12th February 2007, 02:20 PM
Invisible wrote:
If however we are talking about an interested "member of the public" then the kind of scenario outlined by Hosty comes into play, an outreach or public particpation programme. I see this as a totally different kettle of fish and not what I would call commercial archaeology, even if run by a commercial/professional unit and maybe even in advance of development (in which case an enlightened client will be required).
I see this as the way in which we should be going. Where possible (and this is likely to be the great minority of commercial projects) a programme of outreach should be developed and implemented. I am currently dealing with two very large urban sites where the coincidence of sympathetic developers / curators have allowed me (the consultant) to propose that part of the budget for archaeological work should be set aside for outreach. This is to include on-site participation as well as on and off site information exchange. The way in which this is done on a commercial projects has to conform with the IFA policy on The Use of Volunteers and Students on Archaeological Projects. Essentially the tender documents are configured so that certain fixed pieces of archaeological work are clearly defined and can be costed on a commercial basis - this allows for comparison between contractors and allows the client to get an general idea of the likely cost. Tenderers are also asked to propose a detailed programme of outreach, including previous experience in such matters. It may well be that in the case of tenderers being finely matched in other ways, the final choice comes down to who has the best-looking programme of outreach.
Beamo
If however we are talking about an interested "member of the public" then the kind of scenario outlined by Hosty comes into play, an outreach or public particpation programme. I see this as a totally different kettle of fish and not what I would call commercial archaeology, even if run by a commercial/professional unit and maybe even in advance of development (in which case an enlightened client will be required).
I see this as the way in which we should be going. Where possible (and this is likely to be the great minority of commercial projects) a programme of outreach should be developed and implemented. I am currently dealing with two very large urban sites where the coincidence of sympathetic developers / curators have allowed me (the consultant) to propose that part of the budget for archaeological work should be set aside for outreach. This is to include on-site participation as well as on and off site information exchange. The way in which this is done on a commercial projects has to conform with the IFA policy on The Use of Volunteers and Students on Archaeological Projects. Essentially the tender documents are configured so that certain fixed pieces of archaeological work are clearly defined and can be costed on a commercial basis - this allows for comparison between contractors and allows the client to get an general idea of the likely cost. Tenderers are also asked to propose a detailed programme of outreach, including previous experience in such matters. It may well be that in the case of tenderers being finely matched in other ways, the final choice comes down to who has the best-looking programme of outreach.
Beamo