Computing, GIS and Archaeology in the UK

In case you were wondering about the lack of Thursday Tip Day last week, I haven’t been “got” by furious software vendors or anything like that, I had some family stuff to deal with. And now, there will be another hiatus as we head up to Scotland for some diving and email/internet cold-turkey. See you in a week or so…

Both myself and Mr Archaeogeek are only just surfacing after possibly the worst Christmas colds we’ve ever had. Thank goodness we were safely ensconced at my parent’s house being looked after and pampered. So, now I can type coherently again, belated Christmas Greetings to everyone, and here’s to a great 2008.

Apologies also for missing my Thursday Tip Day- I have some corkers lined up related to OpenStreetMap data, and (lovely, shiny, new) IPod Touches but they will have to wait…

There are a few blogs that I follow daily that I try and take advice from. Some I read to, well, try and make myself into a better person in general, and some to try and learn how to be a good manager. One that is particularly useful, nay inspirational at the moment is Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project.I am consistently amazed about her ability to be honest about her failures and faults, and the fact that she maintains such an optimistic and constructive outlook. Today’s post is entitled “Tips for Squelching Your Anger” and I wish I had the patience to try out her techniques when stressed or angry!

You GIS-ers out there might wonder why you have to read about such things on Planet Geospatial, but to me it’s all about getting the right attitude, and the ability to work efficiently and productively. If I manage that, I get to play with nice, shiny map-like things, but only if I’m good.

And the manifesto? Worked well today, so let’s hope I can keep it going. These techniques have worked for me in the past, I just have a tendency to drop them when it comes to moments of real stress, which is paradoxically when they should come in most handy.

Welcome to Archaeogeek

Archaeogeek is about one person’s experiences using modern computing technologies in archaeology, in the UK. My name is Jo Cook, and I am the Information Systems Coordinator at the northern office of Oxford Archaeology, based in Lancaster. My job is pretty varied. It involves sysadmin duties, GIS, databases, and anything else that’s thrown at me. My real passion is building web-based interfaces to maps and data, but more generally I simply want to improve the digital tools and processes that my colleagues have available for doing archaeology.

The problem is that archaeology should be one of those disciplines that embraces digital technologies, GIS and the web, but it isn’t, yet. Furthermore, given the nature of what we do, we should be much better at open standards and data preservation, but we’re still working on that as well. Finally, we should investigate the ways in which modern technology can make our workflow more efficient, both in terms of time and money.

At Oxford Archaeology we’re investing a lot of time into improving this situation, and in the process I am learning about a lot of new things (new to me anyway). Some of these are new technologies, and some are simply new ways of doing things. So, as well as documenting the company’s progress into a new, more open and standardised era, I hope to document my own learning process, and in particular flag up those things that really inspire me.

I’ve amassed a fair collection of useful links and documentation over the last few years as well. Some of this at least might be useful to other Archaeo-Geomatician/Sysadmin types, so hopefully over the next few months I’ll start including it on this site.

If I had to sum myself up in one sentence, I think Howies said it best: Half Geek, Half Luddite. To expand, I love technology, but I’m not an early adopter. I like to watch and see how things pan out before spending my money. Radically,Â� I’m quite happy having all of my portable gadgets separately, that way if my phone gets nicked I don’t lose my camera or my pda, and if I want to change the operating system on my pda I can still use my phone…

Outside of the tech, I live with my husband of ooh, about six weeks (circa September 2006), who’s a web-designer. I’m passionate about environmental and ethical living, and have been since way before Al Gore got everyone enthusiastic about it. I enjoy being out in the countryside a lot more than in the city, and wouldn’t move back down South (I was born in Kent) unless you paid me an awful lot of money. Sports I enjoy currently include Kayaking, Scuba-Diving (since I was 14) and fell-running (well, fell-staggering anyway).