Swedigarch Inspirational Lecture #4 with Dr Jeremy Huggett, University of Glasgow: The Data Interface

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Jeremy Huggett from the University of Glasgow will be the distinguished speaker for our 4th Swedigarch Inspirational Lecture. A leading researcher in digital archaeology, Huggett has significantly advanced archaeological education through his insightful lectures and pioneering use of IT since the early 1990s. His lectures consistently captivate audiences, earning him wide recognition within the academic community.

As one of the founding members behind the creation of the Archaeology Data Service in 1996, Huggett has played a pivotal role in shaping the future of digital archaeology. In the latest issue of Current Swedish Archaeology (Vol. 31 2023), he delves into the phenomena of archaeological research infrastructures, and we are eager to continue this important discussion.

Join us on the 9th of October as Jeremy Huggett explores the implications of the technological interfaces we use to access and interact with archaeological digital data, and how they influence knowledge creation. This is a rare opportunity you won’t want to miss! Warmly welcome.

The lecture will be delivered on Zoom. [https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/65644859480]

The Data Interface

Abstract: The construction of knowledge is understood to be social and combinatorial – our knowledge is built on the knowledge of others, our knowledge is created from the data collected by ourselves and others, our data becomes the basis for the creation of new data by ourselves and others, and so on. But what about the devices which mediate in that process? We pay a great deal of attention to the processes behind data collection, data recording, data archiving, and are concerned about ensuring its findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability into the future so that it can provide the basis for the construction of new knowledge, but we often seem to pay less attention to the technological mediation between ourselves and those same data. Given that our increasing access to growing bodies of archaeological digital data has been truly transformative over recent years, how do the search interfaces which we customarily employ in our archaeological data portals influence our use of them, and consequently affect the knowledge we create through them? How do they both enable and constrain us? And what are the implications for future interface designs?