Modeling the Rise in Internet-based Petitions

Contemporary collective action, much of which involves social media and other Internet-based platforms, leaves a digital imprint which may be harvested to better understand the dynamics of mobilization. Petition signing is an example of collective action which has gained in popularity with rising use of social media and provides such data for the whole population of petition signatories for a given platform. This paper tracks the growth curves of all 20,000 petitions to the UK government over 18 months, analyzing the rate of growth and outreach mechanism. Previous research has suggested the importance of the first day to the ultimate success of a petition, but has not examined early growth within that day, made possible here through hourly resolution in the data. The analysis shows that the vast majority of petitions do not achieve any measure of success; over 99 percent fail to get the 10,000 signatures required for an official response and only 0.1 percent attain the 100,000 required for a parliamentary debate. We analyze the data through a multiplicative process model framework to explain the heterogeneous growth of signatures at the population level. We define and measure an average outreach factor for petitions and show that it decays very fast (reducing to 0.1% after 10 hours). After 24 hours, a petition's fate is virtually set. The findings seem to challenge conventional analyses of collective action from economics and political science, where the production function has been assumed to follow an S-shaped curve.Comment: Submitted to EPJ Data Scienc

From medieval burgage plot to 18th-century inn

Archaeology South-East carried out an archaeological watching brief and historic building survey at The George Hotel, Rye, East Sussex (now ‘The George in Rye’). This was undertaken as part of the conversion of adjoining buildings to hotel storage and accommodation, as well as the remodelling of existing elements of the inn. Residual material dating to the end of the early medieval period was encountered; however, most of the archaeological features were of 13th- and 14th-century origin. These comprised pits and a well, characteristic of ‘yards’, as well as a fenced (and possibly ditched) boundary, relating to a burgage plot. The fieldwork produced a small but important medieval pottery assemblage that, combined with other material, allowed the creation of a town series. Further remains comprised deposits of garden soil, as well as structural features connected to post-medieval properties. This article is the result of a modern, multi-disciplinary approach, incorporating historical and archaeological evidence as well as building recording

A medieval moated site and manorial complex rediscovered through LiDAR at Broadbridge Heath, West Sussex

Combining historic landscape analysis with freely available LiDAR data has revealed a forgotten medieval moated site. The results also identified the probable medieval site of Broadbridge Mill as well as highlighting the potential of this form of survey for Wealden site recognition

Medieval and later Wealden iron workings at Ifield Forge and Mill, Crawley, West Sussex

Archaeological investigations at Ifield Pond demonstrate the persistence of industrial land use within the historic landscape. During the medieval and early post-medieval periods, the streamside environment was chosen for the siting of furnaces and for the location of a finery forge. While the efforts of ironworkers were curtailed by war and economic impracticality, their engineering of the natural landscape endured. The water power created for the industry sustained two mills, the latest of which survives to the present day. The investigations at Ifield facilitated the first excavation of the site of a Wealden finery forge in around a quarter of a century. As well as the 16th–17th-century forge building, wheel pit and dam, the fieldwork also revealed mechanisms for draining the hammer pond, the first physical evidence of such features from an ironworking site

On the banks of the Uck: the story of a Wealden hall house

At the southern end of Uckfield High Street, on the northern bank of the River Uck, lies Grade II-listed Bridge Cottage. The building, which comprises one of the largest Wealden hall houses in the area, has recently been the subject of comprehensive restoration. Bridge Cottage was originally saved from demolition in the 1970s by Uckfield District Preservation Society. Once ownership was secured, repairs were carried out and excavations, led by Ian Brooker, undertaken. Brooker never succeeded in publishing the results and it was not until Archaeology South-East’s involvement that the earlier excavations could be fully understood. The more recent archaeological work was undertaken in response to the latest renovations and this article reports on their results. They are significant in showing the development of an individual house plot from the late medieval to post-medieval period. They provide an important analysis of architectural expressions of status and display for a Wealden household of the yeoman class

Fragmentary remains of a probable 13th- to 15th-century croft at Oldlands Farm, Bognor Regis, West Sussex

The ecclesiastical ‘grain factories’ of the Sussex Coastal Plain made the area one of the most valuable arable districts in all of medieval England. Despite this fact, study of the origins and adaptation of the area’s field systems has been relatively neglected. Excavations at Oldlands Farm, Bognor Regis allowed the archaeological exploration of a large portion of field system operated by the manor of Lidsey. What emerged was a distinctive model, unlike the nucleated open field communities of areas such as the Midlands. This study offers a rare analysis of a medieval field system on the Sussex Coastal Plain. It shows how furlongs were enclosed at an early date creating a settlement pattern of dispersed peasant crofts set within large and advanced areas of cultivated land