The research project on archaeological information work started in 2001 and has discussed different aspects of knowledge organisation, information use, documentation and information management in archaeological context. My major study in this field, The Ecology of Information Work was published as my doctoral dissertation (PhD thesis). Thesis study presents for the first time a concise analytical description of work and information work within the domain of archaeology from an information science point of view. The study forms a solid basis for the future development of information systems and information services for archaeology and cultural heritage professionals.
The conclusion is that the critical success factors of archaeological information work are fit and sustainability of the information processes. The information work analysis showed that archaeological information work would considerably benefit of more systematically coordinated and integrated information processes and of closer usage orientation. For the time being, archaeological information work resembles unnecessarily often an archaeological excavation. Virtual realities are potentially beneficial in supporting these factors in complex instances of information work, where the information is fluid, and in a state of making, and where the information work combines several contexts of the work and grasps the entire life-cycle of the information from the creation of information to its use and preservation. Typical examples of such work in archaeology is archaeological field work, research and policy related cultural heritage administration duties.
The work on the topic has continued to look at documentation, documentation systems, knowledge organisation and information management and information management education of archaeology professionals.
References to the publications on the topic can be found in my list of publications.
