Internet ArchaeologyLinks, layers and LEAPs

Judith WintersEditor, Internet Archaeology

http://intarch.ac.uk

Contents

• electronic publication and archaeology

• journal background

• developing integrated publication

• LEAP / LEAP II projects

Archaeological publishing

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

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

TodayGreat variation in publication policy across the discipline, and greater integration between description and interpretation

PUNS report http://www.britarch.ac.uk/publications/puns/

Digital publication

• data is ‘born digital’

• archaeologists want

- access to data

- to produce more exploratory writing

- more synthetic, narrative histories that addresses concerns about dissemination and multi-vocality

• peer-reviewed

• international - no chronological restrictions

• no print version

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

• archived by Archaeology Data Service http://ads.ahds.ac.uk

Internet Archaeology

Landmarks

1995 - 3 year grant from eLib programme

1996 - issue 1 published

1998 - grant extension, 1st publication subvention

2000 - introduction of subscriptions (institutional and individual), advertising

2006 - JISC access agreement for UK HE/FE

2009 - open access for fully funded content

Approach

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

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

• increased editorial contact results in a flexible final publication where authors have a say in the delivery and presentation

Range of content

• long and short

• themed issues

• methodology

• fieldwork

• landscape studies

• artefacts

• specialist reports

• applications of IT

Developing integration

Early database and map interfaces (Issues 1-5)

Developing integration

Early database and map interfaces (Issues 1-5)

Developing integration

Early attempts at integrating publication with digital archive (issues 9-10)

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

Developing integration

Integrating GIS (Issues 17-20)

LEAP project

Linking Electronic Archives and Publications

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

Joint IA/ADS project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) under the ICT Strategy Programme

Make underlying data available so that readers are enabled to 'drill down' to test interpretations and develop their own conclusions

LEAP project

Changing Settlements and Landscapes: Medieval Whittlewood, its Predecessors and Successors (Issue 19)

LEAP project

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

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

LEAP project

Silchester Roman Town Insula IX: The Development of an Urban Property c. AD 40-50 - c. AD 250 (Issue 21)

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

LEAP projectThe landscapes of Islamic Merv, Turkmenistan: Where to draw the line? (Issue 25)

LEAP II

Four exemplars multi-layered e-publications (projects hosted in US institutions) with comment/debate facility

http://intarch.ac.uk/leap/index.html

LEAP II exemplars

Exemplar 1: The Shala Valley Project, Northern Albania

Exemplar 2: Placing immateriality: situating the material of highland Chiriquí, Panamá

Exemplar 3: The BTC Pipeline Archaeological Excavations in Azerbaijan

Exemplar 4: Strategies for developing a next-generation virtual museum using close range scanning

Integrated publication

• reader works with different levels of information and explores the links between interpretation and data through a variety of interfaces

• information no longer required to be split across several publications

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

• multiple pathways through the text into and out of archive

• boundaries are blurred

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

Implications

• shaping how projects develop

• shifts publication back towards data

• affects archaeological practice and the narratives we create

Internet ArchaeologyLinks, layers and LEAPs

Judith Winterseditor@intarch.ac.uk