Information Policy for (Digital) Information in Archaeology: current state and suggestions for development

New ARKDIS article in Internet Archaeology

The introduction of digital data capturing and management technologies has transformed information practices in archaeology. Digital documentation and digital infrastructures are integrated in archaeologists' daily work now more than ever. International and national institutions and projects have contributed to the development of digital archiving and curation practices. Because knowledge production in archaeology depends heavily on documentation and information dissemination, and on retrieval of past documentation, the question of how information is managed is profoundly intertwined with the possibilities for knowledge production. Regulations at different levels articulate demands and expectations from the emerging digital information practices, but how are these different regulations coordinated, and do they support archaeological knowledge production?

In this article we look into the state of information policy - the sum of principles guiding decisions about information - in archaeology and related areas. The aim of the article is to shed light on how information policy directs practice in archaeology, and to show that analysis of such policies is therefore vital. Information policy in legislation and guidelines in Swedish archaeology serves as a case study, and examples from development-led archaeology and the museum sector illustrate how information policies have varied roles across different heritage sectors. There are historical and local trajectories in the policy documents specific to Sweden, but the discussion shows that the emergence of Swedish policies have many parallels with processes in other countries. The article provides recommendations for information policy development for archaeology and related areas.

Upcoming: ARKDIS at the Information Access Seminar, UC Berkeley School of Information

"...RELEVANT, USABLE, AND ACCESSIBLE TO ALL...". ON DOCUMENTATION IDEALS FOR EXTRA-ACADEMIC RESEARCH, THE CASE OF DEVELOPMENT-LED ARCHAEOLOGY

Information Access Seminar

Friday, April 10, 2015, 3:10 pm - 5:00 pm

107 South Hall, UC Berkeley

In several disciplines, such as medicine and engineering, significant parts of the knowledge production take place outside academic research. Another such discipline is archaeology. Most archaeological surveys are conducted as development-led archaeology prior to land development. The documentation of such surveys is surrounded by legislation and guidelines. In this seminar we will take a closer look at the documentation ideals in those regulations. Additionally we will discuss how those ideals are interpreted by authorities in archaeology, notably academic archaeologists, museum professionals, and government professionals. From a distance, and with some humor, these ideals and interpretations may be likened to an administrative meltdown and they present an enigmatic challenge for the professionals who try to do the actual documentation. The seminar will focus on the case of archaeology, but the discussion will also be extended to the general circumstances for documentation and communication of extra-academic research today.

Bio: 

Lisa Börjesson, M.A., is a second-year doctoral student from Uppsala University in Sweden. During Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 she is a visiting student researcher at School of Information. Her research is a part of the research project Archaeological Information in the Digital Society (ARKDIS).

Research article seminar "Information Policy for Sustainable Digitization in Archaeology? – A Critical Analysis"

Wednesday November 26th, 14:15-16.00, room 3/0015, Department of ALM, Uppsala university.

The article is an ongoing collaboration between M.A. Lisa Börjesson (Uppsala University), associate professor Isto Huvila (Åbo akademi/Uppsala University) and associate professor Bodil Petersson (Linneaus University) within ARKDIS (Archaeological Information in the Digital Society).

Article abstract

The introduction of digital data capturing and management technologies have changed information practices in archaeology. Digital information is more integrated than ever in each archaeologists’ daily work. Initiatives and institutions on international, national and regional levels like Archaeology Data Service (ADS) in the UK, the Swedish National Data Service (SND) and the Swedish National Heritage Board’s Digital Archaeological Processes (DAP) project aim at assisting individual archaeologists’ and research institutions’ digital archiving and digital curation. But what is the state of information policy in archaeology today? Do Swedish archaeology has an up-to-date, consistent and anticipatory policy guiding decision-making concerning archaeological information? As knowledge production in archaeology heavily depends on documentation and information dissemination, and on retrieval of past documentation the question of an appropriate information policy is profoundly intertwined with the possibilities for archaeology knowledge production. Furthermore, as archaeology is either partly publicly funded (as is generally the case with academic research archaeology in Europe) or regulated by publicly funded bodies (as is the case with all surveys to some degree), the funding societies have a great economic interest in coordinated and efficient information practices in archaeology. In this article we analyse information policy and discuss how policy plays out in three different contexts in Swedish archaeology: the contract archaeology sector, the museum sector and the archive sector. Throughout the analysis we make international comparisons as we strive to highlight the international relevance of the discussion of information policy development for sustainable digitization in archaeology. The aim of this article is to raise the question of how information policy for archaeology can develop to support consistency and sustainability in the information practices currently developing.

If you wish to read the text prior to the seminar, please contact Lisa. See you there!

Public access to results of federally funded research - an American perspective on a transnational issue

What do researchers, activists and politicians mean when  advocating for "open access" or "public access" to research data and publications? Which are the information policy arguments behind the advocacy and which implications follow higher demands on openness and access to research results and data?

Friday 14th of March Clifford Lynch (ph.D, adj. prof.) held a seminar at UC Berkeley School of Information on public access of results of federally funded research. Archaeology, being one of the areas receiving substantial funding from federal government and furthermore often being conducted by, or within a context of, government departments is directly affected by the policy development on "openness".

In his talk Lynch pointed to several of the complexities in and due to the current policy development, such as the lack of sufficiently developed storage solutions and data management plans - a lot of actors wants openness and access, but not as many wants to set up sufficient management systems. Moreover as is clear within archaeology, the information policy and related practices are international challenges circumscribed by national policy and administrative constraints.

Further reading by Clifford Lynch on the challenges in the curation of scholarly data.