9th April 2008, 09:20 AM
Indeed, what should be seen is a general consistency of expected content... each company should be allowed a house style, but content should be standard....
for example.... do you mention the Great battle of Futheringham 1345 even though it happened in the next field over and not in the development area? Do you have all available maps or just the ones you feel are enough?
It all comes down to what is enough... and yes each job has constraints and targets. Curators vary... (I feel that I can say that honestly) After all, in my past life... (a week ago) I would have to understand survey, buildings, excavtation, prehistoric, roman, industrial etc etc................. just to ensure that I recognised a good report when I saw it... Thats a tall order for one person! However, I always had one rule... >>> Did I read the report and feel I had learned something? If the answer was no...
Fortunately I have only ever seen one truely terrible report... and they no longer work in the area any more but boy was it bad! and once I had a report that was so thin, that the cover sheet was thicker... the evaluation had found nothing... I wanted to know why they were evaluating there, why they feel there was nothing, what does that mean for surounding area etc..... when asked why they were evaluating... " Becuase you said so!" was the answer .... that'll learn me!
ps... No Units were harmed in the writing of this post!
To return....
Solid guidelines (with room for flexibility) thats what is required in each case...
take this one..
Historic Building Recording - Guidance for Curators and Commercial Archaeological Contractors
http://www.scribd.com/doc/406947/Histori...ontractors
A checklist, a clear expectation, a trust in the contractor, a measurable list to see if a report has met the requirements.
Both a stick to beat AND a way to ensure that the contractor knows exactly what is required. so both 'sides' are happy.
More of the above document required perhaps.... tested for a year now, and it does seem to work!
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
for example.... do you mention the Great battle of Futheringham 1345 even though it happened in the next field over and not in the development area? Do you have all available maps or just the ones you feel are enough?
It all comes down to what is enough... and yes each job has constraints and targets. Curators vary... (I feel that I can say that honestly) After all, in my past life... (a week ago) I would have to understand survey, buildings, excavtation, prehistoric, roman, industrial etc etc................. just to ensure that I recognised a good report when I saw it... Thats a tall order for one person! However, I always had one rule... >>> Did I read the report and feel I had learned something? If the answer was no...
Fortunately I have only ever seen one truely terrible report... and they no longer work in the area any more but boy was it bad! and once I had a report that was so thin, that the cover sheet was thicker... the evaluation had found nothing... I wanted to know why they were evaluating there, why they feel there was nothing, what does that mean for surounding area etc..... when asked why they were evaluating... " Becuase you said so!" was the answer .... that'll learn me!
ps... No Units were harmed in the writing of this post!
To return....
Solid guidelines (with room for flexibility) thats what is required in each case...
take this one..
Historic Building Recording - Guidance for Curators and Commercial Archaeological Contractors
http://www.scribd.com/doc/406947/Histori...ontractors
A checklist, a clear expectation, a trust in the contractor, a measurable list to see if a report has met the requirements.
Both a stick to beat AND a way to ensure that the contractor knows exactly what is required. so both 'sides' are happy.
More of the above document required perhaps.... tested for a year now, and it does seem to work!
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu