Public Archaeology 2.0: Facilitating engagement with Twitter

Abstract

Public archaeology increases public awareness of archaeological issues and their practical applications to modern social concerns. Classroom visits, hands-on activities, site tours, and other events give archaeologists the opportunity to engage the public and transfer knowledge through face-to-face interaction. However, engagement ends at the conclusion of the event, leaving the audience with an incomplete understanding of the subject. Twitter, a social media application, transcends these spatial and temporal limitations by allowing sustained multi-directional communication among archaeologists, their audience and others who never attended the original event. However, there are problems with assessing the success of public archaeology projects and the presentation format differs dramatically from traditional forms of publication.