Federated Archaeological Information Management System Project

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Federated Archaeological Information Management System Project

The Federated Archaeological Information Management System (FAIMS) Project is a $950k eResearch Tools project, funded by the National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (NeCTAR) program. NeCTAR is an Australian Government program to build new infrastructure for Australian researchers, conducted as part of the Super Science initiative and financed by the Education Investment Fund.
FAIMS is led by University of New South Wales in collaboration with participants from 41 organisations, including universities, archaeological consultancies and heritage agencies in Australia and overseas.
FAIMS was launched on 5 June 2012 and it is due to be completed in December 2013.
The goal of FAIMS is to assemble a comprehensive information system for archaeology. This system will allow data from field and laboratory work to be born digital using mobile devices, processed in local databases, extracted to data warehouses suitable for sophisticated analysis, and exchanged online through cultural heritage registries and data repositories. Existing standards and components will be used wherever possible; new ones developed where necessary. Major initiatives include:

Development of applications for android devices to capture data

Development of tools for data processing, analysis, and visualisation

Implementation of online repositories for publishing primary archaeological data produced in Australia or by Australians working overseas

Construction of interoperability protocols allowing search and exchange between new and existing repositories.

The end product will be a suite of compatible tools accessible to archaeologists through a single portal. This system will revolutionise the management of archaeological data. It will enhance collaboration, reinterpretation and comparative study by facilitating the production and dissemination of compatible, high-quality archaeological datasets.