Working Group 1: Stewardship of Archaeological Data
Objective
To bring together members with varying levels of experience to share their successes and challenges around the stewardship of archaeological data to create a sub-network. Practical and ethical considerations will be explored including encouragements and resistances to sharing data and making it openly accessible within archaeology, and who is legally required to fund the short and long-term costs of preservation. This Working Group will be the starting point for those new to the main aim of SEADDA and who wish to begin or progress dialogue in their region, country.
Tasks
Survey of state-of-the-art for preservation and dissemination within Europe
Develop a European network of contacts, and determine which are well placed to host data management and stewardship workshops within their countries
Organise an exploratory workshop on stewardship to define format and content most useful for data management and stewardship workshops, and a discussion workshop to synthesise the findings of the survey and create resources that can be used to inform key decision-makers for with regard to stewardship, e.g. position papers
Create an open access publication on the current state-of-the-art of the stewardship of archaeological data in Europe
Success! Members of SEADDA WG1 and WG4 were finally able to meet in person this past May in sunny Braga, Portugal. Discussion workshops took place over two days with 34 SEADDA members, representing 17 European countries meeting in-person to discuss and collaborate on key issues surrounding digital archaeological data. The events were hosted by SEADDA MC member Natália Botica at the Unidade de Arqueologia Edifício dos Congregados Avenida Central in Braga, Portugal. Both events were led by Dr. Holly Wright of the Archaeology Data Service in the UK, kicking off the WG1 workshop by greeting and thanking new and veteran
We are excited to promote a SEADDA themed issue in Internet Archaeology, “Digital Archiving in Archaeology: State of the Art” published this past year. The publication was a collaborative effort between SEADDA COST Action and the European Archaeology Consilium (EAC). The issue features 19 articles submitted by presenters, participants and attendees of the SEADDA workshop hosted in Gothenburg, Sweden by the Swedish National Data Service in November 2019. Introduction Julian D. Richards, Ulf Jakobsson, David Novák, Benjamin Štular and Holly Wright Digital Archiving for Archaeology: the state of the art in Argentina Andrés. D. Izeta and Roxana Cattáneo Saving Us
The SEADDA COST Action was invited to present Challenges and opportunities in virtual archaeological data stewardship: Moving SEADDA COST Action online at the International Conference on Cultural Heritage and New Technologies (CHNT) 2021 (Nov. 2 – 4) in Vienna, Austria. Holly Wright from the Archaeology Data Service in York, UK gave the presentation, which examined adapting an in-person networking project to a virtual environment due to the onset of COVID-19. COST Actions fund and create research connections between innovators and researchers in the science and technology fields. Traditionally this is accomplished through Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) workshops, training sessions, and
The Exploratory Workshop for WG1: Stewardship of Archaeological Data was kindly hosted by the Swedish National Data Service in Gothenburg on 12 November, 2019. Each of the participants were asked to present their data stewardship situation within the context of five questions: Who (if anyone) is legally responsible for the long-term stewardship of archaeological data in the organization/region/country? Who should it be? Is it the right person/group? How would you encourage the long-term stewardship of archaeological data in your institution//region/country? What are the obstacles/resistances? What are the practical and ethical considerations? How would be best to encourage/articulate the benefits of
Our Croatian members very kindly agreed to host our WG kick-off meetings at the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, on 18-20 June. We chose to have them all run consecutively rather than use breakout sessions, as many partners have indicated they would like to attend all the WGs (at least in the first instance). After a Management Committee meeting, members began with a discussion of general planning to understand the necessary outcomes for the WGs. This was followed by an excellent tour of the museum by Ivan Radman, and the rain held off long enough for us to enjoy a reception