The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Commission on Cyberinfrastructure for the Humanities and Social Sciences recently issued a detailed report that explores “cyberinfrastructure” challenges and opportunities for the humanities and social sciences. Since much of archaeology falls in these domains of scholarship, this report is very relevant to DDIG members.

I have only had a chance to skim through the report, but it looks very interesting. Some highlights include:

(1) The report contains some very interesting discussion about the problems posed by the current copyright regulatory environment both for the conduct and the preservation of research.
(2) The report also calls “upon university counsels, boards of trustees, and provosts to provide aggressive support for the principles of fair use and open access, and to promote awareness and use of Creative Commons licenses.” (see page 43)

Wow! These are very exciting developments from a very influential group of scholars and policy makers. Again, openness and access seem to be key concerns in making valuable scholarly resources. Moving this forward requires action not only by rank and file researchers, but also by their sponsors. Seeing some of these ideas enacted as policy by NSF, NEH, and other granting agencies that support archaeological research will probably have a dramatic effect on data sharing in archaeology and beyond. Successful passage of FRPPA (see here and here) will have additional catalyzing effects.

Study and understanding of this report will probably be important in the next few years for anyone developing a granting proposal for NSF or NEH. I”ll be sure to write more about this landmark report, since it seems to have several elements worth comment.

Some Important Links:

ACLS Website
Creative Commons Website
ACLS Humanities and Social Science Report (warning big .pdf file!)