Narrative Provenance
Diagnosed in Chapter 6 of Archaeobytology, this concept explains why the field has struggled to gain legitimacy. The "Archipelago" consists of separate islands: the Archive Team (guerrilla rescuers), the Internet Archive (institutional giants), Academic Historians (theoretical observers), and IndieWeb Builders (sovereign architects). Archaeobytology aims to build bridges between these islands.
Field Notes
The Tower of Babel Effect: One group calls it "bit-rot," another "digital obsolescence," another "link rot." Because they lack a shared professional language (or pidgin), they cannot easily share solutions or form a unified political bloc to demand better platform laws.
Consequences of Isolation:
- Deprecation of Knowledge: A technique for scraping AJAX sites invented by a hacktivist isn't cited by an academic using an inferior method.
- Political Weakness: Scattered groups can't effectively lobby against DRM or copyright overreach.
- Funding Deserts: Without a unified "discipline" to fund, grant agencies ignore the field entirely.
Praxis
Overcoming the Archipelago Problem requires:
- Common Venues: Conferences where hackers and professors actually talk.
- Shared Canon: A set of texts (like this wiki) that everyone reads.
- Boundary Objects: Tools and standards that work across different "islands" of practice.