Day of Archaeology
The Day of Archaeology is an annual, 24-hour, international online event in which archaeologists and those in related fields write blog posts about their work. It was inspired by the Day of Digital Humanities[1] and, similarly, allows practitioners of many kinds, to document their work informally and 'provide a window into the daily lives of archaeologists from all over the world'.[2] Though it encourages diversity rather than thematic posts, the project has some similarities to Blog Action Day.
Overview
[edit]The first event took place on 27 July 2011. The event is organised by a voluntary committee of archaeologists based in the United Kingdom, United States of America and Spain.[1] The main site runs a customised WordPress content management system and the event is promoted through Twitter and Facebook pages (see External links).
The project is supported by several British archaeological and academic organisations: server space is provided on the Portable Antiquities Scheme servers[3] and long-term digital preservation is provided by the Archaeology Data Service. L-P Archaeology and the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities provide technical and management advice.[1] In 2011 and 2013 the event was timed to coincide with the Festival of British Archaeology.[4]
The project covers any form of work that could be considered archaeology and encourages contributions from any level of professionalism.[2]
External coverage
[edit]Several archaeologists have blogged about the project in official[5] and personal[6] capacities and the project committee wrote posts on various other sites,[3][7] notably the Society for Historical Archaeology[8] and the British Museum.[9]
After the 2011 event a preliminary data mining analysis was conducted.[10] Similarly, after the 2014 event a topic modelling and keyword analysis was published.[11]
The Day of Archaeology project was nominated for a British Archaeology Award in July 2011 in the 'Best Representation of Archaeology in the Media' category and was highly commended.[12]
Event summaries
[edit]| Year | Date | Number of participants | Number of countries | Number of posts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 26 July | 1067 | Not known | 329 |
| 2012 | 29 June | over 300 | Not known | 343 |
| 2011 | 27 July | over 400 | Not known | 429 |
| 2014 | 11 July | |||
| 2015 | 24 July |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Day of Archaeology: Project Background". 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-07-18. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
- ^ a b c "Day of Archaeology: About the Project". 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
- ^ a b Pett, Daniel (2011-04-28). "Portable Antiquities Scheme: Day of Archaeology 2011". Archived from the original on 2013-10-31. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
- ^ "Festival Listing: Day of Archaeology". Council for British Archaeology. July 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
- ^ "RCAHMS: Day of Archaeology 2012". Retrieved 2013-04-19.
- ^ "Netzschichten: Day of Archaeology". 2011-07-28. Archived from the original on 2013-10-28. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
- ^ a b Richardson, Lorna (2012-05-30). "UCL Centre for Digital Humanities: Day of Archaeology 2012". Retrieved 2013-04-19.
- ^ "Society for Historical Archaeology: The Day of Archaeology 2012". 2012-06-22. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
- ^ Pett, Daniel (2011-07-27). "A day in the life of a lot of archaeologists". Archived from the original on 2012-02-02. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
- ^ Graham, Shawn (2012-07-09). "Electric Archaeology: Mining a Day of Archaeology". Retrieved 2013-04-19.
- ^ Marwick, Ben (2014-05-29). "A Distant Reading of the Day of Archaeology". GitHub. Retrieved 2018-02-04.
- ^ "British Archaeology Awards 2012". 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
- ^ The Day of Archaeology Team (1 August 2013). "Wrapping Up the Day of Archaeology 2013". Retrieved 30 October 2013.