Use of Wiki systems in Archaeology: Privacy, security and data protection as key problems

Wikis are powerful, collaborative tools and can be used for educational purposes in many ways. The original idea of a Wiki is to make information accessible to all. However, it is very interesting that experiences in the use of Wikis in educational settings showed that security and data protection of wiki contents is definitely an issue. In this paper, we discuss problems and solutions on the basis of use cases from archaeological education. Interestingly, archaeologists are extremely worried about online accessible information due to the serious danger of archaeological looting. “Tomb raiders”, i.e. people who excavate artefacts of cultural heritage on the basis of information stored in Geowikis, so called archaeological looters, are not aware of the value of cultural heritage, are interested only in the artefacts and destroying the cultural context, which is of enormous interest for archaeological research. Consequently, the protection of archaeological information is one of the most urgent tasks in the preservation of cultural heritage.

[1]  Martin Ebner,et al.  Utilizing Wiki-Systems in higher education classes: a chance for universal access? , 2008, Universal Access in the Information Society.

[2]  C. Renfrew,et al.  LOOTING AND THE WORLD'S ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE: The Inadequate Response , 2005 .

[3]  Loren G. Terveen,et al.  The computational geowiki: what, why, and how , 2008, CSCW.

[4]  Edgar R. Weippl,et al.  Content-based Management of Document Access Control , 2001, INAP.

[5]  Harald Meller,et al.  Der geschmiedete Himmel : die weite Welt im Herzen Europas vor 3600 Jahren , 2004 .

[6]  Edgar R. Weippl,et al.  Role-Based Access Controls: Status, Dissemination, and Prospects for Generic Security Mechanisms , 2004, Electron. Commer. Res..

[7]  Martin Ebner,et al.  Mixing Content and Endless Collaboration - MashUps: Towards Future Personal Learning Environments , 2009, HCI.

[8]  Douglas D. Scott,et al.  Metal detector use in archaeology: An introduction , 1998 .

[9]  Gary E. Gorman.  Editorial: Is the wiki concept really so wonderful? , 2005, Online Inf. Rev..

[10]  D. Elliott Bell,et al.  Secure Computer System: Unified Exposition and Multics Interpretation , 1976 .

[11]  Martin Ebner,et al.  M-Learning in the Field: A Mobile Geospatial Wiki as an Example for Geo-Tagging in Civil Engineering Education , 2010 .

[12]  Martin Ebner,et al.  The benefits of Geo-Tagging and microblogging in m-Learning: a use case , 2009, MindTrek '09.

[13]  Karl Strobel,et al.  TAVIUM (Büyüknefes, Provinz Yozgat) : Ein regionales Zentrum Anatoliens Bericht über den Stand der Forschungen nach den ersten drei Kampagnen (1997-1999): mit einem Beitrag von Dr. Gabriele Erath, Archäologisches Institut, Universität Graz , 2000 .

[14]  Edgar R. Weippl,et al.  Security in E-Learning (Advances in Information Security) , 2005 .

[15]  Martin Ebner,et al.  e-Learning in Civil Engineering - Six Years of Experience at Graz University of Technology , 2007 .

[16]  Martin Ebner,et al.  Why is Wikipedia so Successful? Experiences in Establishing the Principles in Higher Education , 2006 .