An article I read yesterday on the BBC website about the conveying of complex or non-intuitive information through colours, pictures and graphics got me thinking about how we archaeologists use such things.

I actually think that, on balance, we are instinctively pretty good at attempting to visualise our work: compared with our sister discipline history our conferences are veritable media-fests.

On the other hand we do have a bit of an addiction to PowerPoint; to images of holes in the ground; of random artefacts; and occasionally of insanely stereotypical 'reconstruction' drawings.

So, could we do better? I would argue that we could do far far better, with a little imagination and inspiration, at communicating to both ourselves and (much much more importantly) to the public. Where could we do better? Probably everywhere: in our publications (online and print), our conferences, our teaching and our outreach.

The internet is full of sources of inspiration on how we can present information in innovative ways. The video above, taken from TED.com (if you click that link forget about working for an hour or two) showcases some amazing ways of presenting complex data in a visual way, even converting much-abused charts into moving, interactive objects.

Other sites such as Wordle and Tagul enable anyone to analyze and present text in a visual way. They work by scanning text (from my MA thesis in the case of Wordle and Seandálaíocht in the case of Tagul) and isolating frequently used terms which then appear bigger, the terms then acting as links in the case of Tagul (try clicking on the image below).

Information is Beautiful is a blog about visualising data in an aesthetically pleasing way. It doesn't work with archaeological data but statistics are statistics and I've already nicked a few ideas for the maps I am preparing for my PhD. There are plenty more sites out there with tools to be used and ideas to be borrowed.

Finally, a little rant: why the hell do archaeologists (and I include myself in this) design/commision websites that are useful only to other archaeologists? Sites like excavations.ie, archaeology.ie, the ADS etc etc are just not accessible to the general public. We need to write/design sites that engage, that inform and that convey complex information in a simple way. While it may sound childish; bright colours and simple shapes may be the best tools for doing it.