Unless you have the resources of Williamsburg or Historic St. Mary’s City, recreating the historical landscape above ground is a near impossibility. Once excavations are complete, the units are filled in, and the space goes back to being what it once was, or it is converted into a new building, road, highway, or park. The historical significance is often lost, although occasionally remembered through a historical marker or informational panel. There is very little left to remind visitors to the new space of what once was there, and even less to encourage people to visit the site because of its historical significance.

The advent of location-based websites, however, may provide an opportunity for this to change. Over the past month, Foursquare (follow me on foursquare) has become all the rage, while Yelp (Me on Yelp) has been steadily increasing its effectiveness and popularity. Sites such as these allow users to create spaces on the landscape that can then be viewed by others who are in the area. On Yelp, you can provide a review and rating of a business or restaurant, while on Foursquare you gain points and badges for exploring and discovering your local town and city. Why not make sure that archaeological sites are also visible on this virtual landscape?

Consider the typical usage of a site such as Yelp. Over the holiday, on our way back from a trip to Philadelphia, I used Yelp to search for wineries that were along our route. Using my iPhone, I was able to locate wineries, read reviews, and decide which would be the best for us to visit. The same could be done for archaeological sites or other places of historical interest. What if each state historical marker was referenced on websites such as these? Instead of just driving past them and saying, “huh, something old was there”, you could pull up Yelp on your phone and say, “hey, that was the site of a tavern that George Washington had a drink at! Someone on Yelp says it was really interesting, we should turnaround and check it out!”

For my work with the MSU Campus Archaeology Program, this would incredibly valuable. Harvard has already worked out a deal with Foursquare, and UNC Charlotte is using it in fascinating ways, and will be using it to make exploring campus more exciting for their students. Why not throw some historical sites on there? Campus Archaeology could easily create check-in spots for the areas which we have excavated, and possibly even do a scavenger hunt where a new site is added every week. This might drive interest, encourage the community and visitors to visit spaces of historical interest, and, most importantly, view their campus landscape from a historical perspective. Archaeology museums such as Williamsburg or St. Mary’s could also benefit from these tools. Become the mayor of the Shoe Shop, or write a review of the St. Mary’s Printing Press!

Of course, there is always concerns about looting, which is why I would suggest only putting sites up that are well protected (such as those at MSU), or those which have already been sufficiently excavated. In the end, the public must be trusted to treat their own sites with respect: the more visible they are, the more likely they are to become something to treasure, not to destroy.

What do you think? Any suggestions of other websites that might be good for this type of thing? I continue to be more and more convinced that digital social media is a fantastic way for archaeologists to share what knowledge they have, and using these websites seems like a fantastic (and free) way to make the historical landscape visible to the public.

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I must say, it is not everyday that you randomly search for jobs in archaeology, and you find the . It is, of course, a double whammy when you’re not actually on the market. At any rate, here’s the job description:

The department of anthropology at Connecticut College invites applications for a tenure-track position, at the assistant or associate professor level, in archaeology, appointment effective July 1, 2010. The successful candidate will have a record and vision of research and teaching in historical archaeology in North America. Furthermore, we will consider candidates who: value and encourage research and teaching across the sub-disciplines of anthropology; have conducted research into issues of power, inequality, and structural violence among communities with a legacy of subordination; and will contribute to interdepartmental programs on campus such as American Studies and the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity.

This is the description that would race to the top of my list when I’m on the market in three(ish) years. It’s a small liberal arts school, very much like Kalamazoo College, my alma mater. The campus is beautiful. Obviously, this is all info garnered from the web site, but hey, it’s fun to think about.

The interesting thing is considering the fact that because this job is available now, that means that it won’t be in three years. That means I can cross Connecticut College off the list: I will not be working there. That’s kind of a strange feeling…

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It just so happens that my post last week about understanding campus culture actually has some relevance to recent happenings at Michigan State University. As you all should know, our country has hit some troubled times in the past year, and our beloved Michigan…well, we’ve been recessing and depressing for about a decade now. This past month, however, some very large budget cuts came down the pipe for MSU, and, since you can only raise tuition so much, campus wide program cuts are going to be made. A series of letters have been posted on the new website shapingthefuture.msu.edu, alerting all departments, both academic and student affairs, that cuts were coming.

The letter to Student Services was the most interesting, and, I think, the most relevant to my earlier discussion about campus culture. This letter laid it on the line, stating that many programs would be cut and that a dramatic reorganization of how student services were carried out would be needed. In the letter, Provost Wilcox states that programming must be “closer to home”. This is a reference to the attempts made by MSU to replicate a “neighborhood” style of residence. Wilcox is stating that certain parts of campus have adapted to the movement towards residential college styles, and the rest of Student Services will need to follow suit in order to maintain relevance.

This letter, in essence, is stating, “we are looking for programs that will fit within the culture of MSU.” The culture is one which replicates a residential, small college feel through neighborhoods (a model adapted from the original campus plan in 1855) with the resources of a Global, Research I institution. This is where MSU is trying to go. It is, as shouldn’t be a surprise, a Bold plan. And these letters are calling for bold action: learn from the past, streamline, create new programming that fits this message, and cut out what doesn’t fit. Wilcox is challenging the relevance of these services as they currently stand to the future of the University.

It is at this point that understanding you campus culture is so important. Not only are you dealing with whether or not your program is reaching students or simply connecting with the functions of the rest of your university, but now the issue is whether or not your program will even exist. If your research, or your services, or your teaching doesn’t reflect the culture and mission of the university, then why should the university continue to spend money on you? It is an issue that faces every member of academia at this moment.

Is your work relevant?

ps – I should note that I am not suggesting that certain programs are not relevant at all. I am simply arguing that relevance itself is relative to your school’s culture. For example, Campus Archaeology is relevant to the world of archaeology and cultural resource management: we make sure that the resources are mitigated properly. However, that does not give us relevancy to MSU; that emerges from our emphasis on education, public outreach, research, and interdepartmental interaction.

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I remember when I first came to MSU after receiving a degree from Kalamazoo College. I went to a professor’s office hour, and seemed surprised to see me – students didn’t come to his office hours; he tended to use that time to get extra work done. At K-College, it had been instilled since our first class, when it was required, that visiting office hours was what college students did. It was at this moment that I realized that different Universities had different cultures. It wasn’t until later that I discovered that these cultures could be manipulated and changed by those who worked at the institutions.

Since then, with my work at Campus Archaeology and Student Life, I have come to believe that College is a Culture Factory. Every element of a university should reinforce the type of student and culture they want to reflect; otherwise, the reputation of that university will revolve around something worse (i.e. party school). I have seen this happen very effectively on small campuses such as my alma mater, Kalamazoo College. It seems to be more difficult at large institutions such as my current one, Michigan State University. Either way, understanding how culture is formed, and that, as educators, we have a role in perpetuating that culture is critically important when working in higher education.

My work with Campus Archaeology has had a lot to do with the way in which space dictates or emphasizes a certain type of culture. I have noticed it both through my research onto the old designs of MSU’s campus, and also by sitting through the planning meetings for new buildings. I have also noticed a struggle with this in my work with the Department of Student Life, which has difficulty attempting to gage how they can emphasize the MSU “culture” to such a large student population. Making sure your department is working to encourage the message and culture of the university will help your department gain credibility not only with administrators, but it will lend weight to your interactions with students.

Since Colleges across the country have just finished their orientation week for incoming students, let’s consider the implications of such an experience on the culture of your campus. At Kalamazoo College, we had a variety of different activities that were all focused on what type of student we were going to become. Our convocation mimicked graduation, showing us at the beginning what the end of our four years would be like. It set the goals. We had a week where we were required to attend certain talks, seminars, and activities that gave us an idea as to what opportunities were available and what types of conversations and topics we would discuss in and out of class. We met current students who had just returned from Study Abroad. Most amazing to me was the Summer Common Reading program, which brought the author of the book to campus to speak, give a reading, and take part in small group discussions and Q and A sessions. We learned what a K-College student looks like, acts like, and takes seriously.

MSU itself has a difficulty with this process. Since it is so large, both in population and space, it has been difficult to create a cohesiveness that centers around academic or social expectations. Additionally, since it has gone through such unprecedented expansion since its humble Land Grant roots in 1855 (when it was a very small school that only focused on Agriculture), nailing down a specific MSU tradition or set of values has been difficult. The space reflects this: originally, campus was built to emphasize a small, rural town to encourage the production of students who would return to the fields to revolutionize agriculture. Since then, campus has been reacting to large explosions in campus population (i.e. GI Bill) instead of focusing more on how to maintain a certain cultural system. What has resulted is, unfortunately, a campus culture that is defined by a reputation for partying, football, and basketball.

Recently, however, there has been an active move to reintegrate a culture of the original Land Grant College. This is due largely to new leadership in President Simon. This has meant returning to a small school model by developing residential colleges. Ask any Faculty member the difference between a James Madison Residential College student and a “regular” undergraduate, and they won’t stop glowing about how disciplined and academically rigorous the Madison student is. This has everything to do with the type of culture that James Madison perpetuates and encourages. Not only students are encouraged to take part; the Land Grant model is being perpetuated through the Boldness by Design initiative, which encourages bold research initiatives. This recognizes that the earliest moments of MSU were a bold and revolutionary beginning: Land Grant Colleges were designed specifically to revolutionize agriculture. No small task. Most definitely a bold statement.

This may not be entirely surprising to many people who work on college campuses, but I think it is something that is important to understand if you do: If you work on campus you are in the business of producing culture. The work that you do on campus reflects on the type of student that is produced from your university, which therein reflects the reputation of your university, which reflects the type of professional you are. By tying what you do in your classrooms, student activities, or res halls, to the mission and values of your University, you further emphasize and reflect the message of the University. You make yourself and your class/event/activity more relevant, showing why what you do is important to their overall education as a member of your institution. It resonates more clearly with the students as to why they should be learning it. And in the end, it will reflect better on the type of professional that you are, and the type of impact you can have.

What are your thoughts on campus culture? Does incorporating the university message into your programming and classes have an effect? Is it a waste of time? Any examples?

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One of the most valuable elements of both the programs that I am working with, Campus Archaeology and the SARVP Program, is the internship. I have started internships for both of these programs, and I am starting to figure out what it is that really makes them valuable, and what makes them successful. I thought I would discuss some of those things here.

The internship is mutually beneficial, and should always be viewed that way. For the employer, they are getting free or inexpensive labor. For the Intern, a unique experience is being gained, one that gives them “real world” work experience, and something for the resume. In order for your internship to be good, however, you must provide the student with a unique experience that is not only “real world” work, but is also educational. They are students, after all, and they are there to learn, not to work.

As an employer of an intern, you must keep in mind two things: what you need done, and how you can make getting that work done educational and fun for the Intern. For example, at the Campus Archaeology Program, we realized that we did not have enough hands to keep up with the backlog of artifacts that needed to be cleaned and catalogued, and we also didn’t have the funds to hire an extra person. The internship became the next logical solution: we could get an undergraduate who could do this work for us. However, we also realized that putting an intern in the basement with a bucket of water for 16 weeks wasn’t exactly an educational experience. So, we have gradually added new elements to the internship. Now, the intern must put a presentation together analyzing the artifacts, and telling us something about the Campus. They also must maintain a blog, interacting with the public about their work and project. This makes the internship more than busy work, it makes it educational.

Internships, therefore, provide the employer to try something new. The Intern is not someone to run off photocopies and pick up your dry cleaning; they are bright young minds who you may use to try something new. Maybe there is a project that you’ve wanted to start up but haven’t had the resources or time to put it into play. An intern might be the perfect person to work on that project, or find out if it is viable. Such a responsibility would be rewarding for the intern (they’d feel special being entrusted with such a project) and you’d be able to find out if the project would work. You see this a lot with the emergence of social media: companies realize that it’s important, but don’t know how it works. Enter the Intern (MSUFCU has been advertising for an internship that looks wonderful).

Making this educational has another added bonus for the employer: it provides an opportunity for mentorship. This is a chance for people outside of academia to have an impact on the professional development of future professionals…this is a burden that should not be taken lightly. It is in fact a huge opportunity to help shape the kind of co-worker you yourself would like to work alongside. Introduce your interns to people you work with, take them to business lunches, let them sit in an important meeting. The whole point is for the intern to see how your profession works, and keeping them locked up in a cubicle all summer isn’t an experience, it’s a job (and a bad one, at that). Put your best face forward, and woo the Intern. If they’re worth it, you may be able to hire them after they graduate.

So, please consider the benefits of the internship; not only for yourself, but for the student you will be mentoring. Make it a unique position that is unlike any other in your office. Interns aren’t there to work the copy machine, they are there to do something meaningful, educational, and unique. Embrace your role as an educator and mentor. Take advantage of the opportunity to do something creative, or take a chance on a project you’ve wanted to do but not had the resources. The more energy you put into the internship, the better the dividends for your company, and the better the educational experience for the student.

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Yesterday, I attended my first “TweetUp”.

“What, exactly, is a Tweet Up?” you are probably wondering…my response: they are the next step to making Twitter a digital networking tool to an actual networking tool.

A TweetUp is a meeting of people who Twitter and are in a similar geographic location. The one I attended this week was put on byMidMichiganTweetUp, who holds one monthly in different parts of the Lansing area. It was sponsored by Biggby Coffee, who’s CEO,BiggbyBob, is a Twitter fanatic and all around swell person. The Biggby Coffee at Eastwood Towne Center was packed with local people who use Twitter. I was able to meet new people, discuss how social media has effected our lives: how we do business, how we interact, how we get news, and so on. I went with the express purpose of getting the community engaged in our Campus Archaeology Program, which will be using Twitter in the field on a regular basis. Everyone I talked to was very excited about taking part and seeing what was going on. A woman who works for the Lansing State Journal said she would pass my card on to a reporter. And then it occurred to me: why not host a MidMichigan Tweet Up at an archaeological site?

This is exactly what BiggbyBob had done by offering to host a TweetUp at his business. He used it as a means of attracting new customers to his business, in a way that was unthreatening, not pushy, or obvious. He just offered a space for it to happen.This, I think, is a fantastic use of the TweetUp. There will automatically be something there that you are interested in: other people who use Twitter. But the added bonus may be something else, such as experiencing a new coffee shop. So I am thinking that the Campus Archaeology Program should host a TweetUp at one of our sites, while we are excavating.

This is perfect for our mission, which is to engage the MSU and local communities in the discovery of MSU’s cultural heritage. Hosting a TweetUp allows all those people who have been following the excavations via my tweets to actually come and visit the site, and see first hand how archaeology is done. In essence, it would be like any other public archaeology day, except the added benefit is that everyone there uses Twitter. So that means that even if they have no interest in archaeology or MSU, they do have an interest in Twitter, and how it can be used in different ways.

So this idea got me thinking of other ideas: how could Student Affairs use the TweetUp? Easy. Host campus TweetUps. What if there was a TweetUp Tailgate hosted by the Department of Student Affairs. Food could be provided. Faculty, Staff, and students who use Twitter would know about it, show up, and network and meet each other, most for the first time. Nothing special is needed…the event itself is specifically to meet other people who use Twitter. This could be particularly beneficial on a large campus, such as MSU, where people who use Twitter may not be connected to people they want to be connected to.

How about a TweetUp Resource Fair? I know that a lot of different departments on campus use Twitter for a variety of reasons. For example, the Sexual Assault Program has a Twitter feed, along with other departments such as the MSU Surplus Store, or MSU Athletics. A TweetUp could be held at a place where each of these departments sets up a resource table, and students, staff, and faculty who use Twitter would be invited to a TweetUp. They could then engage with different departments, see who is using Twitter, follow who they want to follow, and engage with the MSU community on multiple levels.

I think there is a lot of potential with the TweetUp. I recently read a post by Merlin Mann, who has one of the most incredible internet presences out there, who said the following:

Take it as you will, but remember that the web is not you and it’s not me. The web is just a braindead platform for moving information around, but it’s not your actual friends. And, while it’s insanely understandable to tire of all the horseshit and look-at-me stuff, I must advise you: never miss an opportunity to meet the faces behind your favorite avatars. Especially when they’re all in one place? Wow.

This is what a TweetUp does: it allows you to meet the people who use the internet as a tool to meet people. Twitter is a medium that makes this very possible, easy, and quick. I think there is some value in it, and I think that the MeetUp is the way that it can be used to engage a community in a very real way.

(Follow me at Twitter, if you’d like…no pressure)

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One month to go in the semester, and things are amping up. Things have been rather idle in the office, lately, but that will change shortly. I just received notice that MSU will be “breaking ground” at College Field by the end of November, meaning that I will be required to be out in the cold, watching them dig. Time to invest in a Carhartt. Also, training for SARV Prevention starts up on the 22nd and 23rd, all day. All this is coming at a time when I have an annotated bibliography due on 10 books and 8 articles, a regular paper, and two literature review papers, each of around 20 sources. Also, we have to finish up our article for Faculty Row soon. I have lots of reading and writing to complete in the last month.

Thankfully, this will be the end, for the most part, of my classwork. I envision that I will be enrolled in at least one, but no more than two, classes for the next year and a half. Next semester I am taking a lab analysis course, next fall and spring GIS coursework, and possibly a history course in that spring. However, courses will finally not be the focus of my time and energy, as they are now. I am really looking forward to being in control of my schedule, my time, and my work.

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