Digging Up Data was first organized as a series of three virtual workshops, collaboratively planned by members of the team at The Alexandria Archive Institute/Open Context (AAI/OC) and the American Society of Overseas Research Early Career Scholars Committee (ASOR ECS). These workshops, hosted live in fall 2021 and now shared on ASORtv, aimed to offer ASOR members an introduction to data literacy. What is data literacy and why is it important for archaeologists to be data literate? How do we begin to find, produce, curate, and analyze data? And how do we compose data-driven narratives of our research for diverse, public audiences? 

The overwhelming interest in this initial collaborative program around data literacy encouraged the AAI/OC and ECS to team up again to offer the next installment in the Digging Up Data series in 2022: an experimental professional development program entitled Turning an Idea into Digital Scholarship. Under the mentorship of Leigh Anne Lieberman (AAI/OC and Princeton University) and Tiffany Earley-Spadoni (ASOR ECS and University of Central Florida), participants worked for a year to develop a public-facing, engaging, data-driven digital project concerning some aspect of their research.

Building on the successes of this pilot program, we are excited to share a call for applicants for the 2023 cohort of Turning an Idea into Digital Scholarship. Participants in this selective program will have an opportunity to:

• practice basic skills around data literacy (e.g.: how to find and curate data; how to assess data quality; how to analyze data; how to create clear data visualizations; etc.).
• practice basic skills around digital storytelling (e.g.: how to write for public audiences; how to tell stories from different perspectives; how to assess the pros and cons of different digital tools and platforms; how to share and archive your digital stories; etc.). 
• meet (virtually) several times throughout the upcoming year with other participants and program mentors to engage in conversations around data literacy and digital scholarship.
• work one-on-one with program mentors to develop professional skills that will be useful for both the academic and the professional job markets.
• draft proposals for digital projects that can serve as the framework for future grant applications.
• begin to build some aspect of their digital projects.
• present some aspect of their work at the 2023 ASOR Annual Meeting (in person and/or virtually).