9th November 2009 [email protected]Presented by: Prof Mark Baker ACET, University of Reading Tel: +44 118 378 8615 E-mail: [email protected]Web: http://acet.rdg.ac.uk/~mab The Virtual Environments for Research in Archaeology (VERA) http://vera.rdg.ac.uk/
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Virtual Environments for Research in Archaeology (Mark Baker)
The VERA (Virtual Environment for Research in Archaeology) project is based on a research excavation of part of the large Roman town at Silchester in north Hampshire, which aims to trace the site's development from its origins before the Roman conquest to its abandonment in the fifth century A.D. The VERA project aims to investigate how archaeologists use Information Technology (IT) in the context of a field excavation, and also for post-excavation analysis. The project is investigating the impact of e-Infrastructure and the take-up of digital devices on an archaeological community. VERA is a two-year project funded by the JISC VRE 2 programme, involving researchers from the University of Reading, University College London, and York Archaeological Trust. In this talk I will outline and discuss the core aspects of the VERA project, ranging from on-site activities and usability studies, through to collaborative work with the archaeological community, and the technical developments to support fieldwork and post excavation analysis.
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VERA Aims• The overall aim of the project is to assess, enhance
and introduce new digital tools and technologies that can aid the archaeological processes of recording, manipulating and analysing archaeological data.
• To help this process we introduced and tested a variety of new digital devices on-site:– We integrated them into the archaeological workflow with the
aim of enhancing and speeding up the process of recording information.
• Our goal was to create a situation where “the information flows seamlessly from excavation, through post-excavation to archive and publication”.
• In addition, we created various tools and utilities that helped the post-excavation research processes.
Silchester – An Overview• The Silchester site is used as a research and training
excavation (100+ people) that has been taking place for 12 years.
• The excavation takes place annually in July/August for about 6 weeks and includes a variety of archaeologists ranging from very experienced ones through to novices.
• The annual excavation allows us to: – Study the use of IT in an archaeological context; – Investigate the tasks carried out within an excavation; – Ascertain how and where technologies can be used to facilitate
information flow within a dig; – Inform the developers how to adapt the tools used in the trench and
for post dig analysis.
• To ensure that the software and tools are appropriate - we engaging all the on-site team and the researchers who undertake post excavation analysis in the usability studies.
• Silchester has used the IADB since the Town Life project began in 1997.
• It contains most of the archaeological information gathered on site, including digital versions of context sheets, finds records, environmental records, photos, plans and matrices.
• Post excavation digitising used to take more than 6 months to archive!
The IADB
• IADB is a key component within the Silchester and the VERA project.
• The IADB was designed to address the data management requirements throughout the lifespan of archaeological excavation projects: – From initial excavation recording, through post-excavation
analysis and research to eventual dissemination and archiving.
• THE IADB is used for recording:– Finds, Contexts, Sets, Groups, Phases, Objects, Images,
Illustrations, Stratigraphy Diagrams, Documents and Bibliography References.
– Hand-held IPAQs – good for querying database,– Ruggedised tablet PCs – sunlight a major problem,– Nokia 800s – OK, but hard to use on-site.– Digimemo pads – useful, but not very robust!– Wireless Web Cams.
Technical Programming Aspects• The technical programming development in VERA
is based on enhancing the portal that was used during the JISC VRE 1 programme, known as OGHAM, which hosted the IADB.
• The IADB source code had to be changed: – Updated global variables and added extra code for
security purposes so that the system would work with a more secure version of PHP.
• We decided that instead of adapting the OGHAM portal to work within a JSR-168 portlet, we would consume the portal within a portlet using bridging technologies: – This approach has a number of advantages, which
includes not forking the original application code, and not having to support any code migrated into a portlet.
• The Recycle Bridge uses an iframe to display the embedded application inside the portal.
• From the users perspective the application looks like part of the portal.
• We wrote a portlet called the Recycle Bridge which sets a cookie containing the username of the user logged into the portal.
• There are settings for the Recycle Bridge to alter the appearance of the iframe to try and make the integration seamless from the users perspective.
• Single Sign On (SSO) - we use the client (web browser) to link the authentication information between the portal and the embedded application being consumed.
• The communities involved in archaeology and the preservation of ancient documents are increasingly using digital devices to record information about artefacts, and also store whatever is recorded within databases.
• Advances in information recording and storage make projects more productive:– The ability to search through multiple database instances is
limited by the fact that the projects predominately work alone and do not try to follow the prevailing standards, if available, in their project area.
• Searching through multiple databases does present significant advantages to these communities:– The additional information that can be can enhance the
understanding of finds or artefacts,– Also provide further provenance, which helps match disparate
entities together, that were not known to have a relationship before.
• The XDB-Arch project aims to create a generic and easy to use Web-based system that can be used by various communities to search through the existing distributed databases and potentially find matches between the artefacts or finds being studied:– e.g. an archaeologist has a piece of pottery with a
particular stamp or graffiti mark on it:• From their perspective it would be useful to gather more information
about the stamp or graffiti, to help date the pottery, identify who made the it or verify where the it was produced.
– Or an historian trying to read a text might want to uncover the context of the text by treating the documents not as disembodied texts but as artefacts with an original archaeological or physical context.
• A collaboration between VERA, and Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents at the University of Oxford.
• The VERA project is created the ability visualise the excavation site and view the finds and artefacts via a 3D-viewer.
• The archaeologists believe that such a capability will simplify their post excavation research and enhance their understanding of the relationship between contexts and finds.
• We have had to extrapolate and insert the “Z” coordinate into contexts in the IADB.
• We are currently also exploring the means of creating the 3D views on a PC/Laptop.
• We will export visualisation data to a CAVE and Powerwall systems located at Reading.
• To ensure that the software and tools developed within the project are appropriate for the archaeologists we are engaging all the on-site team and the researchers who undertake post excavation analysis in the usability studies: – These have so far included a diary studies and
workshops that are related to digital field recording and publications in archaeology,
– Also we have undertaken interviews with individuals and groups involved with the IADB and Silchester project,
– The users are providing significant information about not only how archaeologists work, but also feedback about how to improve the current tools and also hints about utilities that would help research in the future.
Associate Directors:Professor Mike Fulford (UoR)Ms Amanda Clarke (UoR)Mr Mike Rains (YAT)Dr Claire Warwick (UCL) Dr Melissa Terras (UCL)
Research Assistants:Dr Hugo Mills (UoR)Ms Emma O’Riordan (UoR)Ms Claire Fisher (UCL)
Steering Group:Dr Stuart Dunn (King's College London)Mr Steve Gough (University of Reading)Professor Gary Lock (University of Oxford) Dr Jeremy Huggett (University of Glasgow) Professor Vince Gaffney (University of Birmingham) Professor Julian Richards (University of York) Dr Robert Allan (Daresbury Laboratory) Mr Edmund Lee (English Heritage) Mr Chris Brayne (Wessex Archaeology)
The VERA project has a core team of researchers based at the University of Reading (UoR), University College London (UCL), and York Archaeological Trust (YAT). To advise the project, VERA has a Steering Group made up of experts in the field of Archaeology, Virtual Research Environments, and the user community.