AAI’s Technology Director Eric Kansa is currently in Sydney attending the Stocktaking Workshop of the Federated Archaeological Information Management System project (FAIMS). FAIMS launched in the summer of 2012 with a major grant from the National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources program (NeCTAR), an Australian government program to build new infrastructure for Australian researchers (working in Australia or abroad). By the end of the project (Dec. 2013), FAIMS aims to have developed a portal containing a suite of compatible tools for archaeologists to facilitate the entire research process—from data collection to visualization, archiving, and publishing. The project is also prioritizing interoperability to promote the discovery and use of current and future online resources.

FAIMS is led by the University of New South Wales in collaboration with participants from 41 organizations from Australia and abroad. The Stocktaking Workshop is taking place this week in Sydney at the University of New South Wales School of Humanities. Eric will present the keynote address on August 16, Capacity Building in (Digital) Archaeology. A series of plenary sessions will explore such topics as Mobile Applications, Online Repositories, various aspects of archaeological data sharing and visualization, and sustainability.