envisioning the digital archaeological record
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Envisioning the Digital Archaeological Record. Keith Kintigh School of Human Evolution & Social Change Arizona State University CAA 2009 Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology Williamsburg, Virginia March 23, 2009. We’re Losing the Archaeological Record. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Digital Antiquity
Envisioningthe Digital
Archaeological RecordKeith Kintigh
School of Human Evolution & Social ChangeArizona State University
CAA 2009Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in
ArchaeologyWilliamsburg, Virginia
March 23, 2009
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Digital Antiquity
We’re Losing the Archaeological Record
• Explosion of Digital Information • >50,000 field projects/year, 1000s of databases• Primary archaeological data is now “born digital”
• Absence of Trusted Repositories• Few institutions capable of long-term data curation • Media on which data resides is treated as an artifact• Standard work flows do not move digital data into trusted
repositories
• Fragility of Digital Data• Media degradation & software obsolescence• Loss of data semantics (metadata)
We need a trusted digital repository for archaeological documents and data
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Digital Antiquity
History• Harrison Eiteljorg
• Archaeological Data Archive Project ca 1994; inactive 2002• ASU Team formed 1999- Synthesis & Data Integration• NSF planning grant in 2004
• Santa Barbara Workshop 2006 Publication in American Antiquity
• Support from SAA, SHA, AAPA• NSF 2006 funded prototype & data integration research• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
• 2007 funded planning by archaeoinformatics.org• Investigation and proposal development• December 2008 funded creation of Digital Antiquity and the full
implementation of a trusted digital repository• Note
• ADS about which much more later• OpenContext – Alexandria Archive Institute Eric and Sarah Kansa• Other fields have been developing cyberinfrastructures, e.g.
SEEK, GEON
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Digital Antiquity
Digital Antiquity - Mission• Organization devoted to enhancing
preservation and access to digital records of archaeological investigations • to permit scholars to more effectively create
and communicate knowledge of the long-term human past;
• to enhance the management of archaeological resources; and
• to provide for the long-term preservation of irreplaceable records of archaeological investigations.
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Digital Antiquity
Organizational Design• Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
• 2.25 years, $1.3M• Following recommendations of Ithaka report on
Sustainability of On-line Resources• Digital Antiquity is designed for social & financial
sustainability• Not a typical, faculty directed, University research project
• Strong but accountable Executive Director• NOW HIRING – see me - [email protected]
• Independent Board of Directors and Science Board• Incubated as a University center• Explicit Business model targeting sustainability in 4-
5 years• Then spin-off as a separate, sustainable non-profit
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Digital Antiquity
Partner Institutions & PI’s• Arizona State University
• Keith Kintigh & John Howard
• University of Arkansas • Fred Limp
• The Pennsylvania State University • Dean Snow
• SRI Foundation• Jeff Altschul
• Washington State University • Tim Kohler
• University of York/Archaeology Data Service • Julian Richards
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Digital AntiquityDigital Antiquity’s Repository:
tDAR - the Digital Archaeological Record
• On-line, trusted digital repository for archaeological data and documents that• financially and socially sustainable, • long-term preservation of data & metadata• on-line discovery, and access for data and documents
produced by archaeological projects. • web ingest interface: acquire metadata and user upload of
data • Scope
• targets digital products of ongoing research & legacy data• focus on archival data (not continuously updated
databases such as site files)• Work of scholars in the US and the Americas more broadly
• Getting started, want to learn from others• Understand this as a part of a long term international effort
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Digital Antiquity
Digital Antiquity Builds on the ADS Model
• The Archaeology Data Service (ADS) in the UK has a 10 year track record of success• ADS is heavily staffed (ca 10FTE), provides a
high level of curation and high quality archive• ADS provides a refined presentation layer for
its projects• ADS processes a relatively small number of
projects (ca 200) each year at a high unit cost
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Digital Antiquity
Digital Antiquity Diverges from ADS In Order to Scale to the US Situation• 50,000 federally mandated cultural resource field
projects conducted each year in the US. • tDAR aspires to capture the digital data and documents
from a substantial fraction
• Implies a different business model (Altschul presentation)
• Demands much heavier reliance on users to provide metadata that make their data meaningful
• Requires a user-friendly ingest interface for metadata acquisition and data upload
• tDAR invests much less in the project by project presentation.
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Digital Antiquity
Prototype Ingest
Interface
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Digital Antiquity
Preservation and Access Requirements
• To maintain the utility of data, we must preserve the data (bits) on a sustainable media, in a sustainable format, along with their semantics• Existing coding keys and manuals are inadequate
• Cannot require universal coding schemes• We must employ ontologies to allow naive users
to locate relevant resources.
• We must plan for integration of data that employ different systematics.• We must collect detailed database metadata
(e.g., at the table, column, and value level)
• Need persistent URIs, DOIs
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Digital AntiquityMetadata & Database
Semantics• Standardization of original data on deposit is unacceptable• We must capture, not transform, original
semantics• Digital coding sheets at dataset registration time
• Our representation is not highly abstract but structured by archaeological practice
• On registration, the dataset creator • associates database codes with dataset labels
through a coding sheet • and maps coding sheet labels to default (and
possible alternate) ontologies created by material class experts
• We won’t know if a metadata representation is adequate until we try to synthesize data
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Digital Antiquity
Social Considerations
• Provision of credit is both appropriate and essential to encourage deposit
• Developing policies on access that are consistent with reasonable claims of original investigators and archaeological ethics demanding data sharing
• Respecting US concerns regarding sensitive information
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Digital Antiquity
Schedule• 2nd generation tDAR prototype in testing• Guides to Good Practice - ongoing
• York & Arkansas
• Beta launch – Fall 2009• Major Launch SAA 2010• Minigrant program $225,000
• Capture data of research value; stimulate use and interest
• Beta - Late 2009 – test and refinement• Production - Spring 2010
• Ongoing• Work with federal agencies• ACRA & consulting archaeology community• Learn from other initiatives• Stick to fundamentals and emphasize sustainability
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Digital Antiquity
Questions?
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Digital Antiquity
Acknowledgments• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation• National Science Foundation• Archaeoinformatics.org Advisory Board• Digital Antiquity Board of Directors
Sander van der Leeuw, Arizona State University (ASU) [chair]Carol Ackerson, Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, Inc.Jeffrey Altschul, SRI FoundationKim Bullerdick, Owner, BI, L.L.C.Jaime Casap, Google, Inc.John Howard, ASU
Keith Kintigh, ASUTim Kohler, Washington State UniversityFred Limp, University of ArkansasHarry Papp, L. Roy Papp & Associates Julian Richards, University of YorkDean Snow, The Pennsylvania State University