What is a Project? (and why would I use one)
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Basic information for a project includes the record status, project title, description, resource collection name, and url. Enter the general information for your project as text in the provided fields.
Choosing a Record Status
By default, all records in tDAR are active. The status "active" means that they are visible to all users through searching and browsing. If you're just starting out, you may choose to mark a project with the status "draft."
Note: Status does not inherit from a project to resources inside that project. Thus, a project may be marked as a "draft" or even "deleted" without effecting any of the resources within it.
Identifiers
Identifiers in tDAR can include a wide range of values:
- contract numbers
- internal project numbers
- permit numbers
- etc.
To enter an identifier
- click in the "Name" field
- begin typing the identifier name. For example: "State of California Contract Number", "BLM Permit Number"
- many fields within tDAR include auto-complete, so tDAR may suggest existing values that match what you've typed
typed - if an existing value matches, select it
- enter the identifier value in the "value" text box
- many fields within tDAR include auto-complete, so tDAR may suggest existing values that match what you've typed
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Investigation types describe the various types of activities performed during a project. Select as many or as few types that apply to your project.
Note: You can hold your cursor over any investigation type to obtain a detailed description of the activities included in that investigation type.
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Enter as many or as few site names as you would like to describe the work completed during your project. Use the "add another site namekeyword" to add more sites. Use the " - " box trashcan icon to delete site names that you entered in error or that you no longer would like to associate with the project.
Select the "Site Type" descriptors that best describe the archaeological/cultural resources that occur at the sites you listed in the "Site Name" text boxes.
Note: Click on the " + " box next to a site type to open a more detailed list of descriptions for that particular site type. Select all the type descriptions that apply to the the sites you listed above in the "Site Name" text boxes.
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The material types section describes the types of materials that were collected, analyzed, or discussed as part of your project. Select as many or as few that apply to your project.
What if my material type is not listed?
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Within tDAR, cultural terms can be specific or general. tDAR will mark specific cultural terms with their generalized equivalents (e.g., "Early Woodland" is also marked as "Woodland"). Thus, if you select the specific cultural term "Early Woodland", your record will also be found by a user who searches for the more general term "Woodland".
Note: Click on the " + " box next to a cultural term to open a list of more specific cultural terms.
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- geographic terms for general location keywords, including named regions, geographic features, states, towns, etc.
- a map that allows you to draw a box around your project area
Note: If you draw a project location box that is 1 square mile or less in area, tDAR will display a wider box to other users to protect your project area/site location. See the section "What if I want to hide my site location?" below.
Drawing a bounding box around your site
- Use use the Google Map display to navigate to your site location
- click the "Select Region" button
- draw a box that best approximates the area that your project investigated
Entering Coordinates Manually
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- 40°44′55″N
- 53 08 50N
- Decimal: -73.9864
What if I want to hide my site location?
tDAR provides a number of options to protect the exact location of your project area and/or sites. If your bounding box is less than 1 mile square, tDAR will alter that box when it is displayed to users to obfuscate or hide the exact location. Alternately, you may simply draw a wider box.
What if I entered my site location incorrectly?
Simply click the reset button. You may also click on the "Enter / View Coordinates" and adjust the spatial information manually.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal coverage includes temporal keyword terms, calendar date ranges, and radio carbon date ranges (if available) for the archaeological/cultural resources that your project investigated.
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If available, enter a radiocarbon date by selecting "radio carbon date" from the drop down menu, and enter a start date and an end date for your project's archaeological resources.
General Keywords
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Enter these keywords into the text provided. If you decide to enter additional keywords, enter succinct keyword terms that accurately describe your project. Also, enter succinct terms that researchers in your area use commonly.
Individual and Institutional Credit
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Select a user that matches the person you would like to enter. If you do not find the person in the drop-down list, enter that person and their current contact information (i.e., current email address and current institutional affiliation) as accurately as you can. If you are unsure of a person's email address and their current institutional affiliation, please leave those record boxes blank. Finally, select the role that this person played in your project.
The "Institution Name" field captures the names and roles of institutions that contributed to your project. Begin entering text in the "Institution Name" record box to obtain a drop-down list of institutions currently entered into tDAR. Select the institution that matches the one you would like to enter. If you do not find that institution in the drop-down list, enter the full name manually.
To add additional persons and/or institutions, click on the "add personanother" and /or the "add institutionPerson" or Institution buttons. If a person or an institution played more than one role in your project, you will need to a separate record for that person or institution to record that role.
Museum or Archive Collections
The source collection field allows you to enter the museum or archive accession that contains the artifacts, original photographs, or original notes that are described in this tDAR record.
Notes
The notes field allows you to enter any additional information about your project that is not captured in the project metadata fields. This field acts as a comments section, where you can enter a small narrative that might help other users better understand some important aspect of your project.
Select the type of note you wish to create from the "Type" drop-down box. Enter your note in the text field provided.
Access Rights
At the project level, access rights allow you (the project creator) to specify users who can edit this project metadata and its records. Note that access rights allows you to control ONLY who can EDIT this information (It does not control project visibility.).
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Enter the names of persons who have the right to edit the project metadata. You can grant access rights ONLY to registered tDAR users. When you begin to type in any of the text boxes provided, tDAR will provide suggestions to you from among its registered users. Select the tDAR user(s) that have the right to edit your project metadata.
Done? Time to Save
Once you've completed your project entry, click the "Save" button at the bottom of the project page or on the toolbar at the top of the page to save your metadata.
You will then be taken to a screen that displays your project metadata as it appears to other users. This screen also displays any information resources that you have associated with this project.
Editing a Project
To edit the project metadata, click "Edit" on the view page toolbar.
Editing a Project
After you have created and saved project metadata, you may continue to update and/or change that information by editing the project.
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- locate project toolbar below the main tDAR toolbar
- click on the button labeled "edit"
- scroll through the project metadata entry sections to locate the fields you wish to update or change (for information on how to enter information into these metadata fields, see the section "Creating a Project" above)
"Inheriting" Project Metadata
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First, you will need to create a resource that is associated with your project. In the project toolbar, click the "add information new resource buttonto project". You can also
Second, you can create new resource by holding your cursor over the "NewUpload" button in the tDAR toolbar. Select the type of resource you want to create from the drop-down menu that appears.
Second, on the "Add a New Information Resource" screen, select the type of resource you would like to add to your project:
- coding sheet
- dataset
- document
- image
- ontology
Once you have selected the type of resource you wish to add, you will be taken to the metadata entry screen for that resource. The metadata entry screens will present with you options to inherit metadata from the project level to the resource you are creating.
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How do I "inherit" Metadata from a Project?
- In the "General Information" section for your resource, select the project with which this resource is associated
- In any keyword section on the resource metadata entry page, click the "Inherit values from ...." box to inherit metadata from your associated project
What if I change the values in my project?
If you change any metadata values at the project level, tDAR will update those "inherited" values at the resource level.
For example, if you change "Investigation Types" for your project, any resource that inherited "Investigation Types" from that project will be automatically updated.
What if I only want to inherit "some" of the values in my project?
tDAR allows you to inherit values section by section.
You can also inherit values by clicking on the "inherit values..." box, and then un-select the box to make additional changes that are particular to that resource. For example, you can inherit the spatial information from a project to a related resource. You can then un-select the "inherit values..." box to add or subtract location keyword terms particular to that individual resource.
You can also use the project as a template for your resource entry. You can simply enable inheritance to "copy" the values from the project, and then turn inheritance off to make specific changes.