When data becomes information: visualizing archaeological textiles

Download

PDF Download (3382Kb)

Description/Abstract

The main focus of this work is on web visualization technologies that could be applied to visualize archaeological textile data. The datasets used for the project contain more than seven thousand records of textile fragments.

The web application Textile Recorder & Visualizer was created based on the WordPress publishing platform to maintain the records and provide the visual output of the data. Visualization introduces new possibilities into archaeological textile analyses. It also makes the data intellectually accessible for non-specialists.

Working with multiple datasets brings up many interesting issues related to preliminary data collection and data standards. Well-defined and organized data help to produce more accurate visualizations and open new possibilities for collaborations.

The project has clearly shown that there are always new ways to process and analyze archaeological data. Using web visualization techniques for that purpose was very successful and encourages continued work on that topic.