Digital preservation and access

There is a crisis in the publication and archiving of archaeological field data in Europe. Computerized data are more fragile than paper archives but also more accessible via the Internet. This article explores the role of the Archaeology Data Service and examines some of the issues raised by the collection of digital data and their dissemination online and the implications for the future of archaeological publication. It discusses approaches to digital data preservation, the development of archival standards and ways of encouraging reuse. It explores the development of distributed online catalogues and archives and the need for metadata standards for cataloguing resources. Finally, it considers the role of XML as an emergent technology and introduces the European ARENA project which is developing a digital preservation and access infrastructure.

[1]  R. Wheeler,et al.  Archaeology from the Earth , 2004 .

[2]  Stuart Jeffrey,et al.  From the Ground Up: the publication of archaeological projects (Full report) , 2001 .

[3]  Stevan Harnad,et al.  The self-archiving initiative , 2001, Nature.

[4]  Paul Miller,et al.  Why metadata matters in archaeology , 1997 .

[5]  Nick S. Ryan,et al.  Joined up writing: an Internet portal for research into the Historic Environment , 2001 .

[6]  Seamus Ross.  Changing trains at Wigan : digital preservation and the future of scholarship , 2000 .

[7]  J. David Schloen.  Archaeological Data Models and Web Publication Using XML , 2001, Comput. Humanit..

[8]  J. Richards,et al.  Contexts of Learning: The PATOIS project and Internet-based teaching and learning in Higher Education , 2002 .

[9]  Harrison Eiteljorg,et al.  The Archaeological Data Archive Project , 1995 .

[10]  Kelly Russell.  Digital preservation and the Cedars project experience , 2000 .

[11]  Tony Hendley.  Comparison of Methods & Costs of Digital Preservation , 1998 .

[12]  John Grey,et al.  One Good Site Deserves Another: Electronic Publishing in Field Archaeology , 1999 .

[13]  Julian D. Richards,et al.  Digital Preservation in Archaeology , 1997 .

[14]  Julian D. Richards,et al.  Digital Archives from Excavation and Fieldwork: A Guide to Good Practice , 2000 .

[15]  J. Richards.  Preservation and re-use of digital data: the role of the Archaeology Data Service , 1997, Antiquity.

[16]  J. Holmen,et al.  The National Documentation Project of Norway - the Archaeological sub-project , 1996 .

[17]  Vince Gaffney,et al.  From Order to Chaos: Publication, Synthesis and the Dissemination of Data in a Digital Age , 1999 .

[18]  C. Taylor.  Landscape Plotted and Pieced: Landscape History and Local Archaeology in Fyfield and Overton, Wiltshire. By P.J. Fowler , 2001 .

[19]  Ian Hodder,et al.  Writing archaeology: site reports in context , 1989, Antiquity.

[20]  A. Pitt-Rivers.  Excavations in Cranborne Chase, near Rushmore, on the borders of Dorset and Wilts , 1887 .

[21]  John R. Turner.  Comparison of Methods and Costs of Digital Preservation , 1999 .

[22]  Nick Merriman,et al.  Archaeological Archives: Serving the Public Interest? , 1999 .

[23]  Michael Shanks,et al.  Social Theory And Archaeology , 1988 .