Hello all, I’m Jameson Minto, the founder and writer of the Musings of Clio Blog. I fell in love with the ancient world early, mainly through the Asterix the Gaul comics, being dyslexic they helped me engage with the subject much easier before I managed to get on top of my reading. I strongly believe that the old elitism that exists around the subject should be stripped out, which is why I am committed to creating free, accessible content about Classics, Ancient History, Archaeology and the rest of the Ancient World.
Having finished my MA I am now job-hunting, I want to continue studying the ancient world at a graduate level, but first I need a break away from the exams and essays. This means I can spend some more time on my blog and think up some new ways of creating content and engaging in open-access, quality research.
Curriculum Vitae – Jameson Minto
At a glance
– Experienced with using social media as a promotional tool
– Been running a successful WordPress blog for two-years
– Keen writer and thorough researcher
– Excellent people skills, managing time, working to a deadline etc.
– Adaptable and very open to learning from others
Education:
University of Manchester 2019-2020 – Working towards an MA Classics and Ancient History.
Dissertation: Climate Change and Human Intervention in the Bronze Age Argolid (Due 7th December 2020)
University of Warwick 2016-2019 – BA (Hons) Classical Civilisation – First Class. Dissertation: The Achaean League and Collective Identity
Academic Experience:
Musings of Clio (2018 to present): I have been running a blog for over two years using WordPress as a platform. This has meant becoming familiar with the software and the statistical side of running a blog and utilising social media to promote my work. In the last 6 months the blog has been much more active, as I fit my university work into it. My use of social media has also expanded; in addition to using Twitter as a promotional tool and to generate greater engagement I have increased by using different FACEBOOK groups to expand the readership. I have built up relationships with other Ancient World content creators, which means we mutually benefit from sharing each other’s work. I have built up a collection of over 50 articles on topics as varied as Iron Age Britain, Roman Chester, Parthian Iran, Ancient Egypt, and Bee Keeping in the Ancient Near East. My current goal is to write more topics on Hellenistic History, the Aegean Bronze Age, and eventually to write revision guides for the A-Level OCR syllabus.
International Conference for Undergraduate Research (2018): This conference was a collaboration between the University of Warwick and Monash University. One of the main ideas of my project was that research should be available for anyone to access, and I did this by documenting the research with my blog and using social media to spread the content. My project was titled ‘Looking Death in the Face: Funerary Art and Society in Roman Chester’, this project had the aim of learning about the identities of those who lived in Roman Chester through the epigraphy and iconography left in the surviving tombstones. The conference was also an opportunity to engage and network both with researchers, academics and people from various industries. My blog is connected to my Twitter account and this helped to both advertise the blog and network with other researchers who could help promote the work.
Classics Society Mentor (2017/8): As a mentor I helped undergraduates to get used to the society and university life in general. The training considered the issues of safeguarding and well-being in a campus environment. Being a mentor placed you in the centre of the societies circle, forming relationships with people from a variety of backgrounds and engaging with individuals based on their own needs rather than a generic set of criteria. It was very satisfying work and reinforced what I already knew about responsibility, whilst also giving me the transferable skills needed in a lot of careers, namely empathy, professionalism, adaptability, and respect for the rules
Articles
Over 50 blog posts of varying size, click link to see full catalogue.
Skills:
Social Media: As I said above, the utilisation of social media as a promotional tool has been at the centre of at two of my previous projects and I think grows in importance as a tool to help bring about the free exchange of information and knowledge. In these unprecedented times, social media has been an arena that many have become much more familiar with, particularly apps like Zoom; I think that Zoom should be utilised not just for keeping the management team together, but also as a tool to fulfil the key outcome of getting Classics into schools.
Writing: Creative and artful writing is essential to persuading the reader to your side, and I think it is essential to the role of administrator since getting the point across succinctly, accurately and captivatingly ensures that patrons can be persuaded, the public are informed and any team I am working with is in the loop.
Research: In the last three years I have completed three different research projects, one to present at a conference and two dissertations (BA and MA level).
People Skills: I am an excellent communicator and brilliant at dealing with and engaging with a variety of people and organisations. Being civil, courteous and a good communicator is vital to ensuring that the relationships and networks that are established continue to flourish, and that those that are to be pursued are done successfully.
Contact
If you would like to contact me about anything, please use the form below and I will try to reply as soon as possible.
MUSINGS OF CLIO | A Blog by Jameson Minto 