The final, in-person aspect of the workshop focused on participants’ presentations of their own in-progress digital publication projects, as well as developing individualized roadmaps for bringing their publications to fruition.

Producing a born-digital, enhanced publication is different from planning a conventional book and can involve a steep learning curve that the institute seeks to minimize, Levy explained. For example, digital scholarly works often include non-linear navigation, embedded audio and video, and many interactive elements, requiring an additional skillset for authors. A digital-first presentation may also influence the author’s choices related to writing style, length and argument, she added.

University scholarship is “the last bastion of formalism,” said La Tanya Rogers, an associate professor of literature and drama and director of the honors program at Fisk University, an HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee. Rogers was part of the institute’s 2022 cohort and was one of six past participants who returned to campus this week to work with the current cohort.  

“Whereas the rest of the world has fully embraced the digital space, the academy is the last holdout,” she said. “It’s time for us to collectively figure out how to do peer-reviewed, refereed work in a space that makes it accessible to more people than just those few who are privileged enough to be within our gates.”

Participating in the institute at Brown two years ago catalyzed Rogers’ still-in-development digital monograph on a dramatic technique she calls “Black surrogacy” in the plays of Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks.

“I’m a theater professor and a theorist, and the idea of theater is that it's live,” Rogers said. “I was finding that the print medium was fantastic for the theoretical side of my scholarship, but for the side of my scholarship that needs a stage, the digital platform was the way to go.”

Institute participant Mona Oraby, an assistant professor of political science at Howard University, said she has already been able to advance her project “Back to Kemet” — which explores how U.S.-based Afrocentrists imagine ancestral connection to the ancient dynasties of Egypt and the Nile Valley — through the resources and relationships she has gained from the institute.  

“Presenting my work at an early stage has always been very fruitful for me,” Oraby said. “Brown University and the library team have been extraordinary in curating exactly the type of conversations that those of us who are beginning digital projects can really benefit from.”

TaKeia Anthony, dean of the honors college at Edward Waters University, an HBCU in Jacksonville, Florida, is another member of the 2022 cohort who returned to campus this week. She said she used what she learned at the institute not only to advance her own digital work, but to share it with her students and advocate for the importance of digital scholarship resources on her own campus.  

“In my opinion, this program is true social justice work,” Anthony said. “It’s a genuine partnership with HBCUs. A lot of our institutions are underfunded, and a lot of our faculty carry heavy workloads, teaching four or five classes a semester. So, to have the support from an Ivy League university like Brown, who is saying we want to give you space to learn something new, has been an amazing opportunity for me and many of my colleagues.”

Levy said that recordings from the 2022 institute are available for other scholars to view online, and content from 2024 is expected to be shared in the coming months — part of an intentional strategy on the library’s part to expand the reach and impact of the institute and born-digital publications, which have become a growing focus and area of expertise at Brown.

The Brown University Library began developing its digital publishing program in 2015 with a $1.3 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. Since then, Brown University Digital Publications has developed three exclusively digital, open access works authored by Brown faculty and published by leading university presses. Fourteen additional born-digital publication projects are currently in development. 

“We couldn’t do this work without the support of the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services or the Brown community,” Levy said. “In a relatively short amount of time, we’ve been able to develop expertise to make some really big ideas a reality and transform the scholarly publishing landscape.”