Spring/Summer 1999
	Digital Archaeology Laboratory Working Group convenes for a lively and productive conference on setting standards for digital publications By Louise Krasniewicz THE INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE DIGITAL ARCHAEOLOGY LAB convened the first meeting of the Working Group on Digital Publishing in Archaeology in Los Angeles from 28 January to 1 February 1999. The purpose of this groundbreaking conference was to begin a discussion with a group of distinguished archaeologists about the opportunities for disseminating research that are made possible by new forms of electronic publishing including CD-ROMs and DVD, websites, digital archives, and on-line journals. The conference is one component of the Digital Imprint, a two-year project funded to develop standards, prototypes, and templates for the digital publication of archaeological monographs and primary field data. This first conference focused specifically on identifying the interest in electronic forms of publication in archaeology; choosing a structure for presenting databases, texts, and images in a digital publication; examining issues of navigation, interactivity, and access to information in a professional report; and clarifying the differences between data archives and digital publications. Other issues that were raised included how digital publications get produced and distributed; how to design a structure that reflects and presents the content; and how digital monographs will be peer-reviewed and evaluated as professional publications. The participants were a select group of archaeologists who have already published digitally as well as representatives from museums, publishing companies, and the professional archaeological organizations. The staff of the Digital Archaeology Lab organized short presentations that helped focus the discussions and highlighted some of the unanswered questions about the digital publishing of primary research. The Lab staff presented its own design for a digital publication which uses commercially available database and web browser programs. A general discussion of this design was supplemented by a presentation of the prototype publication of Karen Wise's research in Peru. Other participants presented their own projects in a marathon demo session that included Harold Dibble's Virtual Dig, Vin Steponaitis's Excavating Occaneechi Town, David Schloen's work in XML, Penny Drooker's Zoom-In to Madisonville, and Ruth Tringham's Chimera Web project. Others presented their work with digital archives, Internet journals, websites, gateways to information on the Internet, and curricular material. The discussions pointed to interest in making digital publications easy to use, cross-platform, and multilingual; incorporate exportable and searchable multimedia databases; utilize standardized and consistent navigation and reference cues; be easy to update and affordable to produce; and require no licensing fees for users. A transcript of the meetings will be posted on the Digital Imprint website. There is widespread interest in the archaeological community in digital publishing, but there is also the need for institutional leadership in helping archaeologists progress in this direction. This first meeting of the Working Group on Digital Publishing in Archaeology is one step towards providing this leadership. The Working Group will continue to advise the Digital Imprint project on the development of standards, prototypes, and templates for the digital publication of archaeological reports. Louise Krasniewicz (shown in bottom right corner of photo) is the Director of the Digital Archaeology Lab. She can be reached through their website (http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ioa/labs/digital/). A list of participants (some of whom are shown above on the steps of Kerckhoff Hall) is also available at the Digital Imprint website (http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ioa/labs/digital/imprint/participants.html).
	Top | Institute | About Backdirt | Next