CommonSites: Find, follow and fund heritage projects you like!

please check it out at www.CommonSites.net, and follow us on twitter and facebook!

We are currently extremely busy with building the webplatform for CommonSites, and should be up and running by early 2012! We have tested all functionalities, and have started the process of uploading community projects by our founding partners Leiden University, Museum Volkenkunde, Nexus Archaeology and CHSS.

To get a glimpse of what our website will look like, see:
http://www.commonsites.net/test/demo.htm

To read our CommonSites brochure and vision: see www.CommonSites.net

To see a working online project on the webplatform of our strategic partner Akvo: click the 'widget' on the right of this page.

CommonSites: Find, Fund and Follow heritage projects you like!

Interested? Email us at info@commonsites.net

Maney Publishing, who gives out Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites (for which I'm the e-editor) has a 'Heritage Feature of the Month'! This means you can download, for free, over 40 articles on heritage matters, among which my article with D. Perring on Archaeology in Conflict. You als get discounts on subscriptions. Check this link.

Since several months, I have been working together with Adam Jagich and David de Bruijne on CommonSites.net. CommonSites is an international initiative that provides a unique web-based platform for the heritage sector. It is designed to unite funding bodies and project partners to benefit local communities. Our web-based platform uses innovative yet proven software of Akvo.org, and increases the visibility of heritage projects for all who are involved, whether they be funders, project partners, academic institutions or members of local communities. Partners can use CommonSites to find and share knowledge, raise funds and simplifiy reporting back to donors.

We are currently working on a brochure for seedfunding, on a demo-website, and on our business plan. On the right, you can see an example of a widget to our Balata-project, using RSS-technology. Here you can now follow progress and donate money online, have a look. The project-page is now in akvo's interface, but will soon be available on CommonSites.net.

Follow our progress on Twitter.

In 2011, Leiden University established an MOU partnership with the Stanford Archaeology Center resulting in the Leiden-Stanford Heritage Network (LSHN).

The LSHN aims to bring together researchers from Leiden and Stanford Universities working on heritage to provide a web-based platform and resource for people to share and discuss ideas, collaborate and envision future trajectories for heritage in an increasingly mobile and globalized world. Leiden Global Interactions and Stanford Heritage Ethics will be the two the main research groups involved.

For more information, see LSHN on the Leiden page, and on the Stanford page.

For the Leiden Global Interactions research group (of which I'm part), click here

Below a list of links to current looting and damage to archaeological sites and museum in Egypt. I have copied these from the email discussionlist Ärchaeologists for Justice", <ARCH-JUSTICE@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>.

1. Youtube video copied from Al Jazeera English with a brief clip on the damage to the Cairo Museum: ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp9dWzNG8tk )

2. An MSNBC video on the looting of the Cairo Museum showing  police/military (?) securing the museum:(http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/28/5943271-were-tuts-treasures-damaged?GT1=43001 

3. Articles in German discussing the looting of the Cairo Museum and the possibility of an inside job: ( http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/aegypten-versinkt-im-chaos/3786086.html ) ( http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2011-01/interview-el-saddik )

 4. An article from the DiscoveryNews "Tut family mummies damaged in
Egypt riots": (
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/tut-family-mummies-damaged-in-egypt-riots.html

5. Eyewitness account from Luxor - police have abandoned the site and
locals are working to protect it:(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T_KTJYwjOKM )

6. A message from Dr. Zahi Hawass:
(http://www.drhawass.com/blog/situation-egyptian-antiquities-today )

7. A Brazilian blog post with some photos of the Cairo Museum damage:(  http://arqueologiaegipcia.com.br/2011/01/29/museu-egipcio-do-cairo-invadido/

8. Another DiscoveryNews article "Egypt's tombs, temples under siege": 
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/egypts-tombs-temples-under-siege.html 

9. A map of the museum indicating looted rooms:
(http://ancientegyptonline.org/egyptnews/images/CairoMuseumDamage_AEO.jpg

10. A recently published Washington Post article on the protection of 
sites throughout Egypt:(  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013003244.html

Today I undertook a very interesting interview with the director of Humanties at NWO, the Dutch Science funding agency. Within dutch scientific applications, the concepts of  'added value' and 'social impact'  become increasingly important, although it is currently not obligatory to deal with in terms of applications and budget expenditure - still, 'added value' is here to stay, and might well be obligatory in future applications. Although, in my opinion, the move towards 'social impact' could facilitate the inclusion of issues such as public outreach, capacity building and conservation into archaeological projects abroad, this can only be stimulated effectively if measurable parameters of social impact become part of the performance evaluation of archaeological staff at universities. In short: performance should not only be judged on the amount of scientific publications, but also in terms of the social impact that this research has.

I just ordered the book Heritage and Globaisation, by Sophia Labadi (a former friend and collegue of mine from UCL/Unesco WHC) and Colin Long.
Heritage and Globalisation identitfies some of the most pressing issues likely to face the heritage industry in the future on a global scale; in particular, I'm interested in what they have to say about the heritage as aid, which is one of the paradigms they will discuss. A review will follow shortly. More info click here.