Year: 2010

Adam Brin Joins Digital Antiquity

Posted on by Leigh Anne Ellison

Adam Brin joined Digital Antiquity, and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (SHESC) at Arizona State University, as Technology Director in June. Immediately before joining Digital Antiquity Brin was technical program manager for California Digital Libraries, as well as a consultant for Luna Imaging. In his role as consultant, Brin developed an extensive database of NASA images, now housed on the Internet Archive. Brin holds a B.A. from Brown University in Anthropology, with special emphasis on archaeology, and has worked in the field and in laboratory conservation.

Learn more about Adam Brin.

NSF Announces Changes to its Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide

Posted on by Leigh Anne Ellison

In May, the National Science Foundation revealed that there would be changes to its Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) mandating the inclusion of a Data Management Plan in all proposals submitted on or after January 18, 2011. The Foundation also noted its intent to evaluate the Data Management Plan as a part of the Intellectual Merit criterion, the Broader Impacts criterion, or both criteria as appropriate to the project. This change to the PAPPG marks an important commitment by the NSF to social science data accessibility for the scientific community and the public, and will likely promote wider interest in how archaeological data and documents are made accessible and preserved for future generations.

To read more about the changes, visit the revised NSF PAPPG. Also check out the latest version of the NSF Grant Proposal Guide.

Listen to a podcast on tDAR

Posted on by Adam Brin

Listen to an interview with Keith Kintigh, one of the developers of the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) and Frank McManamon, Executive Director of Digital Antiquity.  Originally broadcast on the Library Channel Kintigh and McManamon describe the background and plans of this effort to expand the access to archaeological data and ensure its long-term preservation.

Listen now

Digital Antiquity Responds to OSTP Call for Comment on Improving Access to Federal Research Results

Posted on by Leigh Anne Ellison

On December 10, 2009 the President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a call for comment on how to improve access to the results of federally funded research projects. Digital Antiquity’s Francis McManamon (Executive Director) and Sander van der Leeuw (Chair, Digital Antiquity Board of Directors) responded, stating the importance of increased access to archaeological data collected in the United States—a process reliant on a majority of federal funding. The comment suggested the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) as a tool for increasing knowledge of extant data, for integrating new data, for preserving at-risk data, and for increasing the cost efficiency of federally funded research.

Read the full comment here. Also see the OSTP Call for Comment here.