Although we only recently published Act 13, it’s already time for Act 14, which means another quarterly report from the Data Literacy Program (DLP). We filled this quarter with a flurry of activities. From presentations online and in person to Data Stories getting commentary and getting published, these stories are gaining steam!
We set multiple goals to continue the work started at the beginning of the year. This involved two guest lectures on DLP related topics, collecting peer reviews for two new Data Stories, and getting the Solo Series Data Stories to the publication stage. We completed almost all of these goals and expanded the DLP’s reach in other ways.
The first goal was to give an invited talk to the North American Heritage at Risk (NAHAR) Group. Paulina’s talk “Archaeological Data Storytelling: Using Storytelling to Share Archaeological Knowledge” used personal storytelling to communicate archaeological topics. Personal stories connect audiences with the speaker in an intimate way and, for archaeology, make the past, present. You can check out the whole talk on YouTube here or in the embedded video below.
The second talk was a guest lecture for the newest cohort of Digging up Data participants. Digging up Data is a co-sponsored professional development opportunity between the Alexandria Archive Institute and the American Society of Overseas Research. You can read more about the program here.
Now in its third year, it was the first time a DLP postdoctoral researcher presented directly to the cohort. Branching off FAIR Finds the game and Data Story, Paulina used the FAIR principles to introduce the cohort to the practicalities of creating findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable data. By spending time with each principle and sub-principle, Paulina walked attendees through detailed explanations of each component of FAIR and practical applications of them. Going through the principles started conversations around structured data and built on the cohort’s existing knowledge.
With so much interest around FAIR Finds, Paulina used that momentum to share the preprint for the Data Story. Having requested peer reviews for FAIR Finds and A Pun Goes Here at the end of the previous quarter, it made sense to make the preprints available as we processed the feedback from those reviews. We also want to thank the awesome reviewers of those Data Stories. They provided great feedback for both Data Stories and we’re using their input to improve them before publication.
In general, people liked both new Data Stories but they need some reorganization and editing before publication. We’re working hard on that and are also grateful to the peer reviewers for the Solo Series Data Stories from 2023. During this quarter we finalized Stop and Smell the…Material Culture? and published the full Data Story with The Road Most Traveled almost ready as well.
Here’s what the new dynamic digital document version of “Stop and Smell the…Material Culture?” looks like. Anyone who goes can save a copy and edit it directly in Docs too.
Stop and Smell the…Material Culture? is also our first Data Story to use our new production format. Rather than multiple sets of static PDFs with a Codeberg Repository, Stop and Smell the…Material Culture? uses multiple dynamic digital documents for minor edits, still has Codeberg to house mutable markdown code for those who want to adapt it for their own use, and only one static PDF that acts as a publication of record for full version updates.
Shifting to this system allows us to make and track edits without reuploading multiple PDFs and then updating DOIs. Instead, we only have one document that requires when a Data Story needs a big update. Minor edits are much easier to do in a dynamic digital document format and in markdown because when we change those pieces the DOIs don’t require updating. This allows us more flexibility and streamlines our editing and publication process.
There was a lot to do and a lot that got done this quarter. Besides addressing these major goals, Paulina also shared our Data Stories at the Theoretical Archaeology Group meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can check out more about that here. The meetings were a fruitful place to discuss the Data Stories with a new community and circulate the resources amongst a new audience.
Next quarter, we’ll be shifting focus and dedicating more time to NADAC and getting to work on the Archaeological Data Literacy Practicum. Regardless, we’re excited to share even more Data Stories in the next few months, so keep checking the AAI News for updates.
