Infuse LAARC catalogue with your inspirations
September 16, 2009 Archaeology, LAARC, WebsitesYou may be aware that Museum of London holds a catalogue of summary information on over 7500 sites and projects that have taken place in Greater London over the past 100 years!
This information is managed by the Museums’ London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC). Just in case, you don’t know where it is, the catalogue is part of the Museums website and can be found at www.museumoflondon.org.uk/laarc/catalogue.
The web site is aimed at delivering the LAARC’s vast and invaluable data resources on London Archaeology to researchers and to the public at large.It was launched in 2000 and as we are fast approaching 2010 we believe after nearly a decade, it could do with some improvement. Ideas have been brewing for some time on how to infuse life into the LAARC online catalogue. Our vision for redevelopment of LAARC web resource is greatly inspired by the new generation Web 2.0 and cloud computing technologies for data mining and information exchange. However, ultimately our goal is to deliver to the users of LAARC a web tool that is beneficial for your investigative zest and that would help foster your interest in London archaeology.Your views are important to us and will help us greatly to move the project forward in the right direction.
We will appreciate very much if you let us know:
- Is the LAARC online catalogue a useful data resource?
- What can we do to make it more useful and interesting?
- What do you like/dislike about the current web site?
- What content, data, display, navigation or features are the most desirable to you?
- What would make the LAARC web resource more attractive to you?
I very much look forward to hearing from you. Please post your answers or comments in the comments box below, or email us at webmanager@museumoflondon.org.uk.
Many thanks,
Julia Fernee, Museum of London Web Development
Roy Stephenson :
Date: September 21, 2009 @ 3:37 pm
Is the LAARC online catalogue a useful data resource?
yes, very useful
What can we do to make it more useful and interesting?
Data doenlaods
What do you like/dislike about the current web site?
Like the maps
What content, data, display, navigation or features are the most desirable to you?
Multiple site maps, and site perimeters
James Gerrard :
Date: September 21, 2009 @ 5:22 pm
The catalogue is useful. Particularly for getting site codes / grid refs for particular sites that might be known by name rather than code (ie Winchester Palace etc).
It needs to conect more closely with the data. I want to be able to ask it to tell me every site that has a digital report for Roman pottery. At the moment I’d have to search for every site that had Roman pottery and then look at each entry individually.
I dislike the website’s unreliability.
More access to resources without needing to request the data from an individual. Site archives on line as pdfs or catalogues as delimited text is what we want!
Pat Miller :
Date: September 22, 2009 @ 8:59 am
It would be useful if the LARRC website could bring back the mapping attached to the sites – this was removed a while ago and queries to LAARC suggested it would be reintroduced – However whenever I use the site this facility is still not availbale – the only locator for sites is the NGR ref/address. It was very useful and should be made available again so you have a more specific idea where the sites are located in their respective boroughs.
Nick Holder :
Date: September 24, 2009 @ 7:22 am
The LAARC online catalogue is the main tool I use within the MoL archaeology pages. It is certainly very useful to me as a researcher with archaeological experience. However, I think that historians could and should use the LAARC data; this would be made easier if there were more keywords or tags for the data. For example a historian is more likely to search under themes like ‘monastery’ or ‘latrine’ than under sitecodes such as ‘THE07′ or pottery wares such as ‘Kingston’
Karen Thomas :
Date: October 1, 2009 @ 12:33 pm
I find the LAARC online catalogue very useful especially for enquiries about sites in specific areas. The summaries are very useful to get an idea of whether the site it going to be of use or not. It would be easier if the map search facility was in use especially if you could click on the site on a map and a little box of information appeared and perhaps the ability to zoom in to see the extent of the site and maybe even a site plan showing the trenches? Also I think researchers would find it useful to be able to download some data directly as they are not always close to London and a trip to look at the records is not that easy to organise.
Julia Fernee :
Date: October 1, 2009 @ 2:39 pm
I moved my response to the survey feedback to a blog entry Our vision for the LAARC on-line catalogue
There is now a group called Laarc catalogue which wiull follow up the updates on the development of the LAARC online catalogue
Finally the alpha release of the LAARC Search API is comming very soon.
Julia Fernee on behalf of the Web Development Team
Dr Ruth Richardson :
Date: April 13, 2010 @ 12:55 pm
The catalogue IS useful, a wonderful resource. How could it be improved?
1. agree with all suggestions above, especially about site naming, and object naming/gathering, and being able to home in on sites/things
2. Many of the reports etc seem very recent – I am more interested in old archaeology, ie: the history of archaeology in London, so I would very much appreciate information about where reports used to be published, before MOL, and if they are accessible?
3. areas of interest – I suspoect that many people like me (historians) might be interested in an area (Notting Hill, Drury Lane, Isle of Dogs) and it would be great if one could select/indicate on a map where one’s interest lay, and the map could SHOW what had been found there – and like another rsearcher suggested, click on each to see the artefact/data
I fully agree with what has been said about not having to contact staff – I do understand that the creation of an interactive map/finds shelf will be labour-intensive & costly, but why not a virtual museum store?
[I am interested in some districts which no longer have street names - completely obliterated by modern buildings - so hard to research!]
Thank-you for asking for our feedback, and best wishes to all those who have worked so hard to get the site to where it is… I hope our suggestions don’t disheareten you – they are not intended to!
Gary Cook :
Date: August 10, 2010 @ 3:01 pm
The catalogue is an excellent resource but something that would improve it would be the ability to save searches. Not just the results but also the search terms used.
In this way, a user could return to a previous search and simply amend the previous search rather than re-enter everything. Giving users the opportunity to create a user id would help this.
Keep up the good work!
Bilkis Mosoddik :
Date: August 17, 2010 @ 10:13 am
Thanks Gary. Julia has now left Museum of London but I will pass your comment onto our new developer when the vacancy is filled.
David Gordon :
Date: September 16, 2010 @ 3:50 pm
I do a bit of work with the GLHER. I find the LAARC catalogue very useful for checking records – sometimes theirs are incomplete, and sometimes yours are! Recently noticed though while working from home that you don’t seem to be compatible with Internet Explorer 8, at least on my PC. No idea why, but I’m having to use Firefox to access you. Which is not a problem, but it had me stumped for a while!
Bilkis Mosoddik :
Date: September 17, 2010 @ 9:21 am
Hi David,
I’m not sure what problems you are experiencing but I have checked and tested the LAARC catalogue on Internet Explorer versions 7 and 8, Firefox and Chrome and it appears to work.
Please can you send me a printscreen of the error you get to webmanager@museumoflondon.org.uk
Thanks.
Bilkis.
Sam Boggia :
Date: September 19, 2010 @ 12:30 pm
Is the LAARC online catalogue a useful data resource?
Yes, very useful
What can we do to make it more useful and interesting?
Map search
What do you like/dislike about the current web site?
Some of the site location maps are completely incorrect – for example placing City of London Sites in the West End
What content, data, display, navigation or features are the most desirable to you?
As above, a map search at street level
Bilkis Mosoddik :
Date: September 21, 2010 @ 9:24 am
Thanks Sam. I will add your comments to the list of things to consider when we have a web developer in position to make the changes.
David Gordon :
Date: September 27, 2010 @ 4:15 pm
Have sent you a screen print Bilkis.
David
Teresa Gilmore :
Date: January 9, 2011 @ 3:01 pm
* Is the LAARC online catalogue a useful data resource?
It’s a fantastic resource, and more museums need to do something similar.
* What content, data, display, navigation or features are the most desirable to you?
More photographic images and more detailed information on the finds. It’s great knowing there are medieval buckles from several different sites, but it would be really nice to have the detailed catalogue entry, or at the very least a photo. It means you can narrow down your search much easier!
* What would make the LAARC web resource more attractive to you?
More images of the finds!
Nicole (MQU) :
Date: May 21, 2011 @ 12:14 am
More photos of catalogue items for comparrisons and also dimensions would be great. Otherwise, one of the BEST databases I have come across for Roman scholars world-wide.
Joanna Wylie :
Date: May 24, 2011 @ 10:08 am
Dear Nicole and Teresa
Thank you both very much for your positive comments about the LAARC Online Catalogue!
It’s great to hear from finds researchers who are using our catalogue and you will be pleased to know that we hope to add a significant amount of new finds data to the catalogue over the next 12-18 months.
With regards to your requests for more finds photos however, I’m afraid this is not possible at the present time due to the sheer size of our archive and our limited resources. Our catalogue is a catalogue of archaeological archives, of which finds are just one aspect, and there is consequently a limit to the information that we can provide at the individual object level.
Best wishes
Joanna Wylie
LAARC Archaeological Records (Digital) Officer
Peter Marsden :
Date: July 20, 2011 @ 10:54 am
As someone who was responsible excavations in the 1950’s, 1960’s & into the early 1970’s, mainly for the Guildhall Museum, I find the LAA very useful. It seems to me that the excellent on-line archive would be massively enhanced by including a multi-phase site plan for each site. I realise that this requires one plan for each site to be scanned, but maybe this could be a task for volunteers over a number of years?
Bilkis Mosoddik :
Date: July 20, 2011 @ 11:34 am
Dear Peter, Thank you for your comment. I shall pass it onto my colleagues in LAARC. Regards, Bilkis.
Joanna Wylie :
Date: July 20, 2011 @ 3:32 pm
Dear Peter
Thanks for your feedback. Cath and I are pleased that you find the LAARC online catalogue so useful and we would love to make more digital records available online via our catalogue. Unfortunately, we only have sufficient resources to deal with born-digital records at the present time. Digitisation of selected hard copy records such as the multiphase site plans would be a large project requiring significant resources and we don’t have the necessary equipment (i.e. a large A1 flatbed scanner) to undertake this work on-site.
Kind regards
Joanna
LAARC Archaeological Records (Digital) Officer
Kevin Flude :
Date: September 27, 2011 @ 5:02 pm
Very useful – would be great if the site locations were linked to Google.
Also I search for Ken and Chelsea and looked at various stuff on page 1, then click on page 2 and by then it seems to have lost the search so have to research again, then straight to page 2 which is ok, same happens by the time I get to page 3.
Bilkis Mosoddik :
Date: September 28, 2011 @ 9:48 am
Thank you Kevin, these shall be added to the list of things to fix/look at.
Bilkis
Daphne Maynard :
Date: January 16, 2012 @ 3:36 am
I cant get into the site to look at
any of the details as there is no
place on which I can click for the file link. I was very disappointed in the system.
Bilkis Mosoddik :
Date: January 19, 2012 @ 11:53 am
Hi Daphne,
I’m not sure what file you are referring to. Please can you send me a link to the page you are looking at so that I can check?
Thanks.
Bilkis.
The working life of Museum of London » Blog Archive » Alpha release of the LAARC Search API is live :
Date: July 6, 2012 @ 2:30 pm
[...] and for the new feature reach LAARC Catalogue web GUI.Many thanks to those who responded to our September’09 survey. Your comments gave us an impetus for planning our work and prioritising tasks. We also drew [...]
Rose Baillie :
Date: March 13, 2013 @ 10:45 am
Dear Friends
Site record FNE01
Site name Vitro
Site location
60-63 fenchurch Street, EC3
Borough City of London
Year 2001
Location Latitude: 51.5120169 Longitude: -0.0795756
There IS a related publication for this site;
“Living and Working in Roman and Later London: Excavations at 60–63 Fenchurch Street”
by Vaughan Birbeck and Jörn Schuster
ISBN 978-1-874350-52-1
£10
MoLA are currently excavating a site on the other side of the street.
Regards
Rose Baillie
Jenny :
Date: March 29, 2013 @ 4:16 am
Photos or more detailed descriptions of finds – especially the woven/fabric ones
Meriel Jeater :
Date: April 3, 2013 @ 11:35 am
If would be really helpful if the maps on the site information pages were zoomable – at present the view is too far out for them to be very useful.
Janet Mayfield :
Date: April 12, 2013 @ 11:40 am
In trying to find information about oyster shell in your archive, I could not get any images or tentative dating.