Digital Dig Team is the first digital archaeological recording system in the world to also allow data to be instantly available online. But what does that really mean?
By harnessing the power of digital technology, we have developed our online recording system, Digital Dig Team. At DigVentures, we record everything straight from the trenches on smartphones and tablets, which is uploaded in near real-time onto the project website, instantly making it available for anyone to access. Digital Dig Team is also hooked up to all of our videos and social networks, so you can follow all the action live, or come back later and to catch up in your own time. Think of Digital Dig Team as a museum in your pocket, where objects go on display as soon as they come out of the ground.
Digital Dig Team was partially born from the frustration caused by many site reports and information going unpublished for long periods, resulting in much of the valuable knowledge and data being inaccessible and sometimes lost. Our system helps us to do our jobs better, and enables us to involve the public even more in our work.
As well as being our digital recording system, Digital Dig Team provides a hub of information about all the projects we work on, disseminating the dig and our finding to a global internet community. The ‘read-only’ version of the system has not only proved a vital resource for us (allowing us to engage volunteers and specialists to help identify finds and features whilst we’re on site), it has allowed anyone with an interest in archaeology to access the data for research or get involved with our projects directly.
The system has encouraged us to reach out to other initiatives too, and our records now incorporate 3D photogrammetry for structures, trenches and artefacts, which in turn has allowed us to 3D print some of our finds!
We truly believe that Digital Dig Team is the future of fieldwork, so why not take a look for yourself? Under the Team section you’ll find the amazing team of crowdfunders that have joined the project, and under the Timeline you’ll find all of the latest videos, photos, and updates from our social feeds. And don’t forget to explore the Open Data – that’s where you’ll see all the excavation data, as well as the 3D models, finds, and reports from past seasons. Dig in!
