Tag: links

#CAMWS17

I live-tweeted the Wednesday evening session and some Thursday panels of the 113th Annual Meeting of The Classical Association of the Middle West and South at Kitchener/Waterloo (April 5 & 6, 2017).

Panels/Sessions:

Opening Evening Featured Panel: Grace Harriet Macurdy (1866-1946) and Her Impact on the Study of Women’s History (Elizabeth Carney, Ann R. Raia, Maria S. Marsilio).

Euripides: Gender and Sex (Joshua M. Reno, Teresa Yates, Thomas K. Hubbard, Daniel Turkeltaub)

Roundtable: The Thersites Project (Monica Florence and Dianna Rhyan)

Roundtable: Increasing Diversity among Classics Students (Debby Sneed and Lauren T. Brooks)

Pedagogy: Tools and Resources (Ann R. Raia & Maria S. Marsilio, Marie-Claire Beaulieu & Anthony Bucci, Summer R. Trentin, J. Matthew Harrison)

Pedagogy: Classics for Everybody (Lauren T. Brooks, Leanna Boychenko, Blanche C. McCune, Mark P. Nugent, Aaron Wenzel)

The Storify can be found here: https://storify.com/InnesAlison/my-camws17-tweets

Working on a couple of blog posts to get out in the next week or two, so stay tuned!

Blogging your way to better writing

[B]logging is in and of itself academic writing and academic publication. It’s not an add-on. It’s now part and parcel of the academic writing landscape. As such, it is of no less value than any other form of writing. Even though audit regimes do not count blogs – yet – this does not lessen their value. And therefore those of us who engage in bloggery need to stop justifying it as a necessary accompaniment to the Real Work of Serious Academic Writing. Blogs are their own worthwhile thing.

Pat Thomson, “Seven reasons why blogging can make you a better academic writer” Times Higher Education 2 January 2016 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/seven-reasons-why-blogging-can-make-you-better-academic-writer  (Originally posted 7 December 2015 on https://patthomson.net/2015/12/07/blogging-helps-academic-writing/)

Thomson argues that blogging “informs and supports other academic writing” in the following ways. Blogging:

  1. Establishes writing as routine;
  2. Allows you to experiment with your “voice”;
  3. Helps you focus on one point;
  4. Helps you find and write to your audience;
  5. Develops concise writing;
  6. Allows experimentation with different writing forms; and
  7. Develops writing confidence.

Blogging is academic writing

More on Engagement via Social Media

Classics has been in crisis over its relatability for the entire time that I have been a classicist. But increasingly there are classicists who are interested in speaking to an audience beyond just the one which has typically been granted access to a classical education — and for these scholars, “outreach” is an ethical issue. There are groups of people, underrepresented and/or maligned in the past, which are now becoming more visible than ever. And one of the ways in which these groups have become more visible, is due to the power of representation which social media give them. When scholars engage online – even if their research has nothing to do with social issues – they can be witnesses to the kinds of problems which their students and their colleagues face that don’t necessarily occur to them from just their own experience.

Hannah Čulík-Baird, “Review: Social Media for Academics–Mark Carrigan“

If you enjoyed my post “Thoughts on Twitter Outreach,” please take the time to read Hannah Čulík-Baird’s post “Review: ‘Social Media for Academics’–Mark Carrigan” . I am currently reading Carrigan’s book, and it is a great resource on how to think about social media and academics. While specific social media platforms will come and go, social media itself is not going anywhere, and Carrigan provides an excellent argument for how engaging with social media enhances our work as academics.

As scientists, we owe it to the world to do a better job communicating the wonders of science, and the incredible discoveries being made by our field, to everyone around us. And in this moment of history, when addressing scientific issues has never been more urgent and important, we have a special duty to share our knowledge, expertise, and passion with the wider world. It is part of our social compact as scientists.

….

Naturally, I am not suggesting that everyone should do everything — run a big lab, teach several courses, and then write a blog, regularly engage with journalists, publish a popular book, get on social media, speak in public forums, produce a podcast, do a TED talk, and so on. There are always limits of time, energy, and skill to consider. But each scientist can at least do something to communicate their science to broader audiences — and find a niche that works for them. Try something. Experiment. Be willing to invest the time needed to master another aspect of your profession. And stick with it.

Jonathan Foley “Science Communication as a Moral Imperative“

Shortly after I wrote my post, Hannah brought this to my attention via Twitter. Jonathan Foley (@GlobalEcoGuy) wrote “Science Communication as a Moral Imperative” on The Macroscope.  While it’s written for scientists, it is equally applicable to the humanities.

 

What counts as academic writing? #AcWri – Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD

The truth is: YOU ARE WRITING EVERY SINGLE DAY. Even if you are sending emails to a coauthor about how to craft a specific section, THAT COUNTS AS WRITING. Why? Because you are sharing concept notes. You are shaping how your argument is going to be structured. You are discussing the data. Are you reading and taking notes off of each paper you read? You are WRITING.

Are you drawing tables by hand to decide how you’re going to present them in your paper? YOU ARE WRITING. You are, in fact, WRITING.

Source: What counts as academic writing? #AcWri – Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD

I highly recommend following Raul Pacheco-Vega on Twitter (@raulpacheco) and his blog. He offers great resources on planning, organizing, and writing. In fact, reading his Tweets has motivated me to make this blog more of priority in 2017. I’m setting modest goals (surely I can manage just one post a month?) in the hopes that maybe I’ll exceed them.

I found this particular post, which he shared recently on Twitter, very encouraging for thinking about my own writing practices. I don’t consider myself a writer, as I don’t write as much as I think I should.

I like the idea that all the various bits of writing I do every day– emails, social media posts, jotting notes–all count as writing. So maybe I do write more than I think and maybe I can produce a blog post (or two or three?) a month for a year.

Source: What counts as academic writing? #AcWri – Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD

15 Things Not to Say

A friend shared this article “15 Things Not to Say to Someone with a Chronic or Invisible Illness” on Facebook, and it is so well written and so accurate, I want to share it as widely as possible. Please take a moment to read this! Things that you think might be encouraging or supportive to say can easily come across as dismissive and belittling.

doodling doodles

Are you a doodler? Did you used to be a doodler? I used to be a doodler, way back in my teenager years. I had a collection of stock characters I liked to doodle. I even developed my “bunny bum” doodle for a first year university art project. But somewhere along the line I forgot about doodling. It drifted into the background, into the past, and I never missed it nor thought about it.

My favourite bunny bums painting
Bunny Bums.
My favourite bunny bums painting. I developed the bunny bum doodle in high school and later turned it into a first year university art multi-piece art project. But that was a very long time ago.

Until yesterday, when I heard Sunni Brown interviewed on CBC’s The Current about the secret power of doodling. She’s inspired me give doodling a shot again. Her book on the doodling revolution is definitely on my must-read list. I’ve started a Pinterest board of doodles–and found that there are already many in existence.

So we’ll see how this goes. I’ll post some results here eventually. Won’t you join me in remembering the joys of doodling?