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Standard Descriptive Vocabulary and Archaeology Digital Data Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2017

Caroline Beebe
Caroline Beebe*
Affiliation:
Affiliate, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana47405, USA (carolinebeebe@hotmail.com)
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Abstract

Archaeology has embraced the shift to digital technology for collecting, analyzing, and sharing data. Digital repositories are now recognized as essential for data stewardship and are setting standards for data deposition. These new technologies and systems support the scientific need for reproducible results through intra-cultural as well as cross-cultural hypothesis testing. Methods of digital data collection in the field, however, are often site specific, restricted by the limited availability of digital technologies, or not well suited for creating systems that support the requirements of the new digital information paradigm. As a small science project, the Chau Hiix Project in Belize will provide examples of the pitfalls in and insights about shifting to digital technology to make its primary data shareable and reusable. These experiences suggest the need for an international collaborative agenda that develops digital data description standards based on controlled vocabulary, facet analysis, and crosswalks implemented at the analog point of collection.

La arqueología ha aceptado con entusiasmo la transición hacia la tecnología digital para la recolección, análisis e intercambio de datos. Los repositorios digitales son ahora reconocidos como herramientas esenciales para la administración de datos y están estableciendo normas para el almacenamiento e intercambio de información. Estas nuevas tecnologías y sistemas apoyan la necesidad científica de obtener resultados reproducibles a través de la comprobación de hipótesis tanto intra como interculturalmente. Sin embargo, los métodos de recolección de datos digitales en el campo a menudo son específicos para cierta ubicación, están restringidos por la limitada disponibilidad de tecnologías digitales o enfrentan dificultades para crear sistemas que soporten los requerimientos del nuevo paradigma de información digital. Como un pequeño proyecto de ciencias, el Proyecto Chau Hiix en Belice proporcionará ejemplos de las perspectivas y dificultades relacionados con la transición a la tecnología digital con el objetivo de permitir el intercambio y reutilización de sus datos primarios. Estas experiencias sugieren la necesidad de un programa de colaboración internacional que desarrolle estándares de descripción de datos digitales basados en un vocabulario controlado, el análisis de facetas y la implementación de puentes en los puntos análogos del proceso de recolección de la información.

Type
Articles
Information
Advances in Archaeological Practice , Volume 5 , Special Issue 3: FOR THE RECORD: ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARCHIVES IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY , August 2017 , pp. 250 - 264
Copyright
Copyright 2017 © Society for American Archaeology 

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