[open-archaeology] Making excavation data available to the public

[Rufus Pollock]

I'm a complete outsider so I can't give any specific advice on the
software but after a quick look around the 3 systems you were looking
at I'd suggest at least asking of each one:

1. How hard is to get data out if we ever want to move to something else?
  * What happens if you want to backup, or archive data or your
provider disappears (or becomes useless)?

2. Is the underlying system open-source (+ actively maintained, have a
good community)?
  * Motivation: what happens if you want to get bigger and want to run
something yourself or switch to another provider (much easier if
open-source)

3. Who will be using the system and for what purpose (data entry or
reporting, data cleaning or visualization ... etc)?

Given the interest generated by your query it sounds like it would be
*very* useful to start a wiki page (under
<http://wiki.okfn.org/wg/archaeology>) or a online spreadsheet to
summarize the options and their attributes (open-source or not, easy
to use or not etc).

Rufus

On 19 July 2010 17:30, Peigi Mackillop <PMackillop at nts.org.uk> wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I am a newbie here so I hope this is the correct forum to ask my question.
>
> The National Trust for Scotland would like to make our excavation data available to the public, beginning with a small, forthcoming project, and I am looking into various open source options. All our data will, of course, hopefully, go into the NMR but we would like a fast-track solution to show the public what we are doing, as they pay for us :-)
>
> Our IT department is quite small and therefore we would prefer a solution that does not require much configuration or "nursing". I have been looking at three options, ARK (http://ark.lparchaeology.com/), IAD (http://www.iadb.org.uk) and Nabonidus http://www.nabonidus.org/. The last option is a hosted web front-end which bypasses the need to install software on a web server and seems fine for what we hope to achieve. Does anyone have experience of using these, and are they really the correct tool to communicate with our audience (who will also be professional archaeologists as well as interested members of the public).
>
> Many thanks, and best wishes
>
> Peigi (Peggy)
>
> Peigi MacKillop
> Archaeology Volunteer
> The National Trust for Scotland
> 28 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, EH2 4ET
> pmackillop at nts.org.uk
>
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>
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