Associated Products
Two New Data Literacy Postdoctoral Researcher Positions (Staff/Faculty/Fellow Position)Name: Two New Data Literacy Postdoctoral Researcher Positions
Abstract: We are delighted to introduce two individuals who are joining the AAI / Open Context team to lead our Data Literacy Program, a new undertaking supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Data Literacy Program aims to widen and diversify uses of cultural heritage data by crafting open access “data stories” backed by deeper layers of open and reproducible analytic and visualization code, as well as primary research data. The postdoctoral researchers bring their individual expertise and diverse backgrounds to this new, multi-year collaboration building data stories and scaffolding to guide professionals, students, and lifelong learners in thoughtful engagement with research data.
Year: 2020
Primary URL:
https://alexandriaarchive.org/2020/10/21/aai-open-context-welcomes-two-new-postdoctoral-researchers/Primary URL Description: AAI news announcement of two new postdoctoral researchers joining the team.
Designing, Timing, and Determining the Feasibility of Curatorial Interventions to Support Data Reuse (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Designing, Timing, and Determining the Feasibility of Curatorial Interventions to Support Data Reuse
Abstract: This webinar, organized and hosted by OCLC Research, explored how data production, sharing, and curation practices facilitate and inhibit data reuse and to discuss the design, timing, and feasibility of curatorial interventions that enable the smooth flow of data throughout the lifecycle.
Author: Sarah Whitcher Kansa
Author: Elizabeth Yakel
Date: 10/31/2019
Location: Online webinar
Primary URL:
https://www.oclc.org/research/events/2019/103119-designing-timingdetermining- curatorial-interventions-data-reuse.htmlPrimary URL Description: 57-minute video
Best Practices for Digital Scholarship (Year 1: Networking and publishing) (Conference/Institute/Seminar)Title: Best Practices for Digital Scholarship (Year 1: Networking and publishing)
Author: Sarah Whitcher Kansa
Author: Charles E. Jones
Abstract: Best Practices for Digital Scholarship is a 3-year session co-organized by Sarah Whitcher Kansa (AAI / Open Context) and Charles E. Jones (Pennsylvania State University Libraries) for the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) annual meeting. Year 1 theme: Networking and publishing: navigating social media, conventional publishing, and digital dissemination services.
Date Range: November 2019
Location: San Diego, CA
Digital Data and Data Literacy in Archaeology Now and in the New Decade (Article)Title: Digital Data and Data Literacy in Archaeology Now and in the New Decade
Author: Eric C. Kansa
Author: Sarah Whitcher Kansa
Abstract: Digital data play an increasingly important role in how we understand the present and the past. The challenges inherent in understanding and using digital data are as intellectually demanding as any other archaeological research endeavor. For these reasons, data management cannot be regarded as a simple compliance or technical issue. For data to be meaningfully preserved and used in intellectually rigorous ways, they need to be integrated fully into all aspects of archaeological practice, including ethics, teaching, and publishing. In this review, we highlight some of the significant and multifaceted challenges involved in managing data, including documentation, training, methodology, data modeling, trust, and ethical concerns. We then focus on the importance of building data literacy broadly among archaeologists so that we can manage and communicate the data our discipline creates. This involves more than learning to use a new tool or finding a data manager for one's excavation or survey. Long-term, responsible stewardship of data requires understanding the workflows and human roles in data management. Putting effort now into thoughtful data management and broad data-literacy training means we will be able to make the most of the “bigger” data that archaeologists now produce. An important aspect of this reorientation will be to look beyond the boundaries of our own research projects and information systems. Future research, teaching, and public engagement needs will also compel us to explore how our data articulates with wider contexts—within and beyond our discipline.
Year: 2021
Primary URL:
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6635n1shPrimary URL Description: Paper archived in the University of California's eScholarship system.
Access Model: Open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Advances in Archaeological Practice
Publisher: Society for American Archaeology
New Position- Director of Strategic Partnerships (Staff/Faculty/Fellow Position)Name: New Position- Director of Strategic Partnerships
Abstract: We are very happy to welcome Dr. Leigh Anne Lieberman to the AAI / Open Context team as Director of Strategic Partnerships! This is a new position created with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and matching funds from the AAI’s ongoing NEH Challenge Grant. In her role with the AAI / Open Context, Leigh will be building institutional partnerships with libraries, museums, and other cultural heritage organizations in order to develop sustainable initiatives.
Year: 2020
Primary URL:
https://alexandriaarchive.org/2021/01/05/aai-open-context-welcomes-director-of-strategic-partnerships/Primary URL Description: Announcement of new hire on the AAI news page.
Best Practices for Digital Scholarship (Year 2: Integrating Specialist Data with Excavation Data) (Conference/Institute/Seminar)Title: Best Practices for Digital Scholarship (Year 2: Integrating Specialist Data with Excavation Data)
Author: Charles Jones (Penn State University) and Sarah Whitcher Kansa (AAI / Open Context), co-organizers
Abstract: The second year of this session focuses on the challenges and approaches to integrating specialist data with excavation data. As specialist analysis often takes place at a different time and location than the excavation project, the data they produce can easily become "siloed". Speakers will include both specialists (zooarchaeology, plants, ceramics) and excavation directors in order to gain perspectives from excavation and post-excavation settings on the pitfalls of data silos and ways to avoid creating them.
(1) How do excavation directors incorporate specialist data into their project databases?
(2) What kinds of negotiations occur between directors and specialists to ensure that data are analyzed in a timely manner?
(3) What key information do specialists need from excavations in order to create meaningful data?
This session is in the format of a workshop in order to promote discussion among panelists and the audience.
Date Range: November 2020
Location: American Schools of Oriental Research annual conference (online)
Digital Cultural Heritage at the Alexandria Archive Institute and Open Context (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Digital Cultural Heritage at the Alexandria Archive Institute and Open Context
Abstract: Interview and discussion with the AAI / Open Context team to discuss our new programs with a live digital audience of approximately 500 historians, history students, and members of the interested public (hosted by the International History Students & Historians Group (IHSHG)).
Author: AAI / Open Context team
Date: 02/04/2021
Location: Online
Primary URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpoVjQQHIaEPrimary URL Description: Video on the IHSHG's YouTube channel
Best Practices for Digital Scholarship (Year 3: Perspectives on Publishing Digital Content) (Conference/Institute/Seminar)Title: Best Practices for Digital Scholarship (Year 3: Perspectives on Publishing Digital Content)
Author: Charles Jones (Penn State University) and Sarah Whitcher Kansa (AAI / Open Context), co-organizers
Abstract: In this forum, panelists discuss the opportunities and challenges in publishing digital content, including coordinating the dissemination of vast amounts of digital data, linking data within projects and across projects, citing digital content, and gaining professional recognition for digital publications. Panelists include data creators and publishers who will share their visions for the future of archaeological publishing.
Chairs: Sarah W. Kansa, AAI / Open Context & Charles E. Jones, The Pennsylvania State University
Panelists:
Digital Practices, Workflows, and Scholar-Led Publishing
William Caraher, The University of North Dakota, Grand Forks,ND, USA
Public Access to Digital Content in Small University Museums
Lissette M,Jimenez, San Francisco State University,San Francisco, CA, USA
Publishing Digital Content as an Early Career Researcher
Kevin Garstki, University of Wisconsin -Oshkosh,Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA
Integrating Digital Archaeological Data with Conventional Publications, Sarah W,Kansa
AAI / Open Context,San Francisco, CA, USA
Making the Museum Accessible,from Artifacts to , Archives
Kiersten NeumannOriental Institute,University of Chicago, Chicago,IL, USA
Database as Dig Report:Exploring the Possibilities
Jennie Ebeling, University of Evansville,Evansville,IN, USA
Date Range: Nov 17-20, 2021
Location: American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), Chicago, IL
Primary URL:
https://www.asor.org/am/2021/schedule-2021Primary URL Description: ASOR 2021 annual meeting schedule
Sustaining Open Data: Lessons from Open Context (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Sustaining Open Data: Lessons from Open Context
Author: Sarah Whitcher Kansa
Abstract: In this interview, Sarah Whitcher Kansa, Executive Editor of Open Context, discusses the development of Open Context and aspects of its approach to data publishing. Open Context’s granular approach to data means that each item resolves to its own unique URL and is linkable to related data from across the Web. This “one URL per pot sherd” facilitates research by allowing people to cite specific items in a database and recognizes the individual contributions of authors who described or analyzed specific items. Recognizing there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to data archiving and dissemination in archaeology, Open Context has taken a bottom-up approach, developing new functionality to meet the demands of data authors over time. Open Context’s team works with data authors to clean and decode their data and add descriptive information about the intellectual context of the data creation. This additional work, along with annotating datasets to facilitate linked open data, ensures that data are more intelligible and useful to future users. Kansa also discusses the importance of supporting innovation and exploration in the growing ecosystem of data sharing and archiving, highlighting how the success of related programs benefit Open Context. She concludes by discussing the benefits of broadening the community of people who engage with datasets through improved data literacy and storytelling.
Date: 9/1/2020
Primary URL:
https://www.hadw-bw.de/en/research/research-center/roceehConference Name: Human Origins - Digital Future conference hosted by ROCEEH
Cleaning and Curating Open Data for Archaeology (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)Title: Cleaning and Curating Open Data for Archaeology
Producer: The Data Engineering Podcast
Abstract: Archaeologists collect and create a variety of data as part of their research and exploration. Open Context is a platform for cleaning, curating, and sharing this data. In this episode Eric Kansa describes how they process, clean, and normalize the data that they host, the challenges that they face with scaling ETL processes which require domain specific knowledge, and how the information contained in connections that they expose is being used for interesting projects.
Date: 2/4/19
Primary URL:
https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com/open-context-open-data-platform-episode-68/Format: Web
Digital Data Literacy in Archaeology (Conference Paper/Presentation)Title: Digital Data Literacy in Archaeology
Author: Paulina Przystupa
Author: L. Meghan Dennis
Abstract: Paper presented at the first "Teaching and Learning in Archaeology and Heritage" Conference
Date: 9/15/2021
Primary URL:
https://alexandriaarchive.org/2021/09/09/archaeological-data-literacy-the-teaching-and-learning-in-archaeology-and-heritage-conference/Primary URL Description: Conference announcement on the AAI website.
Conference Name: Teaching and Learning in Archaeology and Heritage
Let’s make a data story: How to create a public-facing data-driven archaeology narrative (Conference/Institute/Seminar)Title: Let’s make a data story: How to create a public-facing data-driven archaeology narrative
Author: Leigh Lieberman
Author: L. Meghan Dennis
Author: Paulina Przstupa
Author: Eric Kansa
Author: Sarah Whitcher Kansa
Abstract: Workshop at the annual Archaeological Institute of America conference
"Let’s make a data story: How to create a public-facing data-driven archaeology narrative" explored two themes—data-driven digital storytelling and public scholarship—aimed at improving participants’ data-driven narrative skills and develop their ability to share academic research with diverse audiences. The workshop also introduced participants to the benefits of sharing and utilizing linked open data (LOD), building on ongoing discussions about ethical best data practices and standards. Workshops of this type are significant to the discipline as they provide participants interested in careers inside and outside of the academy, as well as those interested in teaching current students, an opportunity to cultivate new skills.
Date Range: 1/6/2022
Location: Virtual workshop
Primary URL:
https://alexandriaarchive.org/2022/01/04/aiascs-workshop/Digging Up Data: A Showcase of Ongoing Digital Scholarship Projects (Conference/Institute/Seminar)Title: Digging Up Data: A Showcase of Ongoing Digital Scholarship Projects
Author: Leigh Lieberman
Abstract: Digging Up Data was first organized as a series of three virtual workshops, collaboratively planned by members of the team at The Alexandria Archive Institute/Open Context (AAI/OC) and the American Society of Overseas Research Early Career Scholars Committee (ASOR ECS). These workshops, hosted live in fall 2021 and now shared on ASORtv, aimed to offer ASOR members an introduction to data literacy. What is data literacy and why is it important for archaeologists to be data literate? How do we begin to find, produce, curate, and analyze data? And how do we compose data-driven narratives of our research for diverse, public audiences?
The overwhelming interest in this initial collaborative program around data literacy encouraged the AAI/OC and ECS to team up again to offer the next installment in the Digging Up Data series: an experimental professional development program entitled Turning an Idea into Digital Scholarship. Under the mentorship of Leigh Anne Lieberman (AAI/OC) and Tiffany Earley-Spadoni (ASOR ECS), participants will work during the upcoming year to develop a public-facing, engaging, data-driven digital project concerning some aspect of their research and present that work at the ASOR conference in Boston (November 2022).
Date Range: November 2022
Location: American Society of Overseas Research annual conference
Primary URL:
https://alexandriaarchive.org/digging-up-data-tids/Primary URL Description: Blog post about the program, calling for applicants.
The Untold Potential of Open Data: Computational, Collaborative, and Pedagogical Outcomes (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: The Untold Potential of Open Data: Computational, Collaborative, and Pedagogical Outcomes
Abstract: A paper presented in the session "Limitations of/on Open Access in Archaeology"
Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting (virtual, January 2022)
Author: Leigh Lieberman
Date: 01/05/2022
Location: Archaeological Institute of American annual conference (virtual)
Primary URL:
https://alexandriaarchive.org/2022/01/21/pedagogical-outcomes/Primary URL Description: Blog post about the presentation.
Turning an Idea into Digital Scholarship (Conference/Institute/Seminar)Title: Turning an Idea into Digital Scholarship
Author: Leigh Lieberman
Author: Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
Abstract: Participants in this institute worked during the 2022 year to develop a public-facing, engaging, data-driven digital project concerning some aspect of their research. Participants in this selective program had the following opportunities over the 2022 year:
- Practice basic skills around data literacy (e.g.: how to find and curate data; how to assess data quality; how to analyze data; how to create clear data visualizations; etc.).
- Practice basic skills around digital storytelling (e.g.: how to write for public audiences; how to tell stories from different perspectives; how to assess the pros and cons of different digital tools and platforms; how to share and archive your digital stories; etc.).
- Meet (virtually) several times throughout the upcoming year with other participants and program mentors to engage in conversations around data literacy and digital scholarship.
- Work one-on-one with program mentors to develop professional skills that will be useful for both the academic and the professional job markets.
- Draft proposals for digital projects that can serve as the framework for future grant applications.
- Begin to build some aspect of their digital projects.
- Present some aspect of their work at the 2022 ASOR Annual Meeting (in person and/or virtually).
Date Range: January - November 2022
Location: Virtually (Zoom) and in person at the 2022 ASOR conference in Chicago
Primary URL:
https://alexandriaarchive.org/digging-up-data-tids/Primary URL Description: Blog post about the program
Data in Archaeological Field School Instruction (Conference/Institute/Seminar)Title: Data in Archaeological Field School Instruction
Author: Eric Kansa
Abstract: Archaeologists routinely create and use data, but they rarely talk about how they work with data. As a profession, we need to be more open and share our experiences and frustrations in working with data.
The ARF field school specifically serves students that need professional experience in archaeology but have financial or other restrictions that would prevent them from traveling to a project outside of the San Francisco Bay Area.
As a guest lecturer for this field school, I explored some of the challenges of working with data. We discussed why archaeologists create structured data (information organized to facilitate quantification and other computer analysis). We raised some of the methodological and ethical challenges involved in making structured data. Last, we looked at how we use both structured and unstructured (narrative) data. In practice, both play a role in shaping our understanding of the archaeological past.
Date Range: August 2022
Location: Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley, CA
Primary URL:
https://alexandriaarchive.org/2022/08/23/data-in-archaeological-field-school-instruction/Primary URL Description: Blog post about the workshop
Secondary URL:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uStbQLHEYBZcde7phgZ5JM_JtP8UhILseFQeiZ5oyyo/editSecondary URL Description: A slide deck from the workshop
Winning them over to the data side – An ARF workshop on Data lit and viz (Conference/Institute/Seminar)Title: Winning them over to the data side – An ARF workshop on Data lit and viz
Author: Paulina Przystupa
Abstract: This workshop focused on pros and cons of different kinds of data visualizations using real archaeological data sets. Participants walked through the "Cow-culating your data with spreadsheets and R – Part I Spreadsheets" and adapted it to their own datasets on the fly.
Date Range: August 2022
Location: Archaeological Research Facility Summer 2022 Field School, Berkeley, CA
Primary URL:
https://alexandriaarchive.org/2022/09/08/winning-them-over-to-the-data-side-an-arf-workshop-on-data-lit-and-viz/Primary URL Description: Blog post about the workshop
Will It Ever Be FAIR?: Making Archaeological Data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (Article)Title: Will It Ever Be FAIR?: Making Archaeological Data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable
Author: Christopher Nicholson
Author: Sarah Kansa
Author: Neha Gupta
Author: Rachel Fernandez
Abstract: A fundamental task of archaeology is to address challenging scientific questions related to the complexity of human societies. If we are to systematically understand the processes that affect human societies on multiple spatial and temporal scales, research leveraging existing archaeological data is essential. However, only a fraction of the data from archaeological projects are publicly findable or accessible, let alone interoperable or reusable. This is the case despite statements of disciplinary ethics, availability of capable technologies for data stewardship, publications providing guidance, and legal mandates. This article introduces the FAIR principles for data stewardship in North American archaeology, which state that data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. We call for efforts to promote widespread adoption of the FAIR and CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, and Ethics) principles among professional organizations, publishers, data repositories, and researchers. We also call for adoption and implementation of requirements to adhere to these principles by governmental agencies, funding bodies, and other regulators of archaeological research. Ultimately, adoption of the FAIR principles in an ethical framework contributes to our understanding of our human experience and can lead to greater integration and reuse of research results, fostering increased partnerships between academia and industry.
Year: 2023
Primary URL:
https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2022.40Primary URL Description: DOI for the article in Advances in Archaeological Practice
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Advances in Archaeological Practice
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Data Management: Beyond Checkbox Compliance (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Data Management: Beyond Checkbox Compliance
Abstract: A brown bag talk and Q&A with Eric Kansa for the Early Career Researchers of the American Schools of Overseas Research
Author: Eric Kansa
Date: 03/31/2023
Location: Online
Primary URL:
https://www.asor.org/news/2023/03/ecs-brown-bag-dataPrimary URL Description: Link to webinar announcement.
Small identifiers with big impacts: examples from archaeological fieldwork (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Small identifiers with big impacts: examples from archaeological fieldwork
Abstract: A public webinar for the Sampling Nature Research Coordination Network. See: https://samplingnature.github.io/
Author: Sarah W. Kansa
Date: 11/03/2023
Location: Online
Primary URL:
https://samplingnature.github.io/Primary URL Description: Sampling Nature project page
Digging Up Data: A Showcase of Ongoing Digital Scholarship Projects (Conference/Institute/Seminar)Title: Digging Up Data: A Showcase of Ongoing Digital Scholarship Projects
Title: Digging Up Data: A Showcase of Ongoing Digital Scholarship Projects
Author: Leigh Anne Lieberman
Author: Melissa Cradic
Author: Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
Author: Leigh Anne Lieberman
Author: Melissa Cradic
Author: Tiffany Earley-Spadoni
Abstract: Building on the successes of both the “Best Practices for Digital Scholarship” workshops, led by Sarah W. Kansa and Charles E. Jones at ASOR from 2019-2021, and “Digging Up Data: A Showcase of Ongoing Digital Scholarship Projects,” led by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni and Leigh Anne Lieberman in 2022, this workshop will highlight the individual journeys of scholars who have spent the previous year developing digital, data-driven, public-facing projects as a part of Digging Up Data: Turning an Idea into Digital Scholarship, an experimental professional development program developed and sponsored by ASOR’s Early Career Scholars Committee and The Alexandria Archive Institute/Open Context. Their projects represent a range of methodologies and approaches that have allowed them to develop skills and practices around data literacy and digital storytelling. The workshop will focus on the process of building, storytelling for and in collaboration with multiple publics, and the practical steps needed to realize an idea in an engaging and feasible way. Participants in this workshop will benefit from the panelists’ successes and failures, have an opportunity to interrogate digital tools and methods, and be encouraged to network with other early career scholars interested in digital scholarship.
Abstract: Building on the successes of both the “Best Practices for Digital Scholarship” workshops, led by Sarah W. Kansa and Charles E. Jones at ASOR from 2019-2021, and “Digging Up Data: A Showcase of Ongoing Digital Scholarship Projects,” led by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni and Leigh Anne Lieberman in 2022, this workshop will highlight the individual journeys of scholars who have spent the previous year developing digital, data-driven, public-facing projects as a part of Digging Up Data: Turning an Idea into Digital Scholarship, an experimental professional development program developed and sponsored by ASOR’s Early Career Scholars Committee and The Alexandria Archive Institute/Open Context. Their projects represent a range of methodologies and approaches that have allowed them to develop skills and practices around data literacy and digital storytelling. The workshop will focus on the process of building, storytelling for and in collaboration with multiple publics, and the practical steps needed to realize an idea in an engaging and feasible way. Participants in this workshop will benefit from the panelists’ successes and failures, have an opportunity to interrogate digital tools and methods, and be encouraged to network with other early career scholars interested in digital scholarship.
Date Range: November 2023
Date Range: November 2023
Location: Boston, MA
Location: Boston, MA
Primary URL:
https://www.asor.org/am/2023/approved-sessions-2023#diggingupPrimary URL:
https://www.asor.org/am/2023/approved-sessions-2023#diggingup