Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Open Context and Carleton University Prize for Archaeological Visualization

Open Context and Carleton University Prize for Archaeological Visualization
We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 1st OpenContext & Carleton University Data Visualization Prize is awarded to the ‘Poggio Civitate VR Data Viewer’, created by the team led by Russell Alleen-Willems. 
The team hacked this data viewer together over a weekend as a proof-of-concept. In the typical spirit of the digital humanities and digital archaeology, they developed a playful approach exploring the materials using the potential of the HTC Vive sdk to ingest Open Context data as json, and then to place it into a relative 3d space. We particularly appreciated their candour and self-assessment of what worked, and didn’t work about their project, and their plans for the future. We look forward to seeing their work progress, and hope that this prize will help them move forward. Please explore their project at https://vrcheology.github.io/ .
Congratulations to the team, and thank you to all who participated. Please keep your eyes peeled for next year’s edition of the prize!
The team members are:
  • Russell Alleen-Willems (Archaeology domain knowledge, Unity/C# Scripting)
  • Mader Bradley (JSON Data Parsing/Unity Scripting)
  • Jeanpierre Chery (UX Design, Unity/C# Scripting)
  • Blair Lyons (Unity/C# Scripting)
  • Aileen McGraw (Instructional Design and Program Storytelling)
  • Tania Pavlisak (3D modeler)
  • Jami Schwarzwalder (Git Management, Team Organization, and Social Media)
  • Paul Schwarzwalder (Unity/C# Scripting)
  • Stephen Silver (Background Music)


Monday, January 30, 2017

Gordion Excavation Reports in AMAR

[First posted in AWOL 14 May 2013, updated 30 January 2017]

Gordion Excavation Reports in AMAR

One of a series of AWOL pages seeking to pull together publication series digitized and served through AMAR: Archive of Mesopotamian Archaeological Site Reports

GlobalXplorer° Launched

GlobalXplorer°
GlobalXplorer° is an online platform that uses the power of the crowd to analyze the incredible wealth of satellite images currently available to archaeologists. Launched by 2016 TED Prize winner and National Geographic Fellow, Dr. Sarah Parcak, as her “wish for the world,” GlobalXplorer° aims to bring the wonder of archaeological discovery to all, and to help us better understand our connection to the past. So far, Dr. Parcak’s techniques have helped locate 17 potential pyramids, in addition to 3,100 potential forgotten settlements and 1,000 potential lost tombs in Egypt — and she's also made significant discoveries in the Viking world and Roman Empire. With the help of citizen scientists across the globe, she hopes to uncover much, much more. This is just the beginning. With additional funding, Dr. Parcak aims to revolutionize how modern archaeology is done altogether, by creating a global network of citizen explorers, opening field schools to guide archaeological preservation on the ground, developing an archaeological institute, and even launching a satellite designed with archaeology in mind.
So far, Sarah’s methods have proved over 90% successful in producing significant discoveries.

Thesaurus d'Epigraphie Islamique

Thesaurus d'Epigraphie Islamique
Le projet du Thesaurus d’épigraphie islamique a pour ambition de réunir toutes les inscriptions arabes, persanes et turques, voire dans d'autres langues du monde musulman, jusqu'à l'an 1000 de l'hégire, c'est-à-dire du Moyen Age.
Le Thesaurus d’Epigraphie Islamique s’inscrit dans la lignée du Répertoire Chronologique d’Epigraphie Arabe tout en étant indépendant. En effet, le projet actuel ne tient pas compte seulement des inscriptions arabes mais également persanes et turques, voire d’autres. En outre, les avantages informatiques ont permis une nouvelle présentation de fiche-type ainsi qu’une précision accrue dans l’enregistrement et surtout dans la consultation des données. La Fondation Max van Berchem de Genève a bien voulu accepter la sponsorisation du projet qui a été officiellement mis en route en février 1992. 
La base de données étant informatisée, on peut facilement imaginer que les premiers pas n’étaient pas simples, «l’universalité» du système informatique n’ayant pas été, à l’époque, encore achevée (problème des caractères latins diacrités, des caractères “neutres“ dans l’écriture arabe, compatibilité entre Macintosh et PC, etc.). Dès le début, la saisie des inscriptions se fait sur l’ordinateur Macintosh et le logiciel utilisé pour l'élaboration de la base est le logiciel “4ème dimension»(ou “4D“), sous ses différentes versions successives. C’est ainsi que nous sommes passés, non sans mal, par plusieurs systèmes informatiques différents. La diffusion se faisait, à partir de 1998, sous formes de CD-Rom,t puis de DVD-Rom, chaque nouveau disque comprenant une (éventuellement deux ou trois) nouvelle livraison incluant les inscriptions d'une nouvelle région. Le découpage géographique suivi est présenté plus bas, dans la section 5/ des présentes notices.
Depuis le mois d’octobre 2011, c’est à dire depuis la 10ème livraison, la base est disponible, gratuitement, sur Internet. Deux ou trois livraisons à venir vont inclure les régions manquantes et il sera ainsi prochainement possible, au bout d’un long chemin, de consulter l'ensemble des inscriptions musulmanes du moyen âge! 
Le projet ne va pas s’arrêter là. La base sera régulièrement enrichie et complétée et tous les deux ans environ, une livraison actualisée, sur le plan scientifique comme sur le plan informatique, va remplacer la livraison précédente.
Nous souhaitons susciter, pour les différentes régions comme pour l’ensemble du projet, des collaborations effectives qui vont continuer à être reconnues dans la section 7/ Remerciements.
1 PRÉSENTATION DU PROJET
2 A PROPOS DES AUTEURS
3 PRISE EN MAIN
4 GUIDE ABRÉGÉ DE LA BASE
5 DÉCOUPAGE GÉOGRAPHIQUE
6 BIBLIOGRAPHIE DES ARTICLES PRÉSENTANT LE THESAURUS
7 REMERCIEMENTS
8 COMMENT CITER LE THESAURUS ?
9 CONTACTS

Sunday, January 29, 2017

PROGETTO "OIKEIÔSIS": traduzione cooperativa della Epistula ad Lucilium 121

PROGETTO "OIKEIÔSIS"
In questo sito viene pubblicata, a puntate, la traduzione cooperativa della Epistula ad Lucilium 121  di Seneca, che verte sulla teoria stoica della appropriazione (in greco, oikeiôsis) degli animali, ovvero quel processo secondo il quale ogni essere vivente si 'appropria' della propria esistenza e comincia a percepire la propria costituzione fisica, nonché gli elementi che sono ad essa utili o dannosi. L'Epistula 121, in questo senso, è da considerarsi un importante punto di partenza per chiunque voglia studiare e comprendere le ‘teorie della mente animale’ in seno allo stoicismo e, al contempo, per formarsi un primo orientamento sul dibattito relativo all'intelligenza degli animali che ha infiammato le scuole filosofiche in età imperiale. 

Gli argomenti di questo dibattito, peraltro, presentano alcune consonanze (che meritano di essere analizzate a partire dagli strumenti della comparazione culturale) con quelli oggi messi in campo  nell'ambito della psicologia cognitiva, delle neuroscienze, dell'etologia e della filosofia del linguaggio contemporanee.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Open Access Journal: International Journal of Conservation Science.

[First posted in AWOL 7 March 2010. Updated 27 January 2017]

International Journal of Conservation Science
Print ISSN: 2067-533X
Online ISSN: 2067-8223
http://www.ijcs.uaic.ro/img/top.png
The International Journal of Conservation Science (IJCS) is a high quality peer-reviewed journal devoted to the publication of original research papers in applied conservation science and its broad range of applications.

The topics cover all disciplines and branches of modern scientific conservation, including different aspects on general conservation theory, scientific investigation of works of art, authentication, determination of conservation state, compatibility studies for preservation and restoration procedures and monitoring of interventions effectiveness, etiopathology of historic and natural monuments, studies on the mechanisms of deterioration and degradation for different materials as structural and ornamental elements, impact of the environmental factors or agents on monuments and ecosystems, obtaining and characterization of new materials and procedures for preservation and restoration, new methodologies for scientific investigation, cross-related problems concerning research applied to conservation science.

Review articles in selected areas are published from time to time.
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