Scrappy Thinking Tuesday

On Friday, David Pettegrew and I are giving a paper titled “Convivial Survey and Publication of the Corinthian Countryside: Lessons Learned from the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey” in Seville, Spain (via Zoom). This will draw fairly heavily on a paper that we’ve prepared for the Journal of Field Archaeology.

My responsibility for the paper is the section on Digital Publication. 

I want to argue that there is a connection between convivial practice in survey archaeology and collaborative publishing models. In particular, I am going to suggest that the decentralized authority associated with intensive pedestrian fieldwork both supports and requires collaborative practices in archaeological knowledge making. The dispersed character of survey teams means that team leaders (and indeed field walkers) tend to have greater autonomy in decision making than in the more spatially condensed situation of excavation allow field and project directors more direct supervision.   

This has certain parallels with the growing trend toward collaborative, scholar-led publishing in which groups of scholars worked together to produce publications. This model with its emphasis on convivial and collaborative knowledge making is central to how The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota has pursued its work over its decade long existence. In fact, I’ve published on this.

My contribution to the paper will trace how the spirit of survey archaeology infused our publishing process and decisions. On the one hand, I will stress that the book underwent rigorous peer review. On the other hand, the publication process involved collaboration across every step of the process to produce this book. The use of off-the-shelf technology and more “DIY” practices embraced a more “punk” approach to publishing. The publication of the book under an Open Access license demonstrated the potential of collaborative publishing. Practically, collaboration kept the cost of design, layout, and production low. Conceptually, it allowed us to share the book widely.

This embrace of collaborative publishing extended to our partnering with Open Context and the integration of thousands of hyperlinks into the book. This also allows for readers (or those who come upon the data via Open Context) to manipulate or even download the data in different ways. 

This and the Open Access license extends the parameters of collaboration beyond the limits of the project and make it possible to welcome new partners in knowledge making in the future.