Public Archaeology in a Digital
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PUBLIC ARCHAEOLOGY IN A DIGITAL AGE By Lorna-Jane Richardson UCL Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the degree of Ph.D. in Information Studies I, Lorna-Jane Richardson, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. ……………………………………………………………………………… …………………………….. 2 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the impact of the democratic promises of Internet communication technologies, social, and participatory media on the practice of public archaeology. It is focused on work within archaeological organisations in the UK working in commercial archaeology, higher education, local authority planning departments and community settings, as well the voluntary archaeology sector. This work has taken an innovative approach to the subject matter through its use of a Grounded Theory method for data collection and analysis, and the use of a combination of online surveys, case studies and email questionnaires in order to address the following issues: the provision of authoritative archaeological information online; barriers to participation; policy and organisational approaches to evaluating success and archiving; community formation and activism, and the impact of digital inequalities and literacies. This thesis is the first overarching study into the use of participatory media in archaeology. It is an important exploration of where and how the profession is creating and managing digital platforms, and the expanding opportunities for networking and sharing information within the discipline, against a backdrop of rapid advancement in the use of Internet technologies within society. This work has made significant contributions to debates on the practice and impact of public archaeology. It has shown that archaeologists do not yet fully understand the complexities of Internet use and issues of digital literacy, the impact of audience demographics or disposition towards participation in online projects. It has shown that whilst recognition of democratic participation is not, on the whole, undertaken through a process of actively acknowledging responses to archaeological information, there remains potential for participatory media to support and accommodate these ideals. This work documents a period of great change within the practice of archaeology in the UK, and concludes with the observation that it is vital that the discipline undertake research into online audiences for archaeological information if we are to create sustainable digital public archaeologies. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration 2 Abstract 3 Table of Contents 4 Acknowledgements 8 List of Appendices 9 List of Figures 10 List of Tables 12 Chapter 1: Introduction 13 1.1 Introduction 13 1.2 Thematic Structure of this Thesis 18 Chapter 2: Researching Public Archaeology 21 2.1 A Background History of Public Archaeology 22 2.1.1 Meanings and Contexts of ‘Public Archaeology’ 24 2.1.2 Understanding the Audience for Public Archaeology 25 2.2 Social Inclusion and Public Archaeology 27 2.3 A Model for Public Archaeology 28 2.4 Community Archaeology 33 2.5 Managing Archaeological Authority 42 2.6 Public Access to Archaeology 47 2.7 Towards a Definition of Digital Public Archaeology 50 2.7.1 Contextualising Public Archaeology Online 55 2.8 Discussion 64 Chapter 3: Research Methods and Data Collection 66 3.1 Ethical Considerations for Data Collection Online 68 3.1.2 Data Collection Parameters & Other Issues 72 3.2 Literature Review of Research Using Online Surveys 74 4 3.2.1 Research Design: Coverage and Sampling 76 3.2.2 Surveys Undertaken 78 3.3. Netnography 81 3.4 Email Questionnaires 83 3.4.1 Archaeosoup Productions 84 3.4.2. Big Heritage 84 3.4.3. British Archaeological Jobs and Resources 85 3.4.4. Council for British Archaeology 85 3.4.5. English Heritage Archaeology section 86 3.4.6. Portable Antiquities Scheme 86 3.4.7. RESCUE - The British Archaeological Trust 87 3.4.8. The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland 87 3.5 Quantitative Data Collection 89 3.6 Qualitative Research and Grounded Theory 93 3.7 Scope and Discussion 95 Chapter 4: The Impact of Digital Inequalities on Public Archaeology Online 100 4.1 The Growth of Internet Technologies 101 4.2 The Potential Application of Internet Technologies in Public Archaeology 103 4.3 The Internet and Techno-Utopianism 105 4.4 Digital Exclusion and Digital Divides 107 4.4.1 Internet Access – Connectivity 109 4.4.2 Case Study - The Cosmeston Archaeology Project 112 4.4.3 Challenging Digital Inequalities in the UK 114 4.5 Information Retrieval and the Impact of ‘Search’ 118 4.6 Demographics and Internet Use in the UK 120 4.7 Demographics of Participation in Online Archaeology 122 5 4.8 Trolling, Privacy Concerns and Online Abuse 126 4.9 Dispositional Barriers to Participation Online 131 4.10 Discussion 135 Chapter 5: Participation, Evaluation and Policy 138 5.1 Engagement, Participation and Co-Production 139 5.2 Digital Public Archaeologies in Practice 145 5.2.1 Data Results From 2010 to 2011 147 5.2.2 Data Results From 2011 to 2012 148 5.2.3 Data Results From 2012 to 2013 149 5.3 Evaluating the Success of Digital Public Archaeology 151 5.4 Organisational Funding and Attitudes to Public Engagement Online 155 5.5 Managing Social Media Use Through Policy 156 5.6 Archiving Material Generated by Digital Public Archaeology 164 5.7 Discussion 167 Chapter 6: Online Communities in Archaeology 171 6.1 What is an Online ‘Community’? 172 6.2 Social Capital and Weak Ties 179 6.3 The Impact of Social Capital, Weak Ties and Online Activism on Archaeology 184 6.3.1 Cherrywood Crannog and Social Media-Based Activism 187 6.3.2 RESCUE - Difficulties Harnessing Social Media Activism 194 6.4 Twitter as Archaeological Community 197 6.4.1 The Use of Twitter at Archaeological Conferences 203 6.5 Leveraging Online Communities: Crowdsourcing in Archaeology 208 6.6 Discussion 217 Chapter 7: Case Study - The Day of Archaeology 220 7.1 Founding the Project 220 6 7.2 Project Structure 223 7.3 Participation in the Day of Archaeology 225 7.4 Exploring Use and Contributions 228 7.5 The Day of Archaeology as Archaeological Community 230 7.5.1 Analysis of the #dayofarch Twitter Hashtag 232 7.5.2 Online Survey 233 7.5.3 Analysis of Website Content 236 7.6 The Day of Archaeology as an Educational Resource 240 7.7 Archiving the Day of Archaeology 242 7.8 Discussion 243 Chapter 8: Understanding Archaeological Authority in a Digital Context 246 8.1 What is ‘Authority’? What is Archaeological Authority? 248 8.2 Multi-Vocality and Opening the Field of Discourse 254 8.3 Information Literacy and Information-Seeking Behaviour 256 8.4 Alternative Archaeologies and the Internet 268 8.5 Locating Archaeological Authority Online: Case Studies from the Twitter Platform 270 8.6 Email Questionnaire Case Studies 277 8.7 Discussion 281 Chapter 9: Conclusion 286 9.1 Overview of Chapter Conclusions 287 9.2 Future Research Directions 292 9.3 Conclusion 293 Bibliography 298 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research has been generously supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. I would like to thank my supervisors; Melissa Terras, Tim Schadla-Hall and Dan Pett for all their kindness, motivation, help, guidance and support. I am very grateful to Spencer Carter, James Dixon, Jan Freeman, Don Henson, Gabe Moshenska, David Osbourne, Matt Pope, Andrew Reinhard and Ethan Watrall for reading and commenting on parts of this thesis as it took shape. I would also like to thank all those who agreed to take part in my surveys, case studies and interviews for their time, and their kindness, in sharing their data, thoughts and observations. Huge thanks to the members of the Day of Archaeology collective; Jaime Almanza-Sanchez, Monty Dobson, Andy Dufton, Stu Eve, Tom Goskar, Pat Hadley, Matt Law, Jess Ogden, and Dan Pett. I would also like to thank the following people for their conversation, support and assistance: Marc Barkman-Astles, Andy Bevan, Chiara Bonacchi, Helen Bristol, Andy Burnham, Spencer Carter, Robert Chapple, Alison Clark, David Connolly, Hugh Corley, Adam Corsini, Chris Cumberpatch, Jim Dixon, Arlo Fitzgerald, Jill Goddard, Shawn Graham, Sam Hardy, Sue Harrington, Mike Heyworth, Guy Hunt, Peter Insole, Stuart Jeffrey, Gary Lock, Andrew Macdonald, Rena Maguire, Ben Marwick, Sarah May, Carol McDavid, Sarah McLean, Colleen Morgan, Martin Newman, David McOmish, Adrian Olivier, Hilary Orange, David Osbourne, Dean Paton, Sara Perry, Angela Piccini, Ashley Pooley, Clare Richardson, Doug Rocks-Macqueen, Henry Rothwell, Jane Ruffino, Anthea Seles, Caroline Smith, Dave Standing, Roy Stephenson, Suzie Thomas, Gerry Wait, Mike Webber and Brian Wilkinson. If I have forgotten anyone, please accept my apologies. For Ellie. For her loyal friendship, and accompanying need for regular fresh air and exercise. 8 LIST OF APPENDICES The appendices for this thesis are included on the accompanying CD-ROM, which can be found attached to the rear cover of this thesis. The contents are: Appendix A: Survey 1: Archaeology & Twitter 2011 Appendix B: Survey 2: Archaeology & Social Media Policy Appendix C: Survey 3: Archaeology & Twitter 2012 Appendix D: Survey 4: Preserving Public Archaeology Content Created Online Appendix E: Survey 5: Measuring the Success of Your Digital Project Appendix F: Survey 6: Understanding Barriers to Public Engagement with Archaeology Online Appendix G: Survey 7: Live-tweeting at Archaeology Conferences Appendix H: Survey 8: Archaeology & Twitter 2013 Appendix I: Survey 9: Using the Internet for Archaeology Appendix J: Email Questionnaire Results Appendix K: UK Archaeology Online Spreadsheets Appendix L: Day of Archaeology survey results Appendix M: List of Conference Papers Presented 9 LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 2.1: Approaches to archaeology suggested by Merriman, Holtorf and Matsuda & Okamura. 29 Fig. 2.2: Screenshot of the Heritage Gateway website.