“Beyond Clay and Beyond Paper,”
Backdirt, Fall 2002/Winter 2003, pp. 4-5.
The paper describes how communication devices evolved during times: from clay to laptop and internet, asking how human mind reshape itself in approaching data.
As an example, it is reported the case of Urkesh archaeological project, whose team aims to develop a new way in spreading knowledge about this ancient site: a volume published by S. Bonetti about conservation projects at Tell Mozan, for instance, was produced both in paper and digital version (on CD [and today available also online, see the abovementioned link]).
Many advantages can be pointed out about this ‘soft edition’ of the book: firstly, the hard-cover edition costs around 25$, while the CD version can be afforded with just 5$; secondly, the digital version is much more searchable, presenting internal links.
A question arises: “What is the conceptual dimension of such digital publishing?” (p. 4). For sure, scholars “are still solidly within the realm of paper” (p. 4) but the attempt to produce a Urkesh Global Record [UGR], based on a rigorous grammar, allows to achieve a synthetic processing of the data.
As ancient shepherds benefited of the use of writing on clay for counting purposes, similarly “computers […] do infinitely more than simply providing greater efficiency in writing and publishing. […] The Urkesh digital project is a small step along this road” (p. 5).
[About the methodology applied for this digital publication, see The Website and more in detail Digital thought].
Back to top: Giorgio Buccellati 2002