I wasn’t planning to post anything today but considering things, I thought it would be fun to share a little #TechnologyTuesday . For those of you who have only recently started following me - I’m currently doing an archaeology PhD. My main research output of this PhD is five peer-reviewed scientific papers, which will be all bundled up at the end into a hopefully interesting volume on microwear analysis of organic Dorset artefacts from the Canadian Arctic. Two of these papers are in the process of being published, and I'm currently doing the first stages of analysis for the third one. . This first stages is usually fun, because you can get creative with the data. Especially in this paper, where I'm looking for patterns in the way that carved figurines were made and used in the past. But, it's all very well to say "look for patterns", but in practice this is much harder than it sounds! I've been struggling for a week or two now with how exactly to approach my data. Yesterday, the hubby looked over my shoulder and said "why don't you just write a program that identifies patterns?" . Long story short - he wrote a small program for me, which means I now have Matlab installed on my computer and can do all kinds of crazy things with my data! Admittedly, if I had to explain it I would probably just answer with the expression you see here. But this just shows how essential it is to have input and ideas from those outside your area. Without this collaboration, I would still be floundering in my dataset. With it, I can at least organise things a bit easier and work things out for myself as I go. . This is actually also related to an idea in archaeological theory, known as "network interaction". Too often we assumed that crafters in the past worked in isolation, but was this the case? Imagine it in prehistory: someone struggling with creating a hole and someone else looks over their shoulder and says "why don't you just make a bow drill?" Overly simplistic perhaps, but collaboration in ideas is the key here. . #phd #phdlife #theleveragedphd #collaboration #technology #ideas #matlab #academicsofinstagram #Archaeology #archaeologylife #archaeologist #workingfromhome #homeo https://www.instagram.com/p/CGketI4HgU3/?igshid=164p9pg2vtwn2
