This chapter introduces readers to science fiction (SF) that explores gender relations through the lens of womanism, a social theory based on the history and everyday experiences of Black women. After briefly reviewing key tenets of womanism as first articulated by author Alice Walker and poet Audre Lorde, the chapter examines their more recent expression in Alexis Pauline Gumbs's short SF story "Evidence" (2015). In this story, Gumbs imagines a future where Black women communicate across generations to document the apocalyptic fall of the patriarchal capitalist system that ignited intersectional oppression across the world and its replacement by new and more equitable modes of communitarian living based on a redefinition of self, wealth, and technology. To tell this tale, Gumbs replaces the ruggedly individualistic, White, male hero who dominates classic apocalyptic and postapocalyptic fictions such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation series and Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land with the "womanist speculative archetype." This new science fiction (SF) heroine undertakes a quest to build a better world for herself, Black women, Black people, and all humanity not just through the invention and deployment of new technologies, but through the creation of "zamis," or female-centered communities.

This paper presents the findings of the Within the Walls of York Gaol, an interdisciplinary and collaborative practice-based research project which was established to examine the intersection between emerging forms of immersive media, game design, and contemporary archaeological exhibition design. The project was a collaboration between researchers and practitioners at York Museums Trust, The University of York, and the University of Glasgow and used co-design methods to design and produce two immersive installations in the prison cells at York Castle Museum in collaboration with community groups. The project sought to re-think the role of the museum within regional creative economies and to argue for the importance of the regional museum as a hub for digital design and innovation. Through innovative forms of collaborative research practice the project was able to develop new understandings of the ways in which collaborative approaches to the design and development of interactive digital media can be used to build skilled communities of practice around regional museums. The project took a critical stance to the use of immersive media technologies and led to the development of innovative and highly distinctive digital immersive installations which emerged in response to the specific opportunities and design requirements of museums and their audiences. This paper will set out the findings of this project as well as identify new creative directions and new forms of collaborative design practice which can be adopted and adapted for use across the museum sector.

The Oankali Approach to Remembering in Octavia Butler’s Lilith’s Brood R. Nicole Smith (bio) In the tradition of speculative fiction, this essay asks, “what if?”: What if we reconstructed the path to Black liberation using a new framework for remembering? Instead of navigating rememory of the cultural and historical traumas of chattel slavery and colonization, we would prioritize remembering these important histories as collections of cautionary tales to be honored, retold, and reinformed. In this model, historical narratives about genocidal pasts would not transmit the emotional trauma of these stories to future generations. Instead, these past accounts would persist as contributions to a data stream that honors the holistic, traumatic experiences of ancestors’ experiences and retain these historical narratives as fluid and intentionally instructional information. Evoking the characteristics of Sankofa, members of the African diaspora would engage this information as protected data that shapes liberated, contented Black futures. There is precedent for employing an ethos of contentment as a framework for liberation. One example lies in activist adrienne maree brown’s concept of pleasure activism. The author describes her concept as, “. . . the work we do to reclaim ourselves as whole happy, and satisfiable selves from the impacts, delusions, and limitations of oppression and/or supremacy” (9). Another model exists in cultural strategist Anasa Troutman’s use of love as a philosophical framework for her social justice activism (Troutman, From Justice to Joy). The Oankali aliens in Octavia Butler’s first-contact trilogy Lilith’s Brood (2000), originally published as Xenogenesis (1987–1989), offer a similarly unique, albeit figurative model for Black liberation through the aliens’ approach to memory. For the Oankali, memories are material to be “examined, memorized, and either preserved alive or allowed to live their natural span and die” (693). Their primary view of memories as data does not invite an emphasis on the emotional pain associated with cultural, historical, and related, individual traumas. Instead, the outcome of the Oankali approach to memory engages remembrance as a Sankofa-inspired data stream, a resource that shapes the future. This extraterrestrial model for engaging memory offers a more expedient and sustainable path to healing than rememory. Toni Morrison introduces readers to the term rememory in her novel Beloved. Morrison describes this term as “recollecting and remembering as in reassembling the members of the body, the family, the population of the past” (Source, 323). Morrison continues, “Therefore not only is the major preoccupation of the central [End Page 163] characters that of reconstituting and recollecting a usable past . . . but also the narrative strategy the plot formation turns on the stress of remembering, its inevitability, the chances for liberation that lie within the process” (323, my emphasis). Sethe, the protagonist in Beloved illustrates this tension in her conversation with her daughter Denver and describes rememory as a remembrance that exists as a tangible image, almost like a photograph. You can even, she tells her daughter Denver, bump up against someone else’s rememory - especially if you stand in the place where the memory originated. She calls a person’s initial experience with this, a “thought picture” (Beloved, 35–36). For Sethe, rememory lives and breathes and endangers. As such, it can linger in a place, almost like a ghost, and cause psychic and emotional damage (McDonald 36). She warns her daughter Denver to never return to the Sweet Home plantation Sethe escaped from because, “if you go there (you who’ve never been there) and stand in the place where it was, it will happen again . . . it is waiting for you” (Beloved, 36). Here Sethe, like the Oankali, presents to her daughter an approach to memories that she thinks will enable Denver to survive. However, unlike the Oankali, Sethe’s approach prioritizes the persistence of the past in the present. In doing so, she paints trauma and its companion, rememory, as temporal fixatives that do not offer psychological or emotional room for sustained healing and future building. Sethe’s narrative becomes unstuck when she gains the ability to instead place emphasis on present experiences. Sethe processes her pain and engages her memories as information that constantly informs her present moments. Following the Oankali model, Sethe examines her memories and...

Interactive media have transformed the practice of archaeological image making. Video games, mixed reality experiences and other emerging media forms have catalysed the development of new sensory languages of archaeology which blend image, sound and movement. Increasing use of these media for interpretation and data visualisation requires the development of new forms of embodied practice which transgress the virtual and the physical and which destabilise current understandings of the archaeological image. This chapter will provide a critical evaluation of the emerging field of interactive archaeological representation. We will explore the ways in which creators are drawing upon Archaeology's rich tradition of image making to respond to this new mode of representation. We will also examine intersections and parallels between archaeology and other disciplinary practices including those from theatre, media art and game design to identify new directions for archaeological practice. Our analysis will consider specific challenges facing the current generation of archaeological image makers in adapting to the use of interactive media. We will interrogate two key provocations for image making; the perceived loss of framing and composition through immersion and the production and consumption of interactive experiences. Responding to these challenges we put forward a proposed radical future of co-production and participation in image-making practice.

The Burial Space Research Database is a new repository for data produced from systematic archaeological surveys of burial spaces, undertaken on a per memorial basis. It enables the many local, community groups conducting research in this field to share their findings and publish results. The structure and form of the database requires groups to use a standardised recording methodology and vocabulary, meaning that datasets from different surveys are interoperable, allowing connections and comparisons to be made within and between local research projects. While burial space research is dominated by data on people and inscriptions, the database is also designed to accommodate archaeological approaches to recording that include detailed descriptions of the material form of monuments. A sophisticated search interface allows users to interrogate the archived datasets using a variety of different criteria, potentially revealing previously unrecognised temporal and spatial trends in the postmedieval history of commemoration. By acting as a central repository for burial space research, including individual people commemorated, the database also has the potential to become a powerful tool for genealogical and family history studies, drawing together disparate records in one place and making them freely available.

The Maeshowe digital archive (Smith et al. 2018) comprises the processed outputs and original source images from a series of Highlight-RTIs captured between the 21st–25th July 2016 in the Maeshowe chambered cairn in Stenness, Orkney. Each RTI file, accompanying assembly files, and the source images from which the final .ptm file is derived are stored in a single folder within the archive. The content of each RTI and its location within the cairn is described in the body of the paper.

In 1676 Dame Mary May commissioned her tomb from John Bushnell, a famous Restoration sculptor, and placed it next to her pew in the chancel of St Nicholas' parish church, Mid-Lavant, West Sussex, where she worshipped until her death in 1681. Tradition has it that after her death from smallpox her relatives obeyed her wishes that her effigy should be faithfully lifelike and caused its face to be stippled with pock-marks. In the course of the next two centuries the tomb was moved about the church and eventually hidden in the May vault below the chancel. Only in the 1980s was the tomb brought out and re-erected in the north aisle of the church. Using Reflective Transformation Imaging (RTI) to investigate the current state of the effigy, this article examines the controversy that has taken place since then concerning the nature of female effigial portrait sculpture and the reactions of 18th-19th century congregations to potentially disfigured sculpture. In addition, this article is a reflection on the theoretical implications of the process of the visual documentation of archaeological objects, which came out of a RTI digital image capture session of this tomb and its effigy. Both authors were present at the recording session, Smith is an expert in digital imaging for archaeology, and Jones is a specialist in early modern archaeology and the analysis of post-medieval parish churches and their monuments. The article will explore the notion that digital documentation techniques can offer the possibility of a highly reflexive, personal and social engagement with archaeological objects. The article will emphasise the performative and collaborative dimension of imaging with RTI through a discussion of the ways in which RTI as an image-making process is inherently social in nature, requiring multiple participants. Finally, this article will consider responses of the tomb's past viewers to a gendered object that may, at the time, have been perceived as visually transgressive, with a particular reflection on how RTI can form part of future responses to Dame Mary May's 'lugubrious memorial'.

This paper presents a public archaeology project that aims to train community groups to use computational photography techniques for the recording and dissemination of church gravestones and memorials. The project implements open approaches into its use of technology and also methodological design. The manner by which open principles were engaged by the project is described. The paper ends with an outline of plans for future work, to include crowdsourcing and open access publication in pursuit of these objectives.

In this paper we report on early findings of our SMiLE project which is evaluating how effective various online social networking channels can be in supporting how people network and learn from a major ‘live’ conference. The event took place at the University of Southampton in March 2012. We consider the dynamics of the relation- ship between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ communities in the development of personal learning networks, for example how social networking impacts upon participants’ interaction and engagement before, during and after the event as the community of practice de- velops. Assessing the impact of social networking activity on ‘real world’ outcomes has historically been a difficult task, but we argue that recent developments in social network visualisation and analysis now enable valuable insights to be generated for the benefit of both event organisers and attendees seeking to build their subject knowledge and extend their networks. We begin with a brief review of networking theory and the emerging role of the online backchannel at ‘live’ events, before describing the approach we took to the col- lection and analysis of social media data from the CAA Conference. We then discuss the implications of our findings for people looking to build learning networks through the increasingly blurred boundaries of ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ networks. We conclude by highlighting some lessons learned and possible directions for future research. Our findings also have relevance to the PLE conference itself – which this year has the added dynamic of two face to face locations for the conference operating at the same time to pose new multi-channel communication and learning challenges for partici- pants.

Re-reading the British Memorial: RTI and memorial inscriptions in British churches This paper will describe the initial findings of a project which has sought, in collaboration with local history and photography groups, to develop a methodology for Reflectance Transformation Imaging as a means of documenting and interpreting church inscriptions and memorials. Churches and cemeteries constitute a physical historical archive of the communities which they serve. The inscriptions and memorials found throughout churches and their grounds provide a valuable textual record of the history of the community within which they are situated. The materials, styles and craft exhibited in memorials provide insights into the people who commissioned and created them. Attempts to document church inscriptions using traditional methods have been moderately successful. However technical limitations have resulted in a fragmentary record with weathered inscriptions often remaining unreadable. Furthermore, traditional documentation techniques have been largely unable to meaningfully represent materials, tool-markings, erosion levels and other significant data. The value of RTI as a technique for recording and reading inscriptions has been demonstrated in several case studies. The technique also has great value in the degree to which it is easy to use and affordable. Consequently it represents a highly suitable method not just for the academic community but also for community groups to record, study and disseminate material from churches. Local-level participation, alongside national collaborations, documenting and disseminating inscriptions using RTI has the potential to greatly improve understandings of, and access to, this unique and nationally important collection of material. The purpose of the project has been to demonstrate RTI to local churches. Through collaborations with local history groups and photography groups, gravestones and memorials are recorded using RTI. As well as assisting these groups in the recording process the project has also trained group members in the use of a methodology for the adoption of the technique using their own equipment so that they can continue to use RTI and can train others. The project has also offered assistance to these groups to disseminate results of these recording sessions online, with an aim to make these collections available, not only for local, but for national and international study.

The Web as a Space for Interpretation of the Real in Archaeology The Web has been well supported as a platform for the dissemination of data relating to Archaeology. The Web has been adopted by many within the archaeology sector as a method for presenting narratives and as a place for the display of media-rich information. Increasingly, there is real potential for the Web to facilitate interpretation of archaeological data. In particular, developments in social web tools and platforms have led to the provision of spaces for truly democratic sharing and deliberative reading and presenting of information. This contribution offers to the round-table session the inclusion of the Web as a space for real interpretation of archaeological data. Offering the social web as a phenomenon that allows for polyvocal remediation of individual perspectives on narratives, this paper argues that recent developments on the Web allow for the decentralisation of archaeological discourse, with potential for meaningful multivocal events, resulting in peripatetic narratives which constantly evolve. This paper will explore the extent to which the Web is still regarded with the original conception of hypertext as a platform for narrative, and argues that a more participatory Web, in line with current web trends for curation and storytelling using collaborative platforms can contribute to enhanced interpretation of archaeological records.

Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) is a technology that uses conventional digital photographs to derive detailed surface shape information (Figure 1). It is a digital, interactive version of the raking light photography commonly used in finds photography and (with the sun) on site to represent subtle changes in surface morphology. The University of Southampton is currently leading a project in collaboration with Oxford University funded by the AHRC further to develop and promote the RTI technology. We recently provided a demonstration of the available tools at the IfA conference on April 11th 2011.