Our data entry tools appear complex, but they have been designed to be as simple to use as possible. If you have used the DEBS methodology and recording sheets, it should be easy to match the fields in our tools with the fields on the forms. If you have data from a survey that hasn’t used our system, then please see the extra guidance on dealing with legacy data.
You will need to decide whether you would prefer to work with a questionnaire-like form or directly into a spreadsheet. The form requires you to be online as you use it, whereas you have a variety of online and offline options with the spreadsheet.
The advantage of the form is that it walks you through each field, step-by-step. This might be better for people that are unfamiliar with graveyard recording. It is, however, slower than using a spreadsheet.
The DEBS online data entry system consists of three forms, the first of which collects information about your survey, the other two collect information about each individual memorial and the people commemorated on them.
Please start by filling in the survey details form, using the additional explanation and examples to help you. Once you have submitted the form, you will automatically receive an email that will contain:
If you wish, you can share the links to the memorial details form and your Google Sheet with other members of your group. All changes are saved automatically, so you can leave and come back to the process as many time as you want.
To use the memorial details form, first select your survey from the drop down list – this should appear automatically once you have submitted a survey details form. From there it is simply the case of working through the various questions, transferring the information from your recording sheets to the form. You should complete and submit the form once for each memorial you have recorded.
After completing a memorial details form, you can use the person details form to add information about each person described in the memorial inscription.
Every time you submit either the memorial details or the person details form, the data should appear as a new row within your Google Sheet, in either the MEMORIALS or PEOPLE sheets. Within the Google Sheet, you can view the data submitted and make changes if necessary. You will note that encoded information (e.g. Memorial Type 4102) has been decoded, with the full text (e.g. ‘Headstone with round top, quarter-circular shoulders’) showing in the green columns. You can also add additional information by filling in the white columns on the INSCRIPTIONS, PEOPLE and RELATIONSHIPS sheets (see below for more guidance on how to do this).
However, it is important that you do not start new rows within the MEMORIALS, PEOPLE and INSCRIPTIONS sheets (ie. do not add data directly to the Google Sheet) if you intend to continue using the online form – this will result in some data not displaying properly.
The RELATIONSHIPS sheet can only be modified within the spreadsheet - you cannot use one of the forms to complete it.
In order to assign relationships, first complete the process of adding all the people to the PEOPLE sheet (either directly or using the person details form) - this is because the RELATIONSHIPS sheet updates automatically with information from the PEOPLE sheet. Once you have done that, you can assign relationships by memorial number using the dropdown menus.
Relationships should be recorded as they are written on the inscription, and only in one direction. For example, ‘Ann Jessica Wilson wife of James John Wilson’ records the relationship in one direction. You do not need to also record ‘James John Wilson husband of Ann Jessica Wilson’. If you are inferring a relationship rather than recording a stated relationship, please make sure you adjust the ‘Stated or Inferred’ field accordingly – you may comment on inferred relationships in the ‘Comments’ field on the PEOPLE sheet.
There are just under 1000 rows for use in each sheet. It is important that when you reach the marker at the bottom you don’t continue adding rows manually. Instead, please contact help@archaeologydataservice.ac.uk for help.
After you have worked through all your recording sheets, do one final check to make sure the data in the Google Sheet is correct – it will be hard, and potentially costly, to identify and fix errors at a later date.
Once you are happy with your data, please contact collections@archaeologydataservice.ac.uk to inform them that you have completed the data entry process using the DEBS Online Forms and Google Sheet:
Hello, we have finished digitising the graveyard survey data for NAME OF SURVEY using the DEBS Online Forms and Google Sheet. We would now like to archive our data with the ADS. Please could you outline the next steps?The digital archivists at the ADS will then work with you to complete the archiving process. Further information about archiving is available in our guidance document on digital archiving for DEBS.
Kind regards,
NAME, Chair of COMMUNITY GROUP
Our data entry spreadsheets are available for Excel, Libreoffice (version 6+) and Google Sheets, and each format can be used offline. Note that the Google Sheets version saves all changes automatically, but you should save your work regularly when using Excel and Libreoffice (even though they have their own autosave features).
The spreadsheet files consist of numerous sheets, but users should only work in the first four sheets: MEMORIALS, INSCRIPTIONS, PEOPLE, and RELATIONSHIPS. Do not work in any of the other sheets. Within each sheet, the example at the top shows you what a completed row should look like.
In the MEMORIALS and INSCRIPTIONS sheets, you should use one row per recorded memorial. Simply work across from column to column, filling in data from your sheets. Use only the white columns. The green columns will fill automatically, converting your coded data (e.g. Denomination: 12) into text (e.g. Roman). On some of our spreadsheets, certain cells have been locked to prevent you altering them by accident.
The PEOPLE and RELATIONSHIPS sheets work slightly differently. Here you can use multiple rows per memorial. You should finish adding all the people for each memorial before moving on to assign their relationships. This is because the RELATIONSHIPS sheet updates automatically with information from the PEOPLE sheet.
Relationships should be recorded as they are written on the inscription, and only in one direction. For example, ‘Ann Jessica Wilson wife of James John Wilson’ records the relationship in one direction. You do not need to also record ‘James John Wilson husband of Ann Jessica Wilson’. If you are inferring a relationship rather than recording a stated relationship, please make sure you adjust the ‘Stated or Inferred’ field accordingly – you may comment on inferred relationships in the ‘Comments’ field on the PEOPLE sheet.
There are just under 1000 rows for use in each sheet. It is important that when you reach the marker at the bottom you don’t continue adding rows manually, either by using ‘insert new row’ function or by continuing to type into rows beyond the marker. This is because the complex formulae that make the spreadsheet function will not be copied properly. If you reach the row limit, simply download a blank template spreadsheet and continue working in the new file. The ADS will be able to combine two or more spreadsheet files at the archiving stage.
After you have worked through all your recording sheets, do one final check to make sure the data in the spreadsheet(s) is correct – it will be hard, and potentially costly, to identify and fix errors at a later date.
Once you are happy with your data, please contact collections@archaeologydataservice.ac.uk to inform them that you have completed the data entry process using our spreadsheets:
Hello, we have finished digitising the graveyard survey data for NAME OF SURVEY using the DEBS Excel spreadsheet template. We would now like to archive our data with the ADS. Please could you outline the next steps?
Kind regards,
NAME, Chair of COMMUNITY GROUP
The digital archivists at the ADS will then work with you to complete the archiving process. Further information about archiving is available in our guidance document on digital archiving for DEBS.
Continue on to our guidance on dealing with legacy data
Go back to the main guidance page.
