A new online Egyptology magazine?

Is there room in the world of Egyptology for an online magazine written by talented amateur Egyptologists, Egyptology society members, undergraduates and informal students? Kate Phizackerley (www.kv64.info) and I are doing market research into the possibility of setting one up.

Kate and I both receive articles for review for both popular and academic publication, and are often impressed by some of the quality of the amateur writing. Similarly, I have lectured at a number of UK Egyptology socieities where I have been impressed at the number of society members who have done research so detailed that they are more than qualified to lecture at their societies themselves (and attract sizeable and well informed audiences when they do so). It has become quite clear that there are many talented researchers who have done a lot of work into areas of particular interest, have some excellent content and ideas to impart, but who are unlikely to get published due to a lack of formal qualifications in the subject. That seems a shame.

So, in a chilly pub in London a few weeks ago, Kate and I discussed the idea of setting up a website which would give that research a platform. Our top level aim would be to try to attract pieces which are well researched and have a good reading list. We would not be looking for the sort of articles that appear in coffee-break magazines or on any amateur website that you can visit, and we would not want articles informed exclusively by Wikipedia or other informal (and unverifiable) sources. We are looking for good quality and well written contributions by writers who have real knowledge to impart and who have done their research using recognized sources. That doesn’t mean to say that we would want everything to be dull and lifeless – we would want the magazine to be entertaining. But we would like the contributions to be of a sufficiently high standard to inspire the confidence of readers who might like to reference the articles in their own research.

Does all this sound like something that would interest you as a writer or a reader? Would you like to contribute with articles, book reviews, exhibition reviews, photo-stories, and conference and lecture notes?

And do you have any ideas that might help us to narrow down the end product? We are only in the early stages of the thinking at the moment so any feedback would be very welcome. We will keep anyone who emails/comments updated on our progress as we decide if/how to proceed.

All responses will be valued.

To see more details, including an overview of how the magazine would operate in practical terms, please see Kate’s comprehensive post:
http://www.kv64.info/2010/01/support-for-ancient-egypt-magazine.html

Kindest regards
Andie Byrnes