From Eric Kansa:

Dear Colleagues,

We’re delighted to announce that Archaeology 2.0: New Approaches to Communication and Collaboration is now available via the University of California’s eScholarship repository, at the following link:http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1r6137tb

This book explores the social use and context of the World Wide Web within the discipline of archaeology.  While the Web has radically altered journalism, commerce, media and social relationships, its sees very uneven adoption in professional scholarly contexts. Case studies discussed in this book help illuminate patterns of adoption and resistance to new forms of scholarly communication and data sharing. These case studies explore social media, digital preservation, and cultural representation concerns, as well as technical and semantic challenges and approaches toward data interoperability. Contributors to this volume debate the merits and sustainability of open access publishing and how the Web mediates interactions between professional and nonprofessional communities engaged in archaeology.

Archaeology 2.0 is the first book in the Cotsen Institute’s new Digital Archaeology Series (http://escholarship.org/uc/search?entity=cioa_cda). The editors want to thank all of the book’s contributors, and also the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, especially Julie Nemer, Carol Leyba, and Willeke Wendrich. The printed version will be available for purchase shortly. The electronic version is under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike copyright licenses, permitting free distribution and adaptation.

Thank you!
-Eric

I already have this in GoodReader on my iPad. Now if I can find the time to read it this weekend, that would be perfect.

Thanks to Eric Poehler for pointing me to the latest News & Notes (No. 210 Summer 2011) from the Oriental Institute. This issue focuses on the Jericho Mafjar Project, which has been mentioned here before. In the “From the Director’s Study” section,  Gil J. Stein refers to their use of tablets on the project.

This “paperless archaeology” has the potential to transform the way we conduct archaeological research by recording the excavations in digital form in the field at the exact moment that the discoveries are being made. Most archaeologists count on spending ten hours in the lab for every hour spent digging. Paperless archaeology will not only cut our lab time in half, but it will also allow us to analyze our data so quickly in the field that we can see patterns and adjust the way we excavate almost immediately.

I have uploaded the latest version of the PARP:PS database. The major difference between this one and previous versions is the syncing. I have syncing working on the following tables: AuditTrail, Trenches, SU, Finds, Finds Attributes, Media, MediaLink, Ceramics, QuantifiedPottery, ReportPhases, SoilSamples, Measurements, and SUCompType (which I would like to get rid of but not right now).

Most of the details involving the syncing mechanism are described in an earlier post. In summary: the parent database is the one that lives on the ‘server’ computer. It is the master database. While it is opened, multiple other computers can connect to it from our limited wi-fi network and add/edit records. The parent database is then closed and copied onto each of the iPads (or other computers that are working outside of our network). Those databases are renamed PS_11_child. The child databases are then edited, copied back to the main laptop, and the scripts are run from the Parent database. Currently, I run the script 1_1 Import Audit Trail from the Scripts->Sync menu. That starts the ball rolling and the last step of each scripts is to run the next script. You can disconnect that process by removing that last script step from each section. The scripts also provide some feedback concerning the number of records that are being updated with each step.

The scripts themselves are written in pieces to make it easier to edit them. You might find that you have to do this if you change the name of the parent database. Script steps x_2 and x_3 import data from one table in the parent database to another table in the database. Those steps will have to be edited if you change the file name. If there is no file named PS_11_child when the script steps ask for one, you will be prompted to find it, so changing the name of the child databases shouldn’t be a problem.

An important point to make with this process is that the syncing steps are wholly dependent upon accurate timestamps in fields. Those timestamps are automatically entered when a record is created or modified but I ran into some problems late last week that were related to the iPad recording the wrong time. It was set properly in Settings-General-Date & Time. That is, my time zone was right, but when I tell the iPad to set the time automatically it sets it for four hours earlier. I haven’t figured out why this is the case, but I have to make sure that all iPads are set to the correct time in the field.

This database syncs by having a shadow table for each main table. So there is an SU table and an SU Shadow table. The child records go into the shadow table and are compared with the main SU table. For this to work properly, if you make a change to the SU table on the parent, you must make the same change to the SU Shadow table, or the fields will not import correctly.

We are currently still in the process of testing the scripts and syncing mechanism. We also have a couple of internal questions to settle on matrices and elevation recording, so this isn’t quite the database that we will use this year, but it is close.

Update– I added the full DDR report and reposted the archive. A DDR report is a full description of the database in (this case) html format. Open the DDR folder and double-click on Summary.html to see how detailed. I am in the process of updating the documentation for the use of the database as well.