Mansel, Kori
Anth. 410 M-W
April 7, 2014
Research Review
Research Review of “Anthropology: Blurring the Lines and Moving the Camera- The
Beginnings of Web-Based Scholarship in Anthropology”
The article of “Anthropology: Blurring the Lines and Moving the Camera- The
Beginnings of Web-Based Scholarship in Anthropology” by Gareth Barkin and Glenn
Davis Stone looks at how new nonrefereed forms of scholarship have appeared and
how they overstep the lines of conventional boundaries when looking at how
scholarship is usually published. They discuss the switch and the move to more
available web based scholarships and anthropology online like such websites like
Current Anthropology. As well looking at how current web based anthropology is not
refereed, and how media can hinder the information.
The overall purpose of this is to express the change in which information is
governed. As well the authors views and opinions on these new web based
scholarships are expressed as well. These views and research were all conducted
and written in the year 2000 for a Social Science Computer Reviews, long before
current technology and the advancement of the Internet. The views and research
come from a time when the Internet and information was limited. This article was
to mainly serve as a foreshadowing of what was to come for anthropology and how
its information was to be shifted and altered for the new forms of nonrefereed
online literature and how the refereed article is changing.
When looking for a thesis the authors clearly point out what they’re writing
about. Within the first paragraph the authors project that “Anthropologists have
begun to take their subject to the web” (“Anthropology: Blurring the Lines and
Moving the Camera- The Beginnings of Web-Based Scholarship in Anthropology”;
Gareth Barkin and Glenn Davis Stone). This was after the introduction of how
anthropological works take the same narrow range of forms, whether that is in the
majority of written books by mainly cultural anthropologists or articles being
produced more by physical anthropologists. They go on to continue to stretch this
by saying that the main intent is to “not give an overview of anthropological projects
on the web but to highlight those that are most suggestive of transformation of
scholarly products.” ” (“Anthropology: Blurring the Lines and Moving the CameraThe Beginnings of Web-Based Scholarship in Anthropology”; Gareth Barkin and Glenn
Davis Stone).
This thesis is discussed explicitly through breaking down the article into
sections looking at every different form of scholarship and how it is being
transformed with the new emerging Internet. An example he uses is how a professor
(of the anthropology department, University of Colorado) created a nonrefereed
web publication because his book based twenty-two chapter literature would cost
an upwards of two hundred dollars, which only a few scholars and students could
afford. With the new scholarly outlet he was able to still write his book with twentytwo but more concise, and only have key illustrations showing the data, while on the
accompanying website referred by the book will have slide information with threedimensional graphics.
In this anthropology capstone 410 course we mainly read scholarly articles
and have discussions on them as well as write reflections every other week. We
critically analyze what the author is trying to say and what point they are trying to
make. Most of these articles come from the Internet and not from books. Most
however are uploaded from a literature text and then posted on a website. This form
of free scholarship is what makes a class like this possible. As long as the previously
refereed literature is uniform with how it is in literature then its refereed status is
still obtained. As well this Internet forum gives graduates a chance to showcase
their work without having to go through a publication company. This gives them a
chance to produce a tangible educational source of scholarship.
In this day in age the Internet is everywhere, soon if not already books will
be a secondary source. Of course a book will have more credibility than the Internet
because anyone can edit and alter a document, that’s what makes peer reviewed
articles important. The work in this article presents varies. For one, one of the
authors of this article Stone is an advisory editor for Current Anthropology,
presuming he has extensive knowledge in how scholarship was being introduced to
the Internet. As well there are extensive citations from such established websites
such as American Anthropologist aaanet.org, and the University of CaliforniaBerkeley’s Museum of Paleontology ucmp.berkely.edu. Literary analysis is used as
well to look at how literature crosses over to a more web based scholarship.
Secondary material is the main source if information used for this article because it
looks at different outlooks.
The material serves as evidence and referral to show connections, examples,
and changes being made in how the Internet is changing the way in which
information is received in the terms of anthropological data. The authors show no
different ways in which to argue the material, but in agreement with them, I like the
way they presented to material. It is divided in sections and easy to read; as well in
the end there is a discussion section. Key terms are also presented in the beginning
of the article. A theoretical topic that might come about with reading this is looking
at how to specifically cite the type of scholarly product the work is so the reader can
specify if it is a graduate work or from a professor with PhD.
Reflecting on this work and regarding its dated timeline I can see where the
authors were trying to go with this. It was like a preemptive look into the scholarly
future for anthropology. When the lines are blurred and there is so much
information on the web we have to be careful what information we are looking at as
well as looking at the intention of the writer of these scholarships. Refereeing,
according to the authors’ arguments will become more important to give
scholarships validation.
Works Cited
Gareth Barkin, Glenn Davis Stone ; Anthropology: Blurring the Lines and Moving the
Camera- The Beginnings of Web-Based Scholarship in Anthropology”; Social Science
Computer Review 2000.