As archaeological and heritage professionals we have been very good at adopting digital technologies and techniques to enhance our understanding of the past. Whether we’re talking about the use of digital photography, remote sensing, or the increasing popularity of 3d scanning; all the data produced today needs to be preserved, in some way, so that we can all use it tomorrow. Digital archivists at the Archaeology Data Service (ADS), have been excavating those ‘middens’ of archaeological data for over twenty years now, and each day continues to throw up new challenges and surprise discoveries.
The principle focus of my work today, will be helping colleagues who want to deposit their data with us to ensure its preservation, not simply for tomorrow, but way into the future. Our ADS-easy and OASIS Images digital submission portals continue to grow in popularity, indeed some 500+ archives have been submitted through these portals since their inception back in 2014. The ADS-easy development ‘team‘ (i.e. Dr ‘not so’ Young ‘these days’) has been working tirelessly to improve and enhance the system so that more data, and larger collections, can take advantage of the lower charges offered for submission through these portals. Of course there are always bugs to fix, but we’re working hard to address those when they are reported by our users. Big thanks to colleagues and fellow archivists for their patience, particularly Tom over at Wessex Archaeology and Hazel at Cotswold Archaeology. As ever we’re always here to assist when you have problems sending us data, and our helpdesk is but an email away, so just give us a tinkle and we will try and sort out those annoying problems for you.
Of course, preservation of data is but one side of the coin. As Cailliau, one of the founders of the internet, observed, “[w]hen we have all data online it will be great for humanity. It is a prerequisite to solving many problems that humankind faces”. That is a story for another Day (in Archaeology).
If you are interested in finding out more about the work of the ADS then read the posts for Day in Archaeology by my colleagues Olivia and Teagan. You can also carry out your own ‘excavations’ in the world of archaeological data by visiting the ADS website. If you want to investigate older posts from the previous 'Day of Archaeology', including those from staff past and present at the ADS, these are now available through the dedicated digital archive.
