Rewards + Risks of Public Scholarship
ObjectivES
Survey the many good reasons scholars have for going public with their work, as well as the many good reasons scholars have for being careful about how, when, and whether to go public.
TO Do
Listen to the “Rewards + Risks” and “Ask an Expert” podcasts (either here on the website or through the Storyboard app) or read the transcripts
Check out the slideshow, which gives you an overview of why we think going public is worth it and how to reduce some of the risks associated with public work
Select at least one action item from the “Doxx Yourself” checklist and one from the “Social Media Safety” checklist and complete them by 11 August
Check in with your podmates and make a response plan for if you encounter harassment online before 13 August
If you can, join us for a conversation about rewards and risks with Drs. Erin Bartram, Simran Jeet Singh, and Audrey Truschke at 12p EDT on 18 August (link below)
Review the additional resources as your schedule and bandwidth allow
important dates
(11 August)
Doxx yourself
(13 August)
Share your Safety Plan with your pod
(18 August @12pm EDT)
conversation with
Erin Bartram,
Simran Jeet Singh,
and Audrey Truschke
Podcast
Ask an expert: Dr. Simran Jeet Singh
Not a podcast person? Read the transcript!
Slideshow
password: S@credWr1tes!
rewards + Risks: first person narratives
Join us at 12pm EDT on 18 August for a live conversation about the rewards and risks of public scholarship with three scholars who do the most (and often see the worst).
Dr. Erin Bartam
Contingent Magazine
Erin Bartam is a historian of 19th century America, women, and religion, who thinks a lot about pedagogy and drinks too much tea. She is the founder of and an editor for Contingent as well as president of the magazine’s board of directors. She’s also School Programs Coordinator at The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford. Erin earned a PhD in 2015 from the University of Connecticut, where she studied 19th-century US history with a focus on women, religion, and ideas.
Dr. Simran Jeet Singh
Collective Speakers
Recognized among TIME Magazine’s 16 people fighting for a more equal America, Simran Jeet Singh is Senior Adviser for Equity and Inclusion at YSC Consulting and a Visiting Professor at Union Seminary. He is a 2020 Equality Fellow with the Open Society Foundations and a Senior Fellow for the Sikh Coalition. Simran holds a PhD, MPhil, and MA from Columbia University, an MTS from Harvard University, and a BA from Trinity University.
Dr. Audrey Truschke
Rutgers University
Audrey Truschke is Associate Professor of South Asian History at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. She is the author of three books: Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court (2016), Aurangzeb (2017), and The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule (2021). When Audrey isn’t writing about the Mughals, Sanskrit texts, or Hindu-Muslim interactions, she is often calling attention to abuses of history and human rights in contemporary South Asia. Her other frequent activities include condemning sexism and Islamophobia, reading, and spending time with her family.
password: S@credWr1tes!
Activity: #SmartInPublic RISK Reduction
The internet is never a completely safe space, but we suspect you knew this already. These resources can help mitigate some of your online privacy risks.
Responding in Real Time
No matter what, if you’re being harassed online:
Lock your account / make it private until the harassment dies down. Don’t accept friend/follow requests from anyone you don’t know while you’re locked (but do report and block any suspicious accounts that try to follow you).
Change your social media account passwords.
Report and block harassers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. and encourage your followers/friends/colleagues to do likewise.
Keep records of the abuse: put the emails/DMs/etc. somewhere you don’t have to see them, but keep them in case you need to file a formal report. Screenshot anything someone else can delete.
Treat all threats as credible threats, no matter how ridiculous someone’s username might be. If someone is threatening to harm you, contact your employer and local law enforcement.
Doxx Yourself
Doxxing refers to finding someone’s private information online and making it public, usually with the intent to encourage bad actors to harass or threaten that person. Here’s an explanation of why it makes sense to dox yourself and how to go about doing just that.
Vilk, “How and Why You Should Dox Yourself,” Slate (28 February 2020)
Kozinski and Kapur, “A Guide to Doxxing Yourself on the Internet,” New York Times Open Team (27 February 2020)
This is going to look like an overwhelming amount of information to process, but don’t get bogged down by all the things they’re telling you to do. Just pick one for now — or a couple, if you’re feeling ambitious. Set up a google alert on your name so you know what information about you is being indexed. Check Spokeo to see if your info is listed and ask to have it removed. (Ask to have it removed even if the info’s not current, and don’t forget to go back in 2-3 days to be sure they’ve removed it!) You can always come back to the “Doxx Yourself” list and do more later.
Social Media Security & Privacy Checklists
Kozinski and Kapur, “Social Media Security & Privacy Checklists,” New York Times Open Team (27 February 2020)
Again, there’s a lot to do on these lists! Don’t get overwhelmed. Just pick one thing to do. Maybe update some passwords or start using a VPN (Opera and Windscribe are both good options).
Bonus: Make a Plan
Hopefully you’ll never need to respond to online harassment. But if you do, it’ll be much easier if you already have a plan in place.
Check out this guide to responding to harassment.
Find out if your university and/or department have resources in place to support you in case of harassment or abuse. (They probably don’t, but find out for sure.)
Find out if your professional guild/s have resources in place to support you in case of harassment or abuse.
Arrange to have a friend or colleague monitor your email, DMs, and mentions until the harassment abates.
Additional Resources
If/as you have time, check out these resources before moving on to the next unit. Let us know what you think on twitter (#SmartInPublic)!
Cottom, “Everything But the Burden: Publics, Public Scholarship, and Institutions,” TressieMc.com (12 May 2015)
Stoll and Thoune, “Building a Bridge to Hate? When Fat Studies Goes Public” Inside Higher Ed (29 May 2020)
Truschke, “Hate Male,” The Revealer (14 July 2020)
Goodwin and Morgenstein Fuerst, “Public Scholarship and Representation,” Keeping It 101: A Killjoy’s Introduction to Religion Podcast (27 January 2021)
Baker, “The Costs of Speaking Out,” Women in Higher Education (1 February 2021)
South Asia Scholar Activist Collective, Hindutva Harassment Field Manual (6 July 2021)
Extra Credit
Check out FemTech’s Center for Solutions to Online Violence. They have resources for those undergoing online harassment as well as for those looking to learn more about the phenomenon.