At CAA87 in Leicester I spoke about a flexible excavation recording methodology and the software environment to support it. It was flexible in the field but well documented and pretty explicit as to what everything meant. Mike Rains continued the development of this architectural outline to produce the Integrated Archaeological Data Base (IADB) that we know today. Now 30 years later I am known for my endless droning about the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) (ISO21127) and the benefits it brings. The CRMarchaeo and CRMBA (Archaeological Buildings) extensions are nearing completion so what am I still angry about?
1. Data meaning is still not explicit and certainly not explicit enough to be machine processable!
2. The universal confusion of format with reusability (think XML, RDF(S) and LOD)
3. No recognition of the tension between novelty and reuse
4. Data honesty is still considered risky and scary and time/resource consuming. Face it your data is NEVER going to be perfect.
5. The waste of talent. So many early career female scholars are being put off by the disciplines behaviour. Conferences like ours need to make it easier to attend for parents.