Creating and Managing

Digital Research Data in Archaeology:

An overview

Looking After Your Digital Research Data: Now, later, and long-term

Creating and Managing Digital Research Data in Archaeology

• Who we all are and what we do

• Digital data and some general issues• Digital data in archaeology• The wider context

• Approach and course structure

• Group work– Defining your digital research data

• Discussion

15-20 mins

15+15 mins

Digital Research Data

Data: “A reinterpretable representation of information in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing.” (Digital Curation Centre)

Digital Data are everything created or manipulated on a computer:

• E-mail correspondence• Text files• Images – from digital scans of physical objects to photos and complex 3D images• Audio• Video• Spreadsheets & databases – numerical and textual data• Survey data – from simple EDM surveys to Lidar scans and geophysical surveys• Text messages• Websites – even Youtube can be research data.• Etc…

Some General Issues with Digital Data

• VolumeSelection and retention: what you throw away and what you keep

• Management and preservationFragility of digital data, formats and costs

• LegalAuthenticity of digital dataCopyright (on-line material: e.g. E-thesis)Sensitive data (site locations, personal data)

• Re-useKnowing the technical details of the digital dataUnderstanding the context of digital data

Digital Data in Archaeology - A special case?

F. Sturt Cultured Rainforest Project

Noel Tan

Llo

yd-S

mit

h

Cultured Rainforest Project

Fitzjohn & Ayala

D. Robinson

Lloyd-Smith

Why digitize physical data?

• Publication materials are all digital

• Back-up of paper archive

• Tidy up paper archive: field notes, illustrations, etc.

• Enable analysis: searchable spreadsheets / databases, etc

• Portable

• Sharable and re-useable

Post-Graduate Teaching in Managing Digital Research Data in Archaeology

• Good data underpins high quality research

• Credible and verifiable interpretations – long term preservation.

• Academic and professional recognition and reputation

– Funding body requirements, legal, and ethical codes of conduct

• To help you finish your thesis on time with the least stress

Why are we teaching data management?

Why is it important and how is it useful?

Managing Research Data:The wider context

• The exponential growth of digital data

• Researchers’ and institutional responsibilities

• Institutional policies on Research Data Management

• Digital repositories

– Institutional digital repositories

– National and discipline specific: Archaeology Data Service

• Managing Research Data

– National and institutional Infra-structural projects

– National and institutional support projects

– Discipline focused training

Funding Body Requirements:Data produced through publically funded research should be

made public and open access

Funding bodies which mandate the deposition of data with the ADS• Arts and Humanities Research Council• Natural Environment Research Council

Funding bodies which recommend the deposition of data with ADS• British Academy • Council for British Archaeology• English Heritage• Society for Antiquities• Wellcome Trust• Leverhulme Trust

Approach to Data Management

• Teaching each other through discussion – thinking about our own data

• Summary powerpoints – background information and guidelines

• Digital data management as part of publication process

• Researchers’ relationships with, and responsibilities to, wider communities

…and the future

Aims and Objectives

Aims:

• Understand the bigger issues relating to the use and archiving of digital data;

• Know of the data management requirements and resources of their university;

• Be aware of national online resources in research data management;

• Be prepared for data management in the real world.

Objectives:

• Be proficient in looking after your own digital research data;

• Have a Post-Graduate Data Management Plan in place;

• Have started to make plans for archiving the digital data from your PhD.

1. IntroductionDefining our research data

2. The TheoryData lifecycles and management plans – an overview

3. The Carrot

Practical stuff File structure, naming and formats, etc.

Useful stuff Intellectual Property Rights and research data

Really useful stuff E-Theses and supplementary digital data.

Essential stuff Archiving digital data

4. The Stick!Writing Data Management Plans

Course Outline

Exercise 1: Defining Research Data

• What is the core data set of your

Post-graduate research project?

• What will happen to the data: both

physical and digital data?

• Do you have authority to archive

the digital data you work upon?

• Any ethical and IPR issues?

Defining your Post-Graduate Digital Research Data

1. Please answer the questions on the form2. Discuss your research project and research data in groups of 3-4

Questions:

• Define research topic and research ‘location’.

• List physical data you will work with, e.g. published reports, existing/own field

docs, artefacts, bones, etc.

• Data origin, e.g. published material, physical archive held in museum, samples

from…….now in….. Museum in the UK, etc.

• Types of digital data you will derive from the physical data.

e.g. text docs, scans, spreadsheets, etc.

• What types of data will you create digitally?

• Where will your data end up after the project?

• How do you look after your data?

• Any other issues for management and curation of your digital data?

– Risks? Ownership? Sharing?

Post-Graduate Digital Research Data

Discussion • Outputs: publication & digital dissemination

• The relationship between the physical and digital data

• Archiving data to achieve dissemination

• Data management as a means to facilitate easy archiving

Key points

• Think of digital data early in project planning

• Data management goes hand-in-hand with research outputs

• Make your research data understandable to others

Cambridge University Library

Open Access Post-Graduate Teaching Materials for Research Data Management in Archaeology

Created by Lindsay Lloyd-Smith (2011)

Module 1 Creating and Managing Digital Research Data in Archaeology: An overview

AcknowledgementsThis material was created by the JISC-funded DataTrain Project based at the Cambridge University Library. Project Manager: Elin Stangeland (Cambridge University Library)Project advisors: Stuart Jeffrey (Archaeology Data Service), Sian Lazar (Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University), Irene Peano (DataTrain Project Officer: Social Anthropology), Cameron Petrie (Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University), Grant Young (Cambridge University Library), and Anna Collins (DSpace@Cambridge Research Data and Digital Curation Officer).

Image credits Slide 2 Anti-clockwise from the top left image:David Robinson: Chumash pictograph, South Central California, USA.Matthew Fitzjohn and Gianna Ayala: Map of Torina survey., Italy.Neol Tan: Digital photography at Angkor Wat. Cambodia.Cultured Rainforest Project: R. Ferraby carrying out geophysical survey in Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak Photography: G. Barker.Fraser Sturt: 3-D reconstruction.Cultured Rainforest Project: Excavation at Ruma’ Ma’on Dakah, Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak. Photograph: B. NyiriLindsay Lloyd-Smith: Iron Age burial at Trumpington Meadows, Cambridge, England. Excavation by Cambridge Archaeology Unit.Lindsay Lloyd-Smith: Henge-form at Old Wolverton quarry, Milton Keynes, England. Excavation by Cambridge Archaeology Unit.

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