Spring Institute : Digital Methods in Archaeology ​4th - 8th September 2017 The first Spring Institute, jointly organised by CAA Australia Inc. and the Sydney University Department of Archaeology, will be held from 4th - 8th September 2017 (arrival 3rd Sept) at the ANU's Kioloa Coastal Campus (KCC) on the NSW South coast. The Institute is targeted primarily at HDR students, ECR staff and junior consultants, although anyone with an interest in digital methods in Archaeology and a willingness to contribute to the discussions is welcome. Participation is limited to 30 people, including theme leaders, so please book early. Organisers: Ian Johnson (​[email protected]​) and James Flexner (​[email protected]​)

Cost Due to generous sponsorship carried over from the Perth CAA conference, we have been able to keep the total cost of the meeting for students and low income, for travel + accommodation + meals to approximately $450*. * Travel subsidies will be available to HDR/ECR/junior consultants to level total travel cost at around $200, based on cheapest available return airfare at 15 Feb 2017 and local car share from Sydney or Canberra (Sydney and Canberra residents are asked to contribute car share at no cost to out-of-town participants). Accommodation (shared rooms), meals and registration for the five days will be $250. Structure The Institute will be organised around five days of informal meetings, workshops, practical sessions and discussions each focused on a specific broad theme (see below). One or more experts in the day's theme will provide an introduction / overview - we will also be live linking to experts from the community overseas, where possible - along with a wiki-based overview document, which we will aim to flesh out further as a collaborative effort during the day.

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Anyone with examples to share will be invited to give a short (5 min max) presentation. The group will then break up into small groups to carry out practical exercises eg. in GPR, database design or simulation. or to workshop particular aspects eg. identify exemplar projects or seek a solution to a specific problem, and update the overview document, bibliography and other elements which are published through the CAA Australia information portal. Networking/social aspects The Institute is designed as a stimulating networking and workshopping environment for those interested in the application of digital methods in archaeology, with the opportunity to connect with the broader CAA community through video linkups and sharing of contacts, and to build a community of practitioners in Australia. It will not be another conference-style talkfest. For this reason it has been organised in an informal coastal location where everyone lives, eats and works in the same space, and it will be limited to 30 participants. It should be productive, and it should be fun. It builds on experience of similar, highly productive workshops and 'un-conference' meetings (ThatCamps, hackathons etc.). Historical note: the Kioloa field station was the site of "Holier than Thou" (1978), a meeting about excavation methods which spawned the Australian Archaeological Association conferences starting in 1979. Information on Kioloa Coastal Campus: http://kioloa.anu.edu.au/accommodation-research-and-conference-facilities/facilities

We have the Nundera Room and two of the accommodation units closest to the communal facilities (Packards and Kumasi), sleeping up to 40 in bunk beds. As we have some extra space we will try and accommodate requests for dual room occupancy at the marginal cost difference ($52.25 p/p).

The provisional themes for the five days are as follows (they may be adapted as we develop the program further). Day 5 will allow more in-depth work on those themes that require extra time. Discussion leaders are indicated (provisional, to be confirmed), however anyone is welcome to put themselves forward if they feel they would like to take on this role and/or propose a different topic - please contact ​[email protected]​ and / or [email protected]​ with suggestions.

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Institute Themes THE INSTITUTE IS A DYNAMIC COLLABORATIVE ENTITY - THIS PROGRAM IS PROVISIONAL. Topics may be added or removed or adjusted on the fly as the Institute progresses and conversations evolve. Please see CAA Australia website for updated information. Theme leaders are indicative, to be confirmed. Databases and knowledge management​ [Ian Johnson, Robert Haubt, Glen McClaren ESS] ● ● ● ● ●

Excavation, survey, laboratory, bibliographic, photographic and generic databases Services vs file-based systems Handling special data - lab data, rock art, 3D scans, sound and video Archiving and sustainability Practical exercises in modeling and building databases

Field data collection and community data ​[James Flexner, FAIMS project] ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

ArcTablet and GPS field data collectors, FAIMS app. Community databases and confidentiality, Murkutu Crowdsourcing and social media Public archaeology Satellites, drones, 3D data collection Multimedia Practical exercises in setting up team-based field data collection

Terrestrial Remote Sensing ​[Aaron Fogel and Kelsey Lowe] ● ●

GPR, Magnetometry, Resistivity, Conductivity and Magnetic Susceptibility Practical training sessions with GPR and other equipment

Simulation and Agent-based modeling​ [Ben Davies] ● ● ● ●

Agent-based modeling with NetLogo Bootstrap statistics Temporal modeling NetLogo for Archaeology training session

Updated information will be published as planning for the Institute progresses, at: http://au.caa-international.org/spring-institute/ Registration at: https://caaspringinstitute2017.eventbrite.com/

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