University of the Witwatersrand, Origins Centre
In year two of the MAEASaM project, local teams in collaboration with national heritage authorities conducted three field site verification missions in coastal and northern Kenya, Unguja Ukuu in Zanzibar, and in the Joal-Fadiouth region of Senegal, using a customised mobile field recording form developed for site verification and documentation. Dr. Serge Kiala of the Origins Centre, WITS, is part of the project’s mobile data collection working group and discusses Open Data Kit (ODK), KoboToolbox, and the benefits of digital data collection in the field.
KoboToolbox is a community driven open-source suite of tools for data collection, management, and visualisation. It includes the KoboCollect app, the KoboToolbox form builder and the KoboToolbox server, among others. Based on the Open Data Kit (ODK) platform, KoboToolbox is fully compatible and interchangeable with it, but supports other useful functionalities, such as the possibility to cascade selections in forms. The platform was developed by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (see HHI Harvard KoBoToolbox and some of KoboToolbox case studies) and led by cofounders Phuong Pham and Patrick Vinck in 2009. Platforms such as KoboToolbox and ODK have allowed the transition of field data collection efforts from a paper-based approach to an electronic approach.
The KoboCollect app for example allows users to fill out digital forms and send this information to an online server in real time. It can also work offline, which allows its deployment in areas with poor internet connectivity since data can be uploaded to the KoboToolbox server once internet connection is made available. This is one of the many reasons the MAEASaM project has chosen this platform for managing the documentation and verification of archaeological sites during field surveys. It allows users to collect and make precise geolocation data for more accurate heritage monitoring purposes. Once a digital form has been uploaded to the server, the data captured in the field can also be reviewed, edited, and downloaded for further analysis. Data collection has never been more efficient, and it turns out to be fun to use.
How it works
There are several steps towards developing a successful mobile field data collection workflow (Fig. 1). The first step starts by creating a form from a questionnaire either using the KoboToolbox form builder for simple forms or Microsoft Excel for more complex forms. The MAEASaM project customised a form, initially designed by Mapping Archaeological Heritage in South Asia (MAHSA) project, using Microsoft Excel which allows for the collection of heritage information in five areas: contextual information, site information, features and artefacts, site condition assessment, and environmental information. Once a form has been created it can then be uploaded to the online KoboToolbox server. Thereafter, forms can be downloaded from the server by users with a protected password to an Android device using freely downloadable KoboCollect or ODK Collect apps.
The benefits of mobile data collection
This innovative way of electronically collecting data in the field comes with several benefits. For instance, data types, such as GPS location, photos, video, and audio, can be collected. The time for capturing such data is significantly reduced and it allows for data to be standardised for comparative purposes. This method can also reduce the number of errors in the data capturing process through logical checks and pre-fillable answers.
