EASTS Held “Writing Academic Work in English” Workshop in August and September 2021

Following the successful writing workshop held on 11–13 October 2019 in Seoul in collaboration with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Society of the History of Technology (SHOT) (reported in News and Events, vol. 14 no. 1), we had originally planned to extend that same spirit by organizing a workshop on writing and publishing academic work in English for Taiwanese authors. Some hosting institutions had been contacted, and some instructors who appeared at the Seoul workshop had agreed to join our tutorial team (notably EASTS editors and friends Hyungsub Choi, Catelijne Coopman, Angela Leung and Xaq Frolich, to all of whom we felt truly grateful).

But then the outbreak of Covid and the pandemic that followed threw our plans to the wind … Benefitting from being almost unaffected by Covid, we were confident enough to announce an in-person workshop and received a good number of strong applications. However, those speakers from abroad failed to make it to Taiwan, while a local outbreak in May 2021 brought more logistical uncertainties. As a result, the workshop was postponed first to early 2021 and then to June, eventually turning into a virtual one consisting of small group consultations and three webinar talks.

Given the general difficulties described above, the workshop proved to be immensely successful. It demonstrated not only a constructive way to maintain meaningful academic activity under the continuous threat of Covid; it also created a new format for doing workshops that can be more international and more influential for those who cannot come or participate in person.

The main workshop activities were conducted in August. Collaborating with the Taiwan Science, Technology and Society (STS) Association as a featured event in its annual meeting, we opened the workshop with a special lecture, “Writing Academic English in Taiwan: Motivation, Mindset, Method.” Provided with examples and useful resources, a webinar talk was delivered by Dr. Hsiao-Chun Wu, a former EASTS assistant editor and currently an independent scholar after gaining her PhD in the United States. Dr. Wu was also the instructor for small group consultations in the following two weeks (her reflections can be read in her essay, “From Practice to Practice: Writing Academic English from/in Taiwan,” in this issue).

The other two webinar talks were held in September in association with National Chengchi University, the intended venue and one of the co-hosts of the workshop. Titled “Investing in English Journals in Taiwan: Preparation, Process, Key Points,” in this talk the convener of our book review editorial board Jia-shin Chen took a practical approach, sharing his working experience as a non-native English-speaking author. The final talk was delivered by EASTS editor in chief Wen-Hua Kuo. In response to Dr. Hsiao-Chun Wu’s inquiries—both personal and intellectual—concerning the merits and challenges of operating an English journal in Asia, Professor Kuo flagged the necessity of using these journals as “working platforms” (extending the ideas of Peter Keating and Alberto Cambrosio) or an “invisible college,” which allow not only authors but also editors, reviewers, and sponsors in Asia to be acquainted with academic publishing as both an intellectual means and enterprise—an idea that can be traced to STS literature as early as the 1960s.

The workshop ended, but its influence continued. Dr. Wu’s consultations were intended to be private, but her public talk can be viewed at the Taiwan STS Association’s website (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SH-EOz3vCkFjuvqA_QupDaNWOk7Oa9gO/view). Professors Chen and Kuo’s talks were recorded and will be released on our journal’s website.

We would like to take the opportunity again to thank all the instructors and participants in these activities. Just like the making and doing of EASTS, contributing work in English should not be limited to native English speakers but is for everyone who wants to embrace a wider STS readership. In that spirit, we are happy to offer our assistance to academic friends and colleagues current and future, across Taiwan, Asia, and the wider world, in whatever way we can.

Workshop Fellows:

Zhen-Rong Gan (甘偵蓉, National Chung Cheng University)

Shih-Yu Juan (阮思瑀, National Taiwan University)

Yu-An Kuo (郭育安, National Taiwan University)

Jerrel Lai (賴俊魁, National Chengchi University)

Shan-Ya Su (蘇上雅, University of California at Berkeley)

Lillian Tsay (蔡曉林, Brown University)

Yeh-Han Wang (王業翰, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University)

Yu-Hsuan Wang (王友璿, National Taiwan University)

Yu Shan Wu (吳育珊, Tunghai University)

Lai Pin Yu (賴品妤, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University)

Note: this list only includes those who could make it to the small group consultations. We greatly appreciate the interest of everyone who initially signed up to the workshop but could not participate because of the pandemic.

Three Webinar talks: