Byrd & Lomax

Reflections on Collaboration

I’ve often felt that it’s difficult to work in a group. There’s always an unknown factor, whether it’s the dynamic of the group, finding proper motivation or being able to reconcile different schedules in order to get work done. The beginning of this class was no different. When we formed our group and discussed our strengths, working together seemed ideal. However, when we had to do our first presentation on The Virginia Quarterly Review, the journal we’d been assigned to analyze, reality quickly set in. One of our group members, scrambling for a topic, emailed the rest of us for ideas. When I read the email, I figured, well, the others will have ideas because I certainly don’t. Later, I found out that no one had emailed our group member back and right away I thought ‘Oh, no, this is not happening again.’ Needless to say, after each time we met, all of us made sure we had something to do, something that would help our journal move forward.

I think it would be difficult to talk about other ways to study the journals given to us as examples. I can say for myself that the amount of resources that were available to look at were diverse and plentiful. However, with the other schoolwork I had to do, I really only looked over the journals my group was assigned to analyze. Of course I paid attention to similarities and differences in other presentations, but that doesn’t substitute actual research. Also, I feel the motivation of the journal changes once you change to medium to an online one. I think Brady had a valid question at symposium when he asked about finding an audience. I understand that an artist’s statement sort of tailors you for one, but with so much out there on the web competing for a viewer’s attention, it’s difficult to figure out who will see your work. I think what a print journal and an online journal has in common as a goal is to find a community to take part in. I believe that both can eventually cultivate a culture and an ethic around it, but first you have to attach yourself to something larger and already existing.

Those first steps to finding one’s niche are crucial. I think that in future semesters, students in this class will have to rely on other connections outside of school in order to get quality submissions. Both ECOllective and The Zephyranthes had an outward focus on either other conferences or online groups. However, I personally felt frustration trying to get submissions from our university students. Part of this, I think, comes from an overload of opportunity. At the time ECOllective began their submission period, we were competing with both Aubade and The Zephyranthes. When our submission period closed, The Zephyranthes was still advertising as well as Polemic. Often it felt like a competition and I think that sometimes on the outside it looked like that too. I know that the spring semester before, when I had no idea what the class was, I would see the different flyers posted for the journal projects. It seemed more of an irritation than a call to create and submit something. The sense of community that seemed present with the established journals didn’t seem present for us. I don’t know if this is something the course can address, though. It might be up to future students to take that jump, to go exploring outside their familiar communities to find opportunity.

Speaking of submissions, one thing that our group couldn’t have lived without was our Gmail account and all the programs associated with it, especially the Google Documents feature. Going into this project, we were worried about storage as well as group members having access not just to submissions, but any forms we might generate. The Documents program in Gmail really was our best friend, as Megan said. Once we figured out that we could share all these resources online, a large part of the grunt work went much easier. I think it also helped our contributors’ peace of mind that they could actively edit and format their work. There was no break in communicating how a piece should be presented. This was a concern I had voiced on the first day of meeting. Nothing kills the excitement of acceptance more that seeing how a publication has misrepresented your work. I speak from first-hand experience.

Finally, the last thing I’d like to address in this essay is the actual tech work itself. I felt like I got the basics down and I was excited to learn something like that, to understand the underlying structure of our site. I wish I could have learned more. There was plenty to do, but we also had six people, which meant not everyone’s involvement was required. And that’s ok, the work flow went more easily because of it. But I felt like I missed out, partially because I didn’t speak up and say “Hey, I’d like to know how to do that.” Overall, I’m incredibly proud of ECOllective and all the work that my group put into it. This class has definitely been influential experience and I’m glad I was involved.