Archival Kismet: Lessons in Launching An Online Conference

What is the feeling of archival kismet? And how can we reimagine the format of academic conferences to better support scholars? This episode explores:

• The complex feelings of finding unexpected things in an archive.
• Why using conference presentations as openings for scholarly conversations is important.
• How Dr. Thompson founded an online conference during the pandemic, and her future plans for Archival Kismet.
• What can make online conferences more inclusive and inexpensive.
• Tips for feeling comfortable presenting online, even when things go wrong.

Our guest is: Dr. Courtney Thompson, who is an associate history professor at Mississippi State University, and the founder of Archival Kismet online conferences. Her research and teaching interests are centered in the history of nineteenth-century American medicine; medical humanities; history of the mind and body; history of women, gender, and sexuality; feminist science studies; history of emotions; visual culture; science and crime; psychiatry and mental illness.

Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.

Listeners to this episode may also be interested in:

• The Archival Kismet Conference page
• This podcast on making the most of an academic conference
• This podcast on getting started on your research
• The Chronicle of Higher Ed article “How to Make the Most of a Virtual Conference”
• The Chronicle of Higher Ed article “How To Cope With Presentation Anxiety”
• The Research Companion: A Practical Guide, by Petra Boynton
• The Art of Creative Research, by Philip Gerald
• How to Read a History Book: The Hidden History of History, by Marshall Poe
• Where Research Begins, by Thomas Mullaney and Christopher Rea

Welcome to The Academic Life! On the Academic Life channel we embrace a broad definition of what it means to lead an academic life. We view education as a transformative human endeavor and are inspired by today’s knowledge-producers working inside and outside the academy. Find us on Twitter: @AcademicLifeNBN.

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