Welcome back to another installment of the Boston open data newsletter. This month we will begin a new series called the Data Coordinator Spotlight. In this series, we will highlight the important work of one of the City of Boston's Data Coordinators. This month's inaugural interview will be with our very own Joe Bagley, the City of Boston's Archaeologist.
Data Coordinator Spotlight
Digitizing Boston’s Archaeological Heritage
What is your name and official role for the City of Boston?
I'm Joe Bagley, the City's Archaeologist since 2011, and I manage the City's Archaeology Program & Lab. I also conduct archaeological surveys and assist NGOs and private entities address archaeological concerns within Boston.
If you had to choose one project to highlight, what would it be and why?
The 1859 Industrial School For Girls in Dorchester because it has one of the most interesting and complete assemblages of artifacts we've ever recovered from a unique and interesting archaeological site. That said, all of our data is unique. I hope the Open Data portal will allow me to transform collections, which are currently stored in boxes and on shelves at the West Roxbury Archives, into digital data that can be used by researchers around the world.
We will be producing spreadsheet databases of our collections as well as digital images of the artifacts we hold. We currently have 1 million artifacts from excavations that took place prior to 1990, a period of time when digital data was almost non-existent. By digitizing these holdings researchers, for the first time, will be able to view and use our data without having to travel to our laboratory.
A 17th century pig skull excavated byarchaeologists from the outhouse of puritan woman, Katherine Nanny Naylor, ahead of the Big Dig tunnel excavations
(Image/Caption by City Archaeologist Joe Bagley)
When did you first hear about the Boston Open Data Program and what is your opinion of what we are trying to achieve for the city?
I first heard about the program this past Spring and I think the project is fantastic. It will provide developers and analysts with the raw data necessary to interpret the City's direction.
A gunflint from a musket found by archaeologists at a Revolutionary War-era British encampment in the Boston Common
(Image/caption by City Archaeologist Joe Bagley)
Do you think you will use the re-developed open data portal when it goes live?
Absolutely. I hope to utilize it to host data in an open, stable, and accessible way that may attract a new set of users to the open data portal.
Joe, we'd like to thank you for participating in the inaugural Data Coordinator spotlight. If you are a Data Coordinator and have an interesting story to tell, we'd like to know about it! Please send us your ideas at bosopendata@gmail.com
Since the beginning of June 2016, we've conducted follow-up engagements with 41% of the City of Boston's Data Coordinators. From these one-on-one discussions, we've inventoried and cataloged the following:
Discovered datasets distributed across 40 departments/agencies
Cataloged (on average) 12% of the discovered priority datasets
Please note that these are approximate figures that are subject to change as we continue to learn and iterate our processes over time.
Data Coordinator Updates Continuing The Work & July Summit (planned)
As we transition into July, the Boston open data team will continue to assist City Departments populate their open data collections. Our goal for July is to double our (on average) cataloging rate for priority datasets. This cannot be achieved, however, without your participation and expertise so we request that Data Coordinators schedule follow-on engagements. Please contact us at bosopendata@gmail.com to schedule an appointment with a data librarian.