event: Last Call for Participation in the International Petition (ACT Archaeology)

It is Go Sugimoto from the University of Florence. I am organizing a truely international petition (33 participants from all over the world) to support the survey I undertook in Japan and to create an international network of people for Cultural Heritage and ICT. Now, I would like to invite you to the LAST CALL for participation. The participants are from Japan, Italy, UK, Spain,Greece, Belgium, USA, Mexico, Malaysia, and Taiwan. (See who we are at:
http://chiron-training.org/go_sugimoto/digital_survey/act_co...)
It will take only 5 minutes to fill the digital petition form (Attachement below or from the website) and to send it to me by email. The closing date is 7th of December.

If you are interested and able to help us, please read the introduction (See below) to the survey (JAD2 Survey) and our activity (ACT Archaeology). You will also find all information in our trilingual website
(http://www.chiron-training.org/go_sugimoto/digital_survey/in...).
Thank you very much for your attention. I hope you look favourably on
our petition.

Best regards,
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
GO SUGIMOTO
Vast-Lab, PIN, The University of Florence, Italy
go.sugimoto@pin.unifi.it
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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JAD2 Survey
http://www.chiron-training.org/go_sugimoto/digital_survey/in...
It is not well known what archaeological information is actually
available, where it is stored, who creates it, and how to access it.
Thus, Sugimoto and Igarashi carried out a Digital Data Survey for
Japanese Archaeology (JAD2 Survey) in 2005-2006, in order to
understand what archaeological information is created, used,
disseminated and preserved in Japan.
The survey has three parts;
1)Web evaluation (Target: Digital data available on the web)
2)Questionnaire for organizations (Target: Digital and non-digital data
stored in-house, and the use of ICT in organizations)
3)Questionnaire for individuals (Target: the use of ICT and the needs of
individual archaeologists)
The survey successfully showed very interesting facts, but the response
rates of two questionnaires were disappointing.
It was not possible to acquire data from all over Japan, partly because
it was a private research, not supported by a public organization.

The Proposal and Petition Plan (ACT Archaeology and ACT Community)
We believe that the data we have collected is very important to discuss
and propose the future strategies of digital archiving for Japanese
archaeology. It is also useful when the international projects and the
exchange of archaeological data increases in the future. In fact, there
is a growing demand for the international standards in the domain.
Therefore, we have decided to submit a proposal/recommendation for the
re-run of the JAD2 Survey to some big archaeological organizations,
including Japanese government. The proposal seems to be a good idea,
particularly because Japanese archaeology is relatively centralized. It
seems possible to execute the second survey by a public organization
with authority. We are now collecting signatures from people who are
interested in the project and support our proposal, including survey
participants. This activity and its group is called "ACT Archaeology".
The scope of ACT Archaeology does not confine within Japanese
archaeological community. It is, in fact, an international propaganda
campaign which attempts to raise awareness of academic disciplines such
as "archaeological computing" and "ICT in cultural heritage". In order
to develop those subjects in Japan and at the international level, a
survey like the JAD2 is essential. This is why we have started the
petition not only in Japan but also in the international community. We
think that this is an exciting opportunity for those who would like to
get involved with more international movement in archaeology and
cultural heritage domain. I am kind of testing if there would be a
possibility to create (temporarily) a network of international
professionals (and more) in the archaeological arena. You can find the
petition form and proposal for the re-run of the survey on the ACT
Archaeology website
(http://www.chiron-training.org/go_sugimoto/digital_survey/ac...)

Since the international petition is not very beneficial for non-Japanese
participants, we have added the potential for sharing information among
members of ACT Archaeology. In the petition form, you will find email
address, websites, and comments of JAD2 Survey and ACT Archaeology. You
can choose if you would like to put some of such information on "ACT
Community" website.
(http://chiron-training.org/go_sugimoto/digital_survey/act_co...)
ACT Community allows you to communicate with other members of ACT
Archaeology and to create a possible virtual network around the world.
It is an exciting opportunity for the member of ACT Archaeology who can
express yourself, introduce your projects and interests, look for the
information of other members. For example, it may be possible for a
Greek PhD student to find an interesting Japanese project. Or a Japanese
conference organizer may invite a Spanish researcher. British professors
may look for a research partner in Europe or Middle East. In fact, there
is somebody who would like to promote a company website. Anyway, it is
up to you how to use this page.

Achievements and Plans
Actually, our activity is going well. So far, we have got 33 signatures
from Japan, Italy, UK, Greece, Spain, Belgium, USA, Mexico, Malaysia and
Taiwan.
We have published 2 Japanese and 1 English articles (more to come), and
made 2 Japanese interim reports available online. In addition, we made
many presentations in academic conferences, including CAA UK and
International. Moreover, we have contacted some committees of Japan
Society of Archaeological Information. They seem to be very supportive
for ACT Archaeology. Best of all, our campaign caught attention from
mass media.
The survey and activity were introduced in a national-level newspaper in
March 2007 (Asahi Newspaper being sold 3.8 million copies everyday).
We will submit the proposal in early December (Petition deadline is 7th
of December 2007).

I am very grateful if you can circulate the information of our survey
and petition (ACT Archaeology) among your colleagues. Any enqueries
should be sent to Go Sugimoto (go.sugimoto@pin.unifi.it).

Thank you very much for taking your time. I look forward to hearing from
you shortly.
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