When was "Anthropology Resources on the Internet" set up ? -
allen lutins set it up way back in 1995. It was then the first such anthropology directory. Bernard-Olivier Clist took over the site's administration and maintainance in January 1999 and went on developping its contents and its new graphics. What is the WWW Virtual Library network ?
The Virtual Library is the oldest catalog of the web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of html and the web itself. Unlike commercial catalogs, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert; even though it isn't the biggest index of the web, the VL pages are widely recognised as being amongst the highest-quality guides to particular sections of the web. Individual indexes live on hundreds of different servers around the world. Sadly, since late in 2005, the WWW VL has split up due to the taking over of the association by some people not connected to the old project. Most of the serious maintainers are associated to the History Network of the VL. If interested you can check the history of this poor tale here. The old federated WWW-VL project (1991-2005) passed away in December 2005. What is the WWW Virtual Library History network ?
click here Why did "Anthropology Resources on the Internet" (ARI) become the WWW VL History : Archaeology/Prehistory?
In 2004 the WWW VL History Central Catalogue lacked a maintainer for its archaeology and prehistory indexes. Due to the work of allen lutins (1995-1999) and bernard clist (1999-2004), ARI has become one of the main archaeology/anthropology directories on the Internet. It was suggested, and accepted, to have ARI stepping in as the archaeology/prehistory index of the WWW VL History network. What are the copywright issues for photographs / illustrations ? Can I copy part of the links listed for educational purposes ? -
Copyright in Anthropology Resources on the Internet (ARI) : ARI belongs to Bernard-Olivier Clist. No part of ARI may be stored, transmitted, or otherwise used or reproduced in any form, except for non-commercial study or research purposes with a proper acknowledgement or citation of ARI. Any commercial use of any information obtained through the ARI web site is prohibited without the express written consent of Bernard-Olivier Clist. Set up links to ARI from your own web site instead of copying it ! What is the editor's working philosophy ? -
This is a comprehensive list of Internet Resources which are directly and primarily of anthropological relevance. In order to retain manageability, sites which only tangentially deal with anthropology, such as native issues, "primitive art", history, etc. are omitted.
It is obvious due to academical standards the contents of the Directory aim to give surfers the most objective and exhaustive information on whatever area, country or people. Listing web sites e.g. in China does not mean the webmaster does not keep a close eye on what is going on in neighbouring Tibet ! What is the editor's background ? -
Of french and british descent, born in Paris (France), B.Clist was trained as an archaeologist at Brussels University. After completing fieldwork and publications on the Neolithic and Bronze Age of France and Belgium, he specialized on the archaeology of Central Africa (1980 onwards) with an emphasis on the early settlement of the rain forest by villagers (Neolithic). In this context he directed excavations, set up exhibitions and other public outreach programs, wrote papers and books on Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo and Angola. From 1991 to 1995 and again in 2003 he was contracted by several American and British oil companies to develop Environmental Impact Assessments, focused on archaeological surveys and excavations. In 1995-1996 he was Communication Officer for the World Bank funded "Projet Forêts et Environnement" located in Gabon.
In 1997, he expanded his skills to include website development and web resource analysis. He worked for the French chartered surveyors between 1999 and 2003 to set up their national information network and Internet web site and its associated databases. He has been from 2003 to 2005 an expert with the A-Net-Oasis, LLC company in the United States in the areas of Anthropology and Archaeology (3Clix project). For some 8 months in 2006, he was one of the French Rating Analysts of Google USA working on the improvement of the Google search engine.
He is currently administrator/webmaster for the "Anthropology Resources on the Internet" web directory, the "Anthropology Backdoor to the Internet" portal and the "Droit et archéologie" web site, which specializes in texts of law relating to French archaeology. After a few years delay, he managed late in 2003 to find time to write his long awaited PhD and present it in 2005. Its topic : archaeology of Central Africa.
In addition to his books and papers on African archaeology (check out Bibliography on Central Africa's Archaeology), he has published several essays on the use of archaeology discussion lists and the development of web sites for local communities.
Extensive bio here (in french). What are the selection criterias to have an URL added to the "...Resources" ? -
The URL analysis relies on his 18 years experience of field anthropology (1977-1995), 33 years experience of archaeology (since 1977), and 12 years experience of web development (since 1998). Click here for details.
Each URL is tested and its contents screened before being included on the relevant page of the directory. Everything going against academic objectivity is set aside. You need to have interesting data online to be added, personal pages or even academic ones can be excluded if the data is present elsewhere and in a more exhaustive way !
Some sites are also scored according to their currency : the "News on the Net" section is one example.
A site's navigation or its graphics and layout are also checked but given lower weight. How do you get information on new URLs ? -
Information comes in by way of subscriptions to different discussion lists and newsgroups, the web site owner's own research online using the main search engines, and keeping an eye on the other specialized directories (listed under 'web directories') How do you manage with your 5,000+ web sites' links registered in the directory ? -
Weekly the Xenu Link Sleuth software is run to track down broken links (see on http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html). A list is published. The possible broken links are all checked on screen. Either the new URL is found, or the site is deleted from the directory. Due to the large number of sites listed in ARI and the habit webmasters have of moving their pages around, it is considered a 4% broken links rate as the maximum allowed; these days ARI is often around the 2% mark. How did you select your geographical criterias ? -
For the United States the "Open Directory Project" subdivision was followed. 'Mid-Atlantic' and 'New England' States may be grouped into a 'Northeast' area, but are for the time being kept separate. Hawaii for geographical and cultural reasons is isolated. For the rest of the world the "CIA World Factbook" was used to group countries, with only one notable exception : Mexico has been grouped in a general "Central and South America" zone. Later, with the development of data there, we will split off Central America from South America. Can you be more specific about the geographical grouping ? -
From the "CIA World Factbook" :
Central Asia : Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
East & South East Asia : Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea North, Korea South, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Singapore, Spratly Islands, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vietnam.
Middle East : Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Gaza Strip, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, West Bank, Yemen.
South Asia : Afghanistan, Bengladesh, Bhutan, British Indian Ocean Territory, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
What is your privacy policy ? -
All messages sent through the 'comments' page are kept on computer until time is found to answer the query, or that one is able to check a submitted URL and decide on wether to include it or not in the Resources. As soon the work is done the message is deleted from the hard disk. This means your e-mail address is not copied to a third party.
The site owner occasionally monitors search terms that you enter into your usual search engine (Google for some 40% users) or into the onsite Extense search engine but this tracking is never associated with individual users.
An american software helps the site owner administer your use of the site : StatCounter. The programs involved do not link IP addresses to anything personally identifiable. This means that user sessions will be tracked, but the users will remain anonymous. The figures gathered give information which enables one to improve the site. How many millions do you earn ? How many people working on the '...Resources' ? -
allen lutins started the '...Resources' in 1995 following the Internet primitive idea : free of charge, using the network's collaborative dimension, working during his lunch hours. It is still true today.
The team is quite impressive : one administrator (Bernard Clist) helped by you on the 'Net !
To keep the site's quality one needs to work on it two days a week for simple links checks (min. 20 hours/week) and from time to time start heavy research work. For instance the October 2003 Journals' page update lasted for 20 hours, or the January 2004 European Anthropology Departments' page update lasted a full week (some 320 links set up during 50 hours work). Back in 1999 such homework was done between 10 pm and 2 am (modem connections, using the low prices for night calls, and a heavy breakfast and good coffee a few hours later !). Now it follows regular working schedules... What type of search engine do you use ? How does it work ? -
The Site Search engine developped by the Google company is set up. The engine is free. It connects itself to the Paris server, checks all the files, copies all the found words on its system hard disk associated to the URL where they were found. Each time you make a query, the search string is compared to the data gathered and a list of URLs is edited for you on one of my pages. Do you answer mails ? -
Yes. Usually such mails contain very precise questions, ie 'where can i found info on xx ethnic group'?.
Either an answer is sent straight away (like one on the Eshira of Gabon), or one is directed to a discussion list or an anthropology department.
Sometimes, true, due to the work load, an answer will wait in the computer for a couple of weeks...
If you need a fast answer, ie '...help, i am doing a presentation tomorrow afternoon...', sorry but try another address ! Also, students should be encouraged to do their own research rather than hoping for someone else to do it for them... If I have an old 800x600 pixels resolution computer will I still be able to lurk ? -
Yes, indeed. But it is suggested you use a 1024x768 pixels resolution as the design of the site was based on it. The site wa developped using a PC and a few layout problems might be encountered using a Mac.
Do you check the graphics and layout of your pages before web publishing them ? -
Before web publishing the new pages are checked using Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, and are visualized under resolutions of 800x600 and 1024x768 pxs. Who did the site graphics ? Who is responsible for the design itself ? -
David Nadeau and Fabien Chéreau from Quadrupede worked on the graphics after inital discussion for directions with Bernard-Olivier Clist, while B.-O. Clist htmlized the site and did the final graphics/text integration. You use frames on your site, how can I link to specific topics / pages on ARI ? -
By using the following URLs. Make your choice, copy them in your code. Where is the web site located ? -
Société Amen, AMEN SAS, 12-14, Rond Point des Champs Elysées, 75008 Paris, France.

Bernard Clist, January 2011

Contact : bernard@shape72.com
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