About

I wanted to try a new way of working.
To create a space for myself to think.
A space to try. A space to document.

I was always terrible at making notes, and I’ve come to realise that perhaps that is not a reason not to try … and perhaps, it might even be interesting…

First and foremost, the impetus to set this jouirnal (Gewit-Hring) up is the result of my having recently been awarded an AHRC-RLUK Professional Practice Fellowship for research and academic libraries. I am incredibly humbled to receive this Fellowship, which will generously fund a programme of research and practice that I will undertake over the coming year (2023/24). In keeping with my application to the Fellowship scheme, the ethos of this jounral is to enable myself a space in which I can scrutinise my own working practices and explore my approaches to note making, creation, collaboration, and wellbeing. My intention is to embed a way of thinking into my everyday practice.

So, why Gewit-Hring?

Since submitting my Fellowship proposal, the circular form has begun to underpin many avenues of my enquiry and several of my early lines of thought are taking shape around it. I expect I will explain in greater depth as I progress, or that it would naturally become clearer, but in exploring a sense of individuation, I wanted to reflect the significance of a Mandala with something thought provoking. In looking to my own future, I turned to the past and fumbled with some Old English with a mind to a journey, a ‘knowledge-circle’:

Gewit: Knowledge / Understanding / Sense / Wits even.

Hring: Circle / Cycle / Circuit / Ring perhaps.

In the interest of a holistic output, some of the activities and work I present here might digress or indirectly relate to the work I am undertaking for my Fellowship. Hopefully it might prove a successful vehicle on which my train of thought can continue beyond the scope and duration of that Fellowship. With that in mind, rather than directly create this journal through my Fellowship funding, I have chosen to do so personally. I therefore intend to acknowledge the AHRC-RLUK Professional Practice Fellowship for research and academic libraries in all individual outputs specifically associated with my Fellowship rather than this whole site.

If you want to share any thoughts, comments, suggestions, please do get in touch:
admin@gewit-hring.com