So, it’s 5 years since OSGeo was formed- that’s pretty cool! Spurred on by this post, I thought I would say a little bit about my involvement with OSGeo, and also rather clumsily segue this into an announcement about my impending change of job. It’s true- after years of not really thinking of myself as an archaeologist any longer, but rather ‘someone who works in an archaeological unit", I’ve finally gone and got myself a real job.

I’ve always used Google Alerts to let me know when Archaeogeek is mentioned online. It’s very useful for checking that your posts are not used/copied without attribution or permission, for one (this happens on a depressingly regular basis, and it’s just rude). Recently, however, via Google Alerts I’ve also found out that there are a surprising number of new Archaeogeeks (or close variants) online. Here’s the newest example. It’s not me, though I am interested in tinkering with Arduino!

Happy New Year everyone. I don’t know about you, but I won’t be inviting 2009 back for a repeat visit any time soon! Whilst I know it was a tough year for everyone, for me the problems were compounded by health issues (of the chronic rather than serious variety). I won’t go into the tedious details, but even non-serious health problems can take over your life, make you really stressed, and generally cause a nuisance.

Crikey, that’s the first time I’ve left it nearly a month between posts! At the moment it feels a little like one of those games you play when you’re a kid, and someone shouts “red” so you go and hit the red post, then they shout “blue” and you dash to blue, then they shout “red” again, then “green” really quick before you' can catch your breath, and before you know it you’re stuck in the middle unable to move.

If you read anything about blogging you’ll know that you’re not supposed to apologise for not posting, but umm, sorry for not posting for a couple of weeks. Oops, there goes my blogging credentials down the drain! Anyhow, the last couple of weeks have been a bit of a learning experience. A major IT mishap, which I could have handled better and possibly prevented, coupled with lots of commitments and deadlines, meant that I just had to get my head down and get through each day an hour at a time.

There are a few blogs that I follow daily that I try and take advice from. Some I read to, well, try and make myself into a better person in general, and some to try and learn how to be a good manager. One that is particularly useful, nay inspirational at the moment is Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project.I am consistently amazed about her ability to be honest about her failures and faults, and the fact that she maintains such an optimistic and constructive outlook.

Welcome to Archaeogeek Archaeogeek is about one person’s experiences using modern computing technologies in archaeology, in the UK. My name is Jo Cook, and I am the Information Systems Coordinator at the northern office of Oxford Archaeology, based in Lancaster. My job is pretty varied. It involves sysadmin duties, GIS, databases, and anything else that’s thrown at me. My real passion is building web-based interfaces to maps and data, but more generally I simply want to improve the digital tools and processes that my colleagues have available for doing archaeology.