ACH and the Journal of Electronic Publishing (JEP) are pleased to host this roundtable celebrating the release of On Gathering, a new special issue on collective and embodied modes of scholarly communication, edited by Katina L. Rogers. The discussion will take place Friday, January 31 from 12-1pm EST. All are welcome!
This special issue is an exploration of the ephemeral—the stray thoughts, the side conversations, the discarded scraps and false starts that inform a published work of scholarship, usually invisibly. Just as mushrooms spring up from the rot of the forest floor and return nutrients to depleted soil, this issue suggests something new might emerge in scholarly communication from the decomposing remnants of what came before. Drawing on this metaphor of the ecological functions of fungi, the contributions collected here consider matters of interdependence, coalition building, and collective thriving in and beyond the university, even in less-than-pristine conditions.
The collection reflects the many ways we gather and the many ways our thoughts take shape. Form and structure are objects of inquiry in many contributions, with creative and critical examinations of what relational scholarship looks like through postcards, invitations, podcasts, and multivocal pieces. Many contributors used the space to engage in collaborative work that self-reflectively considers the possibilities of collaborative writing. Others reflect on design studios, on academic administration, on grantwriting, on queer bibliography—all in order to better understand how we might bring about more justice, joy, and sustainability in our scholarly lifeworlds.
Join us for this conversation about approaches, motivations, challenges, and unexpected outcomes as we celebrate the issue's release.
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