Subject: call for candidates for six open Scientific Committee posts and four open CAA committee posts
Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) invites applications for one of six open Scientific Committee posts. We also remind CAA members of our previous call for four open steering committee posts: outreach officer, treasurer, publication officer, bursary and student/low income officer.
From 2016 CAA will have a scientific committee to oversee the scientific quality of work presented at its conferences over the coming years. The work of the scientific committee will concern exclusively the scientific quality of the sessions, papers and posters. Candidates do not have to be current CAA members but have experience with the CAA community and conferences. Candidates must express an interest in the posts before 29 February 2016 by sending a CV and motivational statement demonstrating their experience with the CAA conferences to the CAA secretary. The tasks of the scientific committee are listed below. Please contact the CAA secretary if additional information is required.
The current treasurer and publication officer will stand down at CAA2016 in Oslo, the outreach and the bursary and student/low income officers are two new posts. Candidates must be CAA members and applications by all CAA members will be considered. CAA encourages in particular applications from female and non-European CAA members. The tasks associated with these posts are given below. Candidates must express an interest in the posts before 29 February 2016 by sending a motivational statement and CV to the CAA secretary. Please contact the CAA secretary if additional information is required. To become a CAA member, please visit our website.
CAA is a growing international community with an active membership of over 500 academics and professionals with a shared interest in archaeological computing. The CAA has organised annual international conferences since 1973 and has 14 national chapters spread across the globe. As an officer of CAA you will help carry on this strong tradition by coordinating CAA’s organisation throughout the year and by encouraging the continued growth of a diverse and inspiring community.
The outreach officer is a steering committee (SC) post (ex-officio member of the executive steering committee [ESC]) that will be filled by the most appropriate candidate selected by the CAA ESC from all received applications. The other three are ESC Officer posts. ESC officers are elected by CAA members at the Annual General Meeting for terms of three years, and each officer may hold their post for up to two terms. It is then however possible to be elected for a different post. Candidates must be able to commit an estimated equivalent of three weeks of full-time work spread throughout the year to CAA business. Candidates must also be able to attend the yearly conference and an ESC meeting at the conference venue (or sometimes via Skype) usually in December/January before the conference (financial assistance is available for this pre-conference meeting but not for the conference itself). The election of officers for these three posts will happen by CAA members during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) at CAA Oslo (29 March – 2 April 2016). If there are multiple candidates for a post, the candidates will be asked to give a short (2 minute) motivational statement at the AGM before the vote takes place.
Scientific committee (ScC)
Candidates for these posts have experience with the CAA community and conferences, but are not required to be CAA members at time of application. The ScC will consist of 13 individuals including a member of the local organising committee of the CAA conference and an ScC chair.
The tasks of the ScC include:
- The ScC is responsible for overseeing the scientific quality of session, paper and poster proposals, and has the final say on accepting or rejecting contributions.
- The ScC and its chair will perform their tasks in a consistent and transparent manner
- The role of the ScC is limited to the conference activities and it is not involved in the quality control of the publications (this is the responsibility of the Editorial Board).
- The ScC chair is responsible for allocating tasks to ScC members, for coordinating the activities of the ScC with those of the local organiser, and for communicating with the ESC.
- The local organiser is a member of the ScC and will communicate practical limitations of the conference (e.g. number of rooms, maximum number of parallel sessions, maximum number of sessions) with the ScC chair.
- The ScC and its Chair will work according to the published responsibilities and guidelines as approved by CAA members at the AGM.
Candidates interested in applying for these posts should send a short motivational statement demonstrating their experience with the CAA conferences and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016.
Outreach (NEW CAA steering committee post)
Candidates for this post will probably be young, creative and pro-active CAA members who have experience and interest in communication, social media, and outreach aimed at diversifying communities.
The tasks of this new post will include:
- Actively encourage new areas of membership and the diversity of the CAA community
- Share news, deadlines, advertising of CAA on selected social media and the CAA website
- Responsible for all external communication of CAA, but not to the membership (which is done by the Membership Secretary)
- Advise local organisers of social media strategies
- Oversee our connection to and collaboration with other conferences and academic communities (UISPP, DH, TAG, WAC). Consultation on conference dates and venues with these communities
- Provide an annual report of activities
Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016.
Bursary and student/low income officer (NEW CAA executive steering committee post)
The tasks of this new post will include:
- Coordinate student/low-income bursaries
- Chair the bursary committee
- Coordinate handing out of bursaries
- Coordinate Nick Ryan bursary
- Coordinate the student/low-income representation
- Liaise with local organisers regarding affordable fees/accommodation
The creation of this new ESC post is subject to the acceptance of a modified CAA constitution incorporating this post, which will be proposed at and voted on during the Annual General Meeting in Oslo before the officer’s elections.
Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016. Candidates are invited to get in touch with the current student/low income SC officer (John Pouncett, bursaries@caaconference.org) to find out more about the responsibilities and future duties.
Treasurer (CAA executive steering committee post)
The Treasurer deals with all financial activities of CAA, including:
- Keeping a detailed overview of finances
- All CAA related bills apart from those directly linked to conference organisation
- Organise annual auditing
- Managing bank accounts
- Primary contact for financial information regarding CAA
- Reporting all this to the officers and membership
The treasurer is also a member of the bursary committee, which is responsible for deciding which applicants will receive bursaries to attend the conference. Any incoming bursary application is decided by this committee on the basis of a set of rules, which will be published on the CAA webpage.
Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016. Candidates are invited to get in touch with the current treasurer (Axel Posluschny, treasurer@caa-international.org) to find out more about the responsibilities and future duties of the CAA treasurer.
Publication officer (CAA executive steering committee post)
The Publication Officer is responsible for ensuring and organizing the publication of the annual conference proceedings. S/he will be supported by an Editorial Board, consisting of other members of the SC, including co-opted ex officio members and the CAA Review College. Any member of CAA can be co-opted as an Editorial Board member by the ESC upon request from the Publication Officer.
Tasks of the publication officer include:
- Communication with publishers
- Communicating with and directing local organizers where it concerns the publication process
- Occasionally communicating with Editorial Board to discuss relevant issues
- Occasionally answering questions on publication issues from members
- Maintaining publication guidelines
- Maintaining Review College database and communicating with its members
- Digital archiving of Proceedings
- Continue the new publication plan for 2016 and beyond, including digital proceedings and the CAA journal
Candidates interested in applying for this post should send a short motivational statement and a CV to the CAA secretary before 29 February 2016. Candidates are invited to get in touch with the current publication officer (Philip Verhagen, publications@caa-international.org) to find out more about the responsibilities and future duties.
Simulation approaches are slowly becoming more mainstream in our discipline, rightly so! This trend will very much be supported by a new book series published by Springer: “Simulating the Past”. I would love to see some network/simulation books in the series. Have an idea for a book in this series? Get in touch with the editors! 1000229 [at] uab [dot] cat
Trade is a massive research topic in archaeology and one of my favourites. But I am very convinced that the study of trade in archaeology in particular could benefit greatly from the use of new computational methods. At the EAA in Vilnius there will be a session about exactly this, and I can definitely recommend submitting papers to this session if your work falls into this.
One of the awesome things about my job is that I get to travel around and talk to people about the stuff I love (read “bore people by ranting about a niche interest”). This week I am in Oxford and I will be giving two talks tomorrow (10 February 2016). So if you are in the neighbourhood and are prepared to be talked to about networks and Romans, come along!
Archaeological Networks 