Post-Mortem of the scientific dissemination of the archaeological project of the Tren Maya. First iteration

The present text is a post-mortem analysis of a first iteration of two months, of the different scientific dissemination projects that were carried out around the archaeological activities of the Tren Maya. The products that were made were a web page, an instagram profile, a Youtube channel, a Twitter account and a Spotify profile.

The elements that will be recounted below cover only the post-mortem analysis, so neither the design process nor the user study will be written about. This analysis, therefore, covers aspects about the impact they had, the positive and negative points of the products made, resolution to the negative aspects and corrective measures for an efficient development.

1. Project: Website

1.1. Summary

The website was created on October 21, 2024, using the hosting service provided by Neocities. This platform was chosen for its ease of use in programming with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, offering greater flexibility in managing various types of multimedia content. Although the platform has its own metrics, they are not useful for obtaining detailed information about user statistics, such as country, gender, age, and others, as shown in.

The website address is: https://luummaaya.neocities.org/intro

The number of visits corresponds to the IP addresses recorded by the website, while the hits refer to the clicks made on different elements of the same website.

1.2. Impact

For this reason, it was decided to integrate Google Analytics into each of the website’s pages to gather more detailed information. Data collection began on November 3, and a total of 292 active users were registered, primarily divided among 6 countries.

In this way, the growth recorded throughout the development of the website is reflected in the figure below, where a significant increase is observed during the month of November.

1.3. Main Cause Analysis

Root cause refers to the elements, both positive and negative, that emerged during the design and implementation of the product strategy.

As a positive aspect, it was observed that a significant portion of the users came from outside Mexico, indicating that the written content is also appealing to people residing outside the country. Additionally, it was recorded that most users spent approximately 3 minutes on the page, suggesting that its design is engaging enough to retain attention.

As a negative aspect, it was identified that, although the design is appealing, the content needs to be improved to increase user retention time. Moreover, it is important to consider that, despite being designed with optimized code to facilitate SEO, the website’s architecture needs to be evaluated and adjusted to achieve greater exposure. Lastly, a spike in visits was observed in November, coinciding with the website’s launch; however, these quickly decreased in the following months.

1.4. Resolution and Recovery

To achieve a greater impact in disseminating content, it is necessary to work on two fronts: the content aspect and the technical aspect.

In terms of content, it is necessary to diversify the information and present writings and news that are novel. This is mainly because all the content created was based on what had already been published, which hindered the ability to work with new information and negatively affected user engagement.

On the technical side, improvements are needed in the programming structure, as more than two CSS styles were incorporated on each page, resulting in a chaotic architecture that harmed SEO. Additionally, multimedia elements on the website were not correctly tagged. In summary, improvements to the programming and architecture of the website are required to achieve better performance and visibility.

1.5. Preventive and Corrective Measures

In terms of content, it is necessary to offer new information about the Tren Maya, rather than simply replicating what has already been published in the news. Additionally, the variety of topics should be expanded to capture the interest of the different users who visit the site.

On the technical side, once the site’s architecture is improved, it is essential to maintain clean code and properly manage each of the tags used.

2. Instagram Account

2.1. Summary

The Instagram account was created on October 31, 2024, and a total of 36 posts were published.

As seen, the tone and type of posts were focused on a young audience. The profile URL is https://www.instagram.com/uluumil_maaya/

2.2. Impact

Throughout the project, a good reception was observed on the Instagram account, reaching a total of 15,678 accounts. Additionally, due to this number, it was confirmed that the Instagram account served as the guideline for the other platforms, such as the YouTube channel and the website.

Below, in the image, the statistical data of the account’s reach are listed.

2.3. Main Cause Analysis

As a positive aspect, it was observed that the creation of consistent content helped build a community among users, who repeatedly liked the different posts. This also favorable for redirecting these users to the various platforms.

It was also observed that the tone used, which combined education with humor and contemporary visuals, like memes, was an excellent strategy to connect with users.

As a negative aspect, it was noted that the use of information was limited, as there was no first-hand data on the archaeological work of the Tren Maya. Therefore, it was necessary to rely on already published data and scientific articles, which reduced the variety of content and the time available for creating posts.

2.4. Resolution and Recovery

The impact of the different posts was positive; however, the time required to create them was not. For this reason, it is important to create a database with information for the posts and also develop several templates to streamline the process. This database should also include information about the archaeological research conducted within the framework of the Tren Maya project.

2.5. Preventive and corrective Measures

As mentioned earlier, the need for a database with information for posts and an established structure would help save execution time. Therefore, it is essential that the database be coherent, so that no subsequent changes are required or, if necessary, these changes do not take up too much time to implement.

3. YouTube Channel

3.1. Summary

The YouTube channel was created on November 10, 2024, generating a total of 8 videos and 3 shorts. The videos were aimed at a young audience and used an informal tone. The duration of the videos ranged between approximately 5 and 12 minutes.

The Youtube channel can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@Uulumil_Maaya

For the videos, two sections were created: the first section focused on the archaeological work carried out within the framework of the Tren Maya project. The second section, on the other hand, focused on basic principles of history and archaeology, such as pre-Hispanic periods and cultural areas. This structure was designed so that the user would have an option both on what was done in the Tren Maya and on a better understanding of the topics covered.

3.2. Impact

Below is the statistical performance of the channel in its entirety.

Regarding cities, it was observed that the highest amount of traffic came from Mexico City, with a total of 7.8%, compared to Chetumal, which only accounted for 1.6% of the total traffic. Other major cities contributing to the traffic were Tijuana, Temascalcingo, Morelia, and Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl. In terms of age, a predominance of young and young adult audiences was observed.

Regarding the gender of the users, it was observed that the majority belong to the male gender, accounting for 90.5%, while the female gender represented 9.5%.

3.3. Root Cause Analysis

To analyze the YouTube channel, two factors must be considered: the platform’s algorithm and the type of content shared. Regarding the first factor, the algorithm, some recommendations from the platform were taken and applied to the last 5 videos, which can be seen in the increased effectiveness.

Regarding the content, it is necessary to produce more videos to conduct a more comprehensive evaluation, primarily due to the lack of users and feedback. However, the comments received stand out, encouraging the creation of more similar content.

One aspect to consider is that 10% of the people who watched the videos subscribed to the channel. Although this reflects a low overall engagement level, it also indicates a very good reception from users who interacted with the content.

3.4. Resolution and Recovery

As a first step, it is necessary to improve the images used in the thumbnails. The aesthetics and tone employed on the Instagram profile were not suitable for the YouTube channel, where a preference for striking yet sober designs was observed, rather than overly saturated images.

Regarding the content, it was found to be adequate, both in the videos about the latest archaeological research and those offering an introduction to archaeology. Therefore, no changes are needed in this regard.

3.5. Preventive and Corrective Measures

As with the Instagram account, it is necessary to create a template for the thumbnails, as well as implement a better and more extensive dissemination strategy for each of the videos published.

Another point to consider, as with the other platforms, is the need for first-hand information for content creation.

4. Twitter Account

4.1. Summary

The Twitter account was created on November 8, 2024, with the purpose of providing information related to the website. To achieve this, a bot was developed that automatically posted tweets based primarily on the content of the website and, secondarily, on information from other sources.

The URL of the Twitter account is https://x.com/uluumil_maaya

4.2. Impact

Due to the lack of a purpose focused on building a community and the fully automated approach, followers were not attracted. The average number of views reached 14.10%, based on a total of 19 tweets published.

4.3. Main Cause Analysis

As mentioned earlier, not much time was dedicated to the development of the Twitter account due to limited time, which led to the decision to create a bot. However, by extracting information directly from the website, the account’s growth largely depended on the latter, which limited its reach. Therefore, to achieve better impact and greater engagement, it is necessary to adopt the strategy implemented on the Instagram account, that is, focusing on creating an active community.

4.4. Resolution and Recovery

As a first step, it is necessary to increase activity on Twitter and establish a closer connection with different users. This can be achieved through more active participation or by improving the bot’s algorithm.

In the specific case of this bot, the ChatGPT-3 API was used, which, although effective, is not the most modern. To improve the automatic responses, it would be necessary to perform fine-tuning on the responses. Additionally, it would be optimal to create some sort of character to take the place of the person tweeting, similar to the strategies used by Duolingo, for example. This would not only generate more attention but also help create a consistent narrative that is maintained across all published media.

4.5. Preventive and Corrective Measures

As the main measure, the focus should be on improving the algorithm in Python and optimizing the memory usage of the ChatGPT API.

5. Spotify

5.1. Summary

For the Spotify case, a total of 7 tracks were created, each with an approximate duration of 2:50 minutes, released on December 21, 2024. The main theme of the tracks was two representative events from each of the pre-Hispanic periods, and the chosen genre was a mix of reggaeton and latin rhythm.

The URL of the profile is https://open.spotify.com/artist/32wynQoE5fKXiOdk9ieq4C?si=MDpqy_UvRfS2mm4CrX7zzQ

5.2. Impact

Due to the lack of promotion for the products created, the impact was very low. The main reason for the lack of promotion was the common uncertainty at the end of the year. As a result, when the album was released, only one post was made on Instagram. However, the metrics for the products were as follows:

5.3. Main Cause Analysis

The main cause of the lack of success was the improper promotion of the product. However, it is important to note that the few individuals who had access to each track provided positive feedback. That being said, creating songs for the dissemination of historical knowledge is an ideal strategy, both for its ease and the educational value it provides.

5.4. Resolution and Recovery

First, it is necessary to give greater promotion to the product, which could be achieved through social media. Secondly, and building on the proposal for Twitter, it is important to create a character, the author of the songs, and provide an appropriate background. The goal would be to build a narrative that captures the users’ attention. This character should be designed considering the audience that has shown the most interaction with each of the products published.

5.5. Preventive and Corrective Measures

In this first iteration, no preventive or corrective measures are proposed.

6. Conclusions

As observed, during the two months in which the project was developed, both the development and promotion of the completed projects can be considered positive. Although the Twitter and YouTube accounts did not achieve the expected reception, elements were identified that could be applied in a second iteration. A noteworthy aspect was the Instagram account, which, through closer interaction with users, generated positive acceptance, achieving almost 100 followers. This account also served as a central connection point for the other platforms. However, it is essential that each platform has its own relevance without depending on one another. Therefore, user interaction and community building must be priorities for each platform. One point that needs attention, and depends more on the project than on the dissemination area, is the need for novel and published information on the Tren Maya. Unfortunately, there was no support from the project in this regard, which affected the quality of the information being disseminated. In the case of a second iteration, it will be crucial to work on community building, the independence of each medium, the creation of a coherent narrative, and, finally, obtaining support from the project for information related to the activities carried out.