Issue 19, Editorial

Judith Winters *

Cite this as: Winters, J. 2006 Editorial, Internet Archaeology 19. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.19.8

New Internet Archaeology leaflet - cover shot

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Internet Archaeology and the observant will notice that the journal has been given a small face-lift in celebration. There's a new logo, more white space ("room to breathe") and what I hope is a more consistent and intuitive layout to the about pages and to the issue pages that will make the content easier to navigate and access. The redesign will eventually be rolled out across the rest of the journal but for now has only been implemented in the 'open access' pages. The new scheme fits better with our newly designed leaflet which you may have already seen at conferences and inserted into selected publications. If you come across one, please pass it on your colleagues and spread the word about why they too should consider submitting (or subscribing) to Internet Archaeology. And if you'd like to have your own personal leaflet stash, or if you're organising a conference or workshop, then contact me at editor@intarch.ac.uk. Some could be winging their way to you soon!

Although the LEAP project (see below) has taken up much time and thought, I would not wish it to completely overshadow the other important international articles also published in this issue. Vermeulen et al. present multidisciplinary geoarchaeological work in and around the Roman urban site of Ammaia in Portugal, work that should be held up as an example of good practice in the field of geoarchaeology. Anaya Hernández and Rahn both report on how GIS has enabled them to explore more fully their own fields of research - on the Mexican/Guatemalan border and Orkney respectively. And last but not least, the rich and beautifully illustrated article by Geddes, on the long-term continuity and change of architecture in the Scottish Western Isles, draws on diverse sources (ethnography, photography, folklore studies and archaeology) to explore the use of local materials, the adaptation of local designs and the use of space over a 2000-year period.

Issue 19 has closed with the publication of Changing Settlements and Landscapes: Medieval Whittlewood, its Predecessors and Successors by Richard Jones, Christopher Dyer and Mark Page. The publication contains results of a project that explores the origins and development of a group of rural settlements in the Central Midlands, while also being the first of the 'Making the LEAP' exemplars to be published. The LEAP project is a joint Internet Archaeology / Archaeology Data Service (ADS) collaboration (funded by the AHRC under the ICT Strategy programme) which aims to investigate novel ways in which electronic publication can provide broad access to research findings in the arts and humanities. All the LEAP exemplars (this is the first of four) aim to enable the underlying data from an archaeological research project to be made available in such a way so that readers can 'drill down' seamlessly from the 'interpretative' top layer (the Internet Archaeology article) into the online archive (hosted by ADS) to test the authors' interpretations and develop their own conclusions. The two resources are completely interwoven. For 'Whittlewood', this has meant that while elements of the digital archive have been pulled 'into' or are linked from the article text, the GIS contained within the article permits users to search and run queries seamlessly on content in the archive hosted by the ADS. Clever, isn't it?! As ever, I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments on how this actually translates into the user experience. There's 3 more exemplars to come and you never know, your comments may well end up being implemented in one of the others we've yet to publish.

Speaking of the Archaeology Data Service, it's also their 10th birthday. The journal and ADS have worked closely together for the last decade. We continue to share experise, hardware, highs (and thankfully not too many lows), an office, a director and even a few drinks on occasion. So Happy Birthday Internet Archaeology and ADS and here's to 10 more years of collaboration!