Workshop: Collective Editing and Writing Practices of Short Pieces for 4S the Backchannels Blog

Abstract

This session brings together the transnational team of editors and assistant editors of Backchannels, the blog for all 4S news. We publish short form writing of report-outs (how STS academics publish beyond our academic journals in mainstream press), report-backs (reflections on current conferences, projects, meetings and other innovative and creative gatherings) and report-ins (how 4S communicates within the society).

Backchannels specializes in short-form writing of up to 1,000 words in length, which is also the conventional length of most press and media like Huffington Post, The Atlantic and so on, which are crucial means to do public engagement, outreach and garner impacts on your research. We’ll begin this session with updates and insights into the past two years of Backchannels' publications. The recent new series of posts entitled ‘Silenced Issues’ will also be highlighted in this session.

In this session we will collectively write a report-back on the 4S conference in New Orleans, utilizing our social media channels. We will edit and finalise the copy within this session as way to experience the demands of collective, short-form writing. The rules of this session are simple:

1. Come along with short written insights from your experience of the 4S conference so far.
2. Follow the conference on Twitter via @4sWeb and @4sConference and variations of the hashtag: #4s2019 #NOLA
3. Bring your glass (mobile, laptop) or carbon (pens, pencils) tools to write with, and/or on.

Session Organizer

• Amanda Windle, London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London