Anthropology from the desk? The challenges of the emerging era of data sharing.
Sarah Elton, Andrea Cardini · PubMed · 2008
e previous contributions in this forum highlight the immense potential for anthropo-logical data transfer and sharing in the digital age. Not only is it easier than ever before to dissemi-nate information and work collaboratively, the types of data being collected are also increasingly driven by information and computing technol-ogy (Kullmer, 2008). Simply sending an email with an attached fi le to someone on the other side of the world is now old fashioned. Sophisticated web-based programs allow not just the transfer of information but almost instantaneous collab-orative document editing from remote locations. Several large-scale databases, covering material as diverse as the palaeoclimates of Neogene mam-mal localities (NOW: Fortelius, 2007) and 3D reconstructions of fossil hominoids (3D-archive of fossil hominoids: Weber, 2001) are available from your desktop. And if you need to speak to or even see your colleagues to discuss these data, voice over IP (VoIP) and similar technologies allow you to videocall the rest of your research team at a moment’s notice, wherever they are. Some anthropologists were quick to grasp the research opportunities off ered by the digital age. e Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing