Citizen Science and the Selfish Archaeologist

Summary

Organizing and implementing programs that engage defined and undefined groups of non-archaeologists can be time-consuming and demanding of resources. Most of us enter into them with good humor and a mixture of joy and stress. My approach to public engagement, saturated with selfishness, is through the concept of citizen science, and the evaluation measures summarized in this presentation reflect how well aspects of the program meet my needs. I intend to advocate for embracing, rather than just engaging, non-archaeologists in the archaeological enterprise; sp., providing opportunities for non-archaeologists to participate as partners in science. And it really is about meeting two of my principal needs: being part of a vibrant scientific team (think the storm chasers in the movie Twister) and having the human resources to pursue more than a dozen research projects simultaneously while still earning a living.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Motivation and Community in Public Archaeology Evaluation   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 385