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Transcript of Jon Bateman [email protected] Transatlantic Archaeology Gateway The Transatlantic Archaeology...
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
The Transatlantic Archaeology Gateway:fishing data from the pondJon Bateman and Stuart JeffreyArchaeology Data Service
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Aims• The TAG project aims to develop an
infrastructure to support, bring together and enhance digital content funded in the USA & UK
Funding• JISC/NEH Transatlantic Digitisation
Collaboration Grants – Phase 2 Duration• Project Start Date: 1 Oct 2009• Project End Date: 31 Mar 2011
Background
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Julian Richards - ADS DirectorStuart Jeffrey - TAG Project Manager for the ADS Catherine Hardman - ADS Collections Development Manager Lei Xia – ADS Applications DeveloperJon Bateman – ADS Curatorial Officer
Keith W. Kintigh - Digital Antiquity PI/Prof. of Anthropology Katherine A. Spielmann - Prof. of Anthropology [fauna]Matt Cordial - ASU Libraries Cyberinfrastructure Services [Fedora]Mary Whelan - SU Libraries Cyberinfrastructure Services [Geospatial]Allen Lee - Research Professional/Software John Howard - Head Librarian, University College DublinFrank McManamon – Executive Director, Digital Antiquity
Partners and people
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
To build upon existing web services registries maintained by the ADS for the historic environment sector in Europe and extends these for North American usage. A web services application will then be developed to create a standards-compliant cross-search facility for metadata records held by ADS (for the UK) and tDAR (for the USA)
Work Package One
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
In a second stage a richer and deeper web services cross-search facility will be developed for faunal remains databases in England (UK) and the USA, providing an architecture to enable deep data mining as well as a valuable research tool for archaeologists in the UK and USA.
Work Package Two
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
1. Users can search across repositories held in the US and the UK to locate digital archives using what, where, when criteria (WP1)
2. Users can identify archives that have faunal databases mapped to a common ontology to allow cross searching (WP2)
3. The databases are not held in the same physical location, and need not be in the same hardware/software, nor even have the same field names or attributes
Vision
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
But what do what, where and when mean?
• Contextual terms• Need classification• Interoperability through mapping to agreed
common terms or ontologies• Pragmatism
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Barriers to knowledge connections
• Epistemological barriers may be technical as well as conceptual
• Establishing common ground can break down geographical boundaries between archaeological data and knowledge
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Removing barriers
• Conceptual barriers are often aligned with technical barriers
• Removing these technical barriers helps to focus on the real conceptual difficulties
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
How low can you go?
• Distilled top-level classification terms• High-level common ground restricts both the
scope and granularity of the information• Finding common ground in a single domain
(eg faunal remains) increases granularity• Explosion of terms
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Single domain granularity
Pathological Yes No Probable Butchered Yes No Probable Bone measured Yes Metric Record ID (pointer) No Fusion Prox. Fused Neonate End and Shaft Neonate Epiphysis Sub fusing, fusing line open Sub fusing, fusing line not open Fusing Unfused Unknown Fusion Dist. Fused Neonate End and Shaft Neonate Epiphysis Sub fusing, fusing line open Sub fusing, fusing line not open Fusing Unfused Unknown Dental eruption/wear Yes Grant Dental Record ID (pointer) Payne Dental Record ID (pointer) Other (free text) Dental Record ID (pointer)
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Descriptive scales and fuzzy terms
• Forced classification can hide scales of difference and similarity– eg date terms mapped to absolute ranges give a
common scale but do nothing to illuminate differences and similarities between the terms/periods
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Descriptive scales and fuzzy terms
• Mapping terms to high-level ontologies over-clarifies descriptive scales and blurred boundaries– eg Hillfort could be classified as defensive,
domestic or commerical, depending on context and interpretation
– Strict thesaurii + simplified mappings = missed connections
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Thesaurus of Monument Types
MIDAS Period List
Latitude - Longitude
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Just another layer
• Multiple classification processes from data creation, through curation, to discovery and use
• Imposed by archaeologists through the epistemological process
• Understanding classification processes key to crossing boundaries
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Natural classification
• User-tagging often cited as an alternative to rigid ontologies
• Could it supplant classification systems?– Personal– Random– Multitudinous indecipherable systems
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Nothing Everything
Chaotic
Structured
Curiosities
SiteSample
The Archive
Debris
Jon Bateman [email protected]
TransatlanticArchaeology
Gateway
Usefulness
• Classification systems must be distilled to a point where they have meaning across epistemological boundaries
• They are not an end in themselves• They should help answer questions• Understanding their context shapes their use