Blogging Archaeology: March Question

Admittedly, I didn’t do so well with Doug’s Blogging Archaeology carnival. I recently finished my graduate work and sort of took a break from any writing -it wasn’t a conscious break, it just happened.

But I like his effort and Doug certainly should be congratulated! Anything that gets this many archaeologists blogging and talking is nothing short of wonderful.

The last question he poses for the Blogging Archaeology Carnival leading up to the SAA conference in Austin, TX (I’ll be there, of course) is:

Where are you going with blogging or where would you like it to go? 

Interesting question. I started blogging about skeptical topics in 2007 (I think). As my education in archaeology increased, this naturally progressed to a blog that I now describe as being about “archaeology, anthropology, science and skepticism,” but I’m also very passionate about the idea of presenting archaeology to the public in general. One of the ways I’ve chosen to do this is by criticizing bad archaeology and “new age” notions of antiquity that simply don’t jive with reality. I’ve also devoted some space to posting interesting news about archaeological topics either in the mainstream media or from scholarly journals.

For mainstream media news, I’ve often tried to dig as deep on the story as I can, tracing back to the original research or press release, and basing commentary from there. I always have this idea that what I write is for a lay-audience, but I’ve had family members say it goes over their heads.

One of my future goals for blogging is to continue with what I’m doing but work a little more on presentation. I’d like to write stuff that appeals to readers who know archaeology as well as those that have an interest. I’m also focusing a bit more on social media and pushing news to my Facebook and Twitter feeds, which has had a bit of success. As far as the content, I’d like to delve more into the importance of preservation, the effects of looting and careless damage to sites, and the new advances in technology that help with archaeological research.