The Future of Knowledge Mobilization and Public History Online

27 – 28 August 2024

Location: Huron University College, London, Ontario

Active History, the Acadiensis Blog, Borealia, Histoire Engagée, and NiCHE are collaborating to produce a workshop on The Future of Knowledge Mobilization and Public History Online.

Canadian history blogs publish open-access historical research and recognize the public responsibilities of historians. They make current historical research accessible to the public and connect the importance of the past to current events, providing critical historical context to the major issues and events of our contemporary world. They are a primary way historians mobilize their research, allowing researchers to tap into existing infrastructure and audiences instead of launching stand-alone project websites. Since these volunteer-run blogs were established, the internet and historical research have undergone massive shifts.  History blogs must actively engage with these changes. To that end, this workshop will include a series of facilitated discussions on key topics in online public history knowledge mobilization.

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If a registration fee option appears on the registration page, please disregard it. This workshop is free.

If you wish to participate virtually, need to report access needs or food restrictions, or have any other inquiries, please email sarawilmshurst[at]gmail.com.

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Program

Note: The program may be subject to change. All updates will be published here.

August 27, 2024

8:30-10:30: Session 1, The Changing Digital Environment

• Sara Wilmshurst, Peer Review and Lack Thereof on the Post-Truth Internet
  • What role do non-refereed research contributions have in the age of disinformation? Much peer-reviewed academic research sits behind paywalls where members of the public cannot readily review it, but history blogs serve to disseminate research openly, in digestible and accessible forms. As misinformation and disinformation increasingly dominate the internet it is essential that researchers, educators, and the public have quality open-access sources to turn to. How can history blogs support one another to sustain these projects at a high level of reliability, in a landscape where open access and peer review are often mutually exclusive?
• Jessica DeWitt, How history blogs can best navigate the current digital landscape 
  • Historians who become blog editors and contributors often realize they need a crash course in digital accessibility tools, search engine optimization, and social media management. Jessica DeWitt will host a roundtable discussion of lessons learned navigating the digital landscape.
• Andrew Watson, Artificial Intelligence and Digital History 
  • Research, writing, and learning have changed forever as artificial intelligence has become accessible, cheap, and functional. Andrew Watson will consider how AI will impact the digital humanities and online publishing, as submissions could be contaminated with AI content and large language models exploit our publications to learn?

10:30-11:00: Refreshment and networking break

11:00-13:00: Session 2, Labour and Equity in History Blogging

• Adam Bunch, “History? In this economy?”: History in Popular Media 
  • Adam will present on strategies to build and maintain an engaged audience for historical content across multiple channels.
• Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey, Decolonization and the Blogosphere: Supporting Indigenous Researchers
  • History blog posts on Indigenous history topics and by Indigenous authors constantly receive high readership and engagement and form an extremely valuable part of a blog’s catalogue. However, we must consider whether the Canadian history blogosphere is creating equal value for the Indigenous scholars who contribute, often on a volunteer basis. Skylee-Storm will to consider how history blogs can best support the Indigenous researchers who publish with them, and support Indigenous-led projects like Shekon Neechie.
• Carly Ciufo, Paid in CV Lines: Labour in Historical Research and Communication 
  • Canadian history blogs have varying policies about and abilities to compensate students and precariously employed researchers. Fortunately, many of those emerging scholars still find it worthwhile to contribute. However, we must frankly evaluate how historians at various career stages benefit from publishing through history blogs and other online forums. Carly will consider how blogs can support early-career and precariously employed researchers, and how Canadian history blogs can transition to paying more of their contributors.

13:00-14:00: Lunch

14:00-16:00: Session 3, Connections Between Blogs and the Academy

• Corey Slumkoski, A Bit of Both: Connections Between the Blog and the Journal
  • Acadiensis publishes a blog and a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Blog editor Corey Slumkoski will discuss the relationship between history blogs and scholarly journals. How do scholars use blogs to work out their projects for eventual journal submission? How do peer-reviewed works use blog posts in their bibliographies? How can blogs help scholars convey findings from their peer-reviewed work to a broader audience?
• Jim Clifford, Tri-Council Grants and Knowledge Mobilization 
  • Effective knowledge mobilization is woven through the Tri-Council’s funding opportunities, and researchers often partner with blogs as part of their research communication efforts. Jim Clifford discuss best practices for these partnerships. What can blogs do to expand their reach and share research with the public? How can blogs sustain these knowledge mobilization efforts as volunteer personnel turn over, websites change, and the funding runs out?
• Samia Dumais, D’entrée de publication pour les graduate students
  • Samia expliquera comment les blogs peuvent aider les étudiants diplômés à acquérir de l’expérience dans le domaine de l’édition universitaire.

16:00-17:00: Refreshment and networking break

August 28, 2024

10:00-12:00: Session 4, Project Lifecycles in History Blogging

• Laura Madokoro, The State of Canadian History blogs
  • Canadian history blogs have been around, in some cases, for over a decade. How have they adapted, and how should they continue to change? What have we learned? What are the best practices for maintaining a history blog? What should blogs do to provide a venue for diverse perspectives from historians of all backgrounds, including Indigenous, Black, LGBTQ2+, working-class, disabled, and other scholars?
    

12:00-13:00: Lunch

13:00-16:00: Collaboration meeting for presenters and organizers. Refreshments available.

Presenters

Adam Bunch, winner of the 2023 Governor General’s History Award for Popular Media, runs historical walking tours and courses, a blog, a newsletter, a web series, writes books, and actively shares historical knowledge on social media. Bringing history to the public is his (more than) full time job.

Carly Ciufo is a doctoral candidate at McMaster University and an editor at Active History.ca.

Jim Clifford is a founding editor at Active History and a history professor at the University of Saskatchewan.

Jessica DeWitt is an environmental historian of Canada and the United States, editor, project manager, and digital communications strategist. She is an executive member, editor-in-chief, and social media editor for the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE). Additionally, she is the Managing Editor for the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines. A passionate social justice advocate, she focuses on developing digital techniques and communications that bridge the divide between academia and the general public in order to democratize knowledge access.

Samia Dumais, doctorante en histoire à l’Université Concordia, archiviste pour le collectif Harambec et membre du comité éditorial d’Histoire Engagée.

Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey is a published historian with expertise in residential schools history, Crown-Indigenous relations, and digital repatriation and accessibility. Their strong archival research and writing skills are a key asset on Know History’s archival and residential schools projects. Skylee-Storm also brings significant experience in oral history and interpretive projects, having produced documentaries and GIS story maps for a variety of clients and communities.

Laura Madokoro is a history professor at Carleton University and an editor at ActiveHistory.ca.

Corey Slumkoski is the digital editor at Acadiensis and a history professor at Mount Saint Vincent University.

Andrew Watson is a long time member in the Network in Canadian History & Environment and contributor to their blog, the Otter.

Sara Wilmshurst is an incoming doctoral student at the University of Guelph and an editor at ActiveHistory.ca.

Feature Image: “Keep up and blog on” by futureshape is licensed under CC BY 2.0.