RR Standard Grant: Remote Sensing and the Rise of Conflict Archaeology

该项目将调查考古科学与反恐研究合作产生的数据的稳健性和可靠性。这项研究将集中在两组科学家身上，他们开发了新技术来研究叙利亚和伊拉克考古遗址的掠夺行为。由于有证据表明叛乱组织与非法文物交易有关，这项努力显得尤为紧迫。卫星产生的数据是这项工作的核心。卫星遥感的工作原理是捕捉成千上万的数字图像，然后在计算机上通过一系列数学函数对它们进行处理。尽管严重依赖机器和算法，但混合和解释数据的过程依赖于一系列的判断和个人解释，所有这些都是由参与者塑造的。培训、学科传统和机构设置。智力价值：研究这项工作固有的判断和协商提供了一个重要的机会，可以了解技术人员和分析师如何处理数据可靠性和复制问题。我们对跨学科合作的内部压力和可操作信息的外部压力如何塑造研究人员知之甚少。判断需要证据标准和方法。作为更广泛的影响，这项研究将为公民、政策制定者和伦理学家之间的公开对话提供信息，这些人关注的是新形式的敏感数据如何被用于制定有关海外武装冲突的战略决策。三个研究问题构成了研究的结构，每个问题都涉及到遥感数据的鲁棒性和可靠性。主要的实地工作将在两个地点进行：一个研究小组直接向联邦机构报告并从该机构获得研究支持，另一个研究小组在私立大学开展工作，不依赖联邦资助进行研究。在每个地点，调查员将观察三组参与者：探测器（技术人员、卫星工程师、机器）；分析人员（考古学家、非政府组织和智库人员，以及其他卫星图像解释人员）；和决策者（机构官员和政策制定者）。访谈和观察将侧重于协作关系、图像生成过程中的差距和重叠，以及政策建议的产生。比较这两个研究地点将有助于分析地点位置对研究结果的影响。该项目将有助于我们了解大数据决策如何为联邦层面的反恐工作提供信息。它有可能通过隔离导致数据处理和解释方面出现错误或突破的因素，将卫星遥感数据的应用转变为宏观社会问题。最后，这项工作将有助于社会科学中正在进行的关于可信科学和研究工作的共同构成的辩论，这些研究工作涉及不透明的、专有的数据收集和分析。关于卫星遥感数据管理和处理的研究成果，以及与考古数据的整合，将扩展到支持未来反恐研究、文化资源管理和卫星团队及其他领域的遥感杂交合作工作。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will investigate the robustness and reliability of data generated through the collaboration between archaeological science and counterterrorism studies. The research will focus on two teams of scientists that have developed new techniques to study archaeological site looting in Syria and Iraq?an endeavor given particular urgency because of evidence linking insurgent groups with illicit artifact trafficking. Data generated by satellites have been central to this work. Satellite remote sensing works by capturing thousands of digital images and processing them on a computer through a series of mathematical functions. Despite the heavy reliance on machines and algorithms, the process of hybridizing and interpreting data relies on a series of judgment calls and individual interpretations, all of which is shaped by participants? training, disciplinary traditions, and institutional settings. Intellectual merit: Studying the judgment calls and negotiations inherent to this work presents an important opportunity to understand how technicians and analysts grapple with problems of data reliability and replication. We know little about how internal pressures of interdisciplinary collaboration and external pressures for actionable information shape researchers? judgment calls on standards of evidence and methods. As a broader impact, the research will inform public conversations among citizens, policymakers, and ethicists concerned with how new forms of sensitive data are being used to make strategic decisions about armed conflict abroad. Three research questions structure the study, each of them concerned with the robustness and reliability of remote sensing data. Primary fieldwork will take place in two sites: one research team that reports directly to a federal agency and draws research support from that agency, and one research team that operates in a private university and does not rely on federal funding to do its research. At each site, the investigator will observe three sets of actors: Detectors (technicians, satellite engineers, machines); Analysts (archaeologists, NGO and think-tank personnel, and other interpreters of the satellite images); and Decision makers (agency officials and policymakers). Interviews and observations will focus on collaborative ties, gaps and overlaps in the image-generation process, and the production of policy recommendations. Comparing these two study sites will support analysis of site location impact on research outcomes. The project will contribute to our understanding of how big data decision-making informs counterterrorism efforts at the federal level. It has potential to transform the application of satellite remote sensing data to macrosocial issues by isolating the factors that lead to error or breakthrough in data processing and interpretation. Finally, the work will contribute to ongoing debates in the social sciences regarding the co-constitution of credible science and research endeavors that involve opaque, proprietary data collection and analysis. Findings about satellite remote sensing data management and processing, and its integration with archaeological data, will extend to supporting future collaborative work on counterterrorism studies, cultural resources management, and remote sensing hybridization in satellite teams and beyond.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.