| The
VIRTUAL
WORLDS
IN ARCHAEOLOGY INITIATIVE
gratefully acknowledges the support and sponsorship of Learning Sites,
Inc., for initiating and hosting the INITIATIVE.
Learning
Sites will also provide a Home Page for
the INITIATIVE with links to INITIATIVE
partners' online worlds or Learning Sites will assist other projects
in getting their virtual worlds online and accessible, possibly
as part of the growing list of virtual worlds in the Learning Sites
digital
library.
Learning
Sites will also offer its expertise to
develop data standards for sharing these worlds, for
linking them to text, 2D image, or sound databases, and for designing methodsto
use these ancient worlds actively for the advancement and enhancement of
archaeology and education.
Additional support for the goals and methods of
the INITIATIVE has been provided by:
-
the AIACE (International Association of Computing
in Archaeology, Casalecchio di Reno [BO], Italy).
-
the CSA (Center for the Study of Architecture, Bryn
Mawr, Pennsylvania, USA).
| "The use, sharing, and preservation of archaeological
data--whether in the form of virtual worlds
or more mundane data--are important matters to all archaeologists. The
Center
for the Study of Architecture and the Archaeological
Data Archive Project are devoted particularly to the archival storage
of such data, and we are delighted to have
this Virtual Worlds in Archaeology Initiative as a colleague
in the effort. All who generate and use archaeological data should be equally
enthusiastic" (Dr. Harrison Eiteljorg, II, Director, CSA). |
-
Peter der Manuelian, Dept. of Art of the Ancient
World, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
| "I am writing in support of the Virtual Worlds
in Archaeology Initiative. As an Egyptologist, I am particularly interested
in the scholarly and educational potential of virtual recreations of ancient
sites. This type of archaeological reconstruction work allows us
to pose new research questions and, more importantly, to answer them in
three-dimensional space, an achievement previously thought impossible.
From the highest, most detailed levels of scholarship, to the most basic
introductory classroom levels, the Virtual Worlds in Archaeology Initiative
stands to provide a positive influence and a working model for all
future work concerning archaeology, computers, and the creation of virtual
worlds." |
|
