Working Experiences with the Reconstruction Argumentation Method (RAM) – Scientific Documentation for Virtual Reconstruction

Interest in the field of digital heritage has grown considerably over the last couple of decades, giving rise to a wide range of representations that aim to visualize the past. Although the visual results of these efforts are relatively accessible, the knowledge underpinning the majority of these reconstructions is not properly documented and will most likely get lost. It is hard to proceed at a later stage with a further iteration of a reconstruction, as the earlier argumentation and the reasons for the decisions that were taken to arrive at the acquired interpretation are no longer available. In order to bridge this gap and to preserve the accumulated meta-knowledge, a web-based tool – called “sciedoc” – was developed in 2017. This paper presents experiences with this documentation environment and outlines considerations towards further developments. The experience of working with the tool led to the insight that it is not only useful for documentation but also as a communication tool between the academic and technical sides of the team carrying out the reconstruction. Moreover, further, different structures of documentation (“grammar”) came to the fore which might be helpful in the future. Lastly, this paper also considers the use of colored models to present an overview of plausibility and used sources in reconstruction.