Inscriptions to go: mobile platform for offline epigraphic data collection

Not all epigraphers work in the comfort of their office within an easy reach of their laptop, camera and online or written resources. Some collect evidence of ancient writing in the field, while on the move and in a degraded network environment. Often these field epigrapher resort to paper and camera and perhaps a gps as the most versatile yet complete means of recording the spatial coordinates, the appearance and the context of their find. All of these data need to be transcribed, downloaded and integrated after fieldwork, a process that is slow and error-prone. This paper/poster presents an open source digital tool for epigraphers that allows them to collect the spatial information, structured data and multimedia about each and every inscription on a single mobile platform, that works offline. The FAIMS Epigraphic recording module was designed for digital collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions in the field in various areas of the Mediterranean. This module was built using the open - source FAIMS mobile platform and exemplifies some of the strengths of this system, such as working with full functionality in a degraded network and being highly customisable. Moreover, I will show how anybody with basic computer skills can use the FAIMS platform to design a module tailored to their specific needs.