These 12 workshops will be held on Monday the 13th of March, 2017 at Georgia State University. You will be able to select a workshop when you register, but notice that space is limited in some of those workshops. If you have questions about a particular workshop, please contact the workshop director (names and emails are below). PLEASE note that W3 is a 2-day workshop that begins on Sunday the 12th of March. There is not an additional fee to attend any of these workshops. W5 will be in the morning and W7 will be in the afternoon. All other workshops run all day and will start around 9 AM unless otherwise noted. After registration, we will contact workshop participants with more details.
W1. Knowledge Generation in Archaeology through Texts and Graphical Representations
Organizers:
Name: Cesar Gonzalez-Perez
URL: http://about.me/cesargon
Affiliation: Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Email: cesar.gonzalez-perez@incipit.csic.es
Name: Patricia Martín-Rodilla
Affiliation: Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Email: patricia.martin-rodilla@incipit.csic.es
Name: Ruth Varela
Affiliation: Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Email: ruth.varela@incipit.csic.es
This session will be of interest to archaeologists concerned about the ways in which we create and use textual and graphical representations of the archaeological record and related entities.
More specifically, the session will be of interest to researchers, teachers and students working on new ways to convey meaning in archaeology, generate knowledge from textual and graphical sources, and disseminate archaeological knowledge to the scientific community or the general public.
Summary:
This session combines elements of a panel and a workshop, with the aim to provide a solid theoretical background to a hands-on group activity.
The aim of the session is to gain insights into how new meaning is created from texts and graphical representations of archaeological settings, and how existing meaning is captured into texts and graphical representations as well. In other words, the session aims to explore the full cycle of meaning generation and transmission on both textual and graphical formats.
To accomplish this, the first half of the session will work as a panel, with 3 experts making very short presentations of their respective points of view on each the core topics: text, meaning and graphical representations. A debate will follow. The second half of the session will work as a workshop, by involving all participants in a group activity where texts and graphical representations of archaeological case studies will have to be read, understood, transmitted and re-created. The session will finish with a collective discussion.
The detailed structure of the session will be as follows.
- Introduction by session organizers. 10 minutes.
- Presentation of panel experts’ positions. 30 minutes.
- Public debate on experts’ presentations. 30 minutes.
- Introduction to group activities. 10 minutes.
- Group activities. 1 hour and 45 minutes.
- Public discussion of results. 30 minutes.
- Conclusions by session organizers. 5 minutes.
In this manner, the overall duration of the session will be approximately 4 hours.
Panel experts:
Panel experts have been invited for each of the three main topics to be discussed, as follows.
- Textual information and language. Holly Wright, confirmed.
- Semantics and modelling. Stephen Stead, confirmed.
- Graphical representations. Nicoló Dell’Unto, confirmed.
We expect to receive confirmation of the pending experts very shortly.
Group activities:
The group activities to be run as bullet point 5 above will be structured as follows.
Attendees will be divided in two, four, or more groups so that each group does not have more than 5 people. Half of the groups will receive a short text describing an archaeological case study, and the other half will receive another text describing a different case study. Groups will have some time to read, interiorise and discuss the texts.
Then, groups having different case studies will be paired. Each group will explain their case study to their peers exclusively through graphical means. This will include sketching on paper, using a whiteboard, or other means as long as they are fundamentally graphical. No speaking or extensive writing will be allowed. In order to assist with this, some graphical ideas will be given to attendees through screen projection.
After all groups have conveyed their case study to their peers in this manner, each group will have to put the received information in text form, by writing a very brief report.
Finally, texts will be interchanged so that each group can compare their textual outcome with the original case study they have been trying to capture.
In this manner, the whole audience will be able to assess what textual and graphical techniques and resources have been the most useful to convey the relevant narrative contents.
Related activities in the past:
The organizers of this session have run 12 workshops and paper sessions at CAA since 2010. The workshop now proposed fits into their general line of work on conceptual modelling, knowledge generation and visual representations in archaeology and, in particular, the area of expressing and understanding the archaeological discourse.
W2. CRM and CRMarchaeo. Introduction and mapping guidelines workshop
Organizers:
Name: Stephen Stead
Affiliation: Paveprime Ltd & ACRG, Southampton University
Email: steads@paveprime.com
Name: Achille Felicetti
Affiliation: PIN
Email: achille.felicetti@pin.unifi.it
The goal of the workshop is for participants to map their datasets to the CIDOC CRM standard to enable integration into wider frameworks such as ARIADNE. The workshop will provide a summary background to the CIDOC CRM, show some case studies and some frequently used templates (e.g. for chronology, authorship, locations, etc.); time will be dedicated to developing the mappings of participants’ case studies under the supervision of specialists.
W3. Two-day Workshop in Agent-based Modelling (12th and 13th of March)
Organizers:
Name: Colin D. Wren
Affiliation: University of Colorado – Colorado Springs
Email: cwren@uccs.edu
Name: Stefani Crabtree
Affiliation: Université de Franche-Comté, Washington State University
Email: stefani.crabtree@email.wsu.edu
Name: Iza Romanowska
Affiliation: University of Southampton
Email: I.Romanowska@soton.ac.uk
Agent-based modeling (ABM) is becoming more prevalent in archaeology as published applications and the range of research questions addressed continue to grow. In this two-day workshop, participants will learn how to use ABM software and explore how this popular complexity science technique can complement their research. We will provide participants with an introduction to ABM using NetLogo – an open-source platform for building ABMs, which combines a user-friendly interface with simple coding language, and a vast library of model examples, making it an ideal starting point for entry-level modelers, as well as a useful prototyping tool for more experienced programmers. No previous coding experience is required. First, we will work through a number of examples to explain modelling basics. We will then guide participants through the full process of programming an archaeologically-inspired simulation. A ‘drop-in’ clinic will be offered in parallel to serve anyone who would like to consult about their ideas for a simulation, who needs help developing a model, or who would like directions towards relevant resources. The second day we will go through more in-depth discussions on the process of developing a simulation, common pitfalls on simulating, and more advanced tutorials on incorporating GIS data, networks, R for statistics, and best practices for making ABMs faster and more reproducible.
W4. Google Earth Engine for archaeology and heritage management
Organizer:
Name: Yasuhisa Kondo
Affiliation: Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Japan
Email: kondo@chikyu.ac.jp
Google Earth Engine (hereafter called GEE) is a Google’s new platform designed for global-scale data mining, petabyte-scale scientific analysis, and visualization of geospatial datasets comprising satellite imagery (such as Landsat, Sentinel, MODIS), DEM, land use, surface temperature, and many more. The GEE’s public data archive includes historical Earth imagery from the early 1970s onwards, and new imagery is collected every day. The GEE also provides APIs in JavaScript and Python, which enable multi-scalar data processing (see https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fearthengine.google.com&data=01%7C01%7Cjglover%40gsu.edu%7C6552cd60e6e64478d19b08d3f3d2c0f4%7C515ad73d8d5e4169895c9789dc742a70%7C0&sdata=06fV20xetLWaWDDsxGCYosOCfxaQrCZrOtEmPxIzXF8%3D&reserved=0 for the original description and more information). It is available at free of charge for academic and non-profit use. Overall, the GEE has great potential for applications in archaeology and cultural heritage management services.
This workshop provides a full-day hands-on GEE tutorial, followed by a discussion with the participants on how they can use this platform for their own research. In the workshop, participants will acquire the basic skills required to explore the GEE platforms (TIMELAPSE, EXPLORER, and CODE EDITOR) and gain insight into its potential applications in archaeology and heritage management.
Specifications:
Seats available: 10 (additional tutors would be needed if more than 10 people participated in)
Required equipment:
– Participants should bring their own laptop (or tablet) with WiFi connectivity.
Required skill: fundamental knowledge and experience of JavaScript coding would help, but beginners are also welcome. The tutorial will be designed for beginners with limited knowledge of the coding.
W5: Connecting activities, land use and topography for ALS interpretation
Organizers:
Name: Rachel Opitz
Affiliation: Center for Virtualization and Applied Spatial Technologies, Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida
Email: ropitz@usf.edu
Name: Laure Nuninger
Name: Xavier Rodier
Name: Philip Verhagen
This exploratory, half-day workshop (Monday morning) aims to lay the foundations of shared reference to assist in the archaeological interpretation of airborne laserscanning (ALS) data. The principle of the approach we wish to develop through this workshop is closely linking the practices related to land use patterns (agriculture, forestry, hunting, habitation, movement) with topographic anomalies highlighted by the LiDAR data. The objective is to develop a repository to match between our mental models of topographic features that could be created by certain activities and potentially corresponding features as they appear in ALS data, taking advantage of proven cases in each participant’s case studies. Working from these principles, the aim is to develop an ontology for archaeological interpretation of LiDAR data that connects past activities, post-creation or formation processes, and the properties of the digital model. Participants in the workshop should come with examples of corresponding activities or land use and ALS terrain model features from their own work. Evidence for examples of activities and land use might include historical documents, ethnographic analogies, legal documents, images, etc. The group will compile a shared repository of examples and develop a shared draft of the ontology during the workshop.
Equipment: Participants need to bring laptops.
W6. An introduction to analysis using CHER-Ob
Organizers:
Name: Eleni Kotoula
Email: eleni.kotoula@yale.edu
Name: Kiraz Goze Akoglu
Name: Weiqi Shi
Name: Ying Yang
Name: Holly Rushmeier
CHER-Ob (CULTURAL HERITAGE-Object) is an open source platform developed in an attempt to enhance analysis, evaluation, documentation, sharing and management of 3D and 2D visualizations as well as textual and conservation science data. CHER-Ob target audience range from cultural heritage professionals with limited IT experience (curators, archaeologist, conservators) to archaeological computing experts.
At the theoretical session of the workshop, the software development conceptual background will be presented, its components and capabilities, and various examples of projects. Then, in a hands-on tutorial, the participants will be guided through the analysis of the Old Babylonian mathematical clay tablet known as the first representation of Pythagorean Theorem (Yale Babylonian Collection 7289) in CHER-Ob. Participants can either use the sample data or their own datasets for the hands-on tutorial.
Equipment: Attendees will either use their own laptops or computers will be provided
W7. Improving Presentation Skills
Organizers:
Name: Philip Verhagen
Email: j.w.h.p.verhagen@vu.nl
Name: Steve Stead
Especially for early-career researchers, presenting a paper at an international conference like CAA can be very challenging. Effectively communicating a piece of research in an oral presentation, even to interested peers, is never easy. Personal style, selection of subject matter, choice of presentation material, language barrier and differences in academic culture can all stand in the way of getting the message across. And unfortunately, constructive feedback is often very difficult to obtain.
In this workshop, the CAA SC wants to offer presenters at CAA the opportunity to practice their paper and receive targeted feedback on their presentation in a 30 minute session. Participants will first present their papers to each other, and to a small group of experienced presenters. These will then give feedback on the quality of the presentation, and where necessary provide guidelines for improvement, in a supportive atmosphere.
Participation is limited to 16 persons; preference will be given to first-time presenters and young researchers (Monday Afternoon).
W8. Network science and statistical techniques for dealing with uncertainties in archaeological datasets
Organizers:
Name: Matt Peeples
Name: Tom Brughmans
Email: tombrughmans1@gmail.com
Empirical archaeological datasets are rarely complete and introduce sampling and missing data issues into all types of data analyses, including network analyses of archaeological data. Archaeology has a long tradition of dealing with sampling issues and missing data. In addition to applying archaeological techniques for addressing data-related challenges, network science and statistics offer a wide range of approaches to deal explicitly with missing data. Moreover, network analyses of incomplete or uncertain datasets always require tests to explore how robust analytical results are: how much do the unknowns in our dataset affect the certainty of our analytical results?
Participants to this workshop will gain hands-on experience with statistical and network science techniques for working with the following challenges:
– Edge effects and sample size
– Known uncertain data
– Known missing data
– Unknown missing data
– Robustness of network science results to missing data issues
Equipment: Participants should bring their own laptop and charger cable, and have permission to install software on this laptop. The maximum number of participants to this workshop is 20.
W9. Hands-on QGIS Open Source GIS Workshop
Name: Scott Madry
URL: https://scottmadry.web.unc.edu
Affiliation: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Email: madrys@email.unc.edu
This workshop will be an introduction to using the Open Source QGIS software for archaeological research. QGIS is a powerful, free, and easy-to-use software that runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, and even some Android tablets. It is translated into over 40 languages, uses the common ESRI shapefile vector format, and has a very large user base around the world in archaeology and other communities. For this workshop you should bring your own laptop and we will load QGIS and several interrelated tools including the GRASS GIS, that can be used from within QGIS. Computers will be available for those without their own laptops. We will conduct a series of hands-on exercises using vector, raster, and imagery data that are relevant to archaeological survey, excavation, and analysis. An extensive set of tutorials and sample datasets will be provided, so that you can continue your learning on your own after the workshop. Come and join the Open Source GIS community, have fun, and learn some really useful and free (as in lunch and as in liberty) GIS. Your instructor will be Dr. Scott Madry, Research Associate Professor of Archaeology, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who has given over 150 hands-on GIS workshops and tutorials around the world.
Equipment: Participants should bring their own laptop and have permission to add software.
W10. Representing Archaeological Architecture AA
Organizers:
Name: Carlo Bianchini
Affiliation: Sapienza University of Rome
Name: Carlo Inglese
Affiliation: Sapienza University of Rome
Name: Alfonso Ippolito
Affiliation: Sapienza University of Rome
Email: alfonso.ippolito@uniroma1.it
Name: Luca James Senatore
Affiliation: Sapienza University of Rome
The main goal of any survey is to provide a comprehensive cognitive model of an archaeological object and then communicate the results, i.e., a synthesis between interpretation of the data and the most objective restitution possible.
Nowadays, the representation of archaeological surveys is almost completely referred to digital models, containers of all the quantitative and qualitative data that massive acquisition instruments are able to capture. This scenario is prompting us to look at the concept of archaeological survey representations under a new light: the content (and even the significance) of digital models has so increased that it has often become difficult to extract and even explore information from the huge amount of heterogeneous data we can currently acquire and manage thanks to digital systems. In this framework, while the 3D modelling has increasingly boosted its relevance as the most important tool for scientific investigation in the archaeological field, on the contrary we cannot ignore that still 2D models (CAD, drawings, etc.) play an essential role in approaching and enlightening the deepest nature of archaeological artifacts.
As the workflow proceeding from digital models datasets to 2D representations is neither automatic nor standard in its methods and procedures, this workshop aims at showing, developing and managing 2D models on different media (CAD, hardcopies, hand drawing), providing different information (morphological and spatial analyses, metric, geometric and proportional data, state of conservation of the surfaces, interpretation of the colors, analyses of the deterioration, etc.) using different scales of representation.
The workshop will last one day: morning activities will focus more on general aspects while the afternoon will be devoted to hands-on applications.
Each attendee should bring a laptop with CAD software (preferably Autocad), pencil, eraser, sketchbook.
Maximum 20 participants.
W11. How to Unlock the Potential of Heritage Data with Arches Version 4
Organizers:
Name: Alison Dalgity
Name: David Myers
Name: Annabel Lee Enriquez
Affiliation: Getty Conservation Institute
Email: AEnriquez@getty.edu
Name: Dennis Wuthrich
Affiliation: Farallon Graphics
Name: Adam Cox
Affiliation: Legion GIS
WORKSHOP TIME:
11AM-4PM, as follows:
- 11AM-1PM: Workshop, Pt. 1
- 1PM-2PM: Break (lunch provided)
- 2PM-4PM: Workshop, Pt. 2
WORKSHOP LENGTH:
4 hours + 1 hour lunch break
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
This workshop will provide an overview of Version 4 of the Arches heritage inventory and management platform, including the new Version 4 features with a focus on customizing the software to meet your organization’s or project’s needs for cultural heritage data management.
Topics covered will include:
- An overview of the management of heritage data in Arches, including international data standards, graphs, controlled vocabularies, and integration with external web services
- System design and capabilities, including system architecture, creating and managing data, searching and reporting functionality, and geospatial layers
- Arches deployment, including the new installation wizard and customization of the platform through the new application configuration manager, the new user-profile and permissions manager, and the new integrated graph manager
- Features coming soon, including the new mobile data collection app for smartphone and tablet field data collection with or without network connectivity, and data contributions including crowdsourcing with the new data-collection project manager tool
- The Arches community, including how to participate
- How Arches is being implemented by a range of organizations and projects, including for archaeological applications.
Arches is an innovative open source software system that incorporates international standards and is built to inventory and help manage all types of immovable cultural heritage. It brings together a growing worldwide community of heritage professionals and IT specialists. Arches is freely available to download, customize, and independently implement. For more information about Arches, visit: www.archesproject.org
WORKSHOP REQUIREMENTS:
No computers needed for workshop participants
W12. Data Collected, Data Corrected, Data Connected: Managing Archaeological Data Using the Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment (OCHRE)
Organizer:
Name: Sandy Schloen
URL: http://ochre.uchicago.edu
Affiliation: OCHRE Data Service, Oriental Institute, Univ. of Chicago
Email: ochre@uchicago.edu
Name: Miller Prosser
Affiliation: OCHRE Data Service, Oriental Institute, Univ. of Chicago
With over 10 years of data management under its belt, OCHRE hit a home run in the summer of 2016 with game-changing enhancements that transform the collecting, correcting, and connecting of a project’s archaeological data, as demonstrated by a rigorous and highly successful field test at Tell Keisan, Israel. Thus inspired, we’d like to share our experience and invite other projects to get in the game!
This hands-on, interactive workshop targets project directors and/or team members who are ready to take a swing at creating an effective, comprehensive, and integrated digital record of their material world. OCHRE was designed from the ground up to understand the complexity, fragmentariness, and heterogeneity of archaeological data, whether newly captured by an active excavation, or ruefully compiled from legacy data. The workshop will be coached by research database specialists of the OCHRE Data Service (University of Chicago) who will go to bat for you to help solve issues of archaeological data management.
Warm-up, 9 am – 10 am: Overview/setup (new project accounts will be activated for a 30-day trial)
Basic training for Rookies, 10 am – noon: Editing, integrating, and querying data
Lunch (provided)
Add the Veterans, 1 pm – 3 pm: Highlights of new features, including streamlined processes for integrating images, and the new GIS-based Map Viewer
7th-inning stretch (participants not intending to use OCHRE for an upcoming field season may leave)
Out-fielders, 3:30 – 4:30 pm: using OCHRE offline; using (Bluetooth) barcode printers for object tagging
Equipment: Participants should bring a laptop with OCHRE installed. Advanced registration required.
Batter up!
