Maps of the rewired world vividly show the divide. One wide swath, from North America to Europe, is dense with communications, while vast areas, such as the African and South American continents, are blank. When the connected world reaches those blank spots, the people in them begin to prosper, says Vinod Thomas, vice president of the World Bank Institute, created in to serve as a knowledge bank for developing countries. He handed me a chart that compared South Korea and Ghana, which both had about the same level of poverty in Then, while the average income level stagnated in Ghana, South Korea's income started to soar, aided by that nation's investment in communications.
The African Virtual University, for example, has a faculty of North American and European professors whose lectures are televised and sent to students in 16 African countries. The virtual university also offers computer courses to African teachers lucky enough to have computers in their classrooms. I did a little distance learning myself in a World Bank Institute videoconference classroom.
Through its satellite network the institute connects learning centers in some 30 countries. Discussions range from health care to preventing corruption. I looked at myself projected on a large screen, along with squares occupied by images of African entrepreneurs who run computer centers in Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, and Ghana.
The centers serve as paths to the connected world's information highway. People get their first look at the Internet, send their first e-mails Gregory looks for lost relatives , speak up in chat rooms "…I didn't come here to bandy words with you" , and learn how to sign up for distance-learning university courses. Many countries, such as China and Brazil, avoided the lengthy and expensive process of stringing more nationwide telephone lines by leapfrogging over copper wire and setting up cellular phone systems.
Shanghai, for instance, with a population of 17 million, has more than 3 million mobile phone users. It took a hundred years to connect a billion people by wire.
It has taken only ten years to connect the next billion people. The Internet gave cable a new set of customers. A round-trip satellite signal takes a quarter of a second, an endurable delay during a phone conversation. But for the connected on the Internet, delay is intolerable and time is measured in nanoseconds. Internet facts and foibles move along fiber-optic cables at nearly the speed of light. The Internet seems to be neither here nor there. In the rewired world, as hackers say, the world is one big wire, and distance is dead.
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The National Geographic Channel has actually re-imagined their show to address our main concerns. But they are actually under the direction of qualified archaeologists who point them in the right direction. And, yes, NGC did hire a staff archaeologist, Kate Culpepper , who follows after the boys and records what they found and, more importantly, where it was found a process that led to the very recent discovery relating to the Hatfields and McCoys. I also saw no mention that the artifacts were to be sold.
Actually, I was told that the Diggers had never sold any artifacts. They simply had them appraised on camera because people always want to see what their finds are worth.
So, that addressed my major concerns: research design, context and no trafficking in artifacts. That being said, there is plenty to quibble about. The boys are still annoyingly silly. However, I am encouraged that the producers are making a good faith effort to improve the show. I would also add that the shows are genuinely more entertaining. The professional archaeologists seem to work well with metal detectors and the boys seemed to be even more enthused if that is possible about making contributions to our knowledge of the past.
There is an accompanying website for the show which I found to be informative and entertaining. The bits about responsible metal detecting and doing archaeology are educational without being preachy.
But not everyone is as happy with the new shows. I have heard from several archaeologists who are unhappy with the fact that the artifacts are still given a monetary value at the end of each show. They also decry the absence of a visible archaeologist in the shows.
These are valid points. Assigning a value to an artifact does increase it marketability. However, virtually every reality show of this type e. What I do like about the valuation of the artifacts on Diggers is that it serves as a realistic counterpoint to the wildly inflated values assigned to artifacts by Ric Savage on American Diggers.
And to be clear, these artifacts are NOT being sold. And the archaeologists HAVE been peripheral characters on the show though not on the actual projects. Still, it is the perception that needs to be dealt with here. Archaeology is more than just finding stuff. The daring search for treasure is a compelling hook we can use to engage the public, but it is just the beginning of our work.
Now I think archaeology is entertaining all by itself, but even I must admit that some days it is like watching paint dry. Obsessing with a tape measure and a Munsell book may be good archaeology, but it is poor television. So, do we put up with a bit of slapstick before the real archaeologists deliver the educational punchline at the end of each show? Or do we write off a large chunk of the population as beneath our intellectual reach?
It depends upon whom you want to reach. The American version has had trouble securing an audience — even on Public Television! Surely there is some middle ground that gets our point across without boring the public to tears? We will see if Diggers can strike that balance. They are cheap to make and audiences like them. Boom baby, indeed! I was one of the 14 people that were invited to National Geographic TV for our input on how to clean up the show.
It was carefully orchestrated by a professional moderator. I tried to bring up my concerns about the cast but, my questions were directed away. Yes, they did hire an archaeologist, who is never seen or mentioned on the show.
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