Advancing Synthesis, Open Access, and Reproducibility in Archaeological Research

推进考古研究的综合、开放获取和可重复性

• 批准号: 1724713
• 负责人: Keith Kintigh
• 金额: $ 16.92万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2020-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1724713&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Advancing; Synthesis; Open; Access; Reproducibility

The project will enhance the ability of archaeologists to conduct synthetic research that will contribute better understandings of how different sorts of societies function and change over long periods of time. General understandings of social processes resulting from this synthetic research can, in turn, contribute to solutions for problems that face societies across the world today. However, such research can only be accomplished if archaeologists archive their datasets so that they can be readily found, accessed, and used by other investigators. Such research also requires that the datasets be thoroughly documented so the meaning of the individual observations can be properly interpreted. Project researchers have determined that the two major impediments to depositing well-documented data are the time it takes to complete the data documentation process and the lack of training in digital data management. The project will make it easier and faster to deposit archaeological data in a digital repository by improving the software that solicits information about the individual data fields during the process of depositing the data. It will also develop online help and training materials concerning the management of digital data. As a result of these efforts, project researchers expect that more data will be deposited for use by other investigators and that the datasets deposited will be better documented and therefore, more usable for synthetic research. The project helps ensure open access to the results of publicly funded research, both to other researchers and to the public at large, and it enables the reproducibility of key knowledge claims to be carefully examined. This project is directly focused on enhancing the nation's infrastructure for research and education and on expanding use of that infrastructure by researchers in academia, industry, and government. By enabling productive reuse of academic and private-sector research data it will enhance partnerships between academia and industry. By expanding and improving access to results of archaeological research, it will increase public engagement in science. Finally, synthetic research that includes archaeology's long-term perspective, will help address fundamental social issues that have the potential to improve well-being of individuals in society in the U.S. and abroad.Project efforts will be focused on tDAR (the Digital Archaeological Record), the largest digital repository in the US that is specifically dedicated to providing preservation and access to archaeological data. tDAR already has key infrastructure in place to support open access, reproducible science, and synthetic research; however it seeks to greatly expand the quantity and increase the quality of the data that the repository makes available and preserves. The project will speed up and improve tDAR's dataset documentation process by automatically extracting as much as possible of the needed information from the database, spreadsheet, or other data source being uploaded. It will then verify the inferred documentation with the human researcher. Training current and future generations of archaeologists in sound practices of digital data management will increase the quantity and quality of archaeological data entering digital repositories. The project will develop online tutorials, webinars, and topical, web-based modules directed to diverse archaeological audiences. Project training materials will address the complete data life cycle from creation of the data in the field, through laboratory and quantitative analysis, to publication and archiving.

该项目将增强考古学家进行综合研究的能力，从而更好地理解各种社会在长期内如何运作和变化。反过来，对这项合成研究产生的社会过程的一般理解可以为当今世界各地社会面临的问题做出解决方案。但是，只有在考古学家存档其数据集以便可以轻松地找到，访问和使用其他研究人员时，才能完成此类研究。此类研究还要求对数据集进行彻底的记录，以便可以正确解释单个观察的含义。项目研究人员已经确定，存入有据可查的数据的两个主要障碍是完成数据文档过程和缺乏数字数据管理培训所需的时间。该项目将通过改进在存入数据过程中征求有关单个数据字段的信息的软件来使考古数据存入数字存储库中变得更加容易，更快。它还将开发有关数字数据管理的在线帮助和培训材料。由于这些努力，项目研究人员希望将更多数据存入其他研究人员，并且存放的数据集将得到更好的记录，因此，更可用于合成研究。该项目有助于确保向其他研究人员和整个公众公开访问公共资助的研究结果，并使关键知识声称的可重复性得到仔细检查。该项目直接致力于加强美国研究和教育的基础设施，并扩大学术界，工业和政府研究人员对基础设施的使用。通过实现学术和私营部门研究数据的生产效率，它将增强学术界与行业之间的伙伴关系。通过扩大和改善考古研究结果的访问，它将增加公众参与科学的参与。最后，包括考古学的长期观点在内的综合研究将有助于解决基本的社会问题，这些问题有可能改善美国和国外社会的福祉。项目的工作将集中在TDAR（数字考古记录）上，这是美国最大的数字存储库，这是美国最大的数字存储库。 TDAR已经建立了关键的基础设施，以支持开放访问，可重复的科学和合成研究；但是，它试图大大扩大数量并提高存储库可用和保留的数据质量。该项目将通过自动从数据库，电子表格或其他数据源中的其他数据源中自动提取所需的信息来加快和改善TDAR的数据集文档过程。然后，它将与人类研究人员一起验证推断的文档。在数字数据管理的合理实践中，培训当前和后代的考古学家将增加进入数字存储库的考古数据的数量和质量。该项目将开发在线教程，网络研讨会和主题，基于Web的模块，该模块针对不同的考古受众。项目培训材料将通过实验室和定量分析到出版和存档，从现场创建数据的创建来解决完整的数据生命周期。