Graeme Earl
I am a Professor of Digital Humanities at King's College London and an educator on the @UoSFLPortus course
Location London
Activity
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Graeme Earl replied to Susan Lupton
Hi Susan. That is a great suggestion. I'm afraid that we don't at present. However, I will ask my colleague Kris if there is any further he can add about the geophysical and other data from that area. Best wishes. Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Susan Lupton
Hi all. Thank you so much for your corrections and suggestions. We will make them! Some authors have defined conventions for numbering the sides for example, so that would clarify things. Your input on all this is invaluable to us. Best wishes. Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Susan Lupton
Hi Susan. Sorry this comment has taken a while - I have been away from the MOOC for a while whilst teaching on some internal courses. We should definitely look at the wording of that question and of the responses. I sometimes still forget how familiar I am with the place. This placemarker supports the answer best:...
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Graeme Earl made a comment
Hi Esme. We know a fair amount from towns such as Ostia and those on the Bay of Naples about day to day social activities. Many of these centred on the baths and on bars, but social encounters happened in many parts of the towns, in a mixture of public and private settings. Often these interactions were strictly managed and related to hierarchy, as with the...
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Graeme Earl replied to Colin McFall
Hi Colin. Great to hear from you! Please do pass on details of the course to your colleagues in the group. I have long been fascinated by the Holy Ghost and Grace Dieu wrecks in the Hamble, since seeing details on aerial photographs and geophysics. All the best, Graeme
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Hi Linda. Yep mapping tools and extensive survey are helping (and also citizen science projects - Sarah Parcak with whom we worked at portus is in the news today about a new initiative along those lines. The use of citizen researchers is proving invaluable in other contexts too, for example our colleague Leif Isaksen's work trying to link and understand...
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Graeme Earl replied to Janet Jordan
Hi Janet (and all) I spoke to Julian from Shipwrecks today and he and I will both try to articulate further links between the courses. That way whether or not you are studying them both now you can always come back and follow the cross-references in the future. I will have a chat to Ian about doing the same with Hadrian's Wall. The next run is TBA but I'll see...
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Graeme Earl replied to Tim Ward
Hi Tim. Its a great view, isn't it? Google Earth just doesn't do it justice. I too love Ostia Antica. Our recent fieldwork has clarifies the connections between there and Portus. You get a sense of this in the brand new reconstruction drawing of the site that is the backdrop to the virtual tour. Technically you have to wait until next week for Trajanic things...
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Hi Erika. Its great to hear about the connections people make between the various courses and I really hope you enjoy this new piece of the Roman world. Best wishes, Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Janet Jordan
I like that Janet: Wallies, Porties, and perhaps next a Wreckie?! https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/shipwrecks I hope you enjoy Portus. All the best, Graeme
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Hi Sally-Ann. Welcome to the Portus course. If the previous four runs are anything to go by you will find lots of like minded, interesting folks here. Best wishes, Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Anne Beale
Hi Anne - its great to see learners moving between the various courses. Ian Haynes drops in to this one sometimes so I will let him know you loved Hadrian's Wall! Best wishes, Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Kristin Page
Hi Kristin - its great to know that you are applying the learning from these courses to different contexts. What kinds of archaeology in northern Europe and Scandinavia are you particularly interested in? My colleague Jon Adams works in that part of the world in a maritime context: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/archaeology/about/staff/jjra.page and another...
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Graeme Earl replied to Maja S
Hi both. Yes sometimes people do spend longer than the four hours but I hope that you can keep to that time if you want to. We provide lots of potential diversions (such as the virtual tour https://tour.portusproject.org/en/ for example) but none of this is required for you to achieve the learning objectives. All the best, Graeme
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Welcome to the Portus Project Elena! G
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Refreshing honesty Donald :-) What have the 19th C British ever done for us, eh? I hope you enjoy a bit of Roman Italy for a change. Best wishes, Graeme
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Hi Tracey. Great to hear it! The course mixes between roman history, archaeology and methods so I hope you enjoy the mix. All the best, Graeme
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Hi Kathleen. Great to welcome back a Southampton alumnus, and really good to hear that you like the ways in which education has developed. This week has been busy for me: started teaching on this MOOC, started a closed MOOC for dissertation students at Southampton, supervised some third year dissertation presentations, started a masters module and tomorrow an...
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Welcome Katharina! Graeme
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Welcome to the project! We hope that by the end you will consider yourself a real part of the team. We are back in the field this summer we hope and so if you have any ideas for improving the clarity etc. as you go through the course let us know and we might be able to record updates, or perhaps create more opportunities to do some analysis of your own. All...
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Hi Christine. One of the (many) things I love about being involved in this MOOC stuff is the diversity of experiences and expertise they bring together. Some of the greatest insights have come from "newbies" :-) Please do share your ideas as you progress. Best wishes, Graeme
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Good to meet you Bernie. I hope you enjoy it! Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Karen Foley
Welcome Karen. Ian Haynes and I are good friends - in fact we are organising a joint workshop on digital archaeology in the summer. It is great to see people moving between the various courses. Let me know in the comments if particular parallels between the courses occur to you and we can add further cross-references. Cheers, Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to S P
Hi S P! Well we try to provide plenty to keep you all busy :-) But equally remember that this is your course to study in your way. Some learners choose to miss elements in order to concentrate on their particular interests, some follow every link and read every additional thing, others dip in and out. We are here to help you along the way so don't worry about...
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Graeme Earl replied to Colin Thomas
Hi Colin. Welcome to the cost. There are varying views in terms of the usage of those terms and we chose to go with the ones that are most commonly used on the literature relating to the site. I do appreciate the preference that people have either way and whilst "common era" does have a long history of use and is increasingly more common in publications I am...
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Graeme Earl replied to Francine D.
Hi Francine. We have continued to try to find a solution but unfortunately it wasn't possible, for the reasons I gave previously. Let me know when your re-arranged trip is (via email) and I will see what I can arrange to make sure you have a good visit. All the best, Graeme
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Hi Nora. Yes - we all take the digital divide seriously. It doesn't only extend to access to broadband and devices but also to the biases inherent in the learning design. For example, the ability to work within ad hoc social networks and to communicate in short form both correlate with specific demographics and educational experiences, as demonstrated by...
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Hi Sarah. Yes I agree - there is no point embracing technology as a supposedly democratising tool if it is only accessible to those with fast broadband. I know for certain that FL appreciate this and aim for a good balance between quality of experience and bandwidth. It would be good to have a mechanism though whereby one could write and cache comments away...
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I can only concur! We tried many forms of digital recording at Portus and in the end opted for the hybrid solution of writing notes on a chalkboard and then using computer vision (undertaken by our friends in Tartu) to find the writing in the thousands of record photographs. Technology has its significant place but it shouldn't drive what we do. All the best....
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Not at all Sandra! I remember once receiving a criticism that I was too interested in edutainment and I replied that I couldn't think of a better compliment than being told that my education was even the slightest bit entertaining. It is perhaps a truism to suggest that we watch children being inspired by the world and then risk dampening this through...
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Wow! I was editing my comment (typos and added my thoughts on what universities do) as yours came in! We are definitely thinking on the same lines. This may not be the place to ask but I would be really interested to know how those learners on this course with degrees feel about how Portus and other courses like it online compare to their student experiences,...
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Graeme Earl replied to Francine D.
Hi Francine. Just to confirm we haven't forgotten you. August is a difficult time as so many colleagues are on holiday or on fieldwork elsewhere in Italy but we are doing our best to find a solution. Cheers. Graeme
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Hi Roger. Thanks for your comment and making the cross reference to other courses. It would be *great* if you all could recommend cross references to other courses. Many (like ours) now also have steps accessible without being registered so at least you can get a gist of the content even if you haven't (yet) registered on that particular course. As Peter says...
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Hi Sandra. Leeds is one of the first universities offering FL "programs". Some of these carry university recognised credit, others have an exam and feedback but no credit. At present I don't think that they are offering whole degrees but the BBC reported on the view of Coursera's founder that this is the direction of travel. You will not be surprised to learn...
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Absolutely perfect Lindsey. I laughed out loud! Now for added plus points now (a) draw yourself a Harris Matrix to put off finishing the reports, (b) use the date of the urgent report to relatively date the USB stick and (c) possibly make yourself a cup of tea and put a nice biscuit on the top of the pile :-) G
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Hi Sandra. That is great news - many thanks. We really enjoy being on the journey too. Yep lots of science and lots of arts and humanities expertise all mixed up - that is why we all find archaeology so interesting. I can;t remember where I mention it on the course but one member of the Portus team Rose Ferraby is a fabulous artist as well as being an expert...
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Hi Sarah. To my shame I had to google "Matroosberg Mountains". It looks absolutely beautiful. I have spent many happy hours over the last few years contributing to the course from cliffs overlooking cornish beaches and various other outdoor locations. Peter is right - the flexibility of learning and teaching is a big plus. It is now possible to download our...
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Graeme Earl replied to sarah slabber
Hi Sarah. Yes it did get a bit technical! Are there things we could provide to make it easier to follow in the future? Enjoy the school holidays...! Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Kristy Langdale
That's great Kristy! Did you discuss coring in your group as well as on the coring steps? I can't find specific conversations easily in groups as there are so many! I will be able to look tomorrow once I get an updated data set from the course but I would be interested to know whether you felt your Study Group is helping with discussions on all topics, rather...
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Graeme Earl replied to Kristy Langdale
Hi Kristy. Thank you! I've just looked through your comments - lots of really interesting comments and points. If you add some comments explaining which bits were least easy to understand we will do our best to make things clearer. Thanks and best wishes, Graeme
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Graeme Earl made a comment
Here is an extra link to some blog posts relating to week three that bring together some discussions from previous runs of the course: http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/category/week-three/ Cheers, Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Sue Himycz
Well done Sue! I hope you find week four equally interesting. I think the main technical bits are done now, although we use some particular terms when excavating that you will need to get your head round. If there are points that need to be clarified and perhaps added to the Glossary then let us know. All the best, Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Constance Swanson
Hi Constance. That is a great idea. I will see if we can sort a French transcript of 3.12 for you. Best wishes, Graeme
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Graeme Earl made a comment
Glad you enjoyed it! In case you want further information about week four (or any of the other weeks) at the end of each run of this course we capture additional video and other materials on site, in the lab or in the studio to respond to questions raised about each week. You might like to follow this link to the Week Four Blog Posts that bring many of these...
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Graeme Earl made a comment
Very pleased to be able to upload the first of our Japanese video transcripts. More to follow thanks to Mamoru Ikeguchi. Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to John Kissinger
Hi Almudena. Glad you are finding them useful! A reminder also that Peter Wheeler has now added in the geophysics data to the online tour for this week: http://tour.portusproject.org/en/severan If you click on the "layers" button you can switch between magnetometry data and the interpretation of the results. Best wishes, Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Margarita McElroy
Oh dear Margarita! Many thanks for pointing that error out. I will fix. Kris and Ferreol are many things, but divining the future is even beyond their considerable talents as modern day magicians! Best wishes, Graeme
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HI MARGARET. I WILL SWITCH FROM CAPS AFTER THIS FOR REASONS I WILL EXPLAIN. I SPOKE TO AN ACCESSIBILITY GURU AT SOUTHAMPTON E.A. DRAFFAN. SHE SAID MAGNIFICATION BUILT INTO MOST COMPUTERS (SUCH AS CTRL+ ON MOST BROWSERS) AND ALSO TOOLS FROM E.G. http://www.rnib.org.uk/information-everyday-living-using-technology-computers-and-tablets/free-accessibility-software...
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HI MARGARET. MATTHEW IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, AS EVER! THIS COURSE, LIKE THE WEB, IS FOR EVERYONE. I HAVE PASSED ON THIS ISSUE REGARDING FONTS TO FUTURELEARN. I KNOW THAT THEY SHARE THIS COMMITMENT TO ACCESSIBILITY. KEEP THE COMMENTS COMING, HOWEVER WORKS BEST FOR YOU. BEST WISHES. GRAEME
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I forgot to add - in terms of you making your own renders that would be great! Start here with a modelling sheet http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/portus/2014/06/24/build-portus/ and also search for Matthew Tyler-Jones work with LEGO. I will talk to Grant and see if there is any digital model data that we can share too to get you started. Cheers, Graeme
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Hi Stephen. That is a very good and fair question! Over the years we have made different elements available in different ways. So, for example the Second Life model was accessible to anyone and we have also shared various Minecraft implementations, in particular with school children. We also run events where we help visitors to Southampton (e.g. on open days...
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Graeme Earl made a comment
Hi all. I have edited the step to include an approximate equivalent view of this area shown in Grant's CGI model today via [Bing Maps Bird’s Eye](https://bit.ly/28PnjIZ) and [Google Maps 3D](https://goo.gl/maps/HgQhBK6Geuy). On the Google view you can make out the building in the distance on the eastern shore of the Claudian basin, that is indicated in Grant's...
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Graeme Earl replied to laura gama
Many thanks Laura - really interesting! Best wishes. Graeme
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Graeme Earl made a comment
Hi all. I have added a couple of links to step 2.1 showing the modern view that relates to the CGI view in Bing Maps and Google Maps. Note that these do not work on all mobile devices currently: https://bit.ly/28PknMl and https://goo.gl/maps/4ENfwt49FUy Cheers, Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Nigel Christopher Sait
Hi Margaret - that is really helpful, thank you. Matt has produced a new map that indicates the location of the things in the discussion step too. I also noticed that the glossary only includes links in one direction too e.g. Canale Romano points to Trajanic Canal but not vice versa so I imagine this is also causing some confusion and frustration. I have fixed...
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Graeme Earl replied to Kristian Strutt
Hi Clara. I bumped into Kris yesterday and he reminded me that in addition to the interpretation of the magnetometry we then recorded some resistance tomograaphy profiles (you'll learn about these next week!) across the potential canal and also did some deep drill cores (again, discussed next week by Ferreol). So this is a good example of how we look at one...
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Graeme Earl replied to Nigel Christopher Sait
Hi Nigel. You might also find the Trajanic virtual tour useful if you haven't seen it already - it lets you compare the satellite and plan data http://tour.portusproject.org/en/trajanic and via Google/ Bing you can get 3d views of that portion of the site. Cheers, Graeme
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Hi lee. Yes the logistics are a fascinating component. The truth is that we have very little to go on in this respect, other than the layout of the buildings. On previous runs of the course we have had logistics experts who have proposed systems. We have also done some work digitally simulating movement of people and goods around the site in order to find best...
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Graeme Earl replied to Kristian Strutt
Thanks Kris! Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Penelope Smith
Indeed Penelope. The power of negative evidence! Glass half full, and so on... Graeme
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Graeme Earl replied to Cheryl Hanson
Hi Cheryl and Peter. Yes - it is there to give you an idea of outputs. If you google "sidescan sonar shipwreck" and switch to "Images" you will see some fabulous examples of what is possible. Sadly it wasn't to be for us but for a few days we could dream! All the best, Graeme
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Graeme Earl made a comment
Hi all, yes it is a bit tricky! The clue is actually not in a colour/ greyscale change but rather in a change in "noise". Hopefully you can see that the area we interpret as a canal has a more consistent grey colour, because the soil below is a consistent fill of the old canal. The areas to left and right of it are more noisy becuase they contain the building...
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Graeme Earl replied to Richard Dennehy
Hi all, many thanks for those nice comments! It sounds like a greater link between things like the scans, the CGI models and representative finds from those locations would be helpful. We are keeping a list of improvements so this will go on it. My ambition for the course has always been that learners can study at the depth they choose, in terms of how much...
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Graeme Earl replied to Sandra Oakes
Hi Sandra. All great suggestions. As we will discuss further in future weeks the dating of ceramics works in both directions as you suggest - once we have established the dates when a particular type of ceramic was produced (with type defined by style and material composition and its date established through some other factor such as association with some...
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Graeme Earl replied to Annie Samson
Glad its helpful Annie. We will keep updating it. In fact here is probably a good place for all learners to add comments sharing additional terms and names they would like us to describe in the Glossary. All the best, Graeme
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Graeme Earl made a comment
I've added "Sherding" to the Glossary. Cheers, Graeme
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Graeme Earl made a comment
Hi Lee. Sherding is the process of counting the numbers of sherds of different types of pottery in different locations. This can give you an indication of the activities, and the dates and concentrations of occupation associated with given locations. It is one aspect of what is commonly called "field walking". We often use a variety of statistically-based...
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Graeme Earl replied to John Kissinger
Not at all! You go at your own pace. We try to keep things structured in the weekly format as much as possible though so that we can focus our efforts on each week in turn, and also so that the learners can benefit from each other as much as possible. One of the many benefits of teaching online is that I can tweak things a little as the course is in progress,...
