IHP-EFEO Talk

Speaker:
Dr. Sébastien Plutniak
Researcher, French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)

Title:
From the Field to the Cloud
Visualisation, Statistical Exploration, and Web Communication of Archaeological Spatial Data:
the Open-source and Distributed "archeoViz ecosystem"


Host:
Prof. Scarlett CHIU
Research Fellow & Head, Department of Archaeology,
Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
&
Prof. Frank MUYARD
Head, EFEO Taipei Center

Date:
Wednesday, November 26, 2025, at 3:00 pm


Venue:
Conference Room 703, Research Building, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica


Abstract:
Recent literature highlights several barriers to the availability of field archaeological data: 1) the absence of user-friendly tools, 2) a lack of data management training, 3) limited time to prepare data for publication, and 4) insufficient recognition of data publishing efforts. "archeoViz" aims at addressing these issues, while also accounting for control on data by local communities. It offers a solution as an opensource stand-alone application for visualising and statistically exploring spatialised archaeological data. Users can create "archeoViz" instances -specific use of the application tailored to particular datasets- on any server they like (either institutional or personal) thus avoiding centralised control and data storage. Importantly, "archeoViz" serves as a data editorialising tool, making data publishing a desirable, though not mandatory, endeavor. It encourages the open publication of comprehensive workflows, including datasets, any necessary reprocessing code, and their respective "archeoViz" instances, using third-party services.
Besides, the "archeoViz" application is conceptualised as the building block of a decentralised online network for archaeological data. The "archeoViz Portal" serves as a connective hub linking all the existing instances together (https://analytics.huma-num.fr/archeoviz/home).Similar to "data papers", "archeoViz" instances are citable editorial units. To enhance their discoverability, the "archeoViz Portal" is an interactive catalogue of existing instances. The portal allows for searching instances via keywords and map, aligns metadata with standard vocabularies (e.g. Geonames), and integrates with other documentation systems, such as "Openarchaeo", a semantic web repository for archaeological data. Ultimately, the "archeoViz portal" facilitates data sharing and the visual restitution of archaeological findings, benefiting scientists and the general public alike.

Organizers: The Department of Archaeology, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica & EFEO Taipei Center


※ The talk will be given in English. Registration is not required.

 conference