Saturday 29 March 2014

Looting Matters: looking ahead

The Blogging Archaeology Carnival has asked contributors to reflect on the future of blogging.

I would like to think that the art market, private collectors, and public museums have now distanced themselves from handling recently surfaced antiquities and therefore there is no need to continue 'Looting Matters'. But in the coming days objects handled by Giacomo Medici and Gianfranco Becchina are due to resurface on the London market through major auction houses. And in the last week it has been announced that Hungary has purchased part of the Sevso Treasure.

We also know that only some 1 per cent of the objects illustrated by the seized polaroid archives in Switzerland and Greece have been identified. So there is work to be done.

We are also aware of museums such as the Ny Carlsberg, the Allard Pierson Museum, and the Miho Museum that appear to have acquired recently surfaced antiquities.

Blogging requires time and that is a precious commodity. At a personal level I am about to change roles and that could allow for more time allocated to 'Looting Matters'. But would it be better to invest time in 'published' (i.e. print) outputs? But then there are times when the immediacy of blogging allows rapid comment and reflection.

I suspect that micro-blogging will become more important and that needs to be linked to blogs and online materials.

But the internet is changing along with the tools to generate information. Will I be incorporating self-generated audio and video commentaries within blog posts?

One thing that does need to concern bloggers is how we archive the information that we have generated over the years. Do we need a "blogging archaeology" archive? Where will it be hosted?

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