The Alexandria Archive Institute / Open Context (AAI/OC) held the Archaeological Data Literacy Practicum (ADLP), a professional development workshop presented by the Data Literacy Program in October 2025. Through virtual synchronous meetings, asynchronous deliverables, and under the guidance of AAI/OC staff and guest educators, participants in the 2025 ADLP bridged theoretical and practical aspects of data literacy in cultural heritage. Through the practicum, participants also:
- Practiced and demonstrated their data literacy skills by building a portfolio of their accomplishments during the program.
- Connected with a global community of peers and collaborators interested in cultivating their archaeological data literacy.
- Met virtually several times with other participants and program faculty to learn about and discuss data literacy and digital skills.
- Created and answered a research question based on co-created and cleaned data.
- Shared their products with other practicum participants and facilitators for feedback and peer review to practice receiving and giving compassionate critique.
- Presented their data-driven narrative product with others to develop communication skills.
In addition, the October 2025 Practicum scholars became co-creators of the practicum by evaluating the presented materials, formats, and videos for their efficacy in teaching data literacy to help improve future versions of the workshop. Read more about the Practicum in the November 2024 issue of The SAA Archaeological Record; explore the sections below explaining the goals, format, and application process; grab copies of the syllabus, slides, and videos to run your own version (all materials licensed CC BY); check out the DLP's retrospective on the 2025 practicum; or reach out to the Practicum Facilitator, Dr. Paulina Przystupa, at ciszka@opencontext.org, with any additional questions.
Goals
The goal of this professional development workshop was to cultivate cohort members' data literacy by producing a data-driven narrative product based on data they created through first-hand observation, collaborative data cleaning, and analysis, which answered a research question of their own design. Such work supplemented existing education in archaeology, and other cultural heritage fields, by providing practical experience in data literacy at a time when few archaeologically-inclined people get the chance to develop such skills within the field. Furthermore, the Practicum provided training for those who may lack access to this kind of professional development resource in other ways.
Through this, the Practicum provided mentorship and support so that participants could develop skills that are critically important for success in an increasingly data-driven world. Participants' individual data-driven narrative products were examples of how to go from data creation, cleaning, and analyzing into interpretation, demonstrating for themselves and others the value of data literacy and the valuable skills cultivated through this Practicum. Furthermore, the 2025 version created valuable feedback to improve the Practicum, allowing it to be a recurring opportunity for people, thereby helping the improve data literacy in the cultural heritage sector broadly through the materials archived and availible on Zenodo.
For more detailed information about the curriculum, please explore the 2025 syllabus here.
The ADLP was designed as a 20-hour training, conducted over five weeks, through synchronous meetings and asynchronous deliverables. Each week, practicum scholars will focused on one of the five components of data literacy by attending lectures, conducting self-paced activities, and/or watching recorded videos.
During synchronous weeks, the pilot cohort met together at the same time. During these meetings they learned about, discussed, or presented about data literacy alongside the Practicum Facilitators, guest educators, and their cohort mates. Meetings left adequate time each week for questions and for scholars to complete any asynchronous, assigned self-paced activities (including the submission of feedback) within the allotted four hours of work for that week.
During asynchronous weeks, participants will watched pre-recorded videos, conducted self-paced activities, and submitted their work to grow their data literacy skills and create materials for their data-literacy skills portfolio. These were a chance for participants to take their time to cultivate their skills and creations as well as assess whether the assignments matched the estimated and allocated four hours of work for that week to provide feedback for the practicum.
Format
Facilitator
Paulina F. Przystupa
Paulina F. Przystupa is of Filipine and Polish descent and a settler in North America. She studied at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA, USA) where she earned a B.A. (2012) majoring in History and Anthropology. She earned her M.A. (2014) and Ph.D. (2025), both in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico. Her dissertation examined the relationship between the built environment and the assimilation and socialization of children in the United States. Beyond her academic work, Paulina has worked in cultural resource management in both Australia and the United States as a field technician, assistant cartographer, and lab technician and was a research associate of the Indigenous Digital Archive (2017-2025). She also writes about and reviews comics, movies, and shows at WWAC and has moderated panels at popular culture conventions bringing an anthropological and academic perspective to popular media. Paulina has been part of the AAI/OC in the Data Literacy Program since late 2020, first as the Postdoctoral Researcher in Data Visualization and Reproducibility (2020-2023) and then as the Postdoctoral Researcher in Archaeological Data Literac (2024-2026).
2025 Practicum Scholars
Practicum Scholar and Assistant Director, Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research (CIAR), Ashoka University, India
Akash Srinivas
Akash Srinivas is a prehistoric archaeologist. His research interests primarily concern with palaeoanthropology and palaeolithic archaeology, incorporating a multidisciplinary approach drawing from archaeology, anthropology, geology, geography, geomorphology, GIS and remote-sensing technologies, and lithic studies. He is currently engaged in the study of the nature and variability of stone tool technology of the South Asian Palaeolithic and characterising the nature of Palaeolithic occupation of South Asia, integrating the same to contributing towards global discourses on prehistoric technology, human evolution and movement. His previous research work has concerned prehistoric explorations and the analysis of stone tool assemblages of key Lower Palaeolithic sites such as Kibbanahalli (India), Chirki (India) and Isernia La Pineta (Italy), amongst others, and is outlined in multiple research publications and conference presentations. He has also carried out and participated in fieldwork and excavations in various parts of India, Italy, Spain, Germany and Tanzania, including important sites such as Atapuerca (Spain) and Hathnora (India).
He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Lithic Studies and actively engages in public archaeology as a resource person for multiple public archaeology forums and educational institutions. He is also the co-host of the podcast ‘Chippin’ Away’.
Practicum Scholar
Eloise Bryans
Eloise Bryans completed her BA in Archaeology and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool in 2023. She had a particular focus on Ancient Egyptian texts, analysing threat formulae as part of her final year dissertation. Since then, Eloise has delved more into the digital side of archaeology acquiring much photogrammetry and 3D modelling experience. She has recently completed an MSc in Digital Archaeology at the University of York, accruing skills in coding and spatial analysis. She now concerns herself with how to make archaeology accessible to all through the use of digital technologies. Her recent work has focused on creating a KS2 educational resource based on a digital collection of carved stone heads from Dean Hall Temple, Gloucestershire.
Oklahoma History Center Museum Educator and Practicum Scholar
Carrie Fox
Carrie Fox is a teacher and learner in Oklahoma City. She had broad experience in teaching in a wide variety of contexts: including formal and informal, online and in person, direct delivery and the creation of educational products. She has been privileged to work many audiences, including students with disabilities, middle schoolers, older workers, college students, and museum patrons. Deeply interested in addressing the structural barriers that exist in the collection and telling of history, she created a local non-profit focusing on contemporary people’s history in the hope of building an inclusive archive for the future. Intrigued by the potential to tell stories about people historically excluded from history collection, she is currently attempting to develop the skill set to deploy interrogations of Oklahoma’s past with new tools to tell new stories. It is hard work! Her current project is mapping the patterns of Chinese settlement in Oklahoma City.
2025 Cohort Applications
For the October 2025 Practicum, we invited applications from anyone interested in archaeology that wanted to cultivate their archaeological data literacy, help others cultivate theirs, or provide feedback on the workshop. Unique to the 2025 Practicum, we prioritized people that could attend the online synchronous meetings to at 9:00 am United States Mountain Time on 3, 17, and 31 October.
We sought applicants that represented and served underrepresented communities as well as people from any career stage, including students (undergraduate or above), faculty, and members of the public interested in archaeology who may not have had access to similar kinds of professional development resources through their own institutions. A wide variety of participants helped us structure the workshop to ensure that it improves archaeological data literacy in an accessible and effective way for the future. However, space was limited so we selected participants a way that best represented a variety of perspectives.
To attend, applicants submitted answers to the following questions:
- Confirm that they could meet the pilot's expectations and requirements, including proposed meeting times
- Provide contact information for themselves
- State institution affiliation, career stage, and field of study/employment
- Share relevant experience to the program
- Explain their interest in participating in this practicum pilot. (2000 characters max.)
- Share how they would benefit from participating in the practicum. (2000 characters max.)
- Describe archaeological data literacy and its relevance in their current or future work. (2000 characters max.)
- Upload a current CV or resume
- Provide contact information for one professional reference
Applications were submitted online and we closed submissions at 11:59 pm United States Mountain Time on September 1st, 2025. Questions about the application process can be directed to the Practicum Facilitator, Paulina F. Przystupa (ciszka@opencontext.org).
