Process Pending 15
climate zines, science publishing, ink or pomegranate?
Progress Report
Most of the week spent fighting python dependencies (why did I get a Mac with the M1 chip ?!). But in way more exciting news:
STOKED about this proposal I’m helping write. I can't say much about except that the working title is
"Glacial Hauntologies"My students (my = Nathan's) turned in the final drafts of their climate zines! Here is a photo of most of them. Compiling and sending them to the riso printer this weekend. Color versions coming soon.
Process Report
Thinking about scientific publishing again. How most journals are just printed pages of paper slapped onto the web with some sad, barely working javascript. I'm part of a group coordinating a workshop on firn (the cold stuff in-between snow and ice). We're thinking about how we can leverage the workshop to experiment with some other forms of publishing.
An edited version of resources I compiled for this effort:
manubot allows papers to be written on git — all changes get preserved, figures versioned, etc
see also, pubpub
this twitter thread on academics who are beautiful writers
this multimodal publishing conference that happened in February (anthropology/media studies-heavy)
jupyter book-based textbooks, like this one on data science in the earth sciences from ryan abernathy
sensate journal, places journal, kairos as places for academic writing that embed and center media
digital gardens, zettelkastens, and the OG learning tool, hyperphysics (maps of learning, embedded links to other pages within & out)
the structure of andy matuschak’s blog (sliding panes, hoverable links, backlinks, maps) as well as this textbook he developed that embeds mnemonic learning habits
embedded code, backlinks, sidenotes, inline citations, collaborative annotations, interactive 3d visuals, etc etc
scholarly work about how to incorporate & cite conversations, mentorship, & indigenous knowledge. See, e.g., Katherine McKittrick's essay on Footnotes and the Introduction to Pollution is Colonialism by Max Liboiron. Sorry I will never shut up about these two essays.
also, see climate zines, above
In sum: How can we leverage digital architecture, psychology, & this collaborative atmosphere, to center learning, knowledge sharing, etc? What are the ethos & values we want to embrace for the writing process? How can various tools/protocols help embed and highlight that kind of approach? Who is already working on this and how can we collaborate with them and build off their work?
Listening To
Charles Mingus presents Charles Mingus
Currently Reading
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Dubois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Tap That Sap
Creativity, like sap, needs the right environmental conditions before being tapped, and enough sap tapped before distillation – lots of ideas distill down into that sweet syrup of imagination. This section highlights something that inspired creativity or shares something that I recently created.
Yeah, been loving Sumi Ink w/ some cheap brushes from Blick.
But I have a glass on my desk of water I use to clean the brushes and I keep thinking it's pomegranete juice. There is no way this ends well.
May your juice always be fresh (& ink free),
Elizabeth