Shared Resource Fields

Authorizing Institution (info)

Begin typing the authorizing institution into the "Institution" field. Options already in tDAR will appear in the drop-down list. Select the one that matches the one you want to enter. If it is not available, complete the institution's name and select the "(Create new institution: name)" option.

What is the Authorizing Institution?

The "Institution Authorizing Upload of this Document" section records the institution that "owns" the resource (i.e., sponsored the production or publication of the document) and/or that gave you permission to upload the resource to tDAR. For example, if the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sponsored a report and they provided you permission to upload that report to tDAR, the BLM should be entered in the "Institution Authorizing Upload of this Document" section.

 

 

Individual & Institutional Credit (info)

Begin typing the information of individual being credited into any of the available fields. Options already in tDAR will appear in the drop-down list. Select the one that matches the one you want to enter. If it is not available, complete the person's name and current information (info) and select the "(Create a new person record)" option. 

Select the role that this person played in your project (e.g., Contact).

To assign institutional roles, select "Institution" .Begin entering text in the "Institution Name" field 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. 

Select the role that this institution played in your project (e.g., Contact).

 To add additional persons and/or institutions, click on the "add another" button. 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. 

Individual & Institutional Credit

Individual and institutional credit fields allow you to record the roles that various people and institutions played in the creation of your resource.

The "Person" field captures the names, contact information, and roles of the different people that contributed to your resource.

The "Institution" field captures the names and roles of institutions that contributed to your project.

 

Keeping Contact Information Current

It is best to input current the 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.  

 

 

Adding Identifiers

Begin typing the information of individual being credited into any of the available fields. Options already in tDAR will appear in the drop-down list. If an existing value matches, select it. If not, enter the name manually. Enter the identifier value in the "Value" field.

Choose whether or not you want identifiers inherited from the parent project. For more information on inheritance, please the section on "Inheriting Values" above.

What is an Identifier?

Identifiers in tDAR can include a wide range of values:

  • contract numbers
  • internal project numbers
  • permit numbers
  • Accession Number
  • TNF Project Code

Identifier "Name" will include the type of identifier, for example "State of California Contract Number" or "BLM Permit Number".

 "Value" will be the number or code for that Identifier, for example 2011.045.335 or AZ-123-45-10.

 

 

Spatial Terms (warning)

 

Choose whether or not you want spatial terms inherited from the parent project. For more information on inheritance, please the section on "Inheriting Values" above.

Enter as many or as few geographic terms as you would like to describe your resource. Use the "add another keyword" box to add additional terms. Use the trashcan icon to delete a term that you entered in error or that you would like to remove. 

 

Bounding Box

Use the Google Map display to navigate to your site location.

Click the "Select Region" button.

Craw a box that best approximates the area that your project investigated, or the area that is associated with your resource.

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.  

Coordinates

If you know the exact coordinates of your project or study area, you can enter them manually into tDAR. Click on the checkbox next to "Enter / View Coordinates". Coordinates can be entered in several different formats. For example:

  • 36°35′55″N
  • 53 08 50N
  • Decimal: -73.9864

 

 

 

How tDAR Helps Protect Your Site's Location

Spatial information describes the location of your project area and/or the location associated with a particular project resource (document, image, etc).  The spatial information entry section includes two separate components:

  1. general location keywords, including named regions, geographic features, states, towns, etc.
  2. a map that allows you to draw a box around your project area

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 "Clear Region" button. You may also click on the "Enter / View Coordinates" option and adjust the spatial information manually.

 

 

 

 

Temporal Coverage (info)

 Choose whether or not you want temporal coverage inherited from the parent project. For more information on inheritance, please the section on "Inheriting Values" above.

Enter as many or as few geographic terms as you would like to describe your resource. Use the "+ add another keyword" box to add additional terms. Use the trashcan icon to delete a term that you entered in error or that you would like to remove. 

To enter a calendar date range select "Calendar Date" from the "Date Type" drop down menu. Enter a calendar start date and a calendar end date for the sites or other archaeological/cultural resources that your project investigated. (warning)

Dates

 Use only numeric values in the calendar date text boxes (Do not enter calendar era designations such as "B.C.E" or "A.D."). To denote a date in the "B.C.E." designation, simply place a " - " before the date's numeric value. Thus, " - 200 " is equivalent to " 200 B. C. E."

If a radio carbon date range is available, click on the button "+ add another coverage date" and then select "Radiocarbon Date" from the "Date Type" drop down menu. Enter a start date and an end date for your project's archaeological resources. 

 

What is Temporal Coverage?

Temporal coverage includes temporal keyword terms, calendar date ranges, and radio carbon date ranges (if available) for the archaeological/cultural resources associated with this resource.

 

 

Investigation Types

Choose whether or not you want investigation types inherited from the parent project. For more information on inheritance, please the section on "Inheriting Values" above. 

 Investigation types describe the various types of activities performed during the creation of your resource.  Select as many or as few types that apply. (tick)

 

Hold your cursor over any of the investigation types to obtain a detailed description of the activities that an investigation type includes. 

 

 

Material Types

Choose whether or not you want the material types inherited from the parent project. For more information on inheritance, please the section on "Inheriting Values" above.

 The material types section describes the types of materials that were collected, analyzed, or discussed in association with your resource. Select as many or as few that apply to your project.

 

 

 

What is My Material Type is not Listed?

If a material type you're expecting is not listed above, you have two options:

  1. enter the material type in the "General Keywords" section
  2. contact tDAR and ask for it to be added 

 

 

Cultural Terms (info)

Choose whether or not you want cultural terms inherited from the parent project. For more information on inheritance, please the section on "Inheriting Values" above.

Click on the " + " box next to a cultural term to open a list of more specific cultural terms.

 

 

 

 

What are Cultural Terms?

Cultural terms describe the archaeological cultures and/or historic population groups who are affiliated with the cultural resources described, presented, or displayed in your resource. Select as many or as few cultural terms as you would like to describe the groups of people affiliated with this resource.

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".

What if the Cultural Term I want is not Listed?

If a cultural term you'd like to use is not listed, please add it to the "Other" section at the bottom of the cultural terms section.  Data curators review these terms regularly and update the list of cultural terms to reflect commonly entered values.

 

 

Site Information (info)

Choose whether or not you want the site information inherited from the parent project. For more information on inheritance, please the section on "Inheriting Values" above.

 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.

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.

 

 

Site Information

The site information section includes the names of the sites associated with your resource and a summary of the types of archaeological resources found at those sites.

Enter as many or as few site names as you would like to describe the work completed in the creation of your resource. Use the "add another keyword" to add more sites. Click the trashcan icon to delete site names that you entered in error or that you no longer want to associate with the project. 

 

 

General Keywords

General keywords allow you to add any additional terms that are not included in the other resource metadata.  This may include specific types of investigations undertaken as part of resource creation (e.g., "material sourcing","ceramic petrography","experimental archaeology"), specific site types ("rock gardens", "ground stone production area","shrine"), etc.

Enter these keywords into the text box 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.

 Choose whether or not you want general keywords inherited from the parent project. For more information on inheritance, please the section on "Inheriting Values" above.

 

 

 

Resource Notes

The resource notes field allows you to enter any additional information about your resource that is not captured in the resource 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 the resource you are uploading to tDAR. 

Select the type of note you wish to create from the "Type" drop-down box. Enter your note in the text field provided. 

 Choose whether or not you want any notes inherited from the parent project. For more information on inheritance, please the section on "Inheriting Values" above.

 

 

 

 

 

Access Rights

At the resource (e.g., document) level, access rights allow you (the project creator) to specify two kinds of users: 

  1. read-only users -- users who can view and download the resource file
  2. metadata only users - users who can modify the resource's metadata but CANNOT manage/download resource files
  3. full-rights users -- users who can modify the resource's metadata AND manage/download resource files

Note that access rights allow you to control ONLY who can EDIT the resource metadata and who can VIEW and DOWNLOAD the resource file. Access rights do NOT allow you to control who can view the resource metadata. 

To specify read-only users, select "View All" from the drop down menu to the right. Enter the names of persons who have the right to view and download resource files. You can grant these 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 download attached files.

To specify metadata only users, select "Modify Metadata" from the drop down menu to the right. Enter the names of the persons who have the right to edit resource metadata only. 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 this resource. 

To specify full-right's users, select "Modify Files & Metadata" from the drop down menu to the right. Enter the names of persons who have the right to edit resource metadata and manage/download resource files. You can grant access rights ONLY to registered tDAR users. 

 

Why don't I see the "Users who can view/download the attached file(s)" section?

This access rights section is only visible when you mark a resource as confidential or as embargoed. 

If you did not mark your resource as confidential or as embargoed, then your resource file(s) are available to all tDAR users. You cannot control the access rights to the file(s). You will need to mark these resources as confidential or embargoed if you would like to control access.

 

 

 

Done? Time to Save

Once you've completed your resource 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.