Interpretation at the Controller’s Edge: Designing Graphical User Interfaces for the digital publication of the excavations at Gabii (Italy)

Abstract

This paper discusses the authors' approach to designing an interface for the Gabii Project's digital volumes that attempts to fuse elements of traditional synthetic publications and site reports with rich digital datasets. Archaeology, and classical archaeology in particular, has long engaged with questions of the formation and lived experience of towns and cities. Such studies might draw on evidence of local topography, the arrangement of the built environment, and the placement of architectural details, monuments and inscriptions (e.g. Johnson and Millett 2012). Fundamental to the continued development of these studies is the growing body of evidence emerging from new excavations. Digital techniques for recording evidence "on the ground," notably SFM (structure from motion aka close range photogrammetry) for the creation of detailed 3D models and for scene-level modeling in 3D have advanced rapidly in recent years. These parallel developments have opened the door for approaches to the study of the creation and experience of urban space driven by a combination of scene-level reconstruction models (van Roode et al. 2012, Paliou et al. 2011, Paliou 2013 explicitly combined with detailed SFM or scanning based 3D models representing stratigraphic evidence. It is essential to understand the subtle but crucial impact of the design of the user interface on the interpretation of these models. In this paper we focus on the impact of design choices for the user interface, and make connections between design choices and the broader discourse in archaeological theory surrounding the practice of the creation and consumption of archaeological knowledge. As a case in point we take the prototype interface being developed within the Gabii Project for the publication of the Tincu House. In discussing our own evolving practices in engagement with the archaeological record created at Gabii, we highlight some of the challenges of undertaking theoretically-situated user interface design, and their implications for the publication and study of archaeological materials.

Primjena SfM metode u predmjeru zemljanih radova

“…Dakle, ukoliko je površina promatranog objekta kontinuirana i glatka, softveri 3D model objekta izrade jednostavno i brzo [9,10]. Međutim, ukoliko se radi o materijalu koji posjeduje određene neravnine na površini, kao u slučaju našeg promatranog modela, modeliranje postaje kompleksnije i potencijalno ima veća odstupanja [11][12][13]. U tom slučaju je bitno da osoba koja izrađuje model posjeduje određena znanja i vještine kako bi se problemi prilikom modeliranja uspješno otklonili.…”

The Site Problem: A Critical Review of the Site Concept in Archaeology in the Digital Age

“…The worry is that this may inhibit critical thought that mapping using more basic survey tools required. This is why new techniques that blend traditional fieldwork with other visual inputs from computers and/or virtual or augmented reality are necessary (e.g., Opitz and Johnson 2015). A related issue raised by Huggett is how technology is fetishized, which is dangerous in that it makes it even less likely that archaeologists will stop and consider what decisions went into creating data, and new technologies may spread more rapidly than the wisdom it takes to use them.…”

Editorial Introduction: Web-based Archaeology and Collaborative Research

“…New publication strategies and infrastructures should facilitate reuse and reinterpretation of data for specialists and allow nonspecialists to critically inspect our interpretative processes. Opitz uses the Gabii Goes Digital Project to argue for multilayered publications (Optiz et al 2016;Opitz and Johnson 2016) that aim to be credible with specialists as well as engaging non-specialists. The Gabii Team has been and continues to work with Michigan University Press to design and implement a digital publication that reinvents the excavation report using narrative and linked data to allow readers to see connections between data, arguments, and interpretations .…”