Hi all,<br>I would like to contribute to this interesting discussion with my experience as a student. When attending to a gis applications in archaeology related class we encountered all of the problems reported above. Our instructor faced quite strong opposition from ESRI to obtain some trial copies of their software, and also obtaining some "real" data to use for our training was not so easy, because - as pointed out by Benjamin - often well established archaeologist tend to consider the sites in which they work as their own private property.
<br>So the FOSS software could be a great opportunity for all: for the students who can learn without being forced to install an illegal copy of the various software tools, for the teachers who can enjoy more freedom in the choices pertaining their work and for the universities who can save the money of the software licences.
<br>Moreover the strongest point about the usage of FOSS software in archaeology probably is the adoption of open formats for the data, because from a scientific and ethical point of view we absolutely must assure the availability of our data to future generations, and naturally to ourselves in the period of five or ten years.
<br>Finally the cooperation model typical of the open source development method could be a welcomed inspiration also in our field, i.e. the sharing of experiences and knowledge, as - for instance - the creation of a participated bibliography on gis related subjects.
<br><br>Best regards,<br><br>Lorenzo de Lellis.<br><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">2006/6/1, Benjamin Ducke <<a href="mailto:benjamin.ducke@ufg.uni-kiel.de">benjamin.ducke@ufg.uni-kiel.de</a>>:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br><br>Roberto Bagnara wrote:<br>> Benjamin Ducke wrote:<br>><br>>> 4. True, open source archaeological software development will advance<br>>> our science as such. We will learn about data and problem structures
<br>>> involved in our research and start to tackle fundamental questions<br>>> (everyone ever tried to imagine an open data format for representing<br>>> stratigraphy and the wonderful things you could do with it?).
<br>>> We will stop being scavengers of other people's technology and<br>>> cater for own scientific needs.<br>><br>><br>> I think open data formats are really a major issue. (Please note:<br>> I have no background in archaeology, so what I say may be nonsense.)
<br>> Ideally, all the data originating from excavations and other<br>> data-collection activities should be recorded and made available<br>> to everyone. Ideally, archaeologists should be able to try out<br>> whatever quantitative method and data analysis technique they
<br>> can come up with on a huge amount of data. Ideally, archaeologists<br>> working in the year 2100 should be able to work on the same data<br>> you are working today and be able to confirm or refute your conclusions.
<br>> Ideally, people in other archaeology departments, even people outside<br>> archaeology departments, amateur archaeologists ... anyone should have<br>> access to that data and have a chance to make a contribution. I think
<br><br>Fully agreed. There is just one minor concern on the side of heritage<br>managers: publishing full archaeological site information might make<br>work for looters and grave robbers much simpler.<br>I know of at least on example where this has happened. Locations were
<br>published for a number of medieval glass manufacturs in a tourist<br>guide in Central Germany and shortly aftwerwards all those sites<br>were "grazed" for pretty glass vessels quite efficiently ...<br>But this is probably an issue that other sciences dealing with
<br>problematic information also have, so there must be solutions.<br><br>Another problem: many archaeologists consider a site "their" site.<br>Even heritage management keeps lots of information locked away.<br>
Often, you have to wait for someone to die to get his/her data.<br>And at that point, nobody can make any sense of it anymore.<br><br>As you can see, the technological transformation going on in<br>archaeology right now is also triggering a social/ethical one.
<br><br>> this could really give a very important impulse to the field (and would<br>> also partly address another issue I perceive as crucial: how to build<br>> confidence in the results of archaeological investigations).
<br><br>Oh yes, a very good point, indeed. I have been told throughout all<br>my archaeological training that "every excavation is an interpretation".<br>So instead of focusing on objective, efficient data capturing, error
<br>control and robust post-excavation analysis, people are taught how to<br>draw pretty diagrams (sometimes even in artistic color!) of more or<br>less imaginative stratigraphy (btw. with most archaeologists knowing<br>zilch about geomorphology and soil properties) on excavation.
<br>What rubbish (excuse my language).<br><br>><br>> Of course, I realize that the availability of open, standard data formats<br>> is only one of the issues involved in the ideal "share the data" program
<br>> mentioned above. However, it seems to be an important one (I asked to<br>> a couple of friend achaeologists if there is a standard format for<br>> representing moments in time that are subject to uncertainty:
<br>> it seems there is none).<br><br>Is there on in geo sciences? plant ecology? crime statistics? anywhere?<br><br>> All the best,<br>><br>> Roberto<br>><br>> P.S. When I say "share the data" I make the assumption that the data
<br>> is there. However, is it there? Is the collected data stored<br>> in some (whatever) digital format? And, if so, is that data<br>> kept in some secure place or replicated so as to make sure
<br>> you/others can access it 10 years from now? 100 years from now?<br>><br><br>Oh yes, this another hot topic. It has been discussed at the German<br>Archaeological Institute a few months ago, with no definitive results
<br>so far.<br>My oppinion: public data storage is robust (e.g. university computing<br>centers) and there are solutions for everything.<br>Just never save data in a proprietary, undocumented format (like .doc)<br>and leave the data backup to the professionals with their hardware.
<br><br>Benjamin<br><br><br>--<br>Benjamin Ducke, M.A.<br>Archäoinformatik<br>(Archaeoinformation Science)<br>Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte<br>(Inst. of Prehistoric and Historic Archaeology)<br>Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
<br>Johanna-Mestorf-Straße 2-6<br>D 24098 Kiel<br>Germany<br><br>Tel.: ++49 (0)431 880-3378 / -3379<br>Fax : ++49 (0)431 880-7300<br><a href="http://www.uni-kiel.de/ufg">www.uni-kiel.de/ufg</a><br><br><br>--<br>Mailing list info:
<a href="http://lists.linux.it/listinfo/archaeology">http://lists.linux.it/listinfo/archaeology</a><br></blockquote></div><br>