Tom Frankland

Using technology to support awareness in fieldwork teams

Supervisors – Dr. Graeme Earl and Dr. Enrico Costanza

As archaeologists, we have a tendency to use technology solely for the purposes of capturing and managing data. However, the success of a fieldwork project often depends on more than the data produced. For example, our ‘awareness’, knowing who is talking with whom and the activities of others on site, helps us to decide our next task, informs our interpretations and can impact the social hierarchy.

This paper outlines the concepts behind a prototype system designed to raise awareness in the context of archaeological fieldwork. The components of the system, which include audio capture and transcription, natural language processing, and interactive visualisation, are also introduced.

This research is funded by the RCUK Digital Economy PATINA project – http://www.patina.ac.uk

email: tf4e10@soton.ac.uk