My birthday apporaches and, with it, the end of a very busy period. In order to apply for the second round of my current contract, I need to justify the advances of the project four months before I was expecting to with the Covid-19 extension. Luckily, most of the base work is done, but the web seemed a bit empty. So… today I will introduce some new features in the resources tag!
The first resource available is the repository of the project. Digital CSIC is an amazing repository for everything we produce. From datasets to papers, or any other digital outcome, it provides a estable and accessible platform to keep and share all we do. After some days working closely with the colleague in charge of the repository, we created the project profile, that makes it easier to find all the materials directly related to #pubarchMED. In the next few days, I will continue uploading things, cause there are quite a lot already. And hopefully it will become a good source of resources, and all the materials and datasets of the project.
Although it is not hosted there yet, one important resource we are also introducing today is the bibliography. Sometimes we have the feeling that nothing is being done in the South. However, both for archaeological heritage management and public archaeology we have a very large set of resources. Focusing only on the most known/accessible materials, the first version of the Mediterranean Public Archaeology Bibliography has already over 1000 entries. Now think about all those countries which I did delve into yet, those resources in languages I don’t fully understand, and all those others that I just forgot to retrieve. Probsably many hundreds more, even thousands. This is why I thought about this as a sort of collaborative project. Don’t feel that you need to join the group (which if you want to actually use it, you can, just ask), but if you want to surf it and check if any reference is there, feel free to. If it is not, tell me and I will upload it. That easy. Every once in a while I will add some resources and then upload here a new version with significative changes, both for the main one and the countries’ ones. So, please, get to know it and send feedback!
And finally, for the moment, I would like to introduce the network. This is something I have been obsesed with for a while, at least since founding the Public Archaeology Group one in JISCMail. But those of you who know me, are aware about my interest in developing more regional networks that can interact in a different level. This is why, although the first idea for this project was just an informal network (for me), I wanted to build something wider that can help researchers focusing on public archaeology across the Mediterranean. To be honest, this is some sort of first step towards a COST Action I have been wanting to implement for years too… however, we need to start from below, know each other and communicate well before that. This is why I want to encourage you to join it if you are interested in public archaeology. This is not an academic network, but one for practitioners and interested people. To little by little grow and become more present within traditional archaeology.
And, the last announcement today… A second step for that will be the end-of-project conference. Fully virtual, given the circumstances, and small. However, a good place to start gathering. Soon, I will post more news on this matter.
Now, back to work… keep in touch.