Agenda for the 2002 Spring meeting of the CGMA Advisory Board

May 24-26, 2002, at DePauw University, Greencastle, IN

Three primary questions...We look forward to your input, whether or not you will be attending the initial CGMA meeting May 24-26 at DePauw University. These issues will be the core of the agenda at that meeting, and we appreciate your input. Please answer any or all of the following questions as you are able, on the Web-board for CGMA: http://pieria.acs.southwestern.edu:8080/~CGMA

1. What metadata do you think would be most important to be included in the CGMA GIS? (At this stage, it is an inventory of Mediterranean survey projects, and we will not yet be attempting to compile and compare raw survey data.). Some obvious fields are:
   • name of the survey
   • location and coverage (geographic coordinates of its limits) of the survey
   • dates when the survey was (or is) being carried out
   • names and contact information for the survey director(s)
   • summary of the ‘mission’ of the survey
   • chronological periods covered by the survey
   • characterization of the survey’s methodology in: sample selection and design; collection and processing procedures
   • complete bibliography of survey reports or studies using data from that survey

   What else should be included? If you were doing research on a region of the Mediterranean and needed to assess the survey work done on that area, what would you want to know?

2. What platforms or software would you argue would be most suitable for implementing CGMA? We have asked M. Beth Wilkerson, a programmer, to summarize the basic computing requirements for the GIS. (Note that the ‘constraints’ are really working notions, and are negotiable.)

   Constraints

   • The CGMA software will be implemented on the Macintosh platform using the OS X operating system.
   • The CGMA software will be implemented using the free open-source Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS GIS).
   • Data storage will be provided by the Oracle database server at DePauw University.
   • The CGMA software must be generally available, distributed via the Internet, gratis.

   Functional Requirements

   • Cartographic presentation of survey data: A base map of the Mediterranean basin (with navigable depth/resolution) overlain with the boundary-lines of current and completed survey projects will be presented to users.
   • Spatial query of survey data: Graphical selection of a survey project from the base map will present the user with project information for that survey.
   • Database queries spanning multiple survey projects: Users will be able to query the meta-database for all surveys meeting specified search criteria.

3. What issues and material should be covered in the Fall-term undergraduate seminar? What should the students know about theory and method; what understanding should they have of the history of archaeological survey in the Mediterranean; what practica can we design to simulate archaeological survey on campus; what equipment do we need to help teach the class; what skills should they learn so that they will be competent to help build CGMA? We are planning for a 14/15-week course, and will need to work out the essentials of this course so that we can draft the course proposals for acceptance by the Academic planning committees on the campuses of DePauw, Wooster, Rhodes, and Millsaps. The course needs to be on the books for Fall 2003.