24th February 2013, 08:22 PM
Why are replies so weird on this forum?
I'm not sure that Bob is correct that there is no value without publication, but it is an interesting idea. If there is no access to the information generated then what was the point of doing the work? And even your standard small mildly interesting site that might not be worth publishing on its own can be bundled up with similar sites to make a useful article. That just takes a little imagination. Also worth pointing out that UJA is quite happy to print short notes on sites or projects, so it's not like you can't publish stuff... I believe Bobs main point, that of around 600 commercial excavations in a decade only 26 or so have been published is frankly a disgraceful situation.
As for the tendering for post ex, I think this relates to a specific type of project, the large road projects commissioned by the National Roads Authority in the Republic of Ireland. Specifically what takes place here is that all sites are written up by their directors as standard 'grey' style reports. What is then tendered for is the process of compiling accounts of all the sites for a project into a single book, with cut down descriptions of the main sites, and thematic discussions of what it all means. The actual site reports are then included on a disc in the back cover, so as far as publication you get the best of both worlds. It's not a perfect strategy, and some sites deserve a full monograph to themselves, which rarely happens (Lismullin coming out in March this year being the first exception) but it has accounted for some 10 books being published since 2008, and several hundred individual sites being published. So not a bad system really. Whether it is an appropriate solution to the problems in NI is not clear, I personally think the NIEA should just enforce the legislation that is in place. Certainly the Minister responsible seems to think the same, and I am hopeful there will be big changes in the near future.
I'm not sure that Bob is correct that there is no value without publication, but it is an interesting idea. If there is no access to the information generated then what was the point of doing the work? And even your standard small mildly interesting site that might not be worth publishing on its own can be bundled up with similar sites to make a useful article. That just takes a little imagination. Also worth pointing out that UJA is quite happy to print short notes on sites or projects, so it's not like you can't publish stuff... I believe Bobs main point, that of around 600 commercial excavations in a decade only 26 or so have been published is frankly a disgraceful situation.
As for the tendering for post ex, I think this relates to a specific type of project, the large road projects commissioned by the National Roads Authority in the Republic of Ireland. Specifically what takes place here is that all sites are written up by their directors as standard 'grey' style reports. What is then tendered for is the process of compiling accounts of all the sites for a project into a single book, with cut down descriptions of the main sites, and thematic discussions of what it all means. The actual site reports are then included on a disc in the back cover, so as far as publication you get the best of both worlds. It's not a perfect strategy, and some sites deserve a full monograph to themselves, which rarely happens (Lismullin coming out in March this year being the first exception) but it has accounted for some 10 books being published since 2008, and several hundred individual sites being published. So not a bad system really. Whether it is an appropriate solution to the problems in NI is not clear, I personally think the NIEA should just enforce the legislation that is in place. Certainly the Minister responsible seems to think the same, and I am hopeful there will be big changes in the near future.