Shakespeare and New Media Blog
¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 January 15, the deadline for submissions to the special issue of Shakespeare Quarterly on Shakespeare and New Media, is nearly here. The editorial team is cautiously excited about the groundwork we have laid. The process leading up to this experiment has been a long and complex one. I want to launch this blog, therefore, with acknowledgments.
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 This project began with an invitation from the Editorial Board to guest edit an issue on New Media. At the close of the conversation Val Traub (I think it was) offered an open-ended question. “Should we be thinking about ways to use new media in the publication process of the issue itself?” Over the next six months the senior editorial team – David Schalkwyk, Gail Kern Paster, Mimi Godfrey, Sarah Werner, Gil Harris, Bill Sherman — helped me wrestle with this invitation and challenge. A number of long, thoughtful, and ultimately very interesting conversations led to this experiment in partial open review.
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 The stops along the way included:
- ¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0
- some sustained thinking about the different experiences and interests of tenured and non-tenured faculty in various models of open and traditional review. We owe thanks to junior colleagues and graduate students around the country for identifying key concerns. Their feedback led to several refinements in our thinking and to two key features of the current process. 1) authors whose submissions are deemed appropriate for expert review for this issue have the option of either a traditional or open process; 2) the open process will be fully transparent — those posting are asked to post as themselves, providing short bios describing their expertise, thus establishing the credentials of reviewers if that proves necessary in any reappointment process;
- a great deal of self-education and reading around in the work of digital humanities scholars. Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s monograph and her own experiences with open review were tremendously valuable resources to us;
- the discovery of a generous partner in the MediaCommons editorial team, lead by Fitzpatrick, who volunteered their expertise and space on this innovative website;
- the support of Johns Hopkins Press, the publisher of SQ.
¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 Perhaps most importantly, this experiment also depends on the generosity of the contributors who are willing to open their work for public commentary and the reviewers who have undertaken to contribute frank and thoughtful comments.
¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 In posts to come: definitions of “partial open review”, “web 2.0″ and other terms of art; goals of this experiment; and more…
I wonder if you’ve seen this great project of having students build Facebook pages for the characters in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — quite ingenious!
That is new to me — and I assume to many reading on this site. Thanks for the reference.
Can you say more about what seems compelling or engaging about this use of Facebook?