Description
Our modern culture is increasingly expressed in the form of digital artifacts, yet archaeology is in its infancy when it comes to researching and understanding them. The study and reverse engineering of digital artifacts is no longer the exclusive domain of computer scientists. Presented by way of analogy to the process of archaeological fieldwork familiar to readers, the 1986 Electronic Arts game Amnesia is used as a vehicle to explain the procedure and thought process required to reverse engineer a digital artifact. As a go-to reference to learn how to begin studying the digital, Amnesia is shown to be a multi-layered artifact with a complex backstory; through it, topics in data compression, copy protection, memory management, and programming languages are covered.
Author: John Aycock
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 03/10/2023
Pages: 210
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9781800738676
ISBN10: 1800738676
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Archaeology
- Social Science | Anthropology | General
- Games & Activities | Video & Mobile
About the Author
John Aycock is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary, Canada. He is the author of Retrogame Archeology: Exploring Old Computer Games (Springer, 2016). His research interests include studying the implementation of "retro" computer games and technology, which he has been doing in collaboration with archaeologists and others.