Internet Archaeology: a study in links, levels and layers

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Internet Archaeology a study in links, levels
and layers
Judith Winters Editor Internet Archaeology http//
intarch.ac.uk
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Archaeological publishing

• 1900-1950
• Publication seen as an integral part of
  archaeological excavation
• 1960s and 1970s
• Shift from exhaustive to selective publication.
  Primary record is archive rather than the
  publication
• Today
• Great variation in publication policy across the
  discipline
• Greater integration between description and
  interpretation

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Internet Archaeology

• 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

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http//ads.ahds.ac.uk/
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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

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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

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The Development of the Clay Tobacco Pipe Kiln in
the British Isles. Issue 1
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The Development of the Clay Tobacco Pipe Kiln in
the British Isles. Issue 1
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The Ave Valley Survey, Northern Portugal. Issue 9
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Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian Cottam linking
digital publication and archive. Issue 10
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The LEAP project

• 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.

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Changing Settlements and Landscapes Medieval
Whittlewood, its Predecessors and Successors.
Issue 19
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Joining the Dots Continuous Survey, Routine
Practice and the Interpretation of a Cypriot
Landscape. Issue 20
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Silchester Roman Town Insula IX The Development
of an Urban Property c. AD 40-50 - c. AD 250
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The landscapes of Islamic Merv, Turkmenistan.
Issue 25
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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

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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

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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

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Dialogue

• increased editorial contact results in a flexible
  final publication.
• authors have a greater say in the editing and
  presentation.

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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

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Structure

• provides the reader with different levels of
  information
• information no longer split across several
  publications

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• 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.

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• 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.

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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...

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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

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The future

• Subscriptions
• Subventions
• Delivery technologies
• Widening profile - collaboration
• Extending LEAP model

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Internet Archaeology a study in links, levels
and layers
Judith Winters Editor Internet Archaeology http//
intarch.ac.uk editor_at_intarch.ac.uk