OASIS: First Monitoring Report
Academic Year 1999-2000
Online AccesS to the index of archaeological InvestigationS
Dr Damian Robinson
Archaeology Data Service
Project Summary
OASIS brings together three strategic partners: the Archaeology Data Service, the Archaeology
Commissions Section of English Heritage, and the English Heritage National Monuments Record,
under the umbrella of the University of York, with the aim of creating a single index to the grey
literature of archaeological assessment reports and excavation archives in England, of providing on-line
access to that index, and of establishing a mechanism to facilitate on-line collection and validation.
Overview of Progress
The OASIS project is progressing well. The task of concording the AIP and Excavation Index is
progressing according to schedule and the mechanisms of the delivery of the enhanced records to the
ADS and their incorporation into the ArchSearch, the ADS catalogue, have been established as part of
the delivery of the initial 10,000 records. Progress has also been made on the enhancement of the user
interface of ArchSearch in the testing and / or implementation of spatial and temporal search
mechanisms. The interface will be further enhanced throughout the remainder of the project. The Data
Collection Form has been designed by a range of stakeholders and is presently out to peer review. It
will be ready to roll out for a trial implementation with the SMR of the Greater London Archaeology
Service and several professional contracting archaeological units working in London by the end of
October. At the current rate of progress OASIS will produce its stated deliverables and will be
completed according to schedule and budget contained in the RSLP Project Plan. It is also important to
acknowledge the steps being taken through the OASIS project to broaden the scope from an English
based project to one that will be of use to the whole of the UK archaeological community.
Work program
English Heritage National Monuments Record
Concordance between the Excavation Index and AIP Records for the period 1990-98
NMR Tasks
1. Appointment of 2 Catalogue Assistants – January 2000
Completed and payment milestone achieved
2.
Delivery of initial 10,000 records to ADS – July 2000
Completed
Archaeology Data Service, University of York
Mounting of database within ADS catalogue, enhancement of query interface and creation of webbased form for data collection
ADS Tasks
1. Loading and testing the pilot 1,000 records
Completed. The records are available in ArchSearch (Appendix 1)
2.
Enhanced User Interface
Considerable work has gone into providing ArchSearch with an enhanced user interface.
Spatial searching of the catalogue using Ordnance Survey coordinates is now available
(Figure 1). A further map-based enhancement of this interface is under development and will
be available by November. A temporal search interface has been developed for ArchSearch,
and has been tested. At present there is an ongoing discussion lead by English Heritage, and
facilitated by the ADS, which aims to create a period thesaurus. It has been decided to await
the outcome of this work and to incorporate the nationally agreed Period thesaurus into the
temporal interface.
Figure 1: The ArchSearch Spatial search interface
3.
RSLP Monitoring Report
This paper represents the completion of Task 3
Progress on Task 5 – Data Collection Form
Good progress has been made on the web-based Data Collection Form. The project was officially
launched at a workshop on the 10th of February in front of a gathering of members of the local and
national heritage agencies of the United Kingdom. Although the OASIS project was originally
designed to enhance access to English excavation archives and grey literature, the launch attempted to
bring the other home nations into the project. The representatives of the national heritage agencies
spoke on the mechanisms of data collection in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Agreement was then reached that the OASIS project was an important initiative and that the Data
Collection Form would be a valuable addition to the tools available to record and notify the
archaeological community of the latest research results. Consequently it was agreed that the Data
Collection Form should be created in such a way as to be useful for the reporting of archaeological
work throughout the UK. Consequently a development group, comprising of representatives from the
ADS, English Heritage, the Archaeological Investigations Project and the Royal Commission on the
Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland, was initiated. This group has met twice during the
reporting period. At the first meeting the scope and content of the form was discussed. A test version of
the form was subsequently developed by the ADS. The second meeting reviewed the prototype form.
The form is currently under peer review by members of FISH (Forum for Information Standards in
Heritage) and SMR Forum. Members of these fora are UK professional archaeologists with interests in
data standards and are the managers of local and national heritage records; their support for the OASIS
project and the use of the Data Collection Form will be crucial. The form is available online at:
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/dev/oasis/oasis.pl
Dissemination Phase
It should be noted that even though the dissemination phase of the project is not scheduled to begin
until October, progress has been made in this area. The OASIS project has also been included in
several ADS Conference presentations and University lectures, which include:
 Computer Applications in Archaeology
 Institute of Field Archaeologists
 Mda (Museum Documentation Association)
 Society for American Archaeology
The OASIS project has also been included in forthcoming sections of two important publications:
 the Sites and Monuments Record Handbook, a publication by English Heritage designed to
provide help and guidance to the staff of local SMR offices. This is important as SMR officers
set the requirements for the majority of the archaeological projects that OASIS aims to gather
information about. Consequently it is this group of archaeological professionals who will
recommend and enforce the use of the Data Collection Form.
 the second edition of the Excavation Archiving Guide to Good Practice from the ADS. This
latter publication is aimed at those archaeological professionals producing the types of digital
records that OASIS aims to record and who will be consequently using the Data Collection
Form.
Funding breakdown
The table below represents the income and expenditure of the OASIS project to date. It should be noted
that the difference between the income and expenditure for English Heritage represents monies set
aside against the second payment milestone due in October 2000.
Month
January –
July 2000
Incoming
funds
Outgoing
funds
Difference
English
Heritage
ADS
Travel
Consumables
Hardware
Total
17991.19
7120.00
583.31
194.46
2000.00
27888.96
10280.00
7120.00
471.34
179.37
2000.00
20050.71
+7711.19
0.00
+111.97
+15.09
0.00
£7838.25
Appendix 1: An example of an enhanced Excavation Index Record in ArchSearch and the
accompanying Collection Details