The Digital Archive Network for Anthropology (DANA)

North Dakota State University Fargo, Fargo ND

Investigators

Abstract

This award has established a digital library collection for anthropological materials. Faculty, students, and staff affiliated with the Archaeology Technologies Laboratory (ATL) and the World Wide Web Instructional Committee (WWWIC) at North Dakota State University (NDSU) are developing and implementing the pilot program for the Digital Archive Network for Anthropology (DANA), a network infrastructure for the seamless linking of distributed databases with content of relevance to the domain of anthropology. The PI's are actively collaborating with other individuals and institutions to develop a management process for the operation of the digital archive and the policies and practices necessary for quality assurance. Through this collaboration, standards that promote stability, interoperability, and reusability of materials and products are being developed. A unique feature of this Archive is the inclusion of accurate, measurable, three-dimensional (3D) models of the material objects along with 2D images and digitized documents. Specific goals of the project are as follows: - Refine the protocol for creating accurate, measurable 3D models through digitization that can be retrieved, inspected, and analyzed; - Develop applications and protocols to enable the sharing of data worldwide; - Improve current Java applications and client servlets for data searching and retrieval; - Continuously evaluate the efficacy of our Java applications and our servlets; - Develop software modules to enable search and retrieval access to linked databases by way of specially designed searching interfaces and common search protocols; - Collaborate with colleagues across the country and abroad to develop metadata compliant information structure for archiving and accessing digital models; - Use eXtensible Markup Language (XML) as the primary medium for information exchange; - Create an anthropology markup language (AnthML) for facilitating information exchange; - Develop a series of software tools that provide varying levels of morphometric analyses so users can select the level of search and analysis appropriate to their needs; - Establish a set of collaborating institutions that will develop and maintain participating databases; - Establish a DANA Advisory Board; - Establish a set of criteria for content standards and quality control; - Provide academic training in all of the areas covered by ATL activities mentioned above. State-of-the-art technology for digital archiving and distributed networking is being employed to develop DANA, the content of which will be available via the Internet and will promote sharing of data while still protecting pre-published data and culturally sensitive objects and information.