Foreword
This book summarizes a transformative account of the development and spread of Buddhism. It represents both the fruit of a lifetime of dedicated scholarship and also an enthusiasm for collaboration.
A quarter of a century ago Professor Lancaster invited a diverse group of scholars to meet at his home to discuss how learning in the humanities and social sciences could be aided by greater attention to time and place. The outcome was the formation of the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI), a rather informal collaboration for which the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information provides an administrative base. The designation “Initiative” is significant since ECAI is not a project, a center, or a program, but it has always been a vehicle to encourage and to promote the work of others by means of community building, workshops, the promotion of best practices, the development of new techniques, and demonstration by example. This book exemplifies and illustrates the ECAI approach.
This text was created to accompany the advanced exhibits created to reveal a new understanding of the spread of Buddhism. It is also noteworthy in two other ways. First, in the best tradition of scholarship, it constitutes a challenge to received opinions and assumptions and, second, it makes use to a remarkable extent of an unusually diverse range of evidence, including DNA, wood preserved in mud, and metallurgical analysis, in addition to the usual textual and archaeological evidence, not to mention the highly advanced photography and projections for the exhibit it was written to accompany.
Michael K. Buckland
Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
Co-Director, Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative
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