Lecture | iDAI.field
iDAI.field. An open-source application for documenting archaeology
Thomas Kleinke (Verbundzentrale des Gemeinsamen Bibliotheksverbundes), Fabian Riebschläger, Lisa Steinmann (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut)
24 April, 10:00 CEST
The lecture takes place onsite in the Library of the Institute of Archeology in Prague (Letenské 4, Praha 1) and online via Zoom (https://cesnet.zoom.us/j/99286946372 | Password: 24042026).
Abstract:
iDAI.field is a free and open source software for documenting archaeological research. While it has been developed as such from the beginning, it was initially created primarily by and for the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), starting in 2016, with a focus on supporting the institute’s own field projects. The project quickly gained traction beyond the DAI. Therefore, since 2023 development has been advanced together with the Head Office of the GBV Common Library Network (VZG GBV), funded and supported through NFDI4Objects within the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). Today, iDAI.field is used in various university field projects, in the context of archaeological heritage management in Hamburg and Harburg (Archaeological Museum Hamburg and City Museum Harburg), and of course in numerous DAI excavations worldwide.
It is designed with best practices of research data management in mind, and built around structured data entry and standardized, interoperable formats that allow for long-term preservation. While it is streamlined along common archaeological methods and provides a number of related default forms and fields, it offers a high degree of project-specific customization through a graphical user interface. iDAI.field thus combines the need for basic conformity and standardization with the respective requirements of the individual research projects. Following an offline-first paradigm, iDAI.field supports the full range of workflows needed for interdisciplinary archaeological documentation in the field. Beyond the desktop application for data recording (Field Desktop), it includes components for internet-based synchronization (Field Hub), as well as a publication server (Field Web), that allows project databases to be published, searched, and accessed online.
