Dr. Julian Richards, workshop Thursday, 15 February

As part of Dr. Julian Richards’ visit to the SF Bay Area, he will give a workshop open to professionals in cultural heritage management

TIME: Thursday, Feb 15, 1-4 pm. PLACE: Officers Club, SF Presidio

Co-sponsored by the Presidio Trust, UC Berkeley and Cultural Heritage Imaging

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Please put aside this time to join an informative discussion about Cultural Heritage and Digital Preservation with a leading international scholar – Julian Richards from the United Kingdom. He will be visiting and lecturing at UC Berkeley and has generously made time to visit with us at the Presidio. This is the beginning of a project from UC Berkeley in cooperation with the Presidio Trust to create a guide for the best practices in digital preservation for cultural heritage sites - using the Presidio as a case study.

Dr. Richards is Head of the Department of Archaeology at the University of York and is a leading expert on computer applications in historic preservation. He is Director of the Archaeology Data Service, the national digital data archive for archaeological research in the UK, which supports research, learning and teaching with high quality and dependable digital resources. It does this by preserving digital data in the long term, and by promoting and disseminating a broad range of data. He is a partner in the European Commons-funded CHIRON and EPOCH networks.

Workshop Details (pdf)

Workshop Title: Standards of practice and practicing standards: Preserving Cultural Heritage, one bit at a time

Introduction:
With the move from paper to pixels, a gap exists between cultural and digital heritage stewardship. We would like to offer a discussion forum and workshop on this important topic - from assessment to archive. This workshop will take a holistic approach to comprehensive workflows that integrate best practices of standards in digital preservation with the diverse standards of practice for documenting cultural heritage sites.

Part 1: Discuss and debate decision-making principles for digital informatics in cultural heritage preservation. What standards of practice mind both sides of the cultural/digital gap? Where are the decision-points in preservation workflows and what are the alternatives? What technological solutions are of lowest risk and highest impact for heritage documentation? We will point to real-world standards in practice that are effective and will seek from the workshop participants other examples and resources in this critical domain.

Part 2: Frameworks for defining the digital universe of technologies/practices already in use in heritage. While best practices and standards are useful when followed, the majority of legacy information for cultural heritage is squirreled away in hard drives, outdated software applications and outmoded methodologies. We raise this issue for discussion and offer an action plan for collecting a comprehensive list of risk areas and solutions for the digital deluge that is already upon us. We will outline mitigation, migration, archiving and repository strategies, and push for contributions from all participants.

Part 3: Empirical provenance and ‘process history’. Documenting the decision-steps in archaeological fieldwork and digital informatics - from photography, lab work, scanning, modeling, etc - are essential to building context, evaluating reliability and accuracy, as well as providing transparency and scientific replicability. Documenting documentation is rarely done to a sufficient level, for it is time consuming and the perceived, present value is minimal. We will demonstrate the phenomenal value of this approach to field and lab recording, and offer up solutions that make this documentation painless and immediately valuable.

Conclusion: Sharing our Digital Heritage. We will end our discussion with some time dedicated to digital dissemination, from Powerpoint and email to weblogs and websites.

Outcomes: Participants will come away with strategies for coping with their own digital deluges, as well as key opportunities to contribute to a growing network of digital heritage informatics professionals who are dedicated to the long term sustainability of our cultural past and digital future. We will work to integrate the outcomes from this workshop into existing working groups as well as form a new working community to carry on these particular subject areas.

Who should attend: Anyone interested in digital preservation strategies for cultural heritage are encouraged to attend. We welcome input and contributions from the Presidio community at large on these vital topics.

Contact: Ruth Tringham or Michael Ashley

Coordinator of Public Programs Position for Presidio/UC Berkeley Partnership

Coordinator of Public Programs

Archaeology Education Program – SF Presidio

The Coordinator will direct the Levantar Project, a joint project of the University of California, Berkeley and the San Francisco Presidio.  The Coordinator is responsible for development and implementation of a new archaeology education program at the Presidio, in which Bay Area students will study the archaeology, history, and natural heritage of California. The Director will develop curriculum-based learning modules that meet state core competency guidelines and direct the strategic planning, content and program development. It will be necessary to network with school districts, write grants and implement the program, including teaching.

Requirements: California Teacher’s Credential; 3-5 years experience in education; Master’s of Education, or equivalent combination of experience and education. Experience in strategic planning; outreach; curriculum development; state content standards; anthropology and archaeology; and grant writing. Awareness of recent trends in education, including the use of digital media. Strong writing and verbal skills. Ability to work well with others, especially children.  Familiarity with the Presidio and the Archaeology Lab is a plus.  Meet state and local requirements for working with children. UCB criminal background clearance.

Expected Salary Range: $43,000 - $65,000         Starting Date: July 1, 2006

To apply, please send a letter of interest and recent resume or curriculum vitae, by e-mail to anngilbert@berkeley.edu or mailed to:

Ann Gilbert
Department of Anthropology
232 Kroeber, MC 3710
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3710

Applications must be submitted by March 30, 2007
For further details please visit http://anthropology.berkeley.edu/dept.html

The University of California is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer

Scholar’s Box: The Next Six Months

I’m pleased to announce our plans for the next six months of the Scholar’s Box project.

SUMMARY
We will carry out three major activities in the next six months. The Scholar’s Web will pilot tools and services to help faculty integrate digital resources into their teaching. The Curiosity Box will solicit resources and feedback on services from a broad range of faculty across the UC Berkeley campus. Remixing Çatalhöyük will provide a model for engaging students in inquiry-based learning and educational outreach.

THE SCHOLAR’S WEB
Making it easy to create, use and share online teaching collections
We will pilot technologies and services to help faculty integrate digital resources into their teaching. We will work closely with the UC Berkeley Anthropology department and IT services (CIO, IST, ETS) in testing a drag-n’drop web publishing system and comprehensive digitization and digital asset management services.

THE CURIOSITY BOX
Gathering prized resources and feedback from diverse scholars
We will ask dozens of campus scholars from across campus to share with the public a prized research or teaching resource under open creative commons licensing. This exercise will introduce faculty to our services and provide us with valuable feedback. We will mount a web exhibition featuring all contributions.

REMIXING ÇATALHÖYÜK
Providing an innovative model for teaching with digital collections
We will work closely with Anthropology professor Ruth Tringham to construct a teaching collection from her vast archive of research materials documenting the remains of a 9000 year-old Neolithic human settlement located in modern-day Turkey. Remixing Çatalhöyük will feature themed collections and an archive of student “remixes.” This resource will serve as a national model for inquiry-based teaching and engaging students and campus scholars in outreach and education efforts.

For more information on each of the above projects, please visit the Scholar’s Box project page.

Presidio ~ UC Berkeley Partnership Funding Complete

Today, we mark the close of over 6 months of negotiations with the Trust, Berkeley and the Shaw Fund. The Project Statement that defines the education program is signed and on its way to UC Office of the President for final approval.