Sunday, December 26, 2010

OzArch summary of use from 2010


In the last couple of months OzArch has passed 2000 posts on 856 topics and has over 500 members (currently 548). However, fewer than a dozen members have been responsible for nearly half the messages. This suggests either the list is only of value to a small group of highly communicable members, or that archaeology in Australia does not have a high degree of interaction outside of set groups (i.e. conversations are kept within the confines of individual corporate, government or academic entities), or that OzArch is not a particularly important medium for communication. Unfortunately I don't have any measure of other communication systems between archaeologists, such as private emails, conversations around the water cooler, coffee machine, etc.; although comparison with the ratio of numbers of people attending and presenting at archaeology conferences suggests that there is a relatively low level of participation in OzArch.

A couple of my own initiatives to make OzArch more valuable have been to encourage archaeology blogging and get some useful data posted linked sites - such as the Victorian radiometric dates index.

Therefore I would welcome any suggestions for improving the usefulness and use of use of OzArch in the new year.


Gibbons & Masters Patent Brick