Making the Invisible Visible through Digital Technologies in Fieldwork

Abstract:The rise of digital technologies in heritage-related fieldwork offers new potentials and new challenges for digital preservation, research, and scholarship. Potentials include speed, accuracy, and new opportunities for visualization, while challenges include mastering the necessary technological expertise to collect data, finding and funding the experts in technologies that support the collecting and use of data, creating appropriate protocols for the archiving of data, and discovering value for research and scholarship using this data. The goal for digital preservation of “making the invisible visible” aids in strategizing and planning the application and experimentation of digital technologies in heritage study. Asking what we can see anew, what new stories we can tell, with data generated by these technologies can help keep their application moderated and purposeful. This article presents field study examples that take an analytical and interpretive approach, using the data collected with digital technologies to help make the invisible visible. Themes include nondominant narratives, practicing a cultural landscapes approach, imagining lived experience, and communication and presentation of digital heritage data.