I run a Facebook page that's mostly about archaeological work in
post-earthquake Christchurch. For us, it's been a really positive
experience, allowing us to connect with archaeologists & members of the
public not just from Christchurch but from all over the world. It's led to
people messaging us about specific sites, artefacts or areas that they're
interested in, and so we've learnt a lot too. In a city that seems to place
little value in its heritage - and an industry were you're often seen as
nothing more than a problem, it also provides us with some great positive
feedback about we're doing, and confirms that the general public do value
archaeology.

We started the page with aim of showing people (a) what archaeology was
really about i.e. no dinosaurs, gold or pyramids & (b) as a way of showing
people that some positive heritage work was taking place in Chch
post-earthquake. We're careful not to mention specific site addresses, to
avoid any potential problems for the landowner/client.

I think it's a fantastic, relatively easy outreach tool (compared to a
blog). The only tricky thing for us is making sure that we post regularly,
and that our posts are of interest to those who 'follow' or 'like' us.
Cheers,
Katharine


On 19 June 2013 06:08, Joe Bagley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> We recently finished an archaeological survey of the c. 1715 Clough House
> in downtown Boston.  This is my first major survey as City Archaeologist,
> and I was very much interested in getting the public involved as much as
> possible. Facebook has been my outreach of choice for day-to-day
> interactions with the public.  Here is our Facebook page, which we are
> still updating as we progress through the lab processing of the collection:
> https://www.facebook.com/BostonArchaeologyProgram
>
> This particular project is about 20 feet behind Old North right on the
> Freedom Trail in Boston, so we were guaranteed to have visitors and
> onlookers.  We started by creating an 11x17 laminated sign with a QR code
> for folks to scan. The sign was permanently on the fence blocking access to
> the site throughout the project, even when we were not present.
>
> One of the best things about the Facebook posts was the ability to track
> numbers. In the four weeks were were surveying (only 15 days in the field)
> we gained an additional 250 "likes," and our numerous posts were viewed
> 59,464 times averaging over 530 people per post.  A few of our posts were
> shared by the like of the City of Boston (15,000 followers) and the SHA
> (2,000 followers) resulting in several thousand unique impressions on
> several posts.  We regularly had folks stop by the site who had been
> following us online and wanted to see it in person.
>
> We were able to answer numerous questions and we had several artifact IDs
> from folks while we were still in the field.  Overall, we did not receive a
> single negative comment or post during the entire process.
>
> As we were backfilling, we received lots of walk-bys of people thanking us
> for posting the dig and saying they enjoyed following the progress.
>
> I think it really gives visitors the opportunity to follow the dig even
> after they leave, and for those that couldn't make it, it was exciting to
> be able to see photos a few seconds after significant artifacts were
> discovered.  I like that I could sneak in some less-interesting though
> important lessons about stratigraphy, preservation, lab processing, the
> permit and report process, etc. while still remaining entertaining.  I plan
> on live-facebooking all future digs and surveys.
>



-- 
Katharine Watson
Underground Overground Archaeology Ltd
P.O. Box 388
Christchurch 8140

027 656 3985

<https://www.facebook.com/UnderOverArch>