Initially, we got in touch with the editors of Internet Archaeology by email. They were interested in publishing the excavation report and so we arranged to meet with Alan Vince, who was the Managing Editor at that time, to discuss what would be necessary. With him we went through the site with a fine tooth comb, looking at the existing report and at the raw data and databases.
We decided that we would use the existing report as a basis for publication and Alan explained clearly what would be involved in preparing it for publication on the Internet. It is all written down in my notebook. But I realise now that most of what he said just went straight over the top of my head. Alan made everything sound very simple and straightforward, but I just didn't know what was involved in things like putting in the source code in order to make up the sections into Internet Archaeology format. With hindsight, I would agree that it is a straightforward matter, if you know what you are doing, but we were inexperienced. We blithely agreed to his estimate of the time involved and discussed how best to go forward. Internet Archaeology's own Guidelines for Authors which have since been produced now set out this process very clearly and would, undoubtedly, have helped me here, but I still think that it is a hard process for the uninitiated to take in.
We would be responsible for most of the editing to get the report into shape and so the next step was to approach Historic Scotland and see whether they might be prepared to grant-aid the publication. Gordon Barclay and Olly Owen at Historic Scotland were both very keen and helpful. They were interested in the project and in the possibilities of Internet publication, and we all agreed that a small site like Fife Ness might be particularly suitable as a trial case.
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URL: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue7/wickham/report.html
Last updated: Mon Sept 6 1999