Archaeology Data Service: Transforming the Accessibility and (Re-)Usability of Archaeological Training Resources

The Archaeology Data Service (ADS) is the leading accredited digital repository for archaeology and heritage data generated by UK-based fieldwork and research. Founded in 1996, the core activity of the ADS is the long-term digital preservation of data entrusted to its care from both industry and academia. Although primarily an organisation that serves the archaeology sector, the ADS is connected to, and interacts with, an interdisciplinary network of people and organisations across Europe. The ADS is committed to preserving and disseminating data under its stewardship in accordance with the FAIR data principles (for findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable assets) (Wilkinson el. al, 2016), ensuring that these valuable digital resources are available to support knowledge discovery and innovation for the archaeology and heritage community and beyond. As such, all resources archived with the ADS are provided open access and delivered through its website to facilitate reuse by the heritage sector and wider community. The ADS’s commitment to openness extends beyond its collections to sharing its expertise with organisations across the UK and Europe. It collaborates on large-scale research projects, provides training in digital preservation and data management, and publishes its well-established and long-running Guides to Good Practice (G2GP). G2GP is collaborative documentation that has been created by digital preservation experts and archaeological specialists to provide best practices for managing digital archaeological materials. Dr Nicky Garland is Training and Communications Manager at the ADS, based at the University of York. He is also an Expert-in-Residence in the 2024 cohort of The Turing Way Practitioners Hub. Dr Garland says: “Despite the ADS’ commitment to openness, we have identified a key gap in our practice – namely that our training and guidance materials are not currently shared in an open, accessible and reproducible way. ADS training resources are currently only shared with participants and internally with colleagues, and the widely cited G2GP have evolved over the last 30 years from a print to web format, which is currently difficult to navigate and not searchable.” This case study describes the ADS’s initiative to align these valuable knowledge resources with its core values by making them fully open and FAIR for wider dissemination. The organisation will accomplish this by 1) updating the existing G2GP to a new format to make them more findable, accessible and reusable, as well as authoring several new guides in this format; and 2) creating a portal for training resources produced and shared by the ADS.