OASIS: Frequently asked questions (original) (raw)

General Questions

Why are there two OASIS systems?

OASIS V is the brand new system now underway in England. OASIS IV is the old system that dates back to 2006! At the time of writing that’s still being used in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the maritime zone of Wales. Scotland is moving soon though, see next question for details.

What version of OASIS should I use?

In England: if you have been told by the ADS or HER to use OASIS V. If not, continue to make any new records in IV and your data will be moved across in the current migration.

In Scotland: the timeline for migration to OASIS V is scheduled for much later in 2021 when we are using the submission of reports to DES as a suitable cut-off point. Please continue to use OASIS IV until notified by ADS or your HER, and do look out for alerts via the OASIS user list, Blog, or in most cases a direct email to the email registered with your current account.

In Northern Ireland and Wales (maritime) only, continue to use OASIS IV until instructed.

What does the OASIS acronym stand for?

It used to be Online AcceS to the Index of archaeological investigationS. To reflect the fact that OASIS covers all areas of the historic environment, it’s now just a name!

How will I know when my records have been migrated?

You should be notified via an email: either to the email address registered in your old OASIS IV account, or in some cases to the known OASIS V account Administrator in the new system.

Once records have been migrated, you can still use the old organisational account in OASIS IV, but you will notice that you can no longer edit or create records. Text on the screen also explains that your records have been moved.

How can I see more information about who uses OASIS?

The About OASIS shows you which countries are using OASIS. Links to pages for individual countries then gives much more detailed information. On these pages you will find a space that lists all organisations currently registered. Where relevant, it shows you how many OASIS records they are responsible for, a basic description of the organisation itself, and in many cases logos and links to external websites.

What does Lite and Standard mean?

This is used to denote the level of use by HERs in England only. In certain circumstances the HER cannot engage fully with the review process, and so the Lite action allows information to move through the system without review from the HER

OASIS LITE collects an enhanced bibliographic record (i.e. less information than the Standard OASIS form) which is used as discovery metadata for locating the report.

OASIS LITE records do not require any review from the HER user. When the core fields have been completed, the bibliographic record and report will be transferred to the ADS Library automatically, with no further action required from any user.

Administration Questions

Do I have to pay to use OASIS?

OASIS is free to use, including the upload of reports. Additional material for the digital archive should not be uploaded.

Who pays for OASIS?

The maintenance of OASIS is provided by Service agreements with Historic England and Historic Environment Scotland.

Who designed this system?

The current system (OASIS V), was based on a technical specification from the ADS based on an extensive consultation of the historic environment sector. The system you see here is thus the requirements of the sector.

Is this information all backed-up?

Yes. The ADS ensure the application code, database, and any uploaded files are backed up according to best practice. A brief contingency plan is also lodged with each national agency, ensuring they have the means to recover information from the ADS in the event of catastrophe.

Your Account

How do I get an Account?

All existing Level 1 (data creators) and Level 2 users (HER) should already have been contacted with details of their account, and the process for moving old accounts over to the new system.

If you are a new user, you can Register for an account using the link in the top toolbar. If you are creating a new organisation, then you can create that as well. In certain cases – where higher level users have potential access to large numbers of records - an extra level of validation will be in place before you have access to any records:

In these cases, ADS will review the account to ensure that the user is genuine and that there is no duplication with an existing organisation. New Level 5 users will be referred to OASIS Management Board where appropriateS

The information you have about my organisation is wrong. How do I fix this?

If you have already registered and signed up to your organisation as an Admin. You can use the ‘organisation profile’ to change any details we have on record.

If you are not an Administrator for your organisation, going to the organisation profile page will show you who is, and they should make the changes.

If there is no current account Administrator, or you are uncertain of the status of the account then please contact oasis@ads.ac.uk where we can advise.

Can I ask for my account to be turned off?

If you have created OASIS records, the account must persist in some form so that we know who created them. However we can remove you from the account and thus stop any further notifications from/about the system.

If the account and any records were created in error, and need to be removed completely please email oasis@ads.ac.uk.

I’ve registered, but the form says “waiting for approval”. What do I do?

Your request to join an organisation is waiting for the account Admin to authorise you. If this does not happen, please contact oasis@ads.ac.uk with your problem.

Please be aware that we need to be completely sure of the veracity of your request before we authorise you to join an organisation, so please have some form of evidence of your status to help us in this process.

Can I stop emails coming from OASIS?

Yes. Under your User Profile, go to “This user's notifications for Archaeology Data Service projects”. There you can see all the email notifications appropriate to your account, and if required set some/all to ‘Never’.

Who can see information about me I’ve put into OASIS?

If you have created or edited a record, a user with access rights to your record will see your name.

The only user who can see other details such as email addresses, is the ADS as Systems Administrator. The ADS cannot see passwords - these are encrypted in the OASIS database.

All use of personal information entered into OASIS is covered by the Privacy Policy.

Thesauri and Wordlists

Where do these lists come from?

The lists you see in OASIS are all from the Forum for Information Standards in Heritage (FISH) vocabularies, The FISH vocabularies consist of a number of structured terminologies for recording heritage assets such as monuments, buildings, maritime craft, historic aeroplanes, archaeological objects, components and landscapes. They also cover professional management and archaeological event terms (interventions), types of evidence and archaeological sciences (samples, ecofacts).

The vocabularies have been developed over many years, in collaboration with organisations such as Historic England (formerly English Heritage), ALGAO, Collections Trust and the National Trust.

I would like to recommend a new thesaurus on the keywords page. How do I go about this?

All of the wordlists are based on vocabularies created or hosted by the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage (FISH). The current thesauri used by OASIS have been agreed by the funders, but all are interested in hearing if additional lists are required.

To nominate a thesaurus, please email oasis@ads.ac.uk with the name and location of the thesaurus. This will be raised with the OASIS Management Board for review.

If you don’t think the thesaurus exists but should, please alert FISH with the comment and nature of the new thesaurus - it may already be in development or planned, so FISH would like to help!

The wordlists and lookups aren’t working, what do I do?

In rare cases, reliance on third party web services may cause these to be temporarily unavailable. The ADS will automatically know about this, and the issue will be resolved very quickly. If you find this issue persisting however, email oasis@ads.ac.uk where we will ensure the issue is resolved.

OASIS Plus Modules

How do I get into the geophysics module?

Search for and select the Activity Type ‘Geophysical Survey’ on the Activity Page. Once you have saved that page the option to complete the geophysics module should appear.

The ability to add in your technique type (e.g. Gradiometer Survey) is in the specialised module itself.

Location Section

How should I be recording Location?

Location is meant to record the extent of your study area. This can be a single central point, a thematic study area (such as a survey of churches in North Devon), a larger survey site that covers a defined geographical area.

The Help Text and Manual explains in more detail how these work.

Please note that the location is purely about the project location itself - if for example you are recording a project for a site in a certain parish, district or council area. You do not need to record the extent of the administrative area as well. The form does this for you once it knows where the project is.

My project covers a large area. How do I record the location?

Two options.

You can use the predefined list of administrative areas (counties, national parks). Please note that you can select multiple areas, for example ‘East Devon’ and ‘Exeter’.

If your area does not equate to a defined administrative area, then use the option to upload your own area. This is normally a Zipped Shapefile.

The form won’t let me upload a shapefile. What do I do?

In most cases the form should give a message stating why the upload has not been successful.

If you see the message ‘CRS not set’, this means that your shapefile is lacking a coordinate reference system (for example British National Grid), so the form cannot understand how to process and display.

In other cases it may be that the shapefile is too complex. OASIS is meant to store an extent of area, but cannot deal with shapefiles that contain very large numbers of vertices within a polygon, or else large numbers of polygons. If you see this message, think about how your shapefile could be simplified to denote your project area.

If you are a reviewer, and your extent of reviewing area is not being processed, please contact oasis@ads.ac.uk where we can assist.

If you are a user of any level, and your upload is not working but you think it should (for example, CRS present, simple shapefile), please email oasis@ads.ac.uk where we can assist.

Are you going to add better base maps?

Yes. We have initial agreements with the national agencies that support OASIS to act as a sub-organisation, and thus access OS maps under terms of their licence. This is being finalised, but hopefully going forward we’ll be able to add a much greater range of maps in.

Report Section

Do I have to upload a report?

It depends on the settings of the Level 2 reviewer selected. The Level 2 user has the option to select whether a physical upload of a report is mandatory or optional. Most are mandatory.

If multiple Level 2 users are selected, and with different settings, the form defaults to mandatory.

Can I embargo my report?

Yes, there are options on the report page to set an embargo, including where required “no release”.

The most reliable way of creating a link would be to use the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which has been allocated to each report.

A DOI is a persistent identifier which you can use to consistently and accurately reference digital objects and/or content. The good thing about these identifiers is that they will never change, so even if the url of a report changes, the doi will still resolve to the right place.

Each report transferred to the Library should have the unique DOI shown with the bibliographic record in OASIS.

This DOI will look like this https://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1008885

Not all OASIS records will have a report in the library. This may be because a report wasn't uploaded, or because we do not have permission to make the report available.

Why am I having problems uploading my report?

You may experience problems attaching grey literature to an OASIS record if the file is open.

Make sure your grey literature report is not currently in use before you upload it into OASIS.

If you are getting a time out error, it may be because the file is too big (see next question).

My report is too big - what should I do?

Reports are transferred to the OASIS server via FTP. There is currently no limit on the size of file that will upload, but if your report is very large and your internet connection slow, you may find that the time taken to upload the file renders the operation impractical.

If your connection is around 1.5Mbps or slower, then the file may be too big to upload in the time allowed and it might be better to try and reduce the file size.

Large file sizes can be created when very high resolution images are included within a report. You may find you can reduce the resolution of any large images included within the report without adversely affecting the user experience. This may significantly reduce the size of your files. Please try doing this before you try to upload. Remember that if you are struggling to upload a file, it is likely that others may struggle to download it from the form or the library at a later date.

If all else fails it may be helpful to know that the OASIS form allows the upload of multiple files. If your grey literature report is very large, you may find you need to split it down into smaller chunks before upload.

If you are still struggling, email oasis@ads.ac.uk and we’ll do our best to resolve.

What format should I upload my grey literature report as?

Files currently accepted for report upload include standard word processing/document formats: Microsoft Word documents (doc and docx), and Portable Document Format (including the archival pdf format 'pdf/a').

An archival format of the PDF standard is now available. This is called 'PDF/Archive' or PDF/A. PDF/A files are more suitable for long-term preservation than normal PDF files so if you wish to use PDF to upload your grey literature, we would prefer that you try to create them as PDF/A instead. We accept PDF/A 1 and 2.

The PDF/A format is supported by many different software packages, making it a format that is relatively easy to create and work with. You may already have software that will allow you to create PDF/A files, but if you do not, there is software freely available to download that should help.

If you wish to continue to create standard PDF files, there are a few guidlelines that should be followed in order to make these files as easy to preserve as possible:

PDF files should be created / saved as PDF version 1.4 or 1.7. The following settings should be used: Embed and subset all fonts Embed all colour information Embed all images Do not link to/reference external files Use standards-based metadata where appropriate Add PDF tags to the document to provide structure Do not include: Audio and video content (or other multimedia) PDF transparency Encryption or security measures e.g passwords or printing/opening/editing restrictions LZW compression Javascript Executable file launches

Please note: The ADS are unable to carry out preservation work and migrations on PDF files that have been 'secured', so will be unable to include these in the grey literature library and archive.

Why do my report filenames change?

All filenames will be changed as files are uploaded into the OASIS form. Each file will be renamed with a character string that consists of the OASIS ID for the record plus a numeric suffix. This is so that your report files are easily associated with the OASIS record they relate to. If you are uploading multiple files we recommend you do not make reference to other files within your upload by their original filename. Where your files should appear in a certain order please upload them in this order so that this order is reflected in the new filenames that are created by the OASIS form.

Can I use OASIS to upload old site reports?

Unless you have been specifically asked by the HER, then please do not upload backlogs of records. The primary aim of OASIS is to record current projects, or those close to the current year. Adding large backlogs can add to the work of reviewers (HERs) or duplicate effort.

Can I use OASIS to upload copies of journal articles?

No. The document upload is for unpublished reports only. You can use the section to record the Bibliographic details of any published reports the project has produced. This is helpful for all users to see where extra sources can be found.

Can I use OASIS to upload digital archives?

No. OASIS is for unpublished reports only. In England, users should consult the ADS where the ADS-EASY system can be used for small/medium deposits.

In Scotland there is the ability to upload images (for DES) and shapefiles (for informing Canmore). These are not formally preserved by the ADS.

Access to information

Who has access to my record?

Anyone authorised as a user of the organisation responsible for creating the record. For example all users of Oxford Archaeology will see all Oxford Archaeology records.

Each Level 2 reviewer (normally the HER), each level 3 user (Museum or Archive), and each national agency will also have access to the record at any point after they have been selected to review your record.

In Scotland, each record can automatically be accessed by Discovery and Excavation Scotland.

If you have chosen a Research Framework, registered users can see completed OASIS records. Completed equates to all core fields complete, record reviewed or record in the ADS Library. In Scotland, this is only accessible after the record has been reviewed and published by DES.

Other users of OASIS cannot see your record.

OASIS is technically a ‘closed system’, which means that you have to be logged in and have the correct access rights (see above) to see a record.

Public access to information entered in OASIS is through use of the systems where it is re-used:

I’ve registered, but the form says “waiting for approval”. What do I do?

Your request to join an organisation is waiting for the account Admin to authorise you. If this does not happen, please contact oasis@ads.ac.uk with your problem.

Please be aware that we need to be completely sure of the veracity of your request before we authorise you to join an organisation, so please have some form of evidence of your status to help us in this process.

Admin/Review Section

Which Reviewers do I choose?

For Level 2, in each case regardless of country you should always pick the local/regional HER. This allows them to see and access the information you enter to update their records.

If you are undertaking a project under Scheduled Monument Consent (SMC), you should see the option to pick this as a reviewer as well. Please do so.

If you are not undertaking a project under Scheduled Monument Consent, but do see this option, this means your project falls within or overlaps with the known boundary of a Scheduled Monument. If your project has nothing to do with SMC, then please ignore it and carry on.

On the Reviewers page I’m seeing the option for Scheduled Monument Consent Reviewer. I’m confused, what do I do?

If you are undertaking a project under Scheduled Monument Consent (SMC), you should see the option to pick this as a reviewer as well. Please do so.

If you are not undertaking a project under Scheduled Monument Consent, but do see this option, this means your project falls within or overlaps with the known boundary of a Scheduled Monument. If your project has nothing to do with SMC, then please ignore it and carry on, remembering to pick your local HER as reviewer.

What is the difference between the HER reviewers and the Historic England reviewers? Who do I need to pick?

For Level 2, in each case regardless of country you should always pick the local/regional HER. This allows them to see and access the information you enter to update their records.

If you are undertaking a project under Scheduled Monument Consent (SMC), you should see the option to pick this as a reviewer as well. Please do so.

If you are not undertaking a project under Scheduled Monument Consent, but do see this option, this means your project falls within or overlaps with the known boundary of a Scheduled Monument. If your project has nothing to do with SMC, then please ignore it and carry on.

My project covers a large area. Which reviewer do I pick?

Your large area will bring back any Level 2 reviewer the boundary overlaps. In most cases select all the local HERs you know your area covers, and you think should have access to the record.

Please note, if you are doing a Historic England funded project, you should always choose ‘Historic England review’ and the local HER(s)

Keywords and Results Section

How many terms are needed on the Keywords Page?

Fundamentally this is up to you. The Keywords are meant to help users understand the key findings of your record, and to help users of the ADS Library find your report.

They are not meant to be exhaustive and include every single find or monument type that may have been identified.

On the Keywords page, what do you mean by ‘Significant’?

As the compiler of the record, you are in the best place to record and communicate to other users. In most cases this would be reporting to someone on the key aspects of what you’ve found, and to draw their attention to the record and associated report.

Absence of evidence can of course, also be significant. So in certain cases where the evidence may be negligible (uncertain geophysics results, or unstratified finds) recording this section as No results of significance is perfectly fine.

What’s a Research Framework, and why am I being asked to fill it in?

Research Frameworks help us identify what is important or significant and provide research questions and objectives to help co-ordinate and focus our research effort. Please see information from Historic England and the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF) for more information.

Each individual Framework exists in OASIS, these are normally flagged when your project falls within a geographic extent or equates to a specific theme.

Adding a Research Framework means that these groups can access your OASIS record (when complete, and in Scotland when published by DES) and use the information to update specific Research Framework questions. This gives an extra dimension to the data you put into OASIS, and means your work is actively contributing to answering research questions.

More work will be spent on developing this section in the future.

Questions about HS2

I’m recording a project that’s part of HS2. What do I do?

You should login as the designated HS2 account associated with your organisation. You should also ensure that on the Reviewers page you select the HS2 reviewer and the local HER. Otherwise the OASIS form should be filled out as normal.

Who reviews HS2 records?

The HER level 2 reviewer is responsible for reviewing any HS2 records and moving them through the OASIS workflow. The HS2 level 2 reviewer can see, access, and where necessary edit records.

Archives

I can’t see the Archives module. How do I get this to appear?

On the Admin/Reviewers page you need to change “Is there an archive for this project?” to YES, and then use the options to select the future location of the relevant parts of the Archive.

Once completed, the Archives module will open up to allow you and the relevant Archive/Museum to record appropriate details.

The Museum I want to deposit with does not appear on your list. What do I do?

Short term. Please use the option ‘Archives no repository’ as a placeholder. Then, please email oasis@ads.ac.uk with a description of where you are depositing.

If possible we will create a record for this organisation and ensure relevant archives are updated to reflect. In certain cases, we will have to pass this issue onto the OASIS Management Board for resolution. Selecting the ‘Archives no repository’ will however allow you to move through the form.

Workflow Questions

Can I delete a record?

Yes. The Delete button is located in the new Admin section. It is accompanied by a notes field to explain why the record has been removed.

How do I know when my record is complete?

If you’re in the record, then the space next to the Summary section goes from a cross to a green tick.

If you’re on the project list view, under ‘Record info’ the grey icon turns to a green tick.

Technical Questions

What’s a DOI?

A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a persistent digital identifier. In short, unlike a traditional URL link it never breaks, regardless of any domain, systems or infrastructure changes that occur.

What is JSON?

A common interchange format used for moving data from one system to another.

Can I export records?

Yes. You can export any records you have access rights to. You can do this from the main project screen (including batch options), or individually from the Admin panel.

Current export option is JSON, and will include CSV in the near future.

A PDF version of the record can be exported from the Summary Page.

Is there an API?

A RESTful API is currently in development. Initially, this will allow users to retrieve records they have access rights to.

Activity Section

OASIS Licence Questions

Using OASIS

What web browser should I use for OASIS?

All modern browsers should work with OASIS V. We have found some compatibility issues with older versions of Windows Explorer, so if possible please do make sure your browser is as up-to-date as possible.

Your browser will need to have javascript enabled in order to take full advantage of the error checking mechanisms within the OASIS form. If you do not have javascript enabled a warning will appear on the login page.

Questions from HERs

I can only see some of my records, where are the rest?

To see everything your HER has access to go to Search (top menu), and then simply click Search. You can use the parameters if you want to be more specific.

Alternatively, if you need the data to take away, go to Export projects (top menu again), which takes you to a page where you can create a customized export of all records you have access to.

What is Watched Projects?

Watched Projects is a customisable list of all the projects you or your organisation have created or edited. It is limited to just showing more recent projects, in an attempt to show you what’s currently happening.

The Watched Projects page is split between Personal (records you have edited) and Organisational (any records anyone in your organisation has edited, or for HERs and Museums where you have been added in recently).

This is explained with a demonstration in this video

Remember, if you can’t find a record in Watched Projects go the the main Search page

Can I delete a report? If so, what does this do?

Yes, an HER can delete a report. If you remove a report then it sets the status of the page, and thus the record as core fields incomplete.

This should remove it from your list of HER actions, until a new report is uploaded.

What happens if someone edits a record after I’ve reviewed it?

Aside from the report page (see above), changes to the record by another user will not require further review. You should be notified of any changes, if you have not disabled these notifications on your user profile page.

This flexibility of the system is intended to encourage users to correct simple mistakes, or add in information from processes or work after the main event such as details of publications.

I’ve got records from another HER/area in my list

This is normally because of how the information/record was entered in the old system.For example an (incorrect) grid reference putting it in a different area. We hope we’ve caught most of these, but if records need moving back or over to another HER then please provide a list to oasis@ads.ac.uk

I’ve noticed some records have an incomplete status, but I’m sure I’ve reviewed them…

There are a small number of records where because a field was not found in IV, we’ve been unable to backfill the required section in V. A key culprit is where a user has entered multiple report details, but not uploaded a file for each one.

Important note: you can leave these! The ADS is doing further rounds of cleaning and resolving some of these issues

I’m looking at a record with no action or status. What does this mean?

If a record has no action that means it has all core fields complete, has been reviewed, and all relevant reports have been copied to the ADS Library. In effect, it is ‘complete’. However please note that users can still update, but if a new report (not publication) is uploaded then the status resets.

Can I (an HER) delete a record?

Yes. Find the record, go to the Admin page, and go to the Delete tab. As long as the report is not in the ADS Library you can delete the project, along with a note explaining the reason for doing so. As soon as you click delete the record is set to inactive in the database. This means it will not appear in default searches and lists, and will not be moved to the ADS Library (effectively, it is hidden).

At any point a deleted record can be reinstated by the HER user, and using the same page.

In the case where a report is in the Library, you can still submit a note requesting the removal of the report. This will be received by the ADS helpdesk and updated.