This is the summary to February’s question to the Blogging Archaeology blog carnival! If you don’t know what Blogging Archaeology is click on this link.
- Blogging Archaeology- banner from These bones of Mine. Image credit
Even though this post is the summation of what was said in the last month it is not too late to join in. Anyone can join at any time and you can blog about the previous months questions too, I will add them to the end here.
As always, apologies if I missed anyone. I went through links, comments, emails, and tweets to try and find everyone but I might have missed one or two. If I did, it was not on purpose, just let me know and I will add you.
Well I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I killed #blogarch. We had been running between 50-70 participants each month but this month we are down to about a little more than half a dozen. I made the question open and that pretty much killed it. I think Katrin sums up most people’s thoughts on the topic–
“Writing about blogging archaeology without a proper question is hard for me, as I feel I don’t have so much to say on the topic… so I more or less decided after the topic came out that I won’t participate properly this month.”
Though the few responses I did get were great so lets jump into them before going into the final #blogarch question.
Katy gave us My brother was eaten by cannibals.
Space Age Archaeology joins us for the first time with a look at ten years of blogging–
“I found it surprisingly hard to write about this from an academic perspective as it’s all so personal. I had no idea what I was doing really when I started blogging in 2004, and I don’t really remember what motivated me to start. I do remember very clearly the day I began the blog. I was in Adelaide for the International Space University Summer Space Programme, at which I was giving a guest lecture, and spending much of my free time in the Woomera archives at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation.
On this afternoon, I was in Dr Heather Burke’s house, alone in the middle of the day while she was at work. It was warm inside the bluestone terrace, and in the small sitting room, I was surrounded by bookcases and beautiful objects ….. bird’s nests, bark paintings, carriage lamps ….. I had my feet on the coffee table, an old traveling case, while I slouched on the sofa with my laptop.I decided to bite the bullet and just begin.”
“On the other hand, this also highlighted the gap that exists, in most cases, between those involved in “real academic” work and the ones doing the popular science stuff, often through blogging. More precisely,”real” science is still associated with the classic means of communication- journal articles, intended for one’s peers, while “popular” science is associated with the more modern means of communication, like blogging, media etc.There are several reasons for this, but the most important I think is that we (in the academic community) have yet failed to embrace the whole “going public” responsibility. Thus, because each of these means of communication has a different audience and employs a different language, they are viewed as holding various degrees of respectability. It doesn’t even matter that blogs such as Powered by Osteons, These Bones of Mine, Bones Don’t Lie, Deathsplanation, Doug’s Archaeology, Digital Public Archaeology or Field of Work are written by PhD students or scholars involved in academic/field work- they do not count as “serious” stuff (because popular science is not as important as the other one; read more about this here)”
” I’m always happy to see PbO cited by my peers (as, for example, in the newBioarchaeology book, and articles in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute and American Anthropologist), but this new article rubbed me the wrong way, particularly the section on “The Public FaceofBioarchaeology.” Here’s the most relevant quotation (p. 5, emphasis mine):The advent of social media has led to the rise of blogs, and blogging has made its way to bioarchaeology (http://www.poweredbyosteons.org/; http://www.bonesdontlie.com/; http://thesebonesofmine.wordpress.com/; Facebook pages such as the Bioanthropology News group and Osteocentric). These blogs provide a valuable service to the discipline, but still represent the perspective of insiders writing largely (we would argue) for other specialists and students. To really gauge the impact of bioarchaeology beyond anthropology, we data mined articles from Science Daily, a successful and popular news aggregator.”
“Creating a blog called Darkage-ology was, to me at least, something of a bold move. No serious archaeologist would ever use the term ‘Dark Age’ in a publication these days. People now say ‘early medieval’; an objective, chronological and altogether more suitable term. The ‘Dark Ages’ were so-called on account of their lack of historical documentation and, therefore, knowledge. The archaeology of the period, however, is not particularly dark at all. The period may not even have been as violent and miserable as previously thought.
It might seem a little odd, then, that a new PhD student, eager to establish himself and gain the acceptance of his scholarly peers, would use the phrase as the title of a blog. Not only might it come across as unprofessional, but one could also argue using the term reinforces a history-centric view of the past. Whilst these are good points, the fact of the matter is that most people on the streets of Britain might have little idea of when or what the early medieval period was, but everyone has heard of the ‘Dark Ages’.”
Katy gives us a bit of the history of Campus Archaeology’s blog–
“The blog on this website first started in March 2009 when the new Campus Archaeology website launched. Prior to that, the blog was held on the first Campus Archaeologist’s own website. The ‘new’ blog in 2009 began with posts primarily by Terry Brock that reviewed the basics of archaeology, as well as reviews and announcements of digs and surveys occurring on campus. A second author came on to write almost a year later in April 2010. Throughout this first period, the focus on the blog was informing the public about finds and upcoming digs.
Beginning in 2011, a team of graduate student fellows began publishing a variety of articles on the blog about their individual research into different aspects of Campus Archaeology and historic MSU.”
VCUarchaeology talks bit about the sort of work they do.
Edit– I forgot that Stephen brought us this great quote (my bad)-
“I’ve also become a blogger, and enjoy the ease and freedom of the form: it’s a bit like making a paper airplane and then watching it take wing below your window.”
Edit– Henry joins us with a dog sitting on a cat GIF, him making tea about a paragraph in, statistics, a dedicated archery group who are interested in how Stuart Prior built his Neolithic flat bow, and much more. If that does seem random, trust me it isn’t. Go an have a look.
Edit– Jake jumps in with his Hi, I am an Archaeologists post.
Final Question
Mailing List for Blogging Archaeology
Also, we now have a mailing list for participants. Basically, I will send out an email to anyone who wants to participate at the end of the month with links to the other posts in the carnival and next months questions. That way you don’t have to follow my blog to get the new questions. Emails will not be given out or used for anything else other than for blogging purposes. Link to mailing list here- http://eepurl.com/J05yH
Kelly M
March 5, 2014
I feel so disappointed in myself now, Doug. It’s been a bit of a hectic month so I never did get around to writing something for February and, like Katrin, I’m not very good with the open-ended questions as I just end up veering off on a tangent. Mea culpa… -_-
I promise to be onboard this month, especially since it’s the last month of this year’s #blogarch. Might as well finish what I started…a first for me. 😉
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
March 5, 2014
Don’t feel disappointed. To be very honest I almost didn’t answer my own carnival. Feb. was very busy for me too. 😉
Kelly M
March 5, 2014
Well, that makes me feel a little better. 😉
These Bones Of Mine
March 7, 2014
I have to agree with Kelly, I have also been really rather busy and so haven’t sadly gotten around to February’s month! I had an idea but just never the time to sit down and write it properly. If I got something down over the weekend/next week would that be okay?
Love the last self reflective question and looking forward to peoples replies! You’ve done a fantastic job of bringing together the archaeology blogging world here Doug and made people feel a part of something.
(P.S. cheers for using the banner still!)
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
March 7, 2014
Yes- anyone can enter at anytime. I will add it here once you post it.
Yeah- it is a bit embarrassing in that I almost missed my own carnival. February was a busy month for most everyone.
“made people feel a part of something”- excellent. That was the goal.
These Bones Of Mine
March 8, 2014
Thanks! Already got a new banner for the post, kinda the same but perhaps a bit more err open! You have certainly done that, looking forward to the culmination of the blogarch and hope to see another one someday soon!
These Bones Of Mine
March 17, 2014
finally got around to writing my convoluted post 😀 http://thesebonesofmine.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/blogging-archaeology-what-does-it-all-mean-to-me/
Alan S.
March 5, 2014
I have an excuse. Dealing with a family bereavement kept me off the ‘net for most of February. I’ll try to put something together for this month’s question though…
Lisa-Marie Shillito (@ArchaeologyLisa)
March 7, 2014
Final contribution (along with excuses for Feb!) http://castlesandcoprolites.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/blogging-archaeology-future-directions.html
Jonathan Haller
March 8, 2014
March post http://jonathanmhaller.weebly.com/2/post/2014/03/march-blogging-carnival.html
Kelly M
March 23, 2014
Here’s my contribution this month. I can’t believe it’s over already.. ;'(
http://archaeologyoftombraider.com/2014/03/23/the-future-of-archaeology-blogging/
Alan S.
March 23, 2014
OK, amanged to put something together for the March (final?) entry: http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/blogarch-what-now-where-next/
Katy
March 23, 2014
And here’s mine for March:
Geoff Carter
March 28, 2014
This is my contribution to this months question, [ I am not sure if I missed one somewhere, but I loose track of time – which is poor for archaeologists].
http://structuralarchaeology.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/blogarch-where-is-it-all-leading.html
Thank you again for getting all this together, and I hope it goes well next month.
titleunderconstruction
March 31, 2014
and here is Bodies and Academia reply to the final question:
http://titleunderconstruction.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/blogging-archaeology-final-question-where-are-youwe-going-with-blogging-or-would-you-it-like-to-go/
Katy Meyers
April 1, 2014
Finally got to mine, a day late but at least its done! http://bonesdontlie.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/the-future-of-blogging-for-bones-dont-lie/. Also, Campus Archaeology has one written here: http://campusarch.msu.edu/?p=2782
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
April 1, 2014
Not late. Still collecting till the 5th.
Cheers
ArchyFantasies
April 1, 2014
I’m late! But pity me! (story of my life).
http://archyfantasies.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/1167/
Lena
April 1, 2014
And here is my post for March:
http://ossamenta.dreamwidth.org/36979.html
dover1952
April 3, 2014
I am sorry too Doug. I really did want to participate in your Blog Carnival. It was the finest idea since interchangeable parts in manufacturing. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with a death in the family and a host of other serious issues that caused me to neglect even my own blog and the quality of what I write there. Thank you very much for your foresight and efforts.
Sarah
April 3, 2014
Hi Doug. I managed to write posts for the first and last questions. I blame it entirely on the dissertations, but at least there’s a kind of symmetry there.
Hope you enjoy! http://diggin-it-archaeology.blogspot.com/2014/04/my-future-in-blogging-archaeology.html
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
April 4, 2014
Hi everyone,
Sorry for not replying individually to you all, busy month. Thank you for submitting posts and I got them all now. Also, thank you for participating. It has been great fun for me to read all your work.
Cheers
Doug
titleunderconstruction
April 5, 2014
The whole carnival idea has been great, being challenged to answer the questions and having the pleasure of reading others replies, so it will be missed
Jenny McNiven (@strugglingarch)
April 22, 2014
Hi Doug! Bet you didn’t plan on any more carnival entries at this point, especially from some complete stranger, but here I am and here is my blog entry for last month’s question! Sorry I missed most of the party, I’ll explain in the post, so enjoy and sorry to be missing you at the SAA session this year!
http://jennifermcniven.com/blogging-archaeology/
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
April 22, 2014
No, never too late to join in.