Original version
Oceans of data. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. 2018, 3-9
Abstract
The conference theme of CAA2016 was “Exploring Oceans of Data”, hinting at the vast amount of digital data resulting from digitisation projects and from all kind of electronic measuring gadgets used to document excavations and surveys. The digital data are much more fragile than paper and can easily evaporate. The last decade we have been told to avoid information islands and the slogan has been “Open the data silos”. Is it easier to find a needle in an enormous haystack than in many small? If we are satisfied with the result lists of the google-type answer, it is a clear yes. If we want to build scientific data sets which may be aggregated into larger data sets, we need common authority systems and ontologies for data integration. Archaeology is neither library nor archival science, but methods for construction, curation and reuse of archaeological data sets must be the main focus. Standardised conceptual data models can ease curation and secure long term reusability and will not impose a straitjacket on research.