The Social Scholar – new seminar series starts this month!

A new lunchtime seminar series is launching at the University of London this month called The Social Scholar.  Run by the School of Advanced Study (SAS), it takes as its theme Social Media as a tool for Humanities researchers and event’s organisers.

Here’s a quick run-down of the programme this term.  Each seminar is on a Wednesday between 1pm-2pm (remember to also keep an eye out on Twitter with hashtag #socialscholar:

23 October         

Julian Harrison (British Library)

The Anti-Social Scholar (and how not to become one)

***

13 November

Mark Carrigan (Warwick)

Getting Started as a Research Blogger: Single Authored or Multi Authored Blogs?

***

4 December

Anne Alexander (CRASSH, University of Cambridge)

The ethics of social media publishing: a brief introduction for researchers

I have been part of the team at SAS working on this seminar programme. Over the last month or so I have been contacting potential speakers, booking rooms, and working out what online content we might be able to produce from the seminars.

The original idea wasn’t mine – in fact I came in only at the organising stage – but I think it’s a great idea for SAS to hold such an event – social media is increasingly becoming essential to much of the work that humanities researchers do, and yet there has been very little open forum or discussion about the pros and cons, the difficulties and issues, or even the uses that various social media as a set of tools can or should provide.

The Social Scholar will be held once every month term-time between 1pm-2pm on a Wednesday. It’s free to all to attend and coffee/tea will be provided (please also feel free to bring your own lunch!). Each session will comprise of a 20 minute presentation from an expert using social media, followed by debate, discussion and questions.

Although I will be posting regularly on Blogging for Historians about the seminar, its ‘online home’ will be the School of Advanced Study Blog, so do check it out. There’s already an interview up with myself about the seminar, and we hope to produce much more content from the seminars themselves as the term progresses.

Also keep an eye out for us on Twitter – hashtag #socialscholar