I. Vatanen / H. Lehtonen / K. Uotila
(Information Studies, Åbo Akademi University, ÅBO, Finland)
Archaeological information is complex by its nature because the information in hand does only seldom answer any direct questions posed by anyone. Archaeology, history and cultural heritage professionals need more data and especially data which is capable of answering their precise research or administrative interests on an archaeological site. The public, on the other hand, would be often interested in broader and more powerfully contextual information on the past culture and society than a single site or a number of artefacts may answer. It is evident that providing suitable information is a considerable challenge, but doing so while same time maintaining efficiency in processing the information is even more problematic task.
The paper discusses the problems of making the archaeological information to communicate to the public within the framework of a joined project in Southwestern Finland. The project incorporates a number of sub-projects studying the information process from the excavation site to the presentation of the results in multiple formats ranging from a traditional print publication to a multimedia presentation. An integrated approach for managing the data and predictable needs is presented as a workflow model with some practical considerations concerning the issues in software choice and information system architecture.
keywords: archaeological information, presentation, documentation, information needs