Process and Rumination
This section presents some basic information about the project and its evolution.
This software was created to help with the processing of the data from the Jezreel Expedition survey and excavation project 2012-2018.
No specific vision for digital data mangement existed at the onset of the dig. Notes were recorded on paper and entered into Excel sheets during field seasons and photographs were uploaded onto dig computers and/or in Dropbox folders. An obvious issue that emerged was the disconnect between the data recorded on paper and Excel sheets and the photographs.
When active excavations ended, it was apparent that ongoing collaborative efforts between team members and specialists in different countries required an online system. A set of parameters naturally emerged - the solution should:
- be web-based
- be suited to self-hosting
- prioritizes the functionality most relevant to specialists working on items from the site
- facilitate media integration (following the notion that written observations should be accompanied by supporting pictures)
- be easy of use
- use the easiest, cheapest, and least technologically complex solution
- allow for future institutional online publication and archiving
The software is a long-term hobby. It evolved into its current form through continuous addition and adaptation of new technologies, and interactions with specialists affiliated with the Jezreel Expedition who tested and commented on various aspects.
A new project focused on partial data from the Hazor Excavations was started in 2022. At the same year the codebase was rewritten in typescript.
In 2024, the Jezreel project was converted to the new typescript codebase and a project of partial data from Tel en-Nasbeh was added.