Designing a Prototype Digital Repository for Archaeological Information at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens Charles Watkinson Director, ASCSA Publications American School of Classical Studies at Athens   Since June 2006, under the guidance of Thornton Staples of the Fedora Commons Foundation, information specialists at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) have created a prototype digital repository to manage and disseminate the School's growing collection of digital assets. This information architecture project is part of a larger program, supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, aimed at improving how the ASCSA manages its information resources, and developing appropriate staffing and structures to support digital scholarship. Founded in 1881, the ASCSA is a private, non-profit, educational institution, dedicated to the advanced study of all aspects of Greek culture, and governed by a consortium of over 180 North American universities and colleges. The institution runs two large-scale archaeological excavations, at the Roman city of Corinth (since 1896) and at the Athenian Agora, civic and cultural center of classical Athens (since 1931). Both projects have compiled large archives of records and artifacts, and a particular challenge for the repository team was how to integrate digital surrogates of print materials (such as digitized field notebooks and inventory cards, scanned plans and transparencies) with born-digital datasets and images from continuing excavation seasons. Although organized by a single institution, the Agora and Corinth projects are strongly independent. Another challenge the team faced was how to enable digital interoperability between two excavations with such different histories and methodologies. This session will provide a description of the impact of digital technologies on large-scale excavations, such as those run by the ASCSA at the Athenian Agora and Corinth, to give background to the project's goals and illustrate some particular needs of the discipline of archaeology. In addition, a brief overview of the design choices made in creating the ASCSA digital repository prototype will be given, as well as a live demonstration of its use to illustrate the project's progress. The briefing will wrap up with a discussion of the lessons learned, and the next steps, including an exploration of the ways in which the ASCSA (as an independent private institution with limited financial means) is being challenged and transformed by digital scholarship, its responsibilities as a steward of digital resources, and the opportunities for cross-institutional collaboration it is now exploring. http://www.ascsa.edu.gr http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/digital-library Handout (MS Word) Presentation (PDF) Fall 2008 Meeting Home Page     Fall 2008 Project Briefings     Fall 2008 Schedule