Eric Kansa

Data Sharing Reveals Complexity in the Westward Spread of Domestic Animals across Neolithic Turkey

This study presents the results of a major data integration project bringing together primary archaeozoological data for over 200,000 faunal specimens excavated from seventeen sites in Turkey spanning the Epipaleolithic through Chalcolithic periods, c. 18,000-4,000 cal BC, in order to document the initial westward spread of domestic livestock across Neolithic central and western Turkey. From these shared datasets we demonstrate that the westward expansion of Neolithic subsistence technologies combined multiple routes and pulses but did not involve a set ‘package’ comprising all four livestock species including sheep, goat, cattle and pig. Instead, Neolithic animal economies in the study regions are shown to be more diverse than deduced previously using quantitatively more limited datasets. Moreover, during the transition to agro-pastoral economies interactions between domestic stock and local wild fauna continued. Through publication of datasets with Open Context (opencontext.org), this project emphasizes the benefits of data sharing and web-based dissemination of large primary data sets for exploring major questions in archaeology (Alternative Language Abstract S1).

The challenges of digging data: a study of context in archaeological data reuse

Field archaeology only recently developed centralized systems for data curation, management, and reuse. Data documentation guidelines, standards, and ontologies have yet to see wide adoption in this discipline. Moreover, repository practices have focused on supporting data collection, deposit, discovery, and access more than data reuse. In this paper we examine the needs of archaeological data reusers, particularly the context they need to understand, verify, and trust data others collect during field studies. We then apply our findings to the existing work on standards development. We find that archaeologists place the most importance on data collection procedures, but the reputation and scholarly affiliation of the archaeologists who conducted the original field studies, the wording and structure of the documentation created during field work, and the repository where the data are housed also inform reuse. While guidelines, standards, and ontologies address some aspects of the context data reusers need, they provide less guidance on others, especially those related to research design. We argue repositories need to address these missing dimensions of context to better support data reuse in archaeology.

Openness and archaeology's information ecosystem

Abstract The rise of the World Wide Web represents one of the most significant transitions in communications since the printing press or even since the origins of writing. To Open Access and Open Data advocates, the web offers great opportunity for expanding the accessibility, scale, diversity and quality of archaeological communications. Nevertheless, Open Access and Open Data face steep adoption barriers. Critics wrongly see Open Access as a threat to peer review. Others see data transparency as naively technocratic and lacking in an appreciation of archaeologys social and professional incentive structure. However, as argued in this paper, the Open Access and Open Data movements do not gloss over sustainability, quality and professional incentive concerns. Rather, these reform movements offer much needed and trenchant critiques of the academys many dysfunctions. These dysfunctions, ranging from the expectations of tenure and review committees to the structure of the academic publishing industry, go largely unknown and unremarked by most archaeologists. At a time of cutting fiscal austerity, Open Access and Open Data offer desperately needed ways to expand research opportunities, reduce costs and expand the equity and effectiveness of archaeological communication.

Protecting Traditional Knowledge and Expanding Access to Scientific Data: Juxtaposing Intellectual Property Agendas via a “Some Rights Reserved” Model

The twenty-first century has ushered in new debates and social movements that aim to structure how culture is produced, owned, and distributed. At one side, open-knowledge advocates seek greater freedom for finding, distributing, using, and reusing information. On the other hand, traditional-knowledge rights advocates seek to protect certain forms of knowledge from appropriation and exploitation and seek recognition for communal and culturally situated notions of heritage and intellectual property. Understanding and bridging the tension between these movements represents a vital and significant challenge. This paper explores possible areas of where these seemingly divergent goals may converge, centered on the Creative Commons concept of some rights reserved . We argue that this concept can be extended into areas where scientific disciplines intersect with traditional knowledge. This model can help build a voluntary framework for negotiating more equitable and open communication between field researchers and diverse stakeholding communities.

Sea-level rise and archaeological site destruction: An example from the southeastern United States using DINAA (Digital Index of North American Archaeology)

The impact of changing climate on terrestrial and underwater archaeological sites, historic buildings, and cultural landscapes can be examined through quantitatively-based analyses encompassing large data samples and broad geographic and temporal scales. The Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) is a multi-institutional collaboration that allows researchers online access to linked heritage data from multiple sources and data sets. The effects of sea-level rise and concomitant human population relocation is examined using a sample from nine states encompassing much of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the southeastern United States. A 1 m rise in sea-level will result in the loss of over >13,000 recorded historic and prehistoric archaeological sites, as well as over 1000 locations currently eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), encompassing archaeological sites, standing structures, and other cultural properties. These numbers increase substantially with each additional 1 m rise in sea level, with >32,000 archaeological sites and >2400 NRHP properties lost should a 5 m rise occur. Many more unrecorded archaeological and historic sites will also be lost as large areas of the landscape are flooded. The displacement of millions of people due to rising seas will cause additional impacts where these populations resettle. Sea level rise will thus result in the loss of much of the record of human habitation of the coastal margin in the Southeast within the next one to two centuries, and the numbers indicate the magnitude of the impact on the archaeological record globally. Construction of large linked data sets is essential to developing procedures for sampling, triage, and mitigation of these impacts.

A sharing-oriented design strategy for networked knowledge organization systems

Designers of networked knowledge organization systems often follow a service-oriented design strategy, assuming an organizational model where one party outsources clearly delineated business processes to another party. But the logic of outsourcing is a poor fit for some knowledge organization practices. When knowledge organization is understood as a process of exchange among peers, a sharing-oriented design strategy makes more sense. As an example of a sharing-oriented strategy for designing networked knowledge organization systems, we describe the design of the PeriodO period gazetteer. We analyze the PeriodO data model, its representation using JavaScript Object Notation-Linked Data, and the management of changes to the PeriodO dataset. We conclude by discussing why a sharing-oriented design strategy is appropriate for organizing scholarly knowledge.

Beyond the Archive

ABSTRACT This article presents research on archaeological data creation and management practices at two excavations in Europe in order to gain a better understanding of how to align these practices with the data reuse needs of a broader research community. The Secret Life of Data project follows the life cycle of data from the field to the digital repository to better understand opportunities and challenges in data interpretation, publication, and preservation. Our “Slow Data” approach focuses not on maximizing the speed and quantity of data but, rather, on emphasizing curation, contextualization, communication, and broader understanding. Through a mixed-methods approach of interviews, field observations, and excavation data assessments, we recommended changes (both technical and organizational) to improve data creation and management practices. We report our findings and offer readers guidance on streamlining data collection for reuse during excavation. Este artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación sobre la creación y gestión de datos arqueológicos en dos excavaciones en Europa con el objetivo de mejor entender cómo alinear esas prácticas con las necesidades de reutilización de datos de una comunidad de investigadores más amplia. El proyecto “La vida secreta de los datos” (cuya sigla en inglés es SLO-data) sigue el ciclo de vida de los datos desde su recolección en campo hasta su almacenamiento en un repositorio digital para entender oportunidades y retos relacionados con su interpretación, publicación y conservación. Nuestro enfoque basado en “datos lentos” (“Slow data”) no busca maximizar la velocidad y cantidad de datos; al contrario, enfatiza su curación, contextualización, comunicación y mayor comprensión. Gracias a un planteamiento metodológico combinado que incluyó entrevistas, observaciones de campo y evaluación de datos de excavación, se elaboró una serie de recomendaciones (tanto técnicas como administrativas) para optimizar la creación y gestión práctica de datos. Presentamos los resultados del estudio y ofrecemos consejos para racionalizar la recolección de datos en campo con el fin de facilitar su reutilización futura.

Location and the web (LocWeb 2008)

The World Wide Web has become the worlds largest networked information resource, but references to geographical locations remain unstructured and typically implicit in nature. This lack of explicit spatial knowledge within the Web makes it difficult to service user needs for location-specific information. At present, spatial knowledge is hidden in many small information fragments such as addresses on Web pages, annotated photos with GPS co-ordinates, geographic mapping applications, and geotags in user-generated content. Several emerging formats that primarily or secondarily include location metadata, like GeoRSS, KML, and microformats, aim to improve this state of affairs. However, the question remains how to extract, index, mine, find, view, mashup, and exploit Web content using its location semantics. This work-shop brings together researchers from academia and industry labs to discuss and present the latest results and trends in all facets of the relationships between location concepts and Web information.

Proposed Guideline Clarifications for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

The Initial Implementing Guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides guidance for a feed-based information dissemination architecture. In this report, we suggest some improvements and refinements of the initial guidelines, in the hope of paving the path for a more transparent and useful feed-based architecture. This report is meant as a preliminary guide to how the current guidelines could be made more specific and provide better guidance for providers and consumers of recovery act spending information. It is by no means intended as a complete or final set of recommendations.

Location and the Web: (LocWeb 2008)

The World Wide Web has become the worlds largest networked information resource, but references to geographical locations remain unstructured and typically implicit in nature. This lack of explicit spatial knowledge within the Web makes it difficult to service user needs for location-specific information. At present, spatial knowledge is hidden in many small information fragments such as addresses on Web pages, annotated photos with GPS coordinates, geographic mapping applications, and geotags in user-generated content. Several emerging formats that primarily or secondarily include location metadata, like GeoRSS, KML, and microformats, aim to improve this state of affairs. However, the question remains how to extract, index, mine, find, view, mashup, and exploit Web content using its location semantics. This workshop brings together researchers from academia and industry labs to discuss and present the latest results and trends in all facets of the relationships between location concepts and Web information.