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25th February 2009, 09:06 PM
So.. what has happened has happened... it has not been pretty, it has not been pleasant... it has ruined people. What next... what do we see as a future after April 5th... a new budget year... what is a positive way forward?
?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake
For really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he
Thomas Rainborough 1647
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25th February 2009, 09:34 PM
What next indeed......... i see things picking up after April 5th as is usually the case....but on what scale only time will tell.....we all have to remain positive difficult as it is...
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25th February 2009, 09:47 PM
one step at a time.
indeed
txt is
Mike
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25th February 2009, 09:50 PM
Well, first off we're all in a much better place than the start of the last recession thanks to the ubiquity of the internet. Last time round, even mobiles weren't that common amongst diggers. Now, thanks to the falling price of hardware and the magic dongle (gosh that sounds rude) we can share information much more quickly. Not only about jobs, but general trends, and other opportunities too. BAJR has become a very important information node (thanks for the tremendous effort you've put in over the years) and this couldn't have happened until fairly recently.
I'm not pretending that the next year at the very least isn't going to be very rough, but archaeology is not going to disappear. I think that we can all help by being personal ambassadors for archaeology, because it is only by the good will of the population at large that we're even a part of the planning process. Most people don't have a clue what we do, so tell them in a nice way. For example, my bathroom floor is currently being replaced as the joists have rotted through. The tradesmen who came to fix it went away having learnt about the history of brickmaking in the region (there were nice makers' marks in the underlying rubble) and the social history of the street. As they were local lads they were interested once I found their angle. Hopefully, they'll pause for thought on the next job. I know people get pessimistic in the face of big business, but even big business is made up of many individuals....
Also, it's not too early to start thinking about how we're going to re-recruit experienced archaeologists once the sky stops falling. Now would be a very good time to really push for a charted organisation and be ready with a clearer career structure. As much as it pains me to say so, we are all romantic fools. Ask us again and again and we're still willing to work for cakes and ale, but the one thing we're almost all agreed on is that we badly need a little more career structure. Now, whilst everything is in the air is a good time to really start planning and doing something about it other that kicking away the ladder.
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25th February 2009, 10:36 PM
i would succinctly agree.
the only thing is to keep a realistic persective on the practicalities of expendibility and the probabilities relating to the physical risks of trying to make it, if everyone wishes to try and make it.
The more romantic and idealistic, the more embattled for a delusory experience, that once revealed is no more.
You have to know where your lines are drawn in the sand, for you on an individual and personal level.
txt is
Mike
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25th February 2009, 10:49 PM
Very well posted Trowelmonkey ...very pertinent points we should all consider.
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25th February 2009, 11:09 PM
WE first have to put ourselves into the proper place..
Are we the most important thing since sliced bread? or are we a social benefit..
and intersting thing said to me today by Louise Yeoman was that in the Neolithic people came together to make social monuments.. is that our role?
?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake
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25th February 2009, 11:10 PM
pps I second the Trowel Monkey post... a very good post to consider.
?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake
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25th February 2009, 11:11 PM
ppps I agree with Yellow pete ( I actually understand!)
The more romantic and idealistic, the more embattled for a delusory experience, that once revealed is no more.
?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake
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25th February 2009, 11:19 PM
Absolutely spot on trowelmonkey.
(Incidentally almost all of that was also discussed at the recent IfA seminar - especially training, skills development, public engagement and career structures - and will also be discussed at the IfA conference. Hence my own personal view that the only way to achieve much of this is by all of us putting our shoulders to the oars of the sometimes cumbersome trireme that is the IfA, despite some of the shortcomings about that organisation (sometime lack of communication, cost of membership etc.) which have been raised on BAJR before).
Paul Belford
