Karolyn,
 
Your point is an important one in that the use of "technology" might always
exclude those who do not have access. However, Bill Adams was simply suggesting
that the vast majority of SHA members have access to e-mail. I doubt that your
colleague who had never heard of the web or e-mail has also heard of the SHA, an
d
probably has little connection with historical archaeology as we know it. That
doesn't mean things aren't changing. In fact, I find there are increasingly few
places in the world where scholars do not have WWW access. Some have even argued
that the Internet is a great democratizing force (I think they're on thin ice, b
ut
then I'm a pessimist).
 
We have to make similar decisions about using "technology" every day. As teacher
s
and scholars the questions rises with regard to student access. Each year I have
increased my requirements that students have web access and be e-mail-literate,
and I am quickly discovering that even the many poor urban and rural students we
service at VCU are now generall computer-savvy. As professionals or cultural
resource managers we allso have to decide whether we are liiting our client base
or our customer base by getting too caught up in "the web." But, like it or not,
electronic communications is not only the way of the future, it is very nearly t
he
way of the present. Bill is addressing those few "Luddites" who choose to ignore
the changes in our culture. They do so at their own risk of losing touch with th
e
mainstream of the discipline.
 
Dan Mouer
 
Karolyn Smardz wrote:
 
> ...Please remember that there is historical archaeology going on in places whe
re
>
> electricity is not readily available, let alone high-tech computer equipment
> and internet access.  It is essential that we remember that Web access is a
> luxury at least partly confined to the developed, rather than the developing
> world, and there are even people in North America who can't afford it!  Or do
> we want to leave these people out?
>
> Having just returned from the World Archaeological Congress, this was brought
> home to me when the Executive was debating the efficiency of distributing pre-
> circulated papers via the Web.  A quiet voice from one of the members of an
> African nation said, "Please, I have never seen the Web, and I don't know what
> e-mail is".
 
--
Dan Mouer
Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology
Virginia Commonwealth University
http://saturn.vcu.edu/~dmouer/homepage.htm