All posts by Teagan Zoldoske

Accession. Migration. Duplication. The exciting world of archiving digital data.

ADS-easy, Archives, OASIS, , , ,

The ADS is an accredited digital repository and data that’s deposited with us is available open access via our archives or library but what actually happens to the data?

First off, it depends on how the data is deposited with us and what the end state of the data will be but it also depends on what kind of data has been deposited.

The OASIS form allows archaeological and heritage practitioners to provide information about their investigations to local authorities and securely archive it within our Grey Literature Library for free. ADS-easy is a faster way to deposit small to medium-sized project archives and associated metadata directly into the ADS repository. Please note, only certain data types can be submitted through ADS-easy, while file size limits and file number restrictions are in place. The ADS-easy help pages have a step-by-step guide to using ADS-easy. The first 150 images are included in the startup fee and all other files have an associated fee. For larger projects, a variety of data delivery methods can be accommodated including CD-ROM, portable hard drive, email and Cloud services. Data should be accessible without a password or other security features or restrictions enabled. We accept some forms of compressed data (i.e., .zip, .gz).

Each deposit method has varying amounts of manual checks done to the data by archivists with large deposits requiring the most checks and OASIS requiring the least.

For reports that have been deposited via OASIS, minimal additional checks are done by archivists into the contents of the reports as the reports themselves are checked via OASIS both programmatically and through an approval process. Similarly, ADS-easy has a number of checks built into the system but it then becomes the archivist’s job to check the actual data submitted.  Large datasets on the other hand require nearly all checks to be completed by an archivist.

But what are these ‘checks’?

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Watercolour map

Does anyone have a map?

ADS Projects, , , , , ,

If there is one thing that I really enjoy, it’s exploring data spatially. I really enjoy being able to look at a map and see where clusters are and see if I can find trends or even if there is anything near me. To me, this has been one of the main things that I’ve felt that the ADS is missing on its website. There is such a wealth of spatial information in our database that it only makes sense that we should have a really good map, right?

Right?

Well, eventually we will, as soon as I build it.

So what is the plan? I, Teagan, digital archives officer and map enthusiast, will be working towards making a searchable map interface that will work for the ADS Library and maybe more someday, but baby steps. This post will work as kind of a dev library to let everyone know what we’ve (I’ve) been doing towards making this map a reality.

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The exciting world of Metadata

Archives, Audience and Usage, Data Reuse, Digital Preservation, Uncategorized

Metadata.

Something extremely important to the long-term health and reuse of data and yet the mere mention of it can cause people to shut off and run away. So, what is it and how is it different from data?

Metadata is the data about data. I think that sums it up quite nicely, don’t you? Ok, let’s phrase it a different way. It’s essentially the documentation needed to make the data findable, understandable, and useable. It allows for verification of claims, reuse for future projects, and more.

Perhaps some visuals would help. Below is some data, 5 trench raster images in this case. In which English region was each photo taken?

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Cartoon showing the way to a data repository.

Guidelines for Depositors, a reintroduction

ADS Projects, CoreTrustSeal, Development, Guides to Good Practice

The first half of 2020 has been an interesting one for sure. We’ve been working from home with our partners, children, and kettles as coworkers and we’ve begun to look at how information is presented on our website.

You may or may not have come to our site to find out guidance on depositing data. In that quest, you may have found a document/guide that was spread across several webpages, with no images, an over eager table of contents, and a reminder it was written in 2015. Well, you’ll be happy to know, that it’s gotten a bit of a face lift.

So without further ado, allow me to reintroduce yourself to our Guidelines for Depositors.

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I hit save so it’s preserved right?

Archives, Digital Preservation

No preservation format is perfect. While physical mediums such as paper can last centuries under proper conditions, it is that qualifier that is key to its longevity. Everyone has seen what can happen to paper when it gets wet. Similarly, there are many horror stories of corrupted files that have helped create sceptics for using digital preservation over physical preservation. 

We have had 4000+ years to develop strategies to conserve the ‘written’ word and less then 50 for methodologies to preserve digital data.  However, as long as digital data is properly cared for, there is no reason that it too cannot last just as long.

There are two types of digital data; born digital which is data that has never been in a physical format or digitised data which was originally a physical before begin converted.  Both types of face similar problems and today I‘m going to talk about one of the more hidden killers of digital data: data degradation.  

A comic strip that talks about how great digital data is and how it never degrades while have the quality of the image become more degraded in each panel.
©xkcd, Digital Data
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ADS all over the world

ADS Projects, Conferences, Staff, Uncategorized

Many moons ago, the ADS decided that it was going to try and increase its social media presence.  To this end, we started tweeting, and posting, and doing all sorts of social media like things.  From this, we began experimenting with the world of hashtags and found ourselves interacting with #Archive30.  It was through this trend of talking about a different thing from our archive and work that we came to the day of outreach.

Now outreach can mean something different to each person.  According to Google’s dictionary it means ‘an organization’s involvement with or influence in the community, especially in the context of religion or social welfare.’  So we were at conundrum.  How would we, an organization dedicated to the preservation of digital data going to show our many followers (who I’m sure were waiting with bated breath) that we left our offices every once in a while?

Well, if there is one thing that I enjoy, it’s a good old visualization of information.  And that is how the lovely map below was made.

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Headed off into uncharted waters: My first month at the ADS

ADS Projects, Archives, Staff

Hello all!  Teagan here to tell you about my first exciting month at the ADS.  First a bit about myself.  Yes, that is a ship on my head.  What better way to get myself in ship shape to bring you the best blog possible? 

I was born and raised in sunny California where I pursued my dream of becoming a pirate archaeologist by completing a BS in Civil Engineering (ok, I had a bit of trouble reading the treasure map).  From there I flew over the seven seas to arrive in York where I received my MSc in Archaeological Information Systems before I struck gold and began working here at the ADS as a digital archives assistant.

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