Agenda for the 2006 Fall meeting of the CGMA Advisory Board

October 13-15, 2006, at Millsaps College, Jackson, MS

A. Congratulations and thanks to all the participants in the program over the past four years for their interest, hard work and dedication! It has gone really well. Thanks especially to Beth and her amazing programming and to Mike for teaching the course this fall.

B. Status of the project:

1. The undergraduate seminar: this is the last of the initial four runs, and the syllabus has grown and been adapted and improved over that time. The CGMA course is set to be adopted by NITLE starting in Fall 2007 (see below).
2. The research project:
   • The CGMA beta is in good shape; Beth will be uploading the Help files by the end of the month, fixing some bugs she has found, and hopefully adding a shapefile layer delineating the Roman provinces which I am working on making, courtesy of Barrington Atlas data from board member Tom Elliot at the Pleiades Project. Links have been installed, when possible, to DigitalEarth, allowing users to access satellite imagery of the survey project areas.
   • Beth will then begin arrangements with Aaron Fuleki for a technology audit of the code, which should help with its clarity and concision for other users and projects with whom we would share it.
3. The funds:
   • We received our extension from Mellon, as you know, through June 2007. At that time we will have to submit a final report and accounting. I would like to ask if each co-PI could write a letter discussing the implications of the project for their teaching, research, and institution, so we can include it in the final report (send by 1 June!)
   • We have funds ($2500) for the tech audit.
   • Beth has purchased two 750 GB external hard drives to use as additional back-up for MAGIS code and data.
   • We have purchased sweet handheld GPS units, soon to be installed with ArcPad, to be delivered to each charter campus, to be used for:
     1. student practica in current and future CGMA classes;
     2. demonstration and training purposes;
     3. the research of CGMA faculty members;
     4. loaning to other NITLE institutions for use when they have students taking the CGMA course (item B-1);
     5. other suggestions?
     It is crucial that we all agree to maintain these units so that they last for a long time; use them lots, but keep them clean, protected, and secure.
   • Ask your students about who wants to do Spring term work-study on the project (the last year of cost-sharing by each institution); we have some unfinished tasks from the summer.
   • Discuss which student might be a good candidate for the last CGMA summer internship; s/he would put in 400 hours, and earn $3500. It would start May 29, and end August 3. The student may start working at their home institution (we can direct their work remotely using Skype), but as of July 2, we would want them to come to DPU to work with us directly (we can arrange housing).

C. What next:

1. The undergrad seminar: shift to NITLE inter-campus collaborative course (thanks to Rebecca Davis and Diana Sinton for their assistance and support!)
   Organization
   
   • K. Morrell will teach the Fall 2007 course; P. Foss of DePauw will teach the Fall 2008 course. We welcome volunteers for subsequent iterations.
   • Five students will be allowed to take the course at the home institution (to 'make' the class there, justifying it in the schedule)
   • There will be a cap of 20 students for the course across all participating campuses.
   • For the participating schools (out of the 93 NITLE schools):
     • Each should have institutionalized GIS support on campus (student access to ArcGIS 9 and IT training/support).
     • Up to 4 students from any one additional campus can register.
     • A faculty member (preferably an archaeologist, classicist, or GIS specialist) should be available to help students on their home campus during the first week get acclimated to the set-up and technical specifics of accessing the course.
   Course
   
   • Synchronous lectures/discussion over the Course Delivery System and/or VideoConferencing; 2 days/wk.: 2-4 pm slot ET, Tues/Thurs.; specific schedules to be worked out when participating institutions are determined.
   • Students get GIS training in ArcGIS 9 early in the term through their home institution.
   • Students complete a GIS practicum at their home campus; they may use GPS equipment at their home campus or borrow a handheld unit from one of the four core institutions (DePauw, Millsaps, Rhodes or Wooster).
     • A symposium is held at the home institution at the end of the term where students can meet and present the results of their practica. Q: do we look primarily to individual institutional funds for this, or explore other options to help with costs?
   I think Mike's syllabus shows the integration and evolution of the course, and should be the template for the NITLE course. I am therefore crafting a generic version that potential partners can use if they need it for the course-approval process at their own campuses.
   • suggestions and comments?
   • timeline for signing up institutions for 2007 and beyond?
   • needs of those partner institutions?
2. The research project:
   • We will soon be arranging trips to institutions across Europe to demonstrate CGMA (at universities and to governmental antiquities departments), find out about surveys we don't know about, and show them how to enter metadata for their projects. In the U.K. we will visit: Oxford, Birmingham and Leicester; We are working on trips to Germany, France, Spain, Italy and perhaps Slovakia. This is the distributive model of dbase building we originally had planned.
   • I am looking into partnerships with universities in the U.K. (e.g. Bradford, Leicester, Oxford); they have B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. students who need data collection, collation and research projects. This may be one way to acquire the 'manpower' for metadata mining.
   • Beth seems to have a secure position at DPU and will continue to perform programming and maintenance tasks for MAGIS.
   • I am also looking into (long-term, at least 5 yrs. down the road) a regional GIS research project for Roman Yorkshire, which could involve CGMA undergrads from our institutions, and involve low-impact research, perhaps some hands-on archaeology, and study-tours of sites and museums.
   • I need to make some informational updates to the CMGA website (several suggested by Diana); if anyone has any suggestions for improvements, please pass them along.

D. Questions? Comments? Discussion?