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Darius Arya: Old Stones - New Media: Leveraging video and social media for cultural heritage sustainability

Monday, January 9, 2012
Building 110, Room 112
 
Noon - 1:00PM
 
Video is the largest growing medium in the internet and on mobile devices; social media networks are exploding through massive growth (e.g., FaceBook, Twitter).  Despite the popularity and ubiquity of video and social media, however, they represent largely untapped resources for educational and promotional initiatives about world heritage and archaeology. I will argue that video has a natural and logical place in archaeological documentation to engage and involve the public to learn about the past, complementing scientific study and academic publications, a natural extension of plans, laser scanned reconstructions, and photos. The active coordination of educational video podcasts with social media outlets can attract specialists, students, and the general public, to extend the reach and impact of the videos themselves.
 
Darius Arya is the director of the American Institute for Roman Culture (www.romanculture.org). Since receiving his PhD from the University of Texas, Austin (2002), he has been involved in a number of excavations in Rome, including "post aedem Castoris" in the Roman Forum where he was co-director with Professor J. Trimble of Stanford (2003-5). He is a fellow of the American Academy in Rome (2000) and is a frequent host on History, Discovery, and National Geographic documentaries. Arya lives and works in Rome, Italy.