Welcome to Day 2 of the first round of the Humanities Commons Summer Refresh Workshop! I hope you all had a chance to update your profile pages yesterday, but if not, feel free to move through this workshop at your own pace.

Today we’re going to focus on HC groups. Joining and participating in groups is vital to taking full advantage of the networking capabilities that HC offers. Unlike conferences which typically only happen once a year, the Commons provides you with the possibility to connect with like-minded academics from around the world any day of the year. By following other users and joining (and actively participating in) Commons groups, you can create a much larger network for yourself. This can be especially handy when you’re putting together an edited volume or panel, or if you’re looking for research guidance or feedback. Networking through the Commons can also be a great way to create more awareness of your own work within your field.

In order to revitalize your participation in and use of HC groups, today’s tasks include the following:

1. Search groups to see if any new group has been created that you might like to join. If there’s no group for an issue, topic, and/or research focus that interests you, consider creating a new group!
2. To make these groups worthwhile, members need to be active! Try to spark activity in at least one group of which you’re a member by posting a question or sharing something new you’ve learned. Check out a list of possible discussion-starting prompts here (scroll down to the section on “Groups” to find it).
3. Share your CORE uploads with your relevant groups! Whenever you upload a new deposit, be sure to check off the groups that you’d like to share the document with. This will increase your readership because it alerts members of the group that there is a new upload relevant to their interests.  Keep this in mind when we head into our CORE day tomorrow!
4. Share an event with groups. Click on the Events tab at the top of the group’s page. Then select New Event. This allows you to add an event to the shared calendar. Click on Upcoming to see all future events! These may include future workshops, CFP deadlines, conferences, etc. Visit the calendar for this group to see an example.

New to Humanities Commons? Want more help, tips, and tricks for working with HC groups? 

Visit the second half of last year’s challenge on networking (under heading “Groups”) to locate and join groups of interest to you. You may also want to create a group of your own. 

Discussion

Let’s help each other through today’s challenge! Discuss the questions below or add your own questions by replying to this post.

• What are some of the challenges involved in effectively using HC groups? How might you overcome these challenges?
• What are some of the potential benefits in using HC groups? How can we make sure these benefits occur?
• What [did you/do you plan to] post? Which group did you post this to? Share a link if you’d like members from this workshop to learn about your group discussion. Who knows- maybe you’ll encourage more people to join the conversation you’ve begun!
• Did you create a new group? Share it so that summer workshop participants are encouraged to join!
• Besides this summer workshop group, how else can you promote a group you belong to or a group conversation you’re involved in?