Contributing to the project
This project uses GitHub as its collaborative platform, which aligns with the principles of openness, distributed participation, and networked knowledge creation. GitHub offers several features that make it ideal for this kind of collaborative scholarly work:
- Anyone can fork any part of this project to create their own version, which can be developed independently
- Anyone can clone the entire project onto their computer and edit it separately from the public version
- Anyone can contribute changes to any part of the project, including essays or principles (though this requires some additional steps)
- Anyone can make comments or suggest changes that become part of the public, tracked record of the project
This approach to scholarly collaboration mirrors the emergent scholarship principles we're exploring. Knowledge develops through connections, innovation happens through openness, and value emerges through engagement with diverse perspectives.
While these features create powerful opportunities for collaboration, they do require some technical knowledge. There's a learning curve involved, but this isn't necessarily a drawback. After all, attempting to transform established systems of scholarship was never going to be simple.
Current ways to contribute
As the project is still developing, there are several ways you can contribute right now:
Share and discuss: Share links to any part of the project to raise awareness about alternative approaches to scholarship. Start conversations in your own networks about emergent principles.
Open peer review: Create an Issue on GitHub to offer feedback, suggest improvements, or highlight connections to other work. Think of this as open and transparent peer review – visible to all and permanently part of the project's development record.
Direct collaboration: Create a GitHub account and request an invitation to collaborate (more about this process here). This allows you to become a co-creator of the project, with the ability to directly add and modify content.
If the need arises, we'll develop more structured pathways for contribution, including collaborative writing projects, community discussions, and potentially a more accessible interface for non-technical contributors. The goal is to balance openness with quality, creating a scholarly environment where ideas can evolve through collective intelligence while maintaining intellectual rigour.