DISEÑO Y CONSTRUCCIÓN BOMBO PARA REALIZAR LA OPERACIÓN DE

A main challenge of archaeological display for public consumption is to provide adequate context for a non-specialist audience while not misrepresenting the past. This balance between authenticity, representation, and education is made difficult due to the inherently incomplete archaeological and historical records. This often leads to an oversimplification of presented material or the tendency to need to choose one history to represent out of the palimpsest of a site (Stone 1997). As museum resources are limited, and the spatial restrictions of display areas often dictate the style of exhibition, museums are also constricted as to what they are able to show and how often the contextual information can change to reflect ongoing research. VR and AR technologies, integrated with the standards of museum display practice or as self-contained educational tools, offer solutions to many of these problems or challenges. As materials are digital within these formats, they take very few resources to update or maintain as new

information emerges. Additionally, much more material can be connected visually within a display than in traditional exhibitions. Videos, audio, maps, links between objects and sites, and experiential interaction are now possible to present within a virtual environment connected to an artifact, feature, or site. Places can be shown during different construction and occupation phases to represent change over time, further contextualizing archaeological and historical data. The goal now is to determine how to best use these technologies through understanding the potential problems that could arise. We must examine how interpretation through these technologies can give rise to the ability to ask new questions, inspire theoretical development within the discipline, while educating and exciting the public about the benefits of archaeological and anthropological education in addition to the relevance of archaeology to the contemporary world.

The final product of this visualization will be a three-part project. First, the assets will be used in the VR reconstruction of Vista Alegre as described above. This form of immersive visualization can allow for people who have not visited the site to see it remotely and at different stages through its occupation with the right equipment while in the classroom, in the home, or in a museum. Second, these assets will also be connected to an online visual database that will act as a virtual exhibit using Omeka. As Omeka can be accessed through the internet, this will allow the public greater access to the educational materials associated with the site. This form of virtual exhibit can utilize the 3D objects, placing them in context with descriptive data and other documentary forms of information. Third, as these assets will be georeferenced, they can be used for AR applications, such as seen in the work of Jeff Emanuel (2017). Using a handheld device at the site of Vista Alegre, these assets could be viewed in their preexistent locations. As it is a remote location with no site-based tourism, the public access and educational component

of the project includes an upcoming museum project in the port city of Chiquilá. Building a visualization for this museum exhibit couples with the initial goal of this visualization as an interpretive research tool within the project and to acquaint incoming members of the project with the area.

A final, and future, goal of this visualization is to build on the work of archaeologists specializing in educational gamification (e.g., Bryant 2015, Dean and Nichol 1984, Reinhard 2018, among many others) and explore the possibilities of gamification within the project, both in public education and in local civic engagement. Within a local museum setting, such as one that has been proposed in Chiquilá, gamification of the virtual environment would not only teach tourists and locals about the history of the area, it would also engage the mind in critical thinking through exploration and puzzle-solving. When people are inspired to care through education, empathy, and understanding, and when they can create a memory out of a relatable experience, they are more likely to act. This kind of education can drive directed change, creating emotional connections and encouraging actions towards heritage preservation.

6 PRAXIS AND THE FUTURE

Within anthropological and archaeological theory, technology is often seen as a prime mover of cultural and social change. What society has experienced since the era of personal computing and the internet began reveals that we are living in a time of radical social change enabled, in part, by the opportunities that have been created through increased global

connectedness. Many of these opportunities have been used to perpetuate existing social

inequities, often unconsciously, owing to embedded systems of institutionalized marginalization (e.g., any social media site). As such, theory and ethics must be enacted when engaging these technologies in research or public education to mitigate any unanticipated negative

consequences. A praxis-based approach, as defined in Chapter 3, to theory and application with these technologies is essential, both to maintain ethical and responsible practice standards but also to critically assess the assumptions, outcomes, and uses to increase the effectiveness of these technologies going forward. These questions drive the critical and theoretical advancement of the discipline. Into this framework, the technologies of VR and AR offer new ways to engage with anthropological and archaeological data through experiential immersion. With these pedagogical practices, new questions continue to emerge that need to be critically addressed, such as how to best represent the people and material left behind, how to engage and educate the public, and where to draw the line between accuracy and experiential quality.