Unit Two Report

In our Ancient World Unit the section cave drawings really caught my attention. The fact that thousands of years ago people had no written language and used carvings as a way to communicate amazes me. Even better, these drawings are available to anyone on the Internet via digital images. It’s funny that one of the main arguments I’ve heard on moving from paper to digital means of communication is that it will always be preserved. To think that the messages of 4000 years ago have been preserved on cave walls, fossils, and khipu is incredible. Look at the picture below, how incredible is that? And I thought hand drawings were just for kindergarten. :)

It’s true that paper does yellow and ink fades, but is digital information really going stand the test of time? Servers, after all, don’t last forever and information does get lost. What will our next method of communicating information become? Will we all have touch screens for walls and be able to access anything, at any time?

Also, I think that in a lot of the aboriginal drawings people were trying to communicate the necessities: where to find food and where not to find danger. How do we communicate this type of information today? My guess would be mostly on mobile phones. If I need bread from the grocery store, I call my fiancée and ask him to pick it up; likewise, if I see a really bad accident I will call him and tell him to take a different route home. And it seems to be increasingly important to transmit this type of information quickly. Look at text messaging – it appears to be the new ‘it’ technology. Apparently, teenagers are text messaging each other instead of calling each other – or they can log onto AIM via their cell phones (this, I admit, is just not for me). That was a bit of a tangent, but my point is that looking at the aboriginal drawings made me wonder what people one hundred years from now will think about our ways of transmitting information.

Now, more about the Cave of Chauvet and the Australian discovery – the information on the two caves was distributed in tremendously different ways. At first glance, you seem to think that the Cave of Chauvet is the better site – fancy pictures, a map, etc. However, one big thing I noticed was that I had no “real” information. I wanted historical context! I want to know as much information as possible about the people who created those drawings. Even though the Australian findings were not posted in such a visually appealing fashion, they give you one very important thing – background information! Maybe I am too much of a history geek but I want more than just nice pictures – give me a context! However, the people doing the PR for the Australian cave could learn from the Cave of Chauvet’s website – if you had a nice website with great drawings and helpful information things would be perfect!

The other topic that peaked my interest this unit were the theories around the khipu. While I disagree with Dr. Urton’s theory of three dimensional binary code, I do believe that khipu could represent something other than numbers. Although Urton’s binary code may be in the same direction I’m thinking of; binary works in either on or off positions, so perhaps the knots could represent boolean values. This seems simple enough to make sense. Either way – numbers or letters – the khipu represent information. Although I still can’t imagine the Incas taking the time to invent a way of recording numbers and not language, it is interesting to think about what the cryptic knots mean.

Finally, I would like to discuss the calendaring and time keeping systems. Stonehenge is incredible – PBS’s video was quite informative and watching their diagram change over time made me wonder what it was that attracted so many people to this same spot. Even today, Stonehenge attracts people from all over the world. Thinking of how people’s needs changed over the years is astounding – some needed burial grounds, some altars, some a place to rest.

Note: Some of my discussions are repeated in previous postings – I combined them all here into one fluid document. The postings below contain some information differing from the information presented here; however, the general ideas are the same. I used the postings below to think my way through each section of the lecture.

Ancient Calendars and Time Keeping Mechanisms

It's interesting to read about Stonehenge and wonder why so many people over the span of several thousand years were attracted to this one place. It seems to be a very religious spot.

Other calendar systems I've been thinking about are lunar and solar calendars. By watching the changing sun and the changing moon, people could know when to plant and harvest - without some sort of system, people wouldn't have had food. It makes me wonder what other calendars existed that we don't know about ...

Ancient Writing Systems

I'm not sure what khipu represents, exactly; I feel like it could be both numbers and writing. Although I'm not sure I agree with Dr. Urton and his theory of three dimensional binary code. I'm sure that if the Incas created a tool for remembering numbers that they had some form of writing - even though it isn't necessarily a form of writing as we recognize it. But the idea of using cryptic knots as a way of relaying information is pretty amazing. Furthermore, even if khipu were simply the original abacus, it is STILL relaying information. After all, math is information!

As for the Oracle bones, have any of you read Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter? It's been a while since I read it but they talk about dragon bones in the book (this goes back to the blackboard discussion on fictional history). It's a really interesting book!

Also, when I was reading about Oracle bones I was thinking how odd it seems for someone to write on the fossils of dead animals. That made me wonder: a couple generations down the road, while students think that using paper is a crazy idea? Most of the things I do now are digital; I know a lot of places moving to a 'paperless' office ... is paper going to go the way of oracle bones a few hundred years down the road?

My Favorite "Pharaoh"

Discovery Channel :: Nefertiti Resurrected :: Who Was Nefertiti?

Since Mary mentions the Valley of the Kings I HAD to post this link of Nefertiti. I love watching anything on Neferetiti, because of all the controversy around her alleged body and her reign. For those of you who don't know, Nefertiti was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten; after his death her stepson, Tutankhamen reigned with Nefertiti as his co-agent -- there are theorists who believe that Nefertiti ruled as pharaoh herself after her stepson's death.

Reflections on the Ancient World

I've been thinking (as an information "professional") about the way the Australian Cave and the French Cave were presented. On the one hand, the Cave of Chauvet has lots of pictures that make me want to go cave hunting. The pictures are well made, showing lots of detail. On the other hand, you've got the cave paintings discovered in Australia that has not been well publicized nor does it have a lot of pictures, but in one article they get across a TON of information. And their information isn't just about this cave; rather, it contains a discussion of how people 4,000 years ago dealt with information. This was more informative for me, though not nearly as 'pretty' and interesting as the Cave of Chauvet information. Perhaps the Australians are aiming their cave information towards a more academic crowd and the French are aiming their information at the general public?

The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc

The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc

The drawings in this cave are absolutely amazing! All of the drawings are of animals - horses, bears, panthers, bison, etc. If I were a cave person the most important information to communicate would be where to stay away from danger and where to find food. I feel like that's what the cave people are trying to communicate - some drawings of animals (like the herd of horses) may be a warning and other drawings may indicate where you've had good luck hunting!

My Little Sis

Here's a picture of me and my sis ... she's visiting from NC State.

A Brief Introduction

Hi! I'm an MSIS student at UNC Chapel Hill and this is my blog for International Perspectives for Information Management.

This is actually my sixth year at UNC - I received a BS in Information Science with honors May, 2005. I've been around SILS for quite some time! I also work at the help desk in the SILS Lab, I'm one of the student lab managers.

Enjoy reading about information management!