Examples of archaeological 3D projects in Uppåkra, Catalhöyuk and Gamla Uppsala - lecture in Uppsala

Archaeological Information in the Digital Society (ARKDIS) Research Project organises an open lecture by Dr. Nicolo Dell'Unto (Lund University) and Dr. Daniel Löwenborg (Uppsala University) titled Examples of archaeological 3D projects in Uppåkra, Catalhöyuk and Gamla Uppsala on Friday 27 September, 2013 at 13.15-14.00 Room 2/K1024, English Park Campus, Uppsala University.

ARKDIS at ASIS&T European Workshop

ARKDIS project was presented at the ASIS& European Workshop 2013 in Turku, Finland last week. The workshop was second European research conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Information Science and Technology and was organised by Information Studies, School of Business and Economics, Åbo Akademi University in collaboration with the Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences of the Lund University.

Conference on archaeological 3D documentation, modelling, reconstructions and analysis in Dec 2013 in Lund

ARKDIS project organises in association with the Swedish chapter (CAA-SE) of the international Computer applications and quantitative methods in archaeology (CAA) organisation and Lund Humanities Lab an international conference/workshop in Lund in December 2-4, 2013. The conference is at the same time the second national conference of the CAA-SE. The main theme of the conference is 3D documentation, modelling, reconstructions and analysis, but contributions from other topics related to computer applications, quantitative methods, information management and adjacent areas of interest of the CAA are welcome as well.

The call for papers (in Swedish) will be published in this blog and on CAA-SE conference website at https://sites.google.com/site/caasweden/konferens-2013 later this summer. Because of the size of the venue, the conference will be open to a maximum of 70 participants. Expressions of interests for participation can be already sent to CAA-SE to  caa.sweden@gmail.com to make sure that there will be room for you.

On the evaluation of sites and monuments - and information

Evaluation, valorisation, appraisal and related judgments of archaeological and other sites and monuments is a tricky question. The Finnish National Board of Antiquities and Archaeology, University of Helsinki organises right now a two day workshop on the topic in Helsinki. I was unfortunately able to participate in the event only during the first day, but it was still both intriguing and enlightening to listen to the presentations and participate in the discussion later during the afternoon.

It is obvious that sites and monuments need to be evaluated, or appraised for their 'value' -- whatever it is. Even if the different presenters and discussions discussed the issue of value from a diversity of perspectives -- which is apparently one of the significant issues of the problematic topic, there was no doubt that value and appraisal are questions that are very much under debate. The scholarly, societal (from an administrative perspective) and heritage (a personal or community point of view) value and evaluation of a single site or monument can be very different, and the 'actual' value of a particular site is more or less an aggregate of a number of factors, or more precisely values that are argued by different actors: archaeologists, cultural heritage administrators, the general public and, for instance, advocates of alternative archaeologies. As Mikko Härö, noted in the first presentation of the day, all seeking and use of (archaeological) information is (or perhaps becomes) an act of evaluation. This does not apply only to the acts of experts, but naturally to the information activities of all of us who interact with a site or monument.

A second general observation I made during the presentations and discussions was the relevant problematisation and pluralisation of the notions of evaluation and value. Value can be defined by many different actors and the notion of value itself is highly equivocal. At the same time, however, the notions of information and knowledge (both covered more or less by the Finnish term "tieto") were taken largely granted. It is important to have enough high-quality information. If the value and evaluation of a site or monument is a matter of debate and there can be multiple values for a single site, there are also multiples types of 'informations' on the same thing. Different typesof judgments are based on different types of information and different amounts of information are enough for different conclusions. The quality and enough'ness of information depend on the type of an individual evaluative claim. And, yes, this is precisely one reason why the management of 'archaeological information' is so difficult in practice. If all information use is evaluative, all evaluations lead to more or less different information on the same site or monument.

Published also in http://istohuvila.se/evaluation-sites-and-monuments-and-information

PhD student position in ARKDIS-project (library and information science)

at the Department of ALM (Archival Science, Library and Information Science, Museology and Cultural Heritage Studies)
Application no later than 2013-04-30. UFV-PA 2013/800

starting date August 1, 2013 at the earliest, latest on January 1, 2014.

The doctoral student will be working in the research project Archaeological information in the digital society financed by the Swedish Research Council (VR) grant 340-2012-5751. The doctoral candidate is expected to conduct empirical research on the practices of the production and use of archaeological information in Sweden. More information about the project and its aims can be found on the project web site at:http://www.abm.uu.se/research/Ongoing+Research+Projects/ARKDIS/?languageId=1
Education at the doctoral level consists of 4 years. The position is financed with a doctoral studentship (doktorandanställning). Doctoral students are expected to pursue their studies full-time and actively take part in the department’s activities. Departmental duties (typically teaching and administration) at a level of at most 20% can be included in the position.

Doctoral education in Library and Information Science is regulated by the general study plan which can be found at the following address:http://www.abm.uu.se/research/Postgraduate+Studies/?languageId=1
Qualifications required: Applicants must have a Masters’ degree in library and Information Science, archival science, museology and cultural heritage studies or a corresponding degree in a nearby field. For regulations, see Uppsala University’s guidelines for doctoral studieshttp://regler.uu.se/Rules_and_regulations_in_English/. Research work demands close collaboration with Swedish archaeologists and an ability to read Swedish language texts. An applicant is therefore expected to have a working capability to read Swedish and orally communicate in Swedish/Scandinavian.

Application: Applications should include a short CV and a research plan (max 4 pages) that complies with the general area of the research project described above. The purpose of the research plan is to give the applicants an opportunity to formulate and present a personal draft proposal of a possible doctoral research project in the general area of the Archaeological information in the digital society research project. (For additional information, please contact project director Isto Huvila, contact information see below) The research plan must contain a tentative heading, short presentation of the subject area and the proposed focus of the research, a short overview of selected relevant earlier research, and theoretical frameworks and methods to be applied and include a preliminary timetable for the 4 years period. The applicants Masters' thesis and degree certificate and diploma supplement (examensbevis) must be included in the application together with other relevant documentation e.g. publications. The selection will primarily be based on the research plan. Earlier publications are regarded as merits.

For further information please contact Christer Eld, Head of Department,christer.eld@abm.uu.se  (+46 18 471 3388), Associate Professor Isto Huvila, Project Director, isto.huvila@abm.uu.se (+358 40 572 6259) Professor Kerstin Rydbeck, Director of postgraduate studies, kerstin.rydbeck@abm.uu.se, (+46 18 471 7978) or Malin Sigvardson, Faculty Director of Studies,malin.sigvardson@uadm.uu.se  (+46 18 471 1879). Trade-union representatives are Anders Grundström, Saco (+46 18 471 5380), Carin Söderhäll, TCO/ST (+46 18 471 1997) and Stefan Djurström, Seko (+46 18 471 3315).

You are welcome to submit your application no later than April 30 2013, UFV-PA 2013/800.

Official announcement at http://www.uu.se/jobb/phd-students/annonsvisning?languageId=1&tarContentId=237432

Archiving - archaeological archives? Workshop in Stockholm

The Swedish partner of the ARCHES project, the Swedish National Heritage Board (RAÄ) organised today a workshop on archaeological archives and archiving in Stockholm. The workshop gathered 25'ish participants from the heritage board, National Historical Museums, county administrations and museums and universities -- in the last group me and a colleague from Umeå. The aim of the workshop was to discuss a draft of a core standard for archaeological archives in Europe and its application and applicability in Sweden.

Even if the crowd was undoubtedly highly biassed in its interest in the management of archaeological data and documentation, it was still somewhat surprising how unanimous we were on the central challenges, problems and strengths of current archaeological practice in Sweden. The draft proposal we discussed was not entirely unproblematic. Its level of abstraction varied from overarching formulations to highly detailed instructions that were largely based on current, and in some cases, past practices. Also, especially in the sections on digital documentation, it was apparent that the proposed measures were based rather heavily on analog archival practices, and in general, the division of sections to analog documentation, finds and digital documentation can be seen as somewhat outdated.

At the same time, however, the draft served clearly as a good propeller of discussion and helped to articulate both current issues and possible measures to counter them. The unclarity of administrative responsibility between different authorities and the lack of digital infrastructure for the management of digital archaeological data were two apparent challenges together with a bunch of other things that would need to be solved in the near future, or as some of the participants noted, around 15 years ago. As a whole, the workshop was an excellent event and I am already waiting for the updates on the ARCHES project and continuation of today's discussion in Sweden in general.

As a researcher of information work, it was impossible not to remark that many of the current problems go back to the clash of tacit conceptualisations of archaeological work in terms of analogue and public authorities' driven practices and the contemporary realities of public management and the digital technology. Therefore, it was not at all surprising that doing something would probably require an extensive discussion on concepts and how they could and should be defined today. At the end of the workshop, Britta Rosborg and Marcus Smith presented two on-going efforts to do some work on revisiting and redefining, Britta on the deposition procedures of archaeological finds in Sweden, and Marcus on the RAÄ's year old ambitious project on the Digital Archaeological Production Chain (DAP).

About ARKDIS

Digitisation of archaeological information and cultural heritage assets has been one of the cornerstones of the digital society debate. However, at the same time when nations have made considerable investments in the digitalisation of archaeological heritage, we know very little about its implications to the usability of archaeological information for different stakeholder groups from citizens to researchers, museum professionals, landowners and property developers. We know a lot about technical challenges, but very little on how information practices influence the usability of information.

The aim of the project is to 1) map the implications and opportunities of the digitalisation of information and information work in the domain of archaeology and material cultural heritage throughout the lifespan of archaeological information from the field to museums and community planning, and 3) to develop and evaluate conceptual and practical methods and procedures for enhancing archaeological information work in the digitalised environment. The project addresses a series of significant recognised challenges within archaeology and, because of the broad societal implications of archaeological information from cultural heritage, museums and media industry to community planning (the legal requirements to protect archaeological sites and its consequences to infrastructure development and land us such as construction of houses, roads and railways), in the digitalised society as a whole.