Highlights from 2018

As we enter our 13th year of publishing archaeological data on the web, we want to thank you all for your participation and support. Whether you are the author of a data set published in Open Context, an editorial board member, a colleague engaged in the world of open data, or a supporter of data publishing in general, we are grateful for your work and enthusiasm.

In the news highlights below, you will see that we are starting 2019 with a Challenge Grant from the NEH! Please help us kick-off this matching grant by making a year-end donation to Open Context and the AAI. It takes a community to sustain open access data and we appreciate the role you play.

We wish you all the best in 2019!
– The Open Context Team

 

alexandriaarchive.org AAI Receives Infrastructure and Capacity-Building Challenge Grant In the fall of 2018, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the AAI an Infrastructure and Capacity-Building Challenge Grant. All donations for the next four years will be matched 1:3 by the NEH, up to $500,000. The Challenge Grant will sustain open data and support a new program in data literacy.		cnn.com 2018 National Climate Assessment Highlights Findings from DINAA Open Context maintains the Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA). Last November, PLOS ONE published a DINAA study modeling projected impacts of sea-level rise on archaeological sites. Just weeks ago, CNN reported this research as “takeaway” #14 from the Fourth National Climate Assessment (2018).
opencontext.org Published in 2018: ARCE Sphinx Project 1979-1983 Archive In spring 2018, Open Context partnered with Mark Lehner and the Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA) to publish and archive maps, drawings, and photographs from the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) Sphinx Project, 1979-1983. Shortly thereafter, we published Claire Malleson’s groundbreaking archaeobotanical data documenting living and working spaces for the pyramid builders.		ux.opencontext.org Feature Development in 2018: Zooming and 3D Models | Heritage Bytes Archaeologists increasingly adopt innovative methods and tools to document the past. In response, Open Context develops new features to keep pace with the changing needs of data authors. This blog post at Heritage Bytes discusses two new features, including zoomable images and 3D models.
opencontext.org Linking Data Sets to Published Papers The “Images Documenting Ottoman Tiles of the Fakahani Mosque” collection features high-resolution images of tilework in Cairo that are pinned on a map and linked to a research paper published in the Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. Researchers need to share an increasing breadth and variety of content. Open Context augments conventional publishing by working with other publishers to link digital media with related articles and books.		opencontext.org Published in 2018: China Ceramic Petrography Database This database by Andrew Womack and Anke Hein incorporates petrographic data from archaeological ceramics and geological sources across China in order to make it available in Chinese and English as a comparative reference collection. This is just one of several projects where Open Context supports the data sharing needs of emerging research communities.
alexandriaarchive.org Your Donation will be Amplified by a Challenge Grant from the NEH! Thank you for your commitment to the AAI and Open Context! Your support of our programs enables current and future generations to explore and better understand the past while making science and scholarship more inclusive and accessible. All contributions over the next 4 years will be matched by the NEH!