298 winter

Internet Archaeology: a study in links, levels and

layers

Judith Winters

Editor

Internet Archaeology

http://intarch.ac.uk

Archaeological publishing

1900-1950Publication seen as an integral part of archaeological excavation

1960s and 1970sShift from exhaustive to selective publication. Primary record is archive rather than the publication

TodayGreat variation in publication policy across the disciplineGreater integration between description and interpretation

• issue 1 published in 1996

• peer-reviewed content

• international - no chronological restrictions

• no print equivalent

• text, data, images, VRML, QTVR, SVG, video, sound,

• archived by Archaeology Data Service


http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/

Journal background

1995 - 3 year grant from eLib programme

1998 - grant extension

2000 - subscriptions (institutional and individual), publication subventions, advertising

2007 – JISC ‘Open Access’ agreement for UK Higher and Further Education institutions

Enriching archaeology

• 21st century archaeology is ‘born digital’• a like-minded medium • data• addresses concerns about dissemination

and multi-vocality• facilitates the opening up of our work and

our interpretations to critical inquiry, immediately and on a global scale

The Development of the Clay Tobacco Pipe Kiln in the British Isles. Issue 1

The Ave Valley Survey, Northern Portugal. Issue 9

Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian Cottam: linking digital publication and archive. Issue 10

• Linking Electronic Archives and Publications

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/project/leap/

• Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) under the ICT Strategy Programme

• To investigate ways in which electronic publication can provide broad access to research findings and make underlying data available in such a way so that readers are enabled to 'drill down' seamlessly into online archives to test interpretations and develop their own conclusions.

The LEAP project

Changing Settlements and Landscapes: Medieval Whittlewood, its Predecessors and Successors. Issue

19

Joining the Dots: Continuous Survey, Routine Practice and the Interpretation of a Cypriot Landscape. Issue 20

http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue20/4/panoramas/asinou.html

Silchester Roman Town Insula IX: The Development of an Urban Property c. AD 40-

50 - c. AD 250

http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue21/4/finds_sf.htm

The landscapes of Islamic Merv, Turkmenistan. Issue 25

Features

• allows users to explore the links between interpretation and underlying data through a variety of interfaces (maps, plans)

• article still interprets the site in the light of the original research agenda and ‘tells a story’

• data is made available and linked to the interpretation so that users can examine the assumptions upon which the interpretations rest

• multiple pathways through the text into and out of archive

Preservation issues

Digital data is fragile

• no changes post-publication• hardware and software changes• ongoing maintenance (migration) of content

(especially databases/GIS)• formats (web standards) - prioritises

content rather than presentation

Shared infrastructure with ADS

Production issues

• flexible, responsive approach – rights, commissioning content, keeping options open, no rigid template

• appropriate standards - interoperability and longevity, standard file formats, metadata, storage media and delivery systems

• increased editorial contact results in a flexible final publication.

• authors have a greater say in the editing and presentation.

Dialogue

Engagement

• authors– more connected to their data - “I had to come

off the fence and say what I thought it all really meant”

– scrutiny of data during editorial process

• readers– ability to respond (discussion list and articles)– potential of drawing other conclusions. More

‘active’ users of data.

• data rich– complements authorship

Structure

• provides the reader with different levels of information

• information no longer split across several publications

– integrated e-publications are based on interaction, hypertext linking, navigation, search, and connections to other online resources. Capabilities that allow for much more powerful user experiences than a linear flow of text.

– integrated e-publications are more than ‘literate’

oral’ characteristics are re-introduced - immediacy, eliminate distance, extra-textual content, social relationships

no longer just imparting information but allows greater capacity for individual participation and interaction.

Impact on archaeological research

Electronic publication is shaping how projects develop - what we photograph, how we record in the field, what we record and to what level of detail, what we excavate...

Implications

• boundaries are blurred

• integrating text with data, evidence with interpretation: creates a new dialectic

• explicit interrogation - an active, ‘used’ and visible archive

• shifts publication back towards data

• affects archaeological practice and the narratives we create

• Subscriptions

• Subventions

• Delivery technologies

• Widening profile - collaboration

• Extending LEAP model

The future

Internet Archaeology: a study in links, levels and

layers

Judith Winters

Editor


http://intarch.ac.uk

[email protected]

298 winter

Documents

Transcript of 298 winter