What is the prevalence out there of digital-only data collection? Are you still using paper forms for field data collection? A combination of paper and digital?
May 30, 2009
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NH SCRAP records on paper (in fact, cardstock, which is great in damp weather) and keeps _everything_, which is then transcribed onto digital. Pictures are all digital and you’re right, we should print some on archival paper. But at least the database is backed up several different places.
Comment by Laura Jefferson — May 31, 2009 @ 5:05 am
We use a combo, because it is just too easy to erase computers and other digital devices. So paper first and then digitize. Photos are digital and the photographer (or whoever gets the task) has to back up every night. I’ve been on a dig where the day’s photos got erased on accident once. Makes me miss the days when we’d do both digital and film. But it just took too darn long.
Comment by Archaeogoddess — June 1, 2009 @ 7:45 am
Ah, thanks. Reason I’m asking is that I’m designing the data collection for a cemetery monument assessment. It’s purely voluntary so there’s no real budget to work with and with +/- 1500 monuments to look at I am trying to avoid having to make 4,000 pages of data entry forms, as well as enter them. They’ll certainly get a paper copy for each monument, but a simple summary dump makes for a much smaller footprint, paper-wise. Pendragon Forms seems to be working pretty well for making up data entry forms for my Palm (and it uses Access), but I haven’t tested it out for entering multiple related records, and I’m not sure how sketch drawings will work. May have to resort to at least one paper record for any additional drawings or something, although Palm does have a little drawing app.
I’ve only seen a few descriptions in the lit about non-paper data collection. Frankly, I’m not all that concerned about data destruction, since I’ve seen paper records (and slides) disappear or be completely destroyed by accident (usually fire or flood). The big problem with digital will come in the future when old storage media and data formats may become obsolete. I mean, who has access to a 5.25″ floppy drive anymore, let alone an old reel-to-reel tape?
Comment by acagle — June 1, 2009 @ 10:52 am