Designing a Community for Editing and Publishing Research, Pedagogy, and Practice

Abstract

This experience report describes the formation of Research in Editing and Publishing (REAP), a new academic organization for scholars, teachers, and practitioners of editing and publishing (E&P). Because E&P programs are scattered across many disciplines, opportunities to share research and develop a shared disciplinary community have been limited. This report presents the formation of REAP as a challenge in communication design, tracing its origins from a small research group to an expanding organization. The authors frame the organization of REAP by drawing from principles of infrastructure and looking at the example of the Corpus and Repository of Writing (Crow), and they explain the process of choosing a name, designing a logo, and building a website as an exercise in building sustainable, visible infrastructure. The article concludes with takeaways for other scholars who may be facing similar organizational design challenges.