Reflecting the importance and complexities of archaeological data management, a half-day, open access online workshop was held jointly with MAHSA (Mapping Archaeological Heritage in South Asia) on 4 July 2023, attracting more than 100 participants on the day. Below we outline some key principles highlighted by the speakers, who included Eric Kansa (Open Context), Neha Gupta (University of British Columbia), Hella Hollander (DANS), Sacha Jones (Open Research Services, Cambridge University Libraries) and MAEASaM and MAHSA members. Here we summarise some key principles that inform digital data management in archaeology.
Erich Kansa and Neha Gupta’s presentations focused respectively on FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and CARE principles (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility and Ethics).
- FAIR Principles – GO FAIR: mostly concerned with making data reusable and shareable with a focus on metadata. They include technical standards that can be implemented to promote data interoperability.
- CARE Principles — Global Indigenous Data Alliance: rooted in Indigenous data governance, sovereignty and ethics, with the aim of benefiting Indigenous Peoples and local stakeholders, in full acknowledgement of power differentials, sensitivity of information and provenance.
Both FAIR and CARE are relevant to the work of MAEASaM, given its large scale and the (post)colonial context in which a lot of the data entered was collected.
Hella Hollander’s (DANS) presentation plus a demonstration by Paola Ronzino (ARIADNEplus) signposted useful information such as:
- Guides and training materials developed by DANS to ‘FAIRify’ data management and make data reusable: DANS Training
- User-friendly online tools from the ARIADNEplus European project to help with data management planning, based on open and FAIR principles:
- ‘Comply or explain’ six-step protocol for archaeological data management: Data protocol
- Template for creating an archaeological data management plan: ARIADNEplus Data Management Plan Tools organised around six questions: Data summary, FAIR data, Allocation of resources, Data security, Ethical aspects, Other.
- Training/other resources: ARIADNEplus training hub
Sacha Jones outlined some key steps for ensuring data can be found, understood and used in the future for as long as necessary, including not leaving preservation until the end of the data life cycle. These principles included saving in open or common file formats; see guidance from:
- University of Cambridge: Data management guide
- UK Data Service guidance: ukdataservice.ac.uk
- Library of Congress: Research guides
Stefania Merlo, Eloise Noc & Ed Burnett (MAEASaM) and Junaid Abdul Jabbar & Azadeh Vafadari (MAHSA) presented on data production processes and workflows drawing on case studies from the projects. There are various definitions of data reuse as highlighted by deSandt at al. (2018). Both projects discussed:
- the diversity and heterogeneity of heritage data and that there is a need to understand the contextual framework in which these data were created, what type of interventions might need to be made, and how these data can potentially be reused.
- there are multiple different types of workflows that can be developed to suite individual researcher needs.