RUB Research School

Virtual ESPRit Postgraduate Workshop on Periodical Studies

11 June 2021

The 9th ESPRit Conference “Periodical Formats in the Market: Economies of Space and Time, Competition and Transfer / Periodische Formate auf dem Markt: Ökonomien von Raum und Zeit, Konkurrenz und Transfer” was organized by the DFG Research Unit 2288 “Journal Literature”. Based in Bochum, Cologne, and Marburg, Germany, the Research Unit strives to formulate the principles of a media literature history. In this regard, the Research Unit understands ‘journal literature’ as an umbrella term for a wide range of literary and non-literary (icono)texts published in an equally wide range of serial print publications: from (illustrated) general interest/news magazines, special interest magazines and ‘little magazines’ to newspapers and comic books. The conference focused on (1) economies of time and space, i.e. spatiotemporal aspects of the production, distribution, and reception of periodicals and similar serialized formats, and (2) facets of competition and transfer between periodicals within localised and regional as well as international markets.
In conjunction with the virtual 9th ESPRit Conference, a virtual postgraduate workshop took place on 11 June 2021. The workshop was open to postgraduate students working on any topic with regard to periodicals from any historical period, geographical origin, and cultural context. In addition to this workshop an 11 June 2021, we offered an online workshop (held by an external trainer) on 15 and 22 April 2021 where all workshop participants got a professional training on the concept and design of academic posters (15 April) and their effective presentations (22 April).
The workshop was very well received by all participants, as poster presentations are still a rarity in the humanities in particular, but are very well suited to the online format. The participants had to present their research goals and materials in a concentrated and visually appealing way on the poster and then gave a short presentation on this basis. The posters were already accessible two weeks beforehand on the conference homepage, into which the workshop homepage was integrated, so that comments from other postgraduates or experienced researchers were already deposited in advance. Based on the poster, the comments and the short presentation, an experienced researcher moderated the discussion und also gave personalized feedback. There were nine postgraduate students from different countries and five discussants who are ESPRit members or members of the DFG Research Unit 2288 Journal Literature.
The combination of the methods workshop with an external trainer (recommended by the RS) and the postgraduate workshop with experts from the research field was very well received by all participants, so that the online format could be used efficiently to promote exchange and to refine research projects.
Before the postgraduate workshop and the conference, starting 1 June 2021, not only the posters of the postgraduate workshop, but also all pre-recorded papers of the panels and the could be watched and commented beforehand, so that the meetings via ZOOM on 14-17 June was reserved for discussion. There were also several breakout sessions where people could meet for informal chats or participate in an active break units of bodily exercise with a sports trainer.
In the end, a lot of people from the research field could attend sessions and meet other researchers without travelling around the world, so encounters and exchanges in the virtual space were also possible und fruitful.

This workshop was oranized by Mirela Husić. If you have any questions about the workshop, she will be happy to hear from you via e-mail.