Zprávy památkové péče 2018, 78(1):13-19 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2018.1.03

Science 2.0 and information-sharing in the digital age

David Novák

With the onset of the Internet, pressure has increased to digitize the research process and its openness, on co-operation at all levels, and on a broader articulation of research results with a wider context (both inter-disciplinary and international). Not even archeology is able resist this new practice. It should therefore take advantage of digital technologies to secure its own data (improve sustainability), of its accessibility to the broad scientific community (increase efficiency), and of adequate communication with the public (dissemination of knowledge and education). What is important is that the digitization of research activities consists not only in the transformation of tools, but it necessarily leads to a completely new way of thinking about the way research is done.
These changes are referred to by terms ranging from "e-Science" to "Science 2.0" to the most commonly used term "open science". This term has been accepted by the European Union in defining the program European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), which is the backbone of new policy efforts to enhance the impact of innovation through the free sharing of all the essential parts of scientific research and the involvement of the widest possible part of society in the EU. The goal is to create a universal virtual research environment, supported from public sources and available to any type of user. Similar initiatives have emerged in a number of developed countries since 2000.
Thanks to the Czech Republic's current interconnectedness with the international research environment, changes in Czech science are reflected much earlier than was typical in the past, and the existing paradigmatic shift in comparison to the West is beginning to shrink. If Czech archeology wants to remain competitive and methodically up-to-date, and its funding is to be defended, the professional community must understand the ongoing changes and begin to apply them in practice. Initiatives working on the theme of Digital Humanities are offering a helping hand here, but so is political pressure for equal access to all areas of science and the resulting explicit support for those sectors that are lagging behind in digitization and openness. Open Science brings many important changes that latently resonate in ongoing discussions about the sharing of archaeological data, about appropriate ways of collecting archaeological information, and about changes in research methods. Science is clearly dealing with the same problems worldwide.
As long-term activities associated with the use of computer technology and digital tools in archeology have shown, our field of science has an undeniable advantage in the field of humanities and is one of the most progressive areas. Thanks to the newly created platform of the Archaeological Information System of the Czech Republic (AIS CR), Czech archeology is acquiring the much-needed infrastructure which it had lacked. We would be hard pressed, therefore, to find a more appropriate time to step out of our professional habits and fundamentally reform Czech archeology, especially regarding methodology and access to data sources. Although most representatives of the professional community would clearly agree that the work of archaeological heritage care is in the public interest, the opinions of the public and political representatives may be different. If, however, archeology demonstrates the ability to reflect current events on the international scene and use them to improve its own research and present the results to the broadest possible public, we will be able to shift ourselves into an age where our results will be a desirable asset, and archeology will be a prestigious scientific discipline. This is why we should try to advance from paper archeology to digital archeology - "Archeology 2.0" - based on the principles of "open science".

Keywords: Science 2.0, open science, archaeological data, information-sharing, archeology

Published: March 1, 2018  Show citation