Internet Archaeology (Aug 2023)
Understanding Data Reuse and Barriers to Reuse of Archaeological Data. A quality-in-use methodological approach Kristy-Lee Seaton, Rimvydas Laužikas, Peter McKeague, Vera Moitinho de Almeida, Keith May and Holly Wright
Abstract
Over the last decade, innovation has centred on making archaeological data more interoperable, increasing the discoverability of data through integrated cross-search and facilitating knowledge creation by combining data in new ways. An emerging research challenge for the next decade is optimising archaeological data for reuse and defining what constitutes good practice around reuse. Critical to this research is understanding the current state-of-the-art regarding both existing best practices and barriers to using and reusing archaeological data. This research aimed to understand how to optimise archives and interfaces to maximise the discovery, use and reuse of archaeological data and explore how archaeological archives can better respond to user needs. The study was bound by (i) the reuse of digital archaeological archives; (ii) orientation to content usability and reusability; (iii) maintaining a user-orientated approach; (iv) collecting data from professionals in archaeology and heritage. The research group members adopted the quality-in-use conceptual approach for this study. Quality in use is 'the degree to which a product or system can be used by specific users to meet their needs to achieve specific goals with effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, and freedom from risk in specific contexts of use'. The research methodology is based on the SQuaRE (System and Software Quality Requirements and Evaluation) model, represented in the ISO/IEC 25000 standards series. In addition, the quality-in-use metric for investigation of reuse and barriers to reuse of archaeological data were adopted from the standardised measurement functions and methods of ISO/IEC 25022:2016. The result was a methodological model composed of 5 characteristics (Effectiveness, Efficiency, Satisfaction, Context coverage and Usability) with 14 measures (Task completeness, Objectives achievement, Task time, Cost-effectiveness, Overall satisfaction, Satisfaction with features, User trust in the system, data and paradata, User pleasure, Physical comfort, Context completeness, Flexible context of use and User guidance completeness). The methodology was tested with specific Contexts of use (use cases), orientated to a distinct user with the specific professional goal of data reuse. Three use cases relating to 3D Pottery, radiocarbon, and GIS data were created. The pilot study has proven that the methodology works and could be applied in future research. This article discusses the application of the quality-in-use approach for evaluating the quality of digital archaeological archives, as well as presenting the methodology and the results of the pilot study.
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