How prepared are we for the digital future?

 

Price: £10 for CIfA or Archaeological Archives Group members
£20 for non-members

Description

This day conference and AGM will look at what preparations are in place for digital archiving. Whilst the ‘storage crisis’ of physical remains has dominated recent debate about archaeological archives, the last decade has also seen an unprecedented rise in the creation of ‘born-digital’ data, through the use of new and constantly improving digital technologies. Currently, only one accredited digital repository in the UK – the Archaeology Data Service – is dedicated to the preservation and future-proofing of archaeological data.

Other organisations have a variety of internal systems for the storage and curation of digital data, depending on those organisations’ individual needs — but how prepared are they for the digital future? How do debates on the physical and digital archive compare and contrast? Is the digital archival resource more structured and easily manageable for the future due to the nature of the digital data, or is it more fragile? Is adequate funding being allowed at the project planning stage for archiving digital data?

This day conference will look at people’s experiences with archiving digital data, the measures that are being put in place to cope with the digital age, and people’s concerns for the digital future. Submissions will be invited from a wide range of roles and organisations from across the sector.

Agenda
09:30 Registration, tea/coffee
10:15 Welcome - Theodora Anastasiadou
10:20 How prepared are we for the digital future? An introduction - Katie Green (Archaeology Data Service)
10:30 Barriers to the creation of metadata - Claire Tsang (Historic England)
10:55 To be FAIR, we really need to prepare for the digital present - Manda Forster (DigVentures)
11:20 Beyond the haystack: exploring tools for data shaping, sharing, and analysis - Mark McKerracher (FeedSax project)
11:45 CIfA Archeaological Archives Group AGM
12:00 Lunch (not provided)
13:00 Getting to grips with the digital archive - a contractor's view - Theodora Anastasiadou (MOLA) and Nicky Scott (Oxford Archaeology)

13:25 Community archaeology and digital archiving: the CLASP experience - Stephen Young (CLASP)
13:50 Archiving geophysical data: some unresolved challenges - John Walford (MOLA)
14:15 The data management of digital x-radiography: a case study in the changing role of the archaeological archivist - Karla Graham and Claire Tsang (Historic England
14:40 Tea/coffee break
15:00 Just how sustainable is it? - Hannah Smith (Historic Environment Scotland)
15:25 Beyond the archive: the impact of open data - Katie Green and Ray Moore (Archaeology Data Service)
15:45 Discussion
16:15 Close

Additional info

Lunch will not be provided; please make your own arrangements.

Session abstracts

Barriers to the creation of metadata
Claire Tsang, Historic England
Metadata is required to describe and contextualise the archaeological archive at multiple hierarchical layers, from description of the event that led to the archive being produced to the definition of the contents of an individual field in a database. Metadata provides the information needed to preserve, find and understand the archive. Despite metadata production having much in common with the cataloguing of physical documentary archives, it presents new challenges for an archaeological archivist, including an increase in the volume of documentation required and it potentially lack of understanding of these barriers that has partly led to low rates of deposition for digital archaeological archives. This paper will discuss the barriers to metadata production, potential ways forward, and changing nature of the archaeological archivist role.

To be FAIR, we really need to prepare for the digital present
Manda Forster, DigVentures
FAIR data are those which meet standards of findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability. This paper will begin by outlining the principles of FAIRsharing and exploring the benefits of making archaeology more accessible and reusable. Manda will discuss how the globally relevant FAIR principles map directly onto the CIfA standards which are referenced within the project planning documents of most archaeological projects: to create an ordered, stable and accessible archaeological archive. This requirement has not changed, and the need to include digital data in archives reflects our developing methods rather than new archival demands.
However, the real world of archaeological fieldwork, post excavation programming and project delivery means that the creation of an ordered and stable digital data archive is not as simple as it sounds. As a sector, we have struggled to incorporate digital data neatly into existing archiving processes and large chunks of archaeological material have become inaccessible. In 2017, the Mendosa review formally recommended that Museum repositories should not be burdened with the requirements of digital data archives and, in theory, there are now clear and separate pathways for the long-term storage of physical and digital archive elements. Archaeological projects need to be prepared for the digital present.
The Work Digital / Think Archive project has developed guidance and tools to help everyday management of digital data. Using the WD/TA resource as a starting point, Manda will attempt to show how organisations and individuals can navigate projects into a FAIR-er archive world. By incorporating data management principles into project delivery from the outset – many of which are already common practice – archive-friendly datasets can be developed throughout the project. Moreover, none of us need start from a blank page, as many of the more daunting tasks (such as creating metadata for your context sheets) have been done, sharing templates and generic information which project teams can tailor and tweak. With such tools already accessible and others on the way, everyone can make a start and prepare for the digital present.

Beyond the Haystack: exploring reusable tools for data shaping, sharing and analysis
Mark McKerracher, FeedSax project
An ERC-funded project at the Universities of Oxford and Leicester, entitled "Feeding Anglo-Saxon England" (FeedSax), is utilising a huge corpus of bioarchaeological data to investigate developments in early medieval field systems. FeedSax is producing large amounts of original data - through palynology, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating - and also harvesting much existing data from excavation reports, both published and unpublished. The multi-faceted nature of the project dataset, as well as the geographical distribution of the project team, has necessitated the production of a bespoke online database application – named Haystack – to assist in the collection and analysis of our dataset, and ultimately its export for deposition with the ADS. This paper introduces the FeedSax project and its database, and then explores the possibility of developing the Haystack software further, to produce tools and services for the shaping, sharing, analysis and export of standardised, compliant archaeological datasets more widely across the sector.

Getting to grips with the digital archive – a contractor’s view
Theodora Anastasiadou (MOLA) and Nicky Scott (Oxford Archaeology)
This session will discuss how contractors are preparing and depositing digital archives, and the problems we encounter with them – both within our own organisations and with museums. Theodora (MOLA) and Nicky (Oxford Archaeology) will each give a five minute talk, after which they will be joined by Hazel O'Neill (Cotswold Archaeology) and Helen Parslow (Albion Archaeology) to form a panel of four Archives Officers willing to answer questions from the floor about how contractors are tackling digital archiving. Come prepared with questions!

Community archaeology and digital archiving: the CLASP experience
Stephen Young, CLASP
This paper will review the range of digital information we are collecting, the approaches adopted and an assessment of the problems and our level of preparedness. It will be particularly focused on the issues and challenges associated with the structuring, management and delivery of digital archives in our theatre of operation.

Archiving geophysical data: some unresolved challenges
John​ Walford, MOLA
The archiving of geophysics data presents a number of problems, technical and otherwise, which are not always appreciated by those outside of the discipline. At the most basic level, there is no one thing called 'geophysics data'. Instead there is a range of different types of data with various forms of associated spatial data, usually existing in proprietary software formats which few non-specialists are equipped to handle. Datasets can be very substantial, with the largest commercial surveys covering hundreds of hectares of ground and producing gigabytes of data. There is no agreed standard as to how selective or comprehensive the archiving should be (e.g. should the archive contain raw data only or raw and processed data, in generic format only or generic and native formats?) and it can be difficult to get clear guidance on such questions from curators, as only a few understand or take any interest in the technicalities of the subject. There are also weaknesses in the ADS guidelines and systems, whilst museums and local authority archives appear to have washed their hands of all responsibility.
At a more philosophical level, we need to consider why we are archiving data, who it is for and what level of archiving is actually justified. Some data has a definite and demonstrable value, but other data manifestly does not. Selective retention is an accepted principal in other areas of archiving and, whilst it is not suggested that any data be wantonly disposed of, it is fair to ask whether every dataset really merits the cost and effort of perpetual safeguarding in a specialist repository.

The data management of digital x-radiography: a case study in the changing role of the archaeological archivist
Karla Graham and Claire Tsang, Historic England
X-radiography is an important technique for the understanding of archaeological objects and materials. Despite it being a process applied to archaeological material, x-radiographs themselves should be treated as primary data due to the instability of archaeological metalwork and radiography’s ability to provide evidence of the internal nature of the objects. Increasingly computed radiography is being used by the archaeological sector, despite currently there being no UK trusted digital repository for heritage data that accepts DICONDE files and when Historic England Archaeological Archives team undertook its review of the data management of archaeological data, we were unable to provide a solution for digital x-rays because of this. The need to resolve the issues caused by this, as well as develop and publish guidance and resources on the commissioning and use of computed radiography led to a collaborative project between the Archives and Conservation teams on the data management of x-radiographs. This paper will cover our experience of ‘going digital’; including the selection of equipment to ensuring our results meet the minimum standards required for archaeological materials and looking into the implications of this, such as metadata documentation, managing loss of functionality, selection, and creating flowlines to ensure data quality and integrity, all new tasks for both the archaeological archivist and conservator.

Just how sustainable is it?
Hannah Smith, Historic Environment Scotland
Summary: The HES Archive digital repository is currently at a critical point with both digital archiving and digital preservation. It has become increasingly apparent for Digital Archive staff to be skilled and knowledgeable in the current issues surrounding digital preservation. Our current digital archive sits at around 45TB, however we are aware of tens of terabytes maybe even into hundreds of terabytes of organisational data that soon we will need to be positioned to take. With our investment funds to generate much more digital material, our digital archive storage could easily double in the next 3 years. Maintaining the accessibility of our digital content has presented us many challenges, and decisions must be made on approaches going forward as more and more digital material is deposited with us.
We have been working to implement a digital repository solution alongside our existing digital archive, however we are yet to implement the system into a live environment due to the issues around our archive data. There is an element of back to basics needed to get our data into a fit state to ensure we can preserve it to the best of our ability in the long term, however we are not there yet and lots of work is still required. A priority of ours is to determine best practice in file formats and file pairings, and to determine preservation pathways to migrate these for archival purposes.
Historic Environment Scotland are working to submit our application for Core Trust Seal accreditation in 2020. Our work to prepare for accreditation has highlighted areas we could improve on in the digital repository, which will assist us in future planning. This paper will explore the challenges we have faced, the lessons we have learnt and the work we still have to do.

Beyond the archive: the impact of open data
Katie Green and Ray Moore, Archaeology Data Service
In maintaining an accredited digital archive for archaeological datasets, the ADS has long been developing the tools to help make our data FAIR. This paper will introduce the ways in which the ADS makes our data findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable, and will present case studies of data re-use from the archive. It will highlight how the effort exerted by the data creators and archivist when preparing a dataset for deposit has a significant impact on the future lifecycle of the dataset.