8th November 2008, 12:43 PM
I have also been a little out of touch in the past week or two but seem strangley attracted to discussion fora that mention Intrasis and similar systems....
My view is that a paper-free site is actually an impossibility (we may be losing a little in translation from the Swedish here), but that a paper-lite site is not only possible but a reality in many parts of the European archaeological millieu. I think the main problem to 'paper-free' is largely one of how to handle free-text in a digital environment and despite the fact that you might replace a notebook with a PDA, you still in effect have to make notes to supplement the digital recording. I have yet to see a digital recording system (and that includes Intrasis) that is capable of recording and processing stratigraphic relationships (and I mean intuitive 'stratigraphic' relationships rather than the physicality of most GIS systems), and for that reason alone all current digital systems require some kind of additional input. I would also be delighted to meet (and buy a drink for) the first archaeologist who isn't a raving lunatic and has the confidence to enter their 'site matrix' directly into a digital system without first making a hard copy, (just to check its integrity).
Peter Wardle's suggestion of the total station 'feature detector' is already a reality and in use, if infact he meant a laser scanner. I have heard of experiments using a laser scanner mounted with a digital camera that allows site scanning to be controlled from an 'office' environment and I understand this system was demonstrated at the recent Norwegian CAA conference in Oslo. The Sjøfartsmuseet (Maritime museum) of the University of Oslo have been using laser scanning to record ship excavations in the Oslo fjord and to digitally record the Ãseberg viking ship.
(http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/schrodin.../1.1852993)
There are also companies interested in developing this system further using archaeological data as a control for a myriad of other potential uses in much the smae way as IBM crunched archaeological data in the 80's looking at the use of its computer systems for other applications.
I agree with Brian about the potential use of digital photography to enhance and supplement the digital archaeological record and am a keen advocate of the system here in my little part of Norway for sites of all periods. Again and maybe the same Polish team, demonstrated the potential for the use of different forms of digital photography at the Oslo CAA conference.
However, as well as the challenges of embracing technology and perhaps a change in traditional recording methods, there are other areas in UK archaeology where I think digital recording might cause a few hearts to flutter. Whilst I think digital recording can overall create cost savings on archaeological projects, it does require a greater resource input at the field end. The kind of interpretive detail required at the point of data input makes the current UK 'neat' division between excavation and post-excavation work slightly blurred. And that may concern the funders of archaeology. (As well as suggesting that EH needs to swiftly get onto rewriting MAP2, MAP3, MAP4 etc)
The use of digital recording can for the same reasons affect both the manner and up-front pricing of archaeological tenders, particularly where overall cost savings involving post-ex aren't factored into the tender process. I guess that one of the reasons EH are able to trial Intrasis on in-house projects is because they are largely free of the pressures of having to tender for such projects. (I wait for Brian to shoot me down on that point...)
And inevitably any cost-savings in UK archaeology are likely to result in less jobs for archaeologists. Although (and maybe to raise the fears and hackles of many BAJRites), those of us that are left will be better trained and more confident, in a smaller jobs market, of improving job security and pay and conditions across the board.
My view is that a paper-free site is actually an impossibility (we may be losing a little in translation from the Swedish here), but that a paper-lite site is not only possible but a reality in many parts of the European archaeological millieu. I think the main problem to 'paper-free' is largely one of how to handle free-text in a digital environment and despite the fact that you might replace a notebook with a PDA, you still in effect have to make notes to supplement the digital recording. I have yet to see a digital recording system (and that includes Intrasis) that is capable of recording and processing stratigraphic relationships (and I mean intuitive 'stratigraphic' relationships rather than the physicality of most GIS systems), and for that reason alone all current digital systems require some kind of additional input. I would also be delighted to meet (and buy a drink for) the first archaeologist who isn't a raving lunatic and has the confidence to enter their 'site matrix' directly into a digital system without first making a hard copy, (just to check its integrity).
Peter Wardle's suggestion of the total station 'feature detector' is already a reality and in use, if infact he meant a laser scanner. I have heard of experiments using a laser scanner mounted with a digital camera that allows site scanning to be controlled from an 'office' environment and I understand this system was demonstrated at the recent Norwegian CAA conference in Oslo. The Sjøfartsmuseet (Maritime museum) of the University of Oslo have been using laser scanning to record ship excavations in the Oslo fjord and to digitally record the Ãseberg viking ship.
(http://www.nrk.no/programmer/tv/schrodin.../1.1852993)
There are also companies interested in developing this system further using archaeological data as a control for a myriad of other potential uses in much the smae way as IBM crunched archaeological data in the 80's looking at the use of its computer systems for other applications.
I agree with Brian about the potential use of digital photography to enhance and supplement the digital archaeological record and am a keen advocate of the system here in my little part of Norway for sites of all periods. Again and maybe the same Polish team, demonstrated the potential for the use of different forms of digital photography at the Oslo CAA conference.
However, as well as the challenges of embracing technology and perhaps a change in traditional recording methods, there are other areas in UK archaeology where I think digital recording might cause a few hearts to flutter. Whilst I think digital recording can overall create cost savings on archaeological projects, it does require a greater resource input at the field end. The kind of interpretive detail required at the point of data input makes the current UK 'neat' division between excavation and post-excavation work slightly blurred. And that may concern the funders of archaeology. (As well as suggesting that EH needs to swiftly get onto rewriting MAP2, MAP3, MAP4 etc)
The use of digital recording can for the same reasons affect both the manner and up-front pricing of archaeological tenders, particularly where overall cost savings involving post-ex aren't factored into the tender process. I guess that one of the reasons EH are able to trial Intrasis on in-house projects is because they are largely free of the pressures of having to tender for such projects. (I wait for Brian to shoot me down on that point...)
And inevitably any cost-savings in UK archaeology are likely to result in less jobs for archaeologists. Although (and maybe to raise the fears and hackles of many BAJRites), those of us that are left will be better trained and more confident, in a smaller jobs market, of improving job security and pay and conditions across the board.