 2026. Same as it ever was?
p.146-146
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Archaeology’s turn to digital documentation poses questions for the long-term preservation of archaeological data and their future re-use—questions that have relevance also for the debates about open science and data archivization in the natural and social sciences. In this paper, I investigate how the nexus of epistemology and digital materialities affect attempts to open up archaeological data for future users. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and text analysis, I show how the epistemological positions assumed by archaeologists in relation to epistemic virtues such as objectivity, interpretation, and transparency lead them to adopt diverging understandings of what the material affordances and limitations of digital... (More)
- Archaeology’s turn to digital documentation poses questions for the long-term preservation of archaeological data and their future re-use—questions that have relevance also for the debates about open science and data archivization in the natural and social sciences. In this paper, I investigate how the nexus of epistemology and digital materialities affect attempts to open up archaeological data for future users. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and text analysis, I show how the epistemological positions assumed by archaeologists in relation to epistemic virtues such as objectivity, interpretation, and transparency lead them to adopt diverging understandings of what the material affordances and limitations of digital 3D technology mean for the value and feasibility of opening up digital archaeological data. Supported by the analysis, I argue that the contemporary debate about data reuse and archiving in archaeology offers valuable insights into questions of openness, reuse, and archivization across the sciences. First, because the arguments put forth in the debate highlight important obstacles on the road to open data, and second, because the frictions that arise when archives designed to house physical things are confronted with digital objects make visible the translations involved in transforming epistemic objects into archivable entities. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/a1c4d10b-58d9-4d59-8516-6405c16c7a79
- author
- Olofsson, Tobias
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-03-20
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- pages
- 1 pages
- conference name
- Sociologidagarna 2026. Same as it ever was?
- conference location
- Växjö, Sweden
- conference dates
- 2026-03-18 - 2026-03-20
- project
- Show & Tell: Scientific representation, algorithmically generated visualizations, and evidence across epistemic cultures
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- a1c4d10b-58d9-4d59-8516-6405c16c7a79
- date added to LUP
- 2026-03-25 12:11:12
- date last changed
- 2026-03-25 13:43:24
@misc{a1c4d10b-58d9-4d59-8516-6405c16c7a79,
abstract = {{Archaeology’s turn to digital documentation poses questions for the long-term preservation of archaeological data and their future re-use—questions that have relevance also for the debates about open science and data archivization in the natural and social sciences. In this paper, I investigate how the nexus of epistemology and digital materialities affect attempts to open up archaeological data for future users. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and text analysis, I show how the epistemological positions assumed by archaeologists in relation to epistemic virtues such as objectivity, interpretation, and transparency lead them to adopt diverging understandings of what the material affordances and limitations of digital 3D technology mean for the value and feasibility of opening up digital archaeological data. Supported by the analysis, I argue that the contemporary debate about data reuse and archiving in archaeology offers valuable insights into questions of openness, reuse, and archivization across the sciences. First, because the arguments put forth in the debate highlight important obstacles on the road to open data, and second, because the frictions that arise when archives designed to house physical things are confronted with digital objects make visible the translations involved in transforming epistemic objects into archivable entities.}},
author = {{Olofsson, Tobias}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{03}},
pages = {{146--146}},
title = {{Archiving Knowledge : Digital Materialities, Affordances, and Challenges in Opening up Digital 3D Data for Reuse}},
year = {{2026}},
}