Working Groups/archaeology/bestpractices

The following are short best practices for publishing open archaeological data.


 * Explicit is better than implicit. Describe your data and models. You can do that using a graphic or SQL schema, and explaining the meaning and rationale of your database fields.
 * Use open formats. If unsure, keep it simple. CSV is better than XLS. Anything is better than DOC or PDF.
 * Attach an open license to your work. Open Data Commons created 2 good licenses for open data. Putting your data in the public domain or as near as possible to it is also a good practice: both Creative Commons (with CC0) and Open Data Commons provided tools aiming at this.
 * Are you using proprietary software? Try to avoid proprietary formats like DWG or MDB, and opt for simpler, transparent formats like SQL.
 * Are you afraid of losing your work? Publishing your data on the Web makes it easier for researchers to find and cite it [there are reliable figures about this kind of benefits from open access]
 * /!\ Provide examples of how to reference Open Data and to reinforce that dataset citation is also a demonstration of impact which will also help career progression (i.e. careers are no longer solely built around journal articles)
 * Are you afraid of putting cultural heritage at risk? We are too. Start with unencumbered data, like analyses of artifacts, records of safely stored items, fuzzy location coordinates.