Curating Community: Building A Communications Strategy For The European Association For Digital Humanities

1. Summary

This poster will seek to illustrate the enhanced communications presence of the European Association for Digital Humanities (EADH) since 2014, and measure the impact of its action in building a community of geographically-dispersed members. It will outline the strategies undertaken by the EADH in furthering its communications initiative, for which a number of Communications Fellows have been activated on the organisation's communications policy in an effort to promote the work of digital scholars across the European region. Accounts of this activity will be further contextualised by theoretical discussion on the evolution of social media and Web-based communications across academia.

2. Introduction

This poster will seek to illustrate the enhanced communications presence of the European Association for Digital Humanities (EADH) since 2014, and measure the impact of its action in building a community of geographically-dispersed members. The poster will outline the strategies undertaken by the EADH in furthering its communications initiative over the last 24 months, during which a number of EADH Communications Fellows have been collaborating on the organisation's communications policy in an effort to promote, more broadly, the work of digital scholars across the European region. Accounts of this activity will be further contextualised by theoretical discussion on the evolution of social media and Web-based communications across academia.

3. Communications Fellows

As noted, in an effort to engage further with the international Digital Humanities community in respect to news, events, and opportunities, the EADH has motivated a diverse group of four junior scholars tasked with strengthening the Association's public interactions. The self-directed goals of the Fellows are as follows:

• Publish news, announcements and CfPs relevant to the European community of digital scholars
• Document projects undertaken in Europe in recent times and feature them in a slider to promote access and collaboration between members
• Ensure quality of language, as well as accuracy and detail of information, across all official EADH correspondence
• Increase community engagement through social media, particularly Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
• Enhance the profile of relevant scholars and scholarship from across Europe’s various Digital Humanities projects, centres, and initiatives
• Curate and disseminate information across a variety of European languages, enhancing the cultural diversity of the organisation's communications

4. Social Media

The social media revolution that has spread into the academy in recent years has shifted scholarly communications towards participatory technologies. Collectively, these social technologies are now dominating the ways in which users interact across the Web. In an effort to foster a network of researchers which embraces diversity, one must take advantage of the networks of exchange facilitated by these platforms. Initially, the focus of the fellows was oriented towards social media, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These channels have proved essential in the collection and distribution of relevant information, and have contributed to the advancement of Europe's community of Digital Humanities scholars. Currently, the EADH engages with 2373 followers on Twitter, 491 users on Facebook, and 85 users on Linkedin. In the context of this networking activity, the EADH collaborates with associate organisations, AIUCD, Dhd, Nordic DH, and DH Benelux as well as with the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO) to increase the synergies and the visibility of its members.

5. Discussion

This poster will illustrate the presence and performance of the EADH on social media, provoking discussion with attending researchers on their personalised use of social media and their future aspirations in regards to the employment of social media in promoting Digital Humanities research across regional and global contexts. Furthermore, the poster will present metrics on the success of this particular communications drive, as well as detail various strategic decisions, such as how to structure a Facebook group for a scholarly community, and the benefits and drawbacks of each.