D2.4 Interim Report on Networking and Integration

The deliverable D2.4 reports the work done in Tasks 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6 during the first 36 months of the project, assessing it and planning the related activities for the final period, i.e. months 37-48. Work done under Task 2.2 has been reported in D2.3.

The overall objective of WP2 is to “Extend and Support the ARIADNE community”, which is now being achieved through primarily online meetings, training events and conferences. There has been a focus on engaging with new partners to bring them rapidly to the same level of awareness as those who participated in the previous project, and a particular aim to extend our coverage in Central and Southeastern Europe. We are also working with major associations and international bodies, such as the European Archaeological Council (EAC) and European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), to help promote a FAIR approach to archaeological data, and to inform strategic policy making. We are targeting archaeological professionals and heritage managers, who may be less aware of ARIADNE than those working in academic and research institutions, as they are responsible for the creation and curation of large quantities of archaeological data. Finally, we are working with our international partners to extend the reach of ARIADNEplus beyond Europe.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a reduction in the number of networking opportunities and since M18, nearly all meetings have had to be held online but this has not led to any major deviations from the work plan for WP2, which is on schedule. Since our initial report at M18, the new portal has allowed us to start to demonstrate the benefits of data aggregation according to the enhanced AO-Cat data model, and this activity will intensify during the final work period: ● Special attention will be dedicated to new communities being incorporated in the ARIADNEplus one, such as palaeoanthropology, bioarchaeology and environmental archaeology.

• Partners will be encouraged to hold national and regional ARIADNEplus promotion and training events in their own countries.
• New partners will be more intensively involved through their data aggregation.
• We will continue to recruit more Associate Partners, particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe.
• We will promote the benefits of ARIADNEplus to heritage agencies, museum curators, heritage managers, professionals and professionals or SMEs working on excavations.