Presented by: Prof Mark Baker

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The Virtual Environments for Research in
Archaeology (VERA)http//vera.rdg.ac.uk/

• Presented by Prof Mark Baker
• ACET, University of Reading Tel [phone]
  8615 E-mail Mark.Baker_at_computer.org
• Web http//acet.rdg.ac.uk/mab

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Outline

• Aims and objectives of the VERA project.
• On-site activities
• Silchester,
• IADB,
• IT Infrastructure,
• Digital devices.
• Technological Development
• Portal Bridge,
• Cross archival database searching,
• 3D Visualisation.
• Summary and Conclusions.

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The VERA Project

• VERA is based on a research excavation of part of
  the large Roman town at Silchester
• It aims to trace the site's development from its
  origins before the Roman conquest to its
  abandonment in the fifth century A.D .
• VERA is a two-year project funded by the JISC VRE
  2 programme started in April 2007.
• It involves researchers from the University of
  Reading, University College London, and York
  Archaeological Trust.

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VERA Aims

• The overall aim of the project is to assess,
  enhance and introduce new tools and technologies
  that can aid the archaeological processes of
  recording, manipulating and analysing
  archaeological data.
• To help this process we are introducing and
  testing new digital devices on-site, and
  integrating them into the archaeological workflow
  with the aim of enhancing and speeding up the
  process of recording information.
• Our goal is to create a situation where the
  information flows seamlessly from excavation,
  through post-excavation to archive and
  publication.
• In addition, we are creating various tools and
  utilities that help the post-excavation research
  processes.

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Silchester/VERA Web sites
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Silchester An Overview

• The Silchester site is used as a research and
  training excavation (100) that has been taking
  place for 11 years.
• The excavation takes place annually in
  July/August for about 6 weeks and includes a
  variety of archaeologists ranging from very
  experienced ones through to novices.
• The annual excavation allows us to
• Study the use of IT in an archaeological context
  
• Investigate the tasks carried out within an
  excavation
• Ascertain how and where technologies can be used
  to facilitate information flow within a dig
• Inform the developers how to adapt the tools used
  in the trench and for post dig analysis.
• To ensure that the software and tools are
  appropriate we are engaging all the on-site team
  and the researchers who undertake post excavation
  analysis in the usability studies.

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The Silchester Town Life Project

• Research excavation and Undergraduate Field
  School since 1997.
• One of the largest open area excavations in the
  country.
• Trace the site's development from its origins
  before the Roman Conquest to its abandonment in
  the fifth century A.D.
• More information can be found on the project Web
  site.

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Silchester, Hampshire, England
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Where is Silchester?
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Excavating Insula IX
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Integrated Archaeological Database (IADB)

• Silchester has used the IADB since the Town Life
  project began in 1997.
• It contains most of the archaeological
  information gathered on site, including digital
  versions of context sheets, finds records,
  environmental records, photos, plans and
  matrices.
• Post excavation digitising of a seasons records
  can take about 6 months.

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The IADB

• IADB is a key component within the Silchester and
  the VERA project.
• The IADB was designed to address the data
  management requirements throughout the lifespan
  of archaeological excavation projects, from
  initial excavation recording, through
  post-excavation analysis and research to eventual
  dissemination and archiving.
• THE IADB is used for recording
• Finds, Contexts, Sets, Groups, Phases, Objects,
  Images, Illustrations, Stratigraphy Diagrams,
  Documents and Bibliography References.
• Based on MySQL, PHP, Javascript, AJAX and SVG.

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IADB
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VERA Aims and Methodology

• Project Aims
• Enhance the means of documenting and archiving
  archaeological excavation data.
• Create a Web portal that provides enhanced tools
  for the user community.
• Develop tools that work with existing practices
  of research archaeologists unfamiliar with a VRE.
• Test these tools out in the field with the
  archaeologists.

• Methodology
• Introduce new digital devices and software tools.
• Find out what people think of the IADB, the
  software tools and recording system.
• What else do people actually want from them?
• Further develop the IADB, tools and recording
  system.
• Test and update them until everyone is happy!

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Site Recording Context Cards

• Context cards describe the smallest unit of
  archaeology that it is possible to record
• Traditionally recorded with pen and paper.
• In 2008, more than 1352 contexts were recorded,
  around 43 of these with the digital pens.
• In 2007, one area (one team) piloted 5 digital
  pens.
• In 2008, 14 pens were in use over the whole
  trench.

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Gathering Data with Digital Pens

• Logitech IO2 digital pens.
• Look and write like normal pens on what looks
  like normal paper.
• A camera inside the pen records what has been
  written and the order in which the pen strokes
  were made.
• OCR software interprets what is written in a
  sequential fashion!

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Docking the Pens

• The pages are imported and interpreted by
  software.
• Text is converted using hand writing OCR and
• diagrams are saved as images.

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A Typical Context Sheet in the IADB
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Experiences of using the Digital Pens

• Love
• Simple to use and train people with.
• Robust (weather, mud and student proof).
• Speeds up post-excavation work.
• Encourages legible handwriting.
• Paper master copy created in the trench in case
  of computer related disaster!

• Hate
• Mix of lower case and capitals hard to read.
• User needs to be able to fill in context sheets
  without prompts.
• User needs to keep the correct pen and book
  combination.
• Odd formatting in some records.
• Student or supervisor error?

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2008 Excavation Summary

• 591 out of 1352 or 44 of context cards recorded
  with the digital pens.
• Simple training.
• Robust (weather, mud and student proof).
• Speeds up post-excavation work (context cards
  must otherwise be transcribed).
• Encourages legible handwriting.
• Paper master copy created in the trench in case
  of computer related disasters.

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Setting up the Internet at Silchester
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The Wi-Fi Receiver at the Trench
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Other trials

• We also experimented with
• Hand-held IPAQs good for querying database,
• Ruggedised tablet PCs sunlight a major problem,
• Nokia 800s OK, but hard to use on-site.
• Digimemo pads useful, but not very robust.
• Wireless Web Cams.

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On-Site Data Gathering
Hand-held IPAQs
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On-Site Data Gathering
Ruggedised tablet PC
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Digimemo pad
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Global Positioning System
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Technical Programming Aspects

• The technical programming development in VERA is
  based on enhancing the portal that was used
  during the JISC VRE 1 programme, known as OGHAM,
  which hosts the IADB.
• The IADB source code had to be changed
• Updated global variables and added extra code for
  security purposes so that the system would work
  with a more secure version of PHP.
• We decided that instead of adapting the OGHAM
  portal to work within a JSR-168 portlet, we would
  consume the portal within a portlet using
  bridging technologies
• This approach has a number of advantages, which
  includes not forking the original application
  code, and not having to support any code migrated
  into a portlet.

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Vanilla IADB
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The Recycle Bridge

• The Recycle Bridge uses an iframe to display the
  embedded application inside the portal.
• From the users perspective the application looks
  like part of the portal.
• We wrote a portlet called the Recycle Bridge
  which sets a cookie containing the
  username of the user logged into the portal.
• There are settings for the Recycle Bridge to
  alter the appearance of the iframe to try and
  make the integration seamless from the users
  perspective.
• SSO - we use the client (web browser) to link the
  authentication information between the portal and
  the embedded application being consumed.

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Wordpress in the Recycle Bridge
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Media Wiki in the Recycle Bridge
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The IADB in the Recycle Bridge
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Security for the cookie

• Essentially the web application needs to have a
  way to trust the cookie that contains authentic
  user information.
• The Recycle Bridge shares a secret security token
  (salt) with any web application you want to
  embed
• When you set things up you must provide a unique
  salt in the configuration files.
• The Recycle Bridge includes an MD5 hash with the
  cookie based on the salt and username to provide
  a way for the authentication plugin to check that
  the cookie has not been tampered with.

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Recycle Bridge
GridSphere exposed via the Recycle Bridge
software can be found at http//vera.rdg.ac.uk/sof
tware
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Searching Across Multiple Archival Databases

• The communities involved in archaeology and the
  preservation of ancient documents are
  increasingly using digital devices to record
  information about artefacts, and also store
  whatever is recorded within databases.
• Advances in information recording and storage
  make projects more productive
• The ability to search through multiple database
  instances is limited by the fact that the
  projects predominately work alone and do not try
  to follow the prevailing standards, if available,
  in their project area.
• Searching through multiple databases does present
  significant advantages to these communities
• The additional information that can be can
  enhance the understanding of finds or artefacts,
• Also provide further provenance, which helps
  match disparate entities together, that were not
  known to have a relationship before.

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Searching Across Multiple Archival Databases

• The XDB-Arch project aims to create a generic and
  easy to use Web-based system that can be used by
  various communities to search through the
  existing distributed databases and potentially
  find matches between the artefacts or finds being
  studied
• e.g. an archaeologist has a piece of pottery with
  a particular stamp or graffiti mark on it
• From their perspective it would be useful to
  gather more information about the stamp or
  graffiti, to help date the pottery, identify who
  made the it or verify where the it was produced.
• Or an historian trying to read a text might want
  to uncover the context of the text by treating
  the documents not as disembodied texts but as
  artefacts with an original archaeological or
  physical context.  
• A collaboration between VERA, and Centre for the
  Study of Ancient Documents at the University of
  Oxford.

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Cross Database Searching - XDB
Z39.50 semantics
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Cross Database Searching - XDB

• We are using the Tycho Framework a RESTful
  peer-to-peer registry with an asynchronous
  message API.
• Tycho consists of the following components
• Mediators that allow producers and consumers to
  discover each other and establish remote
  communications,
• Consumers that typically subscribe to receive
  information or events from producers,
• Producers that gather and publish information for
  consumers.
• http//acet.rdg.ac.uk/projects/tycho/

• There is an asynchronous messaging API 15
  calls.
• In Tycho, producers and/or consumers (clients)
  can
• publish their existence in a Virtual Registry
  (VR), plus it
• can hold XML docs too.

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XDB Peer to Peer
Query UI
Query UI
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The Search Process
CQL parser
Term mapper
Metadata Schema
DB
Results Formatter
Query Engine
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Searching Across Multiple Archival Databases
Prototype at http//xdb.vera.rdg.ac.uk/
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3D Visualisation

• The VERA project is creating the ability
  visualise the excavation site and view the finds
  and artefacts via a 3D-viewer.
• The archaeologists believe that such a capability
  will simplify their post excavation research and
  enhance their understanding of the relationship
  between contexts and finds.
• We have had to extrapolate and insert the Z
  coordinate into contexts in the IADB.
• We are currently also exploring the means of
  creating the 3D views on a PC/Laptop.
• We will export visualisation data to a CAVE and
  Powerwall systems located at Reading.

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3D Visualisation

• Using the Virtual Interactive Environment
  Generator (VieGen).
• It is toolset for the configuration and control
  of Virtual Environments.
• Freely available set of tools and utilities
  enabling scene development by non-experts
• Also provides extensive APIs for programmers.
• Available on a range of VR hardware
• Desktops, Powerwalls, clusters, CAVEs.
• Builds on existing 3rd party libraries
• e.g. OpenSG, VTK, Xerces, OpenAL.

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VieGen

• CAVE Scene Manager
• Configurable display layout (hardware
  independence).
• Scene Configurator
• Textual scene description language (plain/XML),
• Automatic scene generation/storage
• Immersive VE editor, architectural plans,
  planogram.
• Scene Controller
• Environment management entity
• provides object heartbeat (actions, physics,
  simulations)
• Extensible objects
• Geometries, models, and textures,
• Internal attributes (e.g. price, mobile, and
  awareness).
• Extras
• Such as collaborative networking, avatars, wand
  mgr.

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Initial View of Contexts
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Summary and Conclusions

• The VERA project is actively investigating how
  archaeologists use IT in the context of a field
  excavation, and also for post-excavation
  analysis.
• The project involves archaeologists computer
  scientists and researchers involved in usability
  studies in the digital humanities.
• The cross disciplinary team are investigating and
  implementing mechanisms and tools that aid
  archaeologists in their field work, which is also
  helping them to streamline the processes they use
  to gather, analyse and later publish papers
  related to their activities.

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Summary and Conclusions

• To ensure that the software and tools developed
  within the project are appropriate for the
  archaeologists we are engaging all the on-site
  team and the researchers who undertake post
  excavation analysis in the usability studies
• These have so far included a diary studies and
  workshops that are related to digital field
  recording and publications in archaeology,
• Also we have undertaken interviews with
  individuals and groups involved with the IADB and
  Silchester project,
• The users are providing significant information
  about not only how archaeologists work, but also
  feedback about how to improve the current tools
  and also hints about utilities that would help
  research in the future.

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Summary and Conclusions

• User driven design and implementation of tools
  and utilities for the project.
• Availability of the Internet and WiFi across the
  site is very useful.
• Up front and on-site training, and extensive
  documentation helps the archaeologists take up
  the digital technologies and various tools more
  easily.
• Digital pens and Digimemo pads are a success,
  even though the latter was not that robust.
• Still cannot find a screen-based digital device
  that can be used easily in direct sun light.
• Recycle Bridge is an easy to use and efficient
  software artefact.
• XDB and 3D Visualisation are important aspects of
  the project too.

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The VERA Project Team
The VERA project has a core team of researchers
based at the University of Reading (UoR),
University College London (UCL), and York
Archaeological Trust (YAT). To advise the
project, VERA has a Steering Group made up of
experts in the field of Archaeology, Virtual
Research Environments, and the user community.
Project Manager and Director Professor Mark
Baker (UoR) Associate Directors Professor Mike
Fulford (UoR)Ms Amanda Clarke (UoR) Mr Mike
Rains (YAT) Dr Claire Warwick (UCL) Dr Melissa
Terras (UCL) Research Assistants Dr Hugo Mills
(UoR)Ms Emma ORiordan (UoR)Ms Claire Fisher
(UCL)
Steering Group Dr Stuart Dunn (King's College
London)Mr Steve Gough (University of
Reading)Professor Gary Lock (University of
Oxford) Dr Jeremy Huggett (University of
Glasgow) Professor Vince Gaffney (University of
Birmingham) Professor Julian Richards
(University of York) Dr Robert Allan (Daresbury
Laboratory) Mr Edmund Lee (English Heritage) Mr
Chris Brayne (Wessex Archaeology)
http//vera.reading.ac.uk
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Questions?