Microsoft: “Introducing Microsoft Excel” (1987)
In class we've been working with Excel and Access to sift through some archaeological data and I'd just like to share some of my experiences using it so far. This is the first time I can say I've actually had to really work with either program. I use Excel at my work every once in a while but my use of it has never gone beyond adding numbers into those tiny fields.
I'd like to think of myself as pretty tech savvy but I have to admit that I've found both programs fairly challenging to grasp and handle. Not that they're super difficult, though. I think it's more that I've never had experience managing data like this and sorting through it. Excel is fairly straight forward to me. Access seems a little clunky but that's probably because I'm just beginning to understand what it actually does.
Now that I've really started to consider going into archaeology after my degree, I think it's really neat to see how archaeological data gets represented and how information is recorded. The sheer amount of data that has to be input into these programs as well as taking into account all of the discrepancies / inaccuracies that have to be weeded out sounds daunting! As well, the one database from the Anglican cemetery that we're working with for our project seems a good example of what kind of information can be represented by a database as well as how meaningful that info is to us afterwards. There were quite a few little inaccuracies in the database that people pointed out and that kind of makes me realize how easy it can be to misrecord and then misrepresent data and results accidentally.
Our projects are probably going to come up really soon so it should be neat to start creating some of our own databases with these programs!
- Aaron
Photo link: http://www.sadanduseless.com/2010/01/10-funny-old-computer-ads/
Now that I've really started to consider going into archaeology after my degree, I think it's really neat to see how archaeological data gets represented and how information is recorded. The sheer amount of data that has to be input into these programs as well as taking into account all of the discrepancies / inaccuracies that have to be weeded out sounds daunting! As well, the one database from the Anglican cemetery that we're working with for our project seems a good example of what kind of information can be represented by a database as well as how meaningful that info is to us afterwards. There were quite a few little inaccuracies in the database that people pointed out and that kind of makes me realize how easy it can be to misrecord and then misrepresent data and results accidentally.
Our projects are probably going to come up really soon so it should be neat to start creating some of our own databases with these programs!
- Aaron
Photo link: http://www.sadanduseless.com/2010/01/10-funny-old-computer-ads/
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