Digital Antiquity has partnered with the Society for American Archaeology to preserve the 2019 annual meeting abstracts and make the presentations and data used to support them available in tDAR. As a presenter you can access your record in tDAR, edit the metadata, and upload a PDF copy of your paper, presentation, poster, or other supplementary data (up to 3 files/30MB), and it’s FREE.  Here’s how to get started:

1. Go to https://www.tdar.org/saa/
2. Search for your abstract by typing your name or abstract title in the box.
3. Fill out the message box to request access to your paper’s abstract (you will need to register – but that’s free).
4. Once completed, we will send you a message within one business day with a link to edit your abstract and upload the paper or poster.

Were you an SAA presenter in 2018 (Washington D.C.), 2017 (Vancouver), 2016 (Orlando), or 2015 (San Francisco) but haven’t uploaded your presentation yet? Not to worry – those abstracts are also in tDAR. Help other researchers find and cite your SAA presentations by making them available today!

Additionally, the tDAR SAA Member Benefit allows retired members, student members, members from countries with discounted rates, and members from Tribal Historic Preservation Offices to upload ten files (up to 100MB) annually to tDAR. Contact membership@saa.org to request your voucher.

The ARIADNEplus project invites archaeological researchers and data managers to participate in an online survey on community needs regarding data sharing and access, new services and tools, and related training needs.

ARIADNEplus, is a project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Programme. It aims to integrate archaeological datasets in a digital infrastructure so that researchers can use them with services and tools which will also be provided by the project.

We kindly invite you to share your experience and your views on the survey topics. Please note that the survey includes matrix table questions, therefore using a desktop or notebook (not a tablet or mobile) is recommended.

Survey link: http://srfg.at/ariadneplus-survey

Thank you very much for your valuable contribution!

Digital Antiquity staff and Board of Directors members were out in force at the 84^th Annual Meeting of the SAA in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

With the highest attendance the SAA has seen – over 5,300 attendees! – the 4-day conference was filled with various meetings, sessions, and discussions with people at the exhibitor booth.

Between the Digital Antiquity staff alone, we participated in over four sessions, sat on two committee meetings, lead a hands-on Digital Curation workshop, and spent countless hours at the exhibitor hall discussing the benefits and uses of tDAR.

A meeting highlight of particular note was the Symposium 188, “Attention to Detail: A Pragmatic Career of Research, Mentoring, and Service, Papers in Honor of Keith Kintigh” in which our own Dr. Kintigh was recognized for his considerable contributions to the field of archaeology and advocacy for digital preservation. Among the speakers lauding Dr. Kintigh’s accomplishments were tDAR’s Founding Director Dr. Frank McManamon and Digital Antiquity Board Member, Jeffrey Altschul, further marking the session as a truly special event.

Utilizing your SAA-Digital Antiquity Good Digital Curation Agreement Benefits

In order to preserve and readily share the incredible work of SAA Meeting presenters, the Center for Digital Antiquity has continued its Good Digital Curation Agreement partnership with the SAA, now into its fifth year. Through this partnership, all session abstracts from past conferences (2015-present) can be found on the tDAR website.  Further, if you are the author of an abstract(s), you can utilize your SAA Member Benefits to upload your presentation, paper, poster, or other supplementary data into tDAR for free (up to 30MB).

In addition to presenter benefits, the SAA also supports up to 10 free uploads (totaling 100MB) into tDAR for retired members, student members, members from countries with discounted membership rates, and members from Tribal Historic Preservation Offices.

Preserving and making your archaeological data accessible has never been easier! We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to enrich future research by uploading your archaeological information into tDAR. You can find your abstract and learn more about your SAA benefits here: https://www.tdar.org/saa

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Recently, ASU archaeology Professor Keith Kintigh and Founding Director Frank McManamon were interviewed by Alexandra Witze, a writer for the Archaeological Conservancy’s “American Archaeology” Magazine.  The Archaeological Conservancy is a non-profit organization whose mission is to identify, acquire and preserve significant archaeological sites in the U.S. That mission dovetails nicely with our mission at Digital Antiquity: to acquire, preserve and make accessible the digital data associated with archaeological research.  In the article, Frank and Keith recount the urgent need to upload digital archaeological data to repositories like tDAR.

Most archaeologists aren’t curating their digital data at public repositories like tDAR. Kintigh stressed that proper curation is more important than ever because now much of this information is, so to speak, “born digital” and exists in no other form. Without it, future generations of scientists won’t be able to reanalyze and synthesize the information and make fresh discoveries of their own. “It’s a tragedy that we’re not adequately capitalizing on the potential uses of the data,” he said.

This follows on the heels of a forthright article by Keith last fall in “The Conversation,” where he argued strongly that “agencies must ensure that the full digital record of their archaeological investigations is deposited in a recognized digital repository.” tDAR has worked effectively with a number of agencies (Dept. of Defense, Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Reclamation, among others) to make archaeological information discoverable, accessible and preserved permanently for future use.

Check out the “Disappearing Data” article on the Archaeological Conservancy website.

Digital Antiquity is pleased to announce some recent staffing changes.  In November 2018, our long serving Director of Technology, Adam Brin, accepted a new position at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA.  Digital Antiquity is a small team of highly skilled people who, together, have built an amazing online repository backed by sophisticated data management services.  None of that would have been possible without Adam’s work over the years. We will miss him, and wish him great success in his exciting new career with the Getty.

When one door closes, another opens, as the saying goes.  So it is with tDAR, as we now welcome (back) Digital Software Engineer Jim deVos.  Jim worked at tDAR in the early days, and now has rejoined our team to help us move forward into our second decade. It’s an exciting time with several new projects in the offing. Jim’s background – from Qwest, to Honeywell, to the ASU Library and back to Digital Antiquity – brings a wonderful mixture of skills and experience that will enable us to continue to deliver the highest quality technical services.

Also joining the tDAR team is Administrative Specialist Charlene Collazzi.  Charlene has a strong background in archaeology, participating in fieldwork projects in Chile, Panama, and Egypt on the way to earning her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology at UCLA. Before joining Digital Antiquity in December, she held various Administrative positions at the UCLA Medical Center and most recently at the Boulder County Land Use Department in Colorado. Charlene is in charge of our business processes, manages the office, and heads up tDAR communications duties including website and social media posts.

The Center for Digital Antiquity is seeking a visionary Lead Software Engineer to help develop and expand the software infrastructure and services of tDAR (the Digital Archaeological Record), a state-of-the-art international digital repository for archaeological and cultural heritage data. This is a unique opportunity to lead the technical development of innovative systems and tools for digital data management, preservation, and sustainable access to the digital repository.

This position works with the development team to design, implement, document, and support tDAR. The ideal candidate will possess knowledge of general programming paradigms and languages, full-stack development, open source data repository platforms, and experience with full-text search platforms including but not limited to: Java, Python, Ruby, PostgreSQL, Apache Solr, Fedora, DSpace, HubZero, and Dataverse. This position reports to the Center for Digital Antiquity’s Executive Director and Board of Directors.

To learn more and to apply, visit the Arizona State University employment website. Applications will be accepted through January 21, 2019.