Zack Batist
I'm Zack. I'm an archaeologist and information scholar investigating collaborative aspects of research practices, specifically in contexts of data work, records management and open science.

In practice, this typically involves conducting empircal qualitative and quantitative research using evidence from a wide variety of sources, including filmed observations of work practices, embedded and retrospective interviews, web-based creative content, and data collected by cloud-based platforms and services. Previously, I assembled the Database of Obsidian Sourcing Studies [DObsiSS] to support my network analysis of obsidian circulation patterns in Southwest Asia and Anatolia, maintained archaeological project databases and worked in a biomolecular research lab.

I'm the core maintainer of open-archaeo, a comprehensive list of open source archaeological software and resources, and I help out as a moderator for the archaeo.social mastodon instance and community-led social media collective.

I also have a keen interest in public perceptions of archaeology, and the representation of archaeology in science fiction, popular media and public policy. This aligns with my broader interests in science and technology studies, digital media studies, internet and software studies, among other related fields that interrogate the roles of different kinds of knowledge in our lives.

I obtained my PhD from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Information in 2023. I currently work as an independent scholar based in Montreal.