Internet Archaeol. 6. Hodder. Archaeology and global information systems

Conclusion

I do not under-estimate the difficulties in pursuing some of the visions described in this article. But there is a real potential for democratisation, participation and erosion of the boundaries between specialist and popular archaeology. Increasingly, as alternative groups (such as many in the Goddess movements) gain access to specialised data through the Internet, they are able to provide well-educated and well-resourced centres of knowledge of their own which compete with strictly archaeological sources. In fact, the boundaries between specialist and non-specialist Web sites can become blurred. This is part of the overall process of a shift from a hierarchical to a networked structure of archaeological knowledge. The archaeologist has to argue for an authority, not assume it.

But there are dangers that the Internet will simply translate old forms of elite knowledge into new forms, increasingly excluding the un-networked. Care needs to be taken to provide different modes of access for different groups and to find ways round the exclusive tendencies associated with the dispersal of any new technology.