Chartered Institute for Archaeologists 2020

YEARBOOK and DIRECTORY 2020 | 19 VALUES, BENEF ITS AND LEGACY New visualisations, same data GARY JONES and KEN WELSH ACIfA, OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGY Data are at the core of what we do as archaeologists, so facilitating the effective interrogation, interpretation and understanding of those data is vital. As part of a new digital strategy, Oxford Archaeology (OA) has overhauled core internal workflow systems by developing a series of digital modules designed to enhance the value of its large range of field data. In this article we discuss some of the motivations and aims of this undertaking, before looking at what we have currently achieved and how it is already benefiting our staff and clients. MOTIVATION FOR CHANGE We wanted to create a system that would give our site teams access to a range of spatial, contextual and other data to assist with archaeological interpretation and decision-making. This system needed to be deployable to projects of all sizes, not just large flagship excavations. Furthermore, the data needed to be made available on a timescale that could really make a difference to the way we dig our sites – in other words, while the excavation is still under way. A secondary motivation for change was to update our ageing context database. Updating a primary database is a daunting task: the system must be suitable for the breadth of sites, varying in type, archaeological complexity, and work duration. In an industry where a single project can produce data over a span of years or even decades, it is no surprise to find conflicting data structures and bespoke databases. Our existing systems had grown and changed over the years with the result that, while everything worked, the interaction between systems was frustratingly limited. Site survey particularly had limited connections to the other systems, and links between spatial data and site records were created as part of the post-excavation process. This approach is time consuming, prone to error, and limits the ability of site survey teams to contribute to analysis. With the opportunity to update our core data systems, we wanted to ask: could we get the data to do more? The development aim was to make our data work for us. The fundamental field data being collected might remain the same, yet we needed to increase their accessibility and provide meaningful feedback to staff while they were active in the field and the sites open. The idea would be for the data to help inform the fieldwork strategy rather than being simply a product of it. It was important that the systems should be easy for our staff to use and should not erect technological and skills barriers. To this end we designed two tightly integrated digital modules which work well independently, but are far more powerful together: OA WebMap, which focuses on survey data, information retrieval and the end user, and the OA Digital Recording System, which captures a range of contextual data within a modern database design. The OA WebMap interface on desktop and mobile