International Medieval Congress 2008

I will be giving a paper at the International Medieval Congress 2008 in July Session Details

Session:	105
Title:	The Black Death: Mortality, Building, and Art
Date / Time:	July 7, 2008 11.15-12.45
Sponsor:	Society for 14th-Century Studies
Organiser:	Chris Given-Wilson, St Andrews’ Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews
Moderator:	Jeffrey S. Hamilton, Department of History, Baylor University, Texas
Paper 105-a:	The Black Death and Mortality: A Reassessment (Language: English) Paula Arthur, Department of History, University of Winchester Tom Beaumont James, Department of History & Department of Archaeology, University of Winchester
Paper 105-b:	The Black Death and Building: A Case Study (Language: English) Richard Haddlesey, Department of Archaeology, University of Winchester
Paper 105-c:	The Black Death and English Art: Further Reflection (Language: English) Phillip G. Lindley, Department of History of Art, University of Leicester
Abstract:	This session examines the impact of the black death on later 14th-Century England, ranging from mortality to art and architecture.

Zotero

Zotero is an easy-to-use yet powerful research tool that helps you gather, organize, and analyze sources (citations, full texts, web pages, images, and other objects), and lets you share the results of your research in a variety of ways. An extension to the popular open-source web browser Firefox, Zotero includes the best parts of older reference manager software (like EndNote)—the ability to store author, title, and publication fields and to export that information as formatted references—and the best parts of modern software and web applications (like iTunes and del.icio.us), such as the ability to interact, tag, and search in advanced ways. Zotero integrates tightly with online resources; it can sense when users are viewing a book, article, or other object on the web, and—on many major research and library sites—find and automatically save the full reference information for the item in the correct fields. Since it lives in the web browser, it can effortlessly transmit information to, and receive information from, other web services and applications; since it runs on one’s personal computer, it can also communicate with software running there (such as Microsoft Word). And it can be used offline as well (e.g., on a plane, in an archive without WiFi).

Using MapManager 9.1 to Import OS MasterMap

original item

Overview

To use OS MasterMap data downloaded from Digimap in ArcGIS 9, it is necessary to import the GML data into a Geodatabase. For small datasets (under 2Gb) where multi-user editing is not required, this can be a Personal Geodatabase. For larger amounts of data or where multi-user editing is required, an ArcSDE Geodatabase is required.

Once data has been loaded into the Geodatabase the user has several options with what to do with the data:

1. Preview the data in ArcCatalog
2. View and edit the data using ArcMap
3. Export the data as Shapefiles or in other formats:
   • Using the MapManager 9 OS MasterMap Geodatabase Filter - user can speciofy regions of data to export using a polygon and select specific feature classes to export
   • Using ArcToolbox, export individual feature classes to: Shape, Arc coverages and CAD formats

Graduate Junction

Graduate junction is a great new place for graduates to promote and share their research with other graduates. They say;

The Graduate Junction is a brand new site which aims to give research students an easy way of making contact with others who share their research interests no matter which department, institution or country they work in.

The site has been created by other research students, like you, who believe the site can grow into a really useful tool for postgraduates working in any field of research

my profile

Black Death

For an interesting, if not controversial take on the ‘Black Death’ and the early 14th Century in general, may I recommend;

Baillie M, 2006 New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection. Tempus, Gloucestershire. (Amazon)

Baillie is perhaps best known for his work within the field of dendrochronology, and so it is interesting to read how he sees the catastrophes incurred during the 1st half of the 14th Century played out in the tree-ring evidence. I believe Baillie puts forward a very strong case for us to re look at what we know about the Black Death in the light of new scientific evidence.

Isle of Wight

just got back from the Isle of Wight, what a fantastic place to visit. The island is scattered with archaeological features from prehistory to modern times. There are plenty of barrows to see all along the ridge ways, and a monolith (Long stone) that is the same type of blue stone used in Stonehenge! There are 2 great Roman villas to visit too, Brading and Newport. Although Brading is the more famous, I think Newport is by far the best visit. The Medieval Castle at Carisbrooke is a must see! Its a truly awesome English Castle.

My main reason for visiting the Isle was to carry out a survey on a Medieval Manor (1440-60). This was an interesting building that fits into my overall study very well indeed.

Applying Google Earth in paleontological and archaeological research

clipped from anthropology.net

An article in advance in the Journal of Human Evolution introduces how the most basic version of Google Earth can be easily used in lieu of other GIS software to display and share paleontological data. This is definitely not the first time we’ve seen news on how Google Earth has aided anthropological research, but it is one of the first times I’ve seen it be embraced in an academic, peer reviewed journal. So if you’re interested in how Google Earth can help you with managing your data, without having to invest a lot of time, effort, and money in complex GIS software, check this paper out: “Google Earth, GIS, and the Great Divide: A new and simple method for sharing paleontological data.”

1493 Wooden fireplace

I was lucky enough to visit a house in Mottisfont the other day that had a tudor fireplace dendro dated to 1493. It is the earliest wooden fireplace with carving I know of in Hampshire, do correct me if I’m wrong. I have seen plenty of stone ones around this period, but not wooden.

It also has some ‘teardrops’ left from burning rush lights and a daisy wheel inscription to ward off witches and evil.

Scribd

I have placed some documents on a new site called scribd. It is similar in some ways to flickr (sharing images) but scribd is for document sharing. This has the potential to be the library of the future. You add ‘tags’ to you documents so other people can find and read what you have to say, give it a try!

1st Antiquist Workshop

This has been a great workshop so far (2nd of 3 days). We have learnt how to blog and create php databases. This will be a good tool to disseminate my research, both through this blog and the website.

The second day focused on AMP - MySQL, PHP and servers. I have always used MS Access to create a relational database, but I am now aware of the benefits using MySQL can have over Access. Though Access remains a very good database package, it is not so easy to publish the database online, where as writing in MySQL you can. MySQL though is not the easiest of programs to use, so I may well stick with Access for now and make the switch after the PhD. One of the major benefits of using both php and MySQL over access is that they are both open source programs

Tuesday evenening we were lucky to be able to attend a lecture by Professor Colin Renfrew at the University of Southampton. He lecture was on ‘art & archaeology’. He is still incredibly lucid, but I have to admit, I did not really enjoy or understand the lecture. He talked mainly of how archaeology is reflected in contemporary modern art and vice versa. Modern art is not my thing at all, so I struggled to see a connection. Still, it is always great to see him talk. I was lucky enough to work with Renfrew on the Island of Melos, Greece.