UT’s peer-reviewed literary journal Respondez! is making big changes to its image and circulation methods while taking submissions for a special auto-ethnography-themed edition.
For the first time since the journal’s inception, Respondez! will publish an exclusively online issue via WordPress blog. The publication has also recently created a Facebook page and official website in an effort to get the word out.
Sophomore AD and PR coordinator and marketing major Josiah Kachelmeyer and sophomore marketing major and editor-in-chief Max Davidoff believe that these changes will bring out the best in Respondez!
“As far as deciding to take Respondez! online, Max and I felt there was a lot of untapped potential with the publication, and that it had been very stiff in the past,” Kachelmeyer said.
The staff of Respondez! is hoping that this move to an online platform will attract more readers.
“We are trying to target the readers who don’t want to go out and pick up a copy and flip through page by page,” sophomore marketing major and Respondez! consultant Edward Kerner said. “We ultimately feel that more people will read the issue if it is easily accessible online.”
Davidoff said that this online move is just the start of the publication’s pans to increase readership and presence on campus. The staff intends to not only increase their UT following but also to expand their reach beyond the campus boundaries.
“We have reached a deal with the Tampa Theatre that they will distribute copies of Respondez! in the spring,” Kachelmeyer said. “We are also hoping to get in contact with Oxford Exchange.”
The honors-based publication is taking non-fiction submissions from all students for a special edition of the journal, based around the topic of auto-ethnography. Davidoff and Kerner expressed their excitement over the unique topic.
“I view auto-ethnographic research and writing as a unique genre that is very marketable to modern academia,” Davidoff said. “By combining auto (you) and ethno (culture), auto-ethnographic writing is able to blend two quality ingredients to form a scintillating literary craft where writers articulate how a certain event or topic features culture and them.”
Kerner believes that auto-ethnographies allow students to get in touch with their cultures.
“The organization decided to focus on auto-ethnographic research because auto-ethnographies are a great way for people to express the personal connections they have to their writing,” Kerner said.
Respondez! will be taking submissions for its auto-ethnography issue until Dec. 3, and the special edition will go live online in February. More information about submission requirements can be found at http://www.utrespondez.com.
Jordan Walsh can be reached at jordan.walsh@theminaretonline.com