As part of a recent NEH/IMLS grant, we reviewed over 60 archaeology-themed websites. Only one quarter of the reviewed sites had content in a format that made it, easy to reuse (such as clear licensing information, open formats, stable URIs, and machine-readable data).

In response, we developed a document, which we distributed at conferences and on the Web that provides guidelines for humanists who seek to share digital content on the Web. The document provides simple tips and examples of appropriate uses of the Web for sharing content. The document is meant to guide projects that are building websites or are revamping extant sites. The aim of the document is to raise awareness of good practices for sharing machine-readable content. The document highlights why good machine interfaces are just as important as human interfaces for the long-term usability and longevity of cultural heritage content. The document outlines several simple standards and design approaches researchers and collections managers can use to ensure that their websites follow good design principles from the outset. In addition to design tips, the document includes advice on how to approach digital resources to determine their quality and usefulness.

• Guidelines_Jan2011 (Acrobat PDF version)
• Guidelines_Jan2011 (Editable PDF version)