Pasts in space is a two-day series of workshops for historians, archivists, and archaeologists. Through discussion and hands-on exploration, participants will learn about resources and techniques for using, creating, and sharing information about past places and spaces for their research, teaching, and scholarly communication. Particular emphasis will be placed on theoretical and “fuzzy” aspects: how to deal with incomplete, unlocatable, contingent, disputed, and uncertain toponyms and locations over the course of a project or investigation.
Students and scholars at all career stages and all levels of technical knowledge are welcome.
(1)
Pasts in Space: Getting started with the Pleiades Gazetteer
Monday October 21, 14:00-17:30
Speakers: Tom Elliott (New York University), Valeria Vitale (University of Sheffield)
Venue: Senate House MakerSpace (room 265), University of London
In person – book here.
21 October: Getting started with the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places
Part 1: Finding and using Pleiades data
- Nature, structure, and extent of data in the gazetteer.
- How to search, collect, and download place information..
Part 2: Creating and changing Pleiades data
- Modify descriptive summaries, toponyms, and connections between places
- Add more accurate or more complete spatial geometries
- Contribute notice of new bibliography
- Craft new entries for places and spaces not yet represented in the gazetteer
- Review and editorial workflow
(2)
Pasts in Space: Creating and curating your gazetteer
Tuesday October 22, 14:00-17:30
Speakers: Valeria Vitale (University of Sheffield), Tom Elliott (New York University)
Venue: Senate House MakerSpace (room 265), University of London
In person – book here.
22 October: Getting started creating and curating your own “gazetteer”
Part 1: Toward usable data
- Spatial knowledge systems and models for understanding and structuring spatial data: from coordinates to relationships.
- Different definitions of the same “place”
- Machine-actionable formats for past-oriented data, including the Linked Places Format, the Text Encoding Initiative, and Comma-Separated Values (CSV).
Part 2: Creating and curating
- Incremental data collection and editing
- Tracing origins and controlling data versions over time