DIGITAL HUMANITIES FOR DUMMIES: Wordpress,

Transcript:DIGITAL HUMANITIES FOR DUMMIES: Wordpress,:
DIGITAL HUMANITIES FOR DUMMIES: Wordpress, Blogging and Website Creation Dr Alana Jayne Piper Twitter: @alana_piper Website: criminalcharacters.com Why should I blog? Enhance your public profile by reaching a different audience to your normal readers – perhaps other disciplinary groups, potential industry partners or the media. Allows you to get your ideas out while in progress, so as to receive feedback or stake a claim in a new research area. A means of promoting existing work: different studies have shown that on average blogging about an academic article produces an extra 70-470 abstract views/downloads. Practice translating academic working into everyday language. Collect a variety of work in one place in order to create a more fulsome showcase of your work. Why should I blog? Still unconvinced? Check out these blogs on the benefits of academic blogging: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2015/10/26/why-academics-and-students-should-take-blogging-social-media-seriously/ http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2012/04/19/blog-tweeting-papers-worth-it/ https://thesiswhisperer.com/2015/08/26/blogging-your-way-to-a-phd/ https://patthomson.net/2014/09/15/should-doctoral-researchers-blog/ Blog writing tips Blogging is different in a genre to academic writing. The writing should be accessible and punchy, but still present nuanced ideas in a professional way. Brevity is key in blogging: blogs themselves should usually be around 800 words; paragraphs and sentences should be short and sharp to aid reader comprehension. Avoid jargon – remember that this will ideally attract readers beyond your usual sphere. Stick to exploring one key idea. It is important to start your blog with a good ’hook’, which captures the main argument or focus of your blog in an interesting way. Likewise, you want to conclude the blog with a satisfying finish that neatly encapsulates your main point. Use hyperlinks for citations, rather than endnotes or in-text referencing. Remember the main focus of the piece will usually be your original work, so you will want to keep your discussion of other scholarly literature to a minimum, except where it is vital to your own work. Check here for more blog writing tips: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2016/01/25/how-to-write-a-blogpost-from-your-journal-article/ Blog sites If you do not have time to build/maintain a blog or website of your own, consider contributing to other disciplinary blogs. Here are some popular history blogs that welcome submissions: http://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/ http://www.historyandpolicy.org/ http://www.auswhn.org.au/blog/ http://notchesblog.com/ https://www.aaihs.org/blog/ Why should I start a website Public engagement: making your work accessible both in terms of repository access and presentation of the form itself. Showcase data or research outputs that might not be able to be easily showcased in other – image galleries, data visualisations, timelines etc. Generates awareness about your current research project