Thomas Romanis | University of Sydney

The Advantages of Digital Volunteering: The Digital Horizons Program as a Case Study

The Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens hosts a unique volunteer program: the Digital Horizon Project (DHP). The project tackles two pervasive problems in archaeological training and research with a stream-lined, mutually beneficial solution that provides significant benefits and opportunities to both parties.

In the face an increasingly competitive job market, students are seeking opportunities to enhance their learning through the acquisition of practical and transferrable skills development. Simultaneously, in an ever more constrained funding environment research institutions often lack resources to undertake large scale projects, particularly those dealing with legacy data.

The online nature of the project means that training opportunities are not dependant on proximity. The model is flexible, wide-reaching and can easily be adjusted when circumstances require. Due to this, the DHP not only survived the COVID-19 lockdowns of Sydney, Australia, but actually expanded. We have expanded to six universities and over 110 volunteers.

Thomas Romanis is the Co-Director of the Digital Horizons Program. He has played a key role in the development of the program since 2019. Thomas holds Bachelor of Ancient History from Macquarie University, and a Master of Museum and Heritage Students from the University of Sydney. His Master’s thesis examined the effectiveness of using technology in increasing audience engagement at museums. . His primary research interests are technology in archaeology and museums, and the development of religious systems in Classical Greece and New Kingdom Egypt.

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Registration

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