BAJR Wrote:I was trying to make it clear that everyone turns to the Curator as the person who has to "police" BRitish Archaeology, know every legislation, know every technique, know every part of teh county, know every greoup, do talks every weekend, visit classes every week, do excvations nd surveys with public groups, read evefery report and find every flaw, correct every spelling mistake, cross reference every bibliographic reference, visit every site and note every infringement of Ifa all the way to HSE ... and still have time for a conference or two to keep up with latest thought...
Something needs to be mentioned regarding personality types. Often whenever these issues arise in conversations with "curators", "county archaeologists", "council archaeologist" or whomever the responsible "officer" is for issuing the brief and or spec we work from, I am struck by the nature of the person and therefore personality I am working with. Lets not forget that "we" regardless of what role we perform within the whole archaeological program, insert our personalities. In my experience, some officers take it upon themselves to play the sheriff and act accordingly (spelling, legislation etc) others have a more amicable approach and will let you get on with the work, trusting in your experience and professionalism (until it's shown otherwise).
On the sub contract side of things, I have worked with some less than thorough management personnel. Seeing some of the documentation sent to "curators", "county archaeologists", "council archaeologist", I'm not suprise these individuals get the hump with "us". Personal responsibility goes a long way and frankly it appears to be lacking among some. I would be incredibly embarrassed to have a WSI sent back for basic corrections (punctuation, spelling etc). Yet there are those who rush to submit documentation because of agreements made to keep clients happy, only to have the documents returned for correction! Laughable.
BAJR Wrote:What amuses me is that often, the contractors see the Curators as fair game, and if they get caught out, it's either an aggressive response, or seen as a work hazard (win some lose some/got found out that time!) Where is the self regulation? Curators do indeed produce specs that Contractors turn to WSIs, but then, the DC archaeologist had to justify why they wanted archaeology in the first place, and also have to specify a minimum requirement, otherwise the contractors would all cluster around the minimum minimum... just to get the job (harsh??? or fair??)
Hmm, to be honest, I can't be bothered with the pedantic nature our "profession" suffers from. Often it seems "we" are our own worse enemy.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.