By Janet Salmons, Ph.D.

“The past is prologue.” – William Shakespeare in The Tempest

We know how to proof and edit without mercy. We are accustomed to having our writing reviewed by editors and peers. What happens when we take these processes to the next level and initiate a critical review with an eye to a radical update, synthesis, and new publication(s) based on the writing we’ve done throughout our careers? That is the project I am undertaking as a fellow of the Center for Advanced Internet Studies. The concept grew out of a TAA conference session, so I look forward to sharing lessons learned and inviting you to consider curating your work.

What does it mean to curate your work?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines curation as the selection, organization, and presentation of information or items. When an art curator prepares an exhibit, they don’t simply hang the paintings. They put artwork together in a coherent way and offer explanations. I recently saw a virtual reality rendering of designs from the1900s, demonstrating a way curators make historical artworks relevant to today’s audiences.

Curating our collection is not simply a nostalgic look at the past or a simple file clean-up. It is a holistic assessment of what we have done and what we have learned, and a process by which we update it for contemporary readers.

Why curate your work?

A sense of purpose motivated you to start down this path. What contribution do you hope to make to scholarship or practice in your field, to make the world a better place? Such aspirations can’t be realized if others can’t find the pieces of our work and don’t know how to put them together. That is our job as the curator: organize and share our work so others can learn from our experience, use our findings, and build on the foundations we’ve laid.

How do you get started?

As academic writers we have notebooks and hard drives full of notes, drafts, lectures and slides, webinar or podcast recordings, papers, articles, and/or manuscripts for theses, dissertations, chapters or books. Take these steps:

• Identify a central focus and formulate an objective. Select one topic or focus. Identify the target audience: scholars? Students? The public?
• Select files and versions. Select iteration(s) to include.
• Put files in order. Create an index or list all the pieces of writing, media, or materials.
• Formulate questions. What analysis or feedback will help you move forward?
• Invite input and suggestions. Ask trusted colleagues to review selected writings and suggest additions or changes.
• Update literature or find new examples. Find current articles, cases, or exemplars.
• Make revisions and/or add curatorial notes. Draft changes and add explanations.
• Create a plan for publishing, archiving, and/or presenting the updated work. Decide whether to create a collection of writings and materials or write something new.

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Janet Salmons, PhD is a free-range scholar, qualitative methodologist, and creative. She is the author of 12 books about online research and education. Her latest book is Doing Qualitative Research Online (2022). She is currently working on a multimedia e-book and launching a monthly newsletter, “When the Field is Online.”

Janet will be presenting a TAA webinar October 29 at 2 p.m. ET, where she will show her curatorial process and suggest other approaches. She will also be moderating the Wednesday, November 27 Conversation Circle from 1-2 p.m. ET, so come and share your experiences!