Presentation by Sarah Colley Honorary Research Fellow University of Leicester, UK EAA 2014 session: Open Access and Open Data in Archaeology Istanbul, Turkey 13 September 2013

1. We’re all prosumers now? Sociality
and open access archaeology
Dr Sarah Colley
Honorary Research Fellow
University of Leicester, UK
European Association of Archaeologists 20th Annual Meeting
10-14 September 2014, ITU - Istanbul
T02S002 ‘Barriers and Opportunities: Open Access and Open Data in Archaeology’

2. Paper outline
the idea of ‘openness’
Australian archaeology interview survey
Experiences developing & co-creating digital data
resources

3. Producer-consumers ‘prosumers’ (Toffler 1980)
Web 2.0 (and beyond)
Changing roles of producer, developer, editor,
content and service provider, archivist, user
Co-creation, crowdsourcing, ‘Citizen’ science

4. History and politics of ‘Openness’
1940s - Karl Popper The Open Society and Its Enemies, Friedrich Hayek
1980s – Free Software Foundation (Richard Stallman)
1990s – Open Source Initiative (e.g. Eric Raymond)
2000s – Re-emergence of ‘open’ projects, movements and advocacy
Open Access, Open Data, Open Knowledge, Open Government
e.g. Open Days on archaeological sites for public ‘engagement’
*Tkacz, N. 2012. From open source to open government: a critique of open politics. Ephemera. Theory and Politics in Organization 12(4):386-405.

5. open technology & technology design
non-proprietary, not for profit
‘openness’ as political & institutional philosophy
e.g. transparency, participatory democracy, Freedom of Information
rhetoric & realities
e.g. privacy, security, economic exploitation, ‘dark’ web, trolling, defamation

8. Attenbrow 2002
Parramatta Excavations (Courtesy Jillian Comber)

9. 9
information at risk
limited sustainable repository services
e.g. FAIMS Project – archaeological repository in development 2014
Research Data Australia – Federal government
some libraries & museum services

10. Interview survey 30 Australian-based archaeologists
Mediated Messages: Archaeology, Communication and Digital Technology (Colley, in preparation)
Which groups do you communicate with?
Why do you or your organisation communicate
archaeology?
What kinds of content or information are involved?

11. (#01 Director, Small Heritage Consultancy Company)
“We communicate to our clients, interest groups and agencies - what we will do, why it’s important, what steps
are involved in the process, what are the outcomes and the issues.
We communicate more broadly to advertise our business so people who might be looking for archaeological
services know what we do.
And then there’s our professional involvement in groups like the National Trust and AACAI [etc.] where we are
promoting the general message of heritage conservation.”
(#02 Museum Researcher)
“I’m interested in communicating archaeology to encourage public interest and help support the discipline.
I think it’s really important to give the public a real sense of the intellectual programme of work […]
To communicate the thrill of the subject and the importance of archaeological sites as important and
irreplaceable archives […]
At [my institution] public communication brings [many] opportunities from private donors wanting to support
your research and 4-wheel drive clubs offering test vehicles for fieldwork and so forth.”

13. Benefits & Challenges to Archaeologists of Open Technology Design & Philosophy

14. Who are ‘open’ data for?
Benefits & challenges depend on
contexts, perspectives, motivations
technologies (design, affordance etc)

15. New South Wales Archaeology Online Stage 1 – 2009-11
1800 ‘grey-literature’ reports about historical archaeology (University of Sydney Library)
Gibbs, M. & S. Colley 2012. Digital preservation, online access and historical archaeology ‘grey-literature’
from New South Wales, Australia. Australian Archaeology 75: 95-103.

16. NSW Archaeology Online Stage 2 (2011-15)
• External funding awarded (2011-13). University of Sydney Library had to
withdraw
• Grant used to scan image collections and generate metadata
• Repository service provided ‘in-kind’ by FAIMS Project (2012-14) as ‘pilot
study’
• Uncertainty about future commitment and other collections/content
(project now running into 2015 – without clear funding)
• Further problems at University of Sydney Library (Aug 2014 – 60% of
library staff offered redundancy in restructure)

17. Federated
Archaeological
Information
Management System
(FAIMS) – Research
Data initiative
government funded
‘One size fits all’
interface not ideal
Only accepts some
types of media
Uncertainty about
future commitment
and other
collections/content
NSW AOL Stage 2
3000 images of
historical
archaeology and
heritage
Ian Jack Collection
Judy Birmingham
Collection
Currently in
development mode

18. Other collaborations & projects with major digital components
Sydney Fish Project 2009-13. (Colley)
ACT Grey-Literature Pilot Study 2011-2. (Brockwell)
Kentwell Cottage Video Project 2010-11 (Gojak & Colley)
Shapeshifters Pilot Project 2012-14 (Colley & Brockwell)
Kinchega Archaeological Research Project 1996-2015 (Allison)
Archaeology of Sydney Projects 2012-15 (Gibbs & Colley)

19. Colley, S. and R. Brownlee 2010. Archaeological Fish Bones Online: a digital archive of Sydney fishes. Internet Archaeology 29.
http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue29/colley_index.html.
Colley, S. & V. Attenbrow 2012. Does technology make a difference? Aboriginal and colonial fishing in Port Jackson, New South Wales. In A.
Clarke, S. Colley and M. Gibbs (eds) Landscapes and Materiality: historical and contemporary archaeology in the Sydney Basin. Archaeology in
Oceania 47: 69-77.
Colley, S. 2013. Fish and fishing in colonial New South Wales: new evidence from the Quadrant site in Sydney. Post-Medieval Archaeology 47:
120-136.
Sydney Fish Project 2009-2013. Research and digital infrastructure/data
project.

20. Sydney Fish Project
(S. Colley 2009-13)
Some open access
data available via
University of Sydney
eScholarship
Repository
Small project, simple
data set, matched
USyD Library standard
requirements
Currently being used
to demonstrate good
standards of practice
to other USyD
researchers

21. Kentwell Cottage Video Project – no repository available for technical reasons. Some on
YouTube. Rest on DVD and not currently accessible - funding and other issues.

22. Kinchega Archaeological Research Project (KARP) 1996-2015 (Historical archaeology rural NSW)
Penelope Allison (University of Leicester).
Digital Data Resource – in progress as part of research monograph. Funded by e.g. University of
Leicester, National Library of Australia and other grants. Repository to be decided.
3500 items (3000
images)

23. ‘Pilot project’ funding for “innovation” doesn’t solve long term needs
Mismatched expectations - digital literacy (experiential learning can be costly!)
Workload & tasks misunderstood by politicians, senior university managers and
researchers and users
Content across the web: authorship & branding, discovery, editorial control
Managing change & the future – people, projects, interfaces and functionality
What are we trying to achieve and why? Who and what is driving this?

24. Thank you
• Martin Gibbs, Penny Crook, Penelope Allison, Sally Brockwell,
Rowan Brownlee & Sten Christensen
• University of Leicester School of Archaeology & Ancient
History & University Library
• University of Sydney School of Philosophical and Historical
Inquiry, Archaeology Department & University Library