(big) data science and historical archaeological studies: a methodological, technological and...

(BIG) DATA SCIENCE AND HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES: A METHODOLOGICAL, TECHNOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL CHALLENGE

Claudio Cortese

(claudio.cortese@4science.it)

The BIG DATA age

No more theories?

No more hypothesis?

No more models?

Data speak for themselves?

A new scientific paradigm ?

Certainly new opportunities…

Source:http://bouache.com/blog/big-data/

…also for historical archaeological studies

No data deluge, but…

…growing amount of data

Historians and archaeologists need a variety of multidisciplinary data

Different in:TypologyFormatStructureScale

Historians and archaeologists need a variety of multidisciplinary data

They need Data Management and Data Science Skills and Tools

Data ModelingData MiningText MiningPredictive ModelingMachine LearningVisualizationSpatial Analysis………………….

Source: Palmer, Shelly, Data Science for the C-Suite. New York: Digital Living Press, 2015. Print

…to face the complexity of historical and archaeological data

In History and Archaeology most of the dataare collected by people (not measuredby instruments)

They are affected by individuals, place, time

The are fragmentary, partial, biased

Much information is not digitized yet(and maybe it will never be)

Source: http://www.asianscientist.com/2016/07/print/body-as-a-source-of-big-data/

…but also to face the complexity of historical and archaeological data

In History and Archaeology most of the dataare collected by people (not measuredby instrumens)

They are affected by indivuduals, place, time

The are fragmentary, partial, biased

Much information is not digitized yet(and maybe it will never be)

Ceramica comune

Ceramica comune a

vernice rossa opaca

Ceramica comune

da cucina

Ceramica comune

da cucina a vernice

rossa interna

Ceramica comune

da mensa e da

dispensa

Ceramica comune

per la preparazione

Ceramica comune

varia

Ceramica fine

acroma

CERAMICHE

COMUNI

Putting data in context

Digital Data have to be analyzed together with allcontextual information, digital and not digital, needed to answer research question, such as:

• (cultural, social, economic, technological…) production context of a document/monument

• formation processes of the archaeologicalrecord

• contextual associations at different levels and scales (according to the different dimensions of variations)

Source: https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/expbib/2006/terradefoc/10.pdf

Putting data in context

Digital Data have to be analyzed together with allcontextual information, digital and not digital, needed to answer research question, such as:

• (cultural, social, economic, technological…) production context of a document/monument

• formation processes of the archaeologicalrecord

• contextual associations at different levels and scales (according to the different dimensions of variations)TECHNOLOGY

C

H

R

O

N

O

L

O

G

Y

A Digital Humanities approach is fundamental…

Such an approach, with its focus on relationships, can help in identifying the dimensions of variation(the CONTEXT)

It can help in analyzing primary sources asevidences of a network of heterogeneous systems which can be studied by means of them through a global (holistic) and multidimensional analysis

Cfr. the philosophical notion of «dispositive» (M. Foucault)

Technological Environmental Social

Cultural Economic

Source: Hodder I. 2016, Studies in Human-Thing Entanglement, p. 28

…but with solid domain theoretical and methodological basis

We need historical data scientists andarchaeological data scientists

…if we want to fully exploit the potential of the growing amount of data, avoiding the risk of de-contextualization

With both Data Science and domain skills

Data Management and Data Science too have to become fundamental topics in the standard humanities background and not just be considered «auxiliary disciplines»…

Source: https://www.hastac.org/groups/digital-archaeology-and-ancient-history

A Digital Humanities approach is educational

For modeling archaeological and historical reasoning

For highligthing contextual relations, alsoby means of quantitative methods

Digital Humanities have (or should have) a major methodological impact on historical and archaeological studies

Tools and systems for Data Driven Research

Data integration

Data sharing

Data analysis

Data preservation

External data upload

Virtual Research Environments (VREs)

VREs can fulfil the needs for sustainable and scalable environments, aimed at managing data life cycle.

We need to bring VREs within the daily workflow of historians and archaeologists, providing them with tools already available, for:

• modeling, visualising and analysing information, both in a qualitative and quantitative way, as well as collaboratively working on it

• highlight the relationships between data at different scales• explain their interpretations about the important dimensions of variation and

about the network of contextual relations in which historical and archaeological sources are involved

• Applying data science methods taking into account the specificities of their data and their theoretical and methodological background

• Working for creating tools to help to make easier and more productive using such methods (even with a gradual and bottom-up approach)

• Integrating Data Science in the background of young historians and archaeologists

A methodological, technological and cultural challenge for history and archaeology

• The goal is to approach these challenges integrating the traditional hermeneutic and interpretative work of historical sciences with the most effective techniques of data management and analysis

• In this way, I hope, there may be a fundamental change in the way digital cultural heritage is experienced, analyzed and contributed to by the whole scientific community

(Big) Data Science in a Digital Humanities Framework

claudio.cortese@4science.it

www.4science.it

Thank you! Questions?