My Week at the Archaeology Data Service’s Training School

My name is Melissa Bergoffen. I’m currently a PhD student at the University of Crete in conjunction with the TALOS project, where I’m creating an ontological framework for female representations on artifacts from the Bronze Age Aegean. My academic and professional background, though, has spanned from archaeology and excavations, to library and information science and experience in various GLAM institutions. I initially applied to the Archaeology Data Service’s Training School as part of ATRIUM in order to learn more about the data management practices of other institutions, particularly one focused within the archaeological sphere. However, I gained so much more insight from this absolutely amazing opportunity.

Throughout the five days of training, the other five attendees and I were provided with a general overview of the ADS’ approaches to various data management topics instructed by several ADS staff members, all of whom had different backgrounds, roles, and tenure at the ADS. While I was already aware of some of the aspects covered by the training, for example the basics of data management and the FAIR Principles, I not only learned some new concepts (i.e the CARE Principles, data papers, R), but also on the practical applications of these methods and why they are so important. In particular, I enjoyed the presentations of Lesley Davidson (Data Management and the Lessons Learned from the Cherish Project), Holly Wright (Archive Once, Reuse Everywhere), and Judith Winters (Data Publication and Data Papers). And I of course enjoyed all of the presentations given by Nicky Garland, the course convenor; he managed to give multiple engaging presentations each day and provided hands-on activities that were very enjoyable (I particularly had fun with the Lego exercise, though I’m sure the others would also agree). Additionally, this experience provides time for one-on-one sessions with experts from the ADS, and though I haven’t had mine yet, I am very excited to speak with Holly Wright about her role as the Research Projects Manager, particularly since she also works with ontologies and is part of ARIADE, a sort of European version of the ADS.

This experience, I believe, provided me with important questions that I need to address with my PhD supervisors since my project is data-centered (for example, I’m not sure if we have a long-term retention plan in place, nor if the interface of my repository will adhere to FAIR/CARE and other data management best standards), and also with an idea of the different positions possible for a career within archaeological data management. I am so thankful for the ADS staff, and especially Nicky, for making this training a smooth and highly engaging and enjoyable experience; even though this training was a bit intense over the five days, it was never boring or overwhelming. I’m also happy to say that the other attendees (Konstantina, Vicky, Erika, Dimitris, and Eric) were very lovely and made the experience even more worthwhile, not just because of their various backgrounds that provided different perspectives, but because we were able to get along so well that we hung out for the majority of time outside of the training, exploring the absolutely beautiful town of York.I am so honored to have been a part of this Atrium Summer School at the ADS, and I hope it continues for as long as possible because it is truly a very beneficial resource to students, seasoned professionals, and everyone in between.