Crowdsourcing, Co-Creation, and Collaboration through Virtual Curation
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)
In his 2010 book Cognitive Surplus, Clay Shirky writes that “The dramatically reduced cost of public address, and the dramatically increased size of the population wired together, means that we can now turn massive aggregations of small contributions into things of lasting value.” A similar sentiment can be extended to virtual archaeological curation—the creation of intangible digital models from tangible pieces of the past. The participants in this session are developing protocols and pooling efforts to create digital diagnostic type collections and other tools that aid will aid archaeologists with making quicker and more accurate identifications, and enhancing their analyses of existing collections. Crowdsourcing and directed collaboration reduces duplication of efforts while expanding the research and potential of digitally preserving the past. Virtual curation also encourages co-creation efforts at colleges and in the community.
Other Keywords
Zooarchaeology •
Ceramics •
Chipped Stone Tools •
Historical Archaeology •
Curation •
Civil War •
Pedagogy •
3D •
Florida •
virtual curation
Geographic Keywords
North America - Southeast •
Mesoamerica •
North America - Northeast
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-7 of 7)
- Documents (7)
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Bring Out Your Dead: Pondering Passenger Pigeons (and Projectile Points) While Building Digital Type Collections at the Virtual Curation Laboratory (2015)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
With support from the Department of Defense's Legacy Program, I am working with undergraduate students in the Virtual Curation Laboratory to create digital type collections of chipped stone tools and zooarchaeological elements. These efforts include scanning stone tools from classic projectile point guides at the New York State Museum (Ritchie's "Typology and Nomenclature of New York Projectile Points") and the Research Laboratories of Archaeology at UNC-Chapel Hill (Coe's "Formative Cultures...
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Geometric Morphometrics & Elliptic Fourier Analysis of 3D Ceramic Data (2015)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
We demonstrate two quantitative methods for potential inter- and intra-group comparisons of archaeological ceramics. For 3D morphometrics, we define a single stable landmark that is consistent throughout our ceramic data, and employ opposing curves populated by semi-landmarks to capitalize on the shape variation that occurs in coil-built ceramics. Eight such curves are used to capture four complete profiles. The landmark data are then subjected to generalized Procrustes analysis (GPA) and...
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Giving 3D Scanning a Porpoise: Digitizing the Zooarchaeological Type Collection at the University of West Florida (2015)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The faunal type collection at the University of West Florida’s Department of Anthropology, used for zooarchaeological reference, is composed primarily of specimens of local fauna donated by students, staff, and faculty. These crowdsourced contributions are stored in a lab facility and therefore are not readily available to archaeologists needing to make IDs in the field or to researchers working from afar. Using the department’s NextEngine Desktop 3D scanner and hand-held Sense 3D scanner, we...
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Mi Datos Su Datos? Opportunities and Challenges Posed by Data Sharing (2015)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Rapid technological advancements and increased availability of hardware and software are boons to archaeologists gathering and interpreting spatial data from anthropogenic landscapes. These datasets are increasingly unmatched in quality and quantity, allowing for visualization, analysis, and explication of built and modified environments reflecting human behavior. While these advancements are clearly well-received by individual archaeologists, the enduring question remains: When (and how) should...
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Three-Dimensional Scanning and Printing in Undergraduate Archaeology Education (2015)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Three-dimensional imaging is a quickly growing part of archaeological documentation, investigation, education, and public outreach. Cost and expertise barriers to using 3D software and equipment continue to drop. Nonetheless, many efforts in 3D archaeology are driven by graduate students or focused undergraduates who become part of dedicated 3D laboratories or projects. Since 2013, we have been working with a different approach of incorporating three-dimensional imaging and printing at the...
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Using Archaeogeophysical and 3D Laser Surveying to Visualize an Integrated Landscape (2015)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Archaeogeophysical and 3D laser scanning at the Old Fort Johnson National Landmark site in Fort Johnson, New York provides a case study for creation of an integrated landscape. The ability to digitally image above and below ground features creates a new way of visualizing an integrated landscape. Above ground remains of historic structures often appear out of their original context. Defensive elements, outbuildings, agricultural areas, ceremonial areas, walkways, and shape of the ground surface...
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Virtual curation as an integral part of the conservation strategy at the Camp Lawton Confederate POW site (2015)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The Confederate POW facility, Camp Lawton, was constructed in the summer of 1864 to relieve the horrendous conditions at Andersonville. Camp Lawton, a 42-acre stockade housing over 10,000 Union prisoners, was only open during October and November 1864. It was abandoned in late November as Sherman’s men marched towards Savannah. Recent archaeological excavations by Georgia Southern University (GSU) students and faculty located the prisoner encampment. The area includes intact prisoners’ hut...