Archaeology of Spaceless Places: Applying Behavioural Chain Analysis to Digital Artefacts

Abstract

This paper addresses the theoretical rationale for the extension of archaeological methods into digital contexts, and (2) presents an application of behavioural chain analysis to the production and use of digital artefacts. The exercise of social power and constraints under which craftspeople make creative choices are visible through the application of archaeological methods to the analysis of digital artefacts. Archaeological methods derive meaning from traces of past human behaviour. While these traces have historically been identified through the examination, documentation and analysis of material remains, modern human social behaviour unfolds in digital contexts and in multi-sited interactions that produce digital artefacts. Behavioural chain analysis was developed as an archaeological method for application to material remains, and is productively applied to digital artefacts in this case study. Production events, resources, and craftspeople with diverse expertise intersect within the context of a particular economic and political landscape. Analysing the processes through which educational technologies were produced and adopted at a university results in explanatory frameworks. This approach provides a nuanced picture of the relationships of power and constraints that affect the production and adoption of emerging technologies.