Dear fellow DH colleagues in Belgium,
During the start of this academic year we anticipate being separated due to the continuing presence of Covid-19 in our lives. Though we are not assembled in the usual way due to health and safety concerns, we wanted to continue to provide a space for students and researchers to come together to discuss research in Digital Humanities (DH) as part of a new series of online group sessions.
The series of discussions is geared toward early career researchers - students and researchers working in Belgian institutions who are interested in DH. This would provide a chance for new colleagues to become acquainted with each other across institutional boundaries, and for us to continue to engage in a rich discourse even though we are not in the same physical space.The first seminars will serve as conversation groups, where we will informally gather to discuss DH-related articles, podcasts, keynotes, projects, tools, or general topics together. Although each meeting will be facilitated by a moderator, this is not a lecture, rather a collaborative seminar among attendees, and we hope to encourage an environment where colleagues at all stages of their DH knowledge feel welcome to share their ideas and reactions. Please note that there are no prerequisites to attend: you do not need to be an expert in DH to participate in these discussions.
We propose to meet online once a month during the first semester of the academic year 2020-2021. These meetings will be held during the working day for 90 minute sessions. Because of the linguistic diversity across our cohort of researchers and students in Belgium, the language of the sessions will be English. Our provisional dates for these discussions are Tuesday 13 October from 15-16h30; Tuesday 17 November from 15-16h30; and Monday 7 December from 15-16h30. Depending on the global health situation and/or continuing interest, we may extend these sessions into the next calendar year (and potentially in person, when it is safe to do so).
Everyone who would like to join us for these sessions can register at https://forms.gle/iQG7WpQ5GAzDwst3A. We will make registration for all three sessions open simultaneously. Once you have registered, the reading list for the discussion (and the layout of each of the sessions) will be forwarded to you by 1 October. We will also send a follow-up reminder email the week of each session, to hopefully gain more involvement from those who can't plan that far ahead due to ongoing and tenuous work and home schedules.
Please help us spread the word about this series of discussions to other colleagues at Belgian institutions by passing this invitation on through your social media and listserv networks.
We look forward to seeing you in one (or all!) of these sessions!
Best wishes,
Assistant Professor Julie M. Birkholz, Ghent University and KBR
Merisa Martinez, KU Leuven Libraries
Dr Demmy Verbeke, KU Leuven Libraries