Last modified: 2011-12-19
Abstract
The scientific research of antiquity faces great challenges in respect to information infrastructures, digital preservation and long-term availability of unique data. Therefore, the German Archaeological Institute (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, DAI Berlin) has submitted a project proposal describing a possible way to establish a new domain-specific national IT-centre which shall address the major issues and problems concerning digital data and methods in archaeology and related disciplines. In May 2011, the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft, DFG Bonn) approved the application and the project started officially at the headquarters of the DAI in Berlin in September 2011. It is very much a joint venture of different German institutions generating and providing primary research data – e.g. universities, research institutes, academies, state offices for cultural heritage, museums, etc. – on the one hand and infrastructural partners such as libraries and data centres on the other.
During the next three years, a comprehensive concept for the new centre (including aspects of hard- and software, data management and data standards, legal and financial matters, services and interoperability, workflows and guidelines) will be prepared. Thereafter, funding will be needed for another three years in order to provide for the technical and administrative set up of the centre and thus turn it into an independent, self-contained infrastructure.
The aim of the project is therefore – very much like the ADS in the UK or DANS in the Netherlands - to achieve a structural improvement in respect of accessibility, archiving, reusability and interoperability of primary data so that new research can be conducted upon it.
The paper will contain an outline of the new centre, its objectives and visions, the seven work-packages and planned different forms of actions, and how all this will hopefully result in a reliable address to store and disseminate archaeological primary research data.