Once again PARP:PS is represented at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology conference, this year in Perth. This is the third presentation of our paperless work at this conference and for a bizarre set of reasons, the third one that I will miss. This year we are being represented by Leigh Lieberman and Gregory Tucker in a paper written with me and Kevin Dicus called Beyond Tablet Computers as a Tool for Data Collection: Three Seasons of Processing and Curating Digital Date in a Paperless World. This paper will be presented on Thursday in session S6. I will post a draft of this paper in a separate post.

CAA 2103 has a number of sessions of interest for paperless archaeology including an entire session (S38) on Mobile Applications in Cultural Heritage and Archaeology. Tom Sapienza has a paper on his work in Western Australia in session S18 in a paper titled “On a Digital Workflow for Remote CHM: Six Years of Paperless Fieldwork in the Pilbara, Western Australia.” There is a paper on using REVEAL, software developed by Brown, Univ of North Carolina, and the Institute for the Visualization of History, titled “Old problems and new challenges in archaeological sites data management. The REVEAL experience at Ammaia (Portugal)” (S15). There is also an interesting sounding paper on the problems encountered in the quest for paperless recording in S2: “Android GIS – not ready for prime time.”

Of particular interest to me is the session S1, which is focused on how several teams are using various technologies to record Rock Art in both Australia and the US.

Of interest in matters of archiving, the ADS has a paper in session S37.3 “The ADS, digital archives and economic impact.” Ohio State and Michigan State are talking about “The Archaeological Resource Cataloging System: A Better Way of Working with Digital Archives” in session S32.

Eric Kansa from Open Context will be delivering a keynote talk on “Reimagining Archaeological Publication for the 21st Century,” concerning the struggle between Open Access and intellectual property laws.

All in all it sounds like an excellent conference and I wish that I was there.