As I mentioned before, blogging is an excellent way to get a book published. Writing archaeology conference papers is also a great way start towards turning a white paper into a polished article or book chapter. But, what would happen if you combined the two? What would happen if somebody turned a blog post into a conference paper that was turned into a book?
“Blogging Archaeology” is what would happen. Get your free copy of this ground-breaking eBook today.
Last year, I was approached by my friend Chris Webster about contributing to a session at the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) conference on blogging in archaeology. At the time, I was working on building my LinkedIn list and creating a LI group as a way to connect with other archaeologists and figure out how we can solve the many ailments in the CRM archaeology industry and the way archaeology is taught in colleges. I told him, “I’ll do it if you organize the session,” thinking; “There aren’t enough archaeology bloggers out there that would be willing to join a session on archaeology blogging.”
I was wrong. Chris had no problem putting together a robust lineup. Meanwhile, my other friend Doug Rocks-MacQueen, who was lamenting the fact that he couldn’t attend the SAA, wanted to somehow contribute to the session. He decided to have the well-received #Blogarch Blogging Carnival of 2013–2014. Unbeknownst to me, #SAA2014, #blogarch, and Chris and Doug would eventually synergize in a way that would lead to a digital publication. Ultimately, the session was extremely well attended and the presentation room was nearly full to capacity. Between 60 and 70 archaeologists attended the talk.
Blogging Archaeology was the brainchild of Chris, Doug, and 16 other archaeologists/bloggers including myself. Blogging Archaeology was an international collaboratiion and was co-published by Succinct Research, Landward Research, LTD, and DIGTECH, LLC. The book was reviewed and edited by Doug and Chris. It is currently available for free (5/2014), but will ultimately be uploaded to Amazon for easier distribution. You will still be able to purchase the book on Amazon for a nominal fee.
The book takes on a number of huge topics ranging from teaching public engagement, the ethics of archaeology, getting fired for social media, digital archaeology, and #freearchaeology. My own contribution “Calling All Archaeology Careerists: Discussing Archaeology Careers Online” focuses on the use of LinkedIn groups to spread information about archaeology and network for career improvement. I argue that we (archaeologists) are barely using this resource, despite the fact that LI is an invaluable tool for interconnectivity that we could easily use to help each other in our job searches. This book chapter was based on my SAA2014 presentation and you can download it for free right now (5/2014).
To date, there have been a number of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on using the internet and social media to disseminate archaeological data. There are currently over a hundred archaeology blogs that are doing similar work. Blogging Archaeology is the first professionally edited, professionally reviewed publication focused on how blogging is changing the nature of archaeology publishing. It’s also revolutionizing the way we connect with each other and with the communities we serve.
Grab a copy of the eBook today. If you’re lucky to get a free copy, feel free to share it far and wide because the free version has been published with a CreativeCommons license. The Amazon version will also be easy to share through the Kindle marketplace.
Please read the book and tell me what you think. If you have any questions or comments, write below or send me an email.
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