The Birth of an Experiment
(About.com) How did Internet Archaeology come to be?(Judith Winters)The world of acronyms awaits you ... Internet Archaeology is an eLib funded project (eLib, was in turn funded by the JISC - the Joint Information Systems Committee, who fund a range of national services for the benefit of UK Higher Education. The bid to eLib in 1995 for the financial backing to start up the project came from a group of archaeologists who had an interest in computer applications in archaeology (the original bid can be found here. So IA's official birth was in 1995, and by February 1996, the journal had appointed a Managing Editor, Alan Vince, and he began drumming up business.
How big of a staff do you maintain and where are the offices?
One and a bit! I work 4 days a week on the journal (I am trying to complete a PhD as well). We also employ an administrator for half a day a week, and we bring in a copy-editor when required—which works out at about 3-4 weeks a year. We are based at the department of Archaeology, University of York.
How has the project changed since you began?
The journal has developed quite a lot since 1996 (when its first article went online in September) when an Assistant Editor, and a part-time copy-editor were appointed. I didn't join IA until May 1998, three and a half issues and three years into the journal's existence. I came to IA as assistant editor from 'assemblage', an e-journal set up by myself and a few other postgrads at the University of Sheffield (pleasingly, assemblage is currently in its 5th issue). In June 1999, Alan Vince left the journal to concentrate on his freelance work, and I took over as Editor. I'd like to think I have made some sort of mark on the journal since I've been here, and think it has evolved a little—hopefully for the good!
