RIDIR: Collaborative Research: cyberSW: A Data Synthesis and Knowledge Discovery System for Long-term Interdisciplinary Research on Southwest Social Change

Archaeology Southwest, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract This project will create cyberSW, an integrated knowledge discovery system that will significantly enhance interdisciplinary research on long-term social change at decadal to centennial scales. The project will result in the data integration of millions of objects from tens of thousands of Prehispanic settlements across the U.S. Southwest, making it one of the largest digital archaeological repositories in the world. A major challenge in using archaeological data is that most relevant information is not digitally curated or synthesized beyond individual projects. A number of recent synthesis projects in the U.S. Southwest show the great potential of these data for addressing big questions in the social sciences such as: What promotes the success or failure of some societies? How does migration transform social identities and create new social structures? And, what are the relationships between environmental challenges and social changes? We will build on these prior projects to produce an integrated system that will allow users at different levels of expertise to readily view, analyze, and export data on past societies in the Southwest to address these and many other questions relevant to contemporary society. Due to preservation and intensity of investigations, the U.S. Southwest has an unparalleled high quality archaeological record of human occupation and social change. Archaeological data are geospatially- and temporally-referenced and include variables such as population scale and movement, social diversity and inequality, technological innovations and diffusion, and climate. Through the creation of cyberSW the proposed project will realize the cumulative research potential of these data by (1) merging several existing synthetic databases into one scalable, networked digital repository; (2) collecting additional data to fill in spatial, temporal, and material culture gaps; (3) analyzing those data and creating user-friendly online tools for data analysis and visualization; and (4) establishing a web portal for data visualization, analysis, and sharing that is available to both professional researchers and the general public. Making these data usable to researchers and to the public ensures that the findings of archaeological research are accessible, interpretable, and replicable. The online analytical tools will allow a wide range of individuals to conduct their own analyses, whether tribal members interested in their history, land managers responsible for public interpretation, students learning data manipulation and display, or social scientists grappling with the long-term questions about the human past. A Citizen Science component for registered volunteers will allow a bigger community to participate in transformative science.