Inés is a third-year undergraduate studying English and French at Warwick. She is our Marketing Coordinator as well as an assistant editor; therefore, she is behind all the social media and advertising work in addition to being part of the student editorial team which oversees the papers. She joined Reinvention in 2021. In this post, she tells us about her experience working remotely as part of Reinvention’s team, and the advantages and disadvantages that this type of work can entail.
Reinvention Journal possesses a noteworthy characteristic that allows us to stand out as a team: it works completely and entirely online. All our meetings and exchanges happen via email or Microsoft Team calls, and often the members of our team find themselves in different locations while working on the journal’s many roles. This brings along quite a few advantages as well as disadvantages, so as an insider, I thought it would be interesting to share my perspective in a blogpost, to give our readers a chance to get to know the behind the scenes of the bi-annual publication of our journal.
Remote work: a world of possibilities
Working 100% remotely gives us a lot of advantages that not many roles offer. As student editors, it allows us to work all year round, despite the reduced calendar that only requires university students to be physically present on campus for certain periods of the academic year. It allows us to make sure that all the work gets done, especially around the time of publishing a new issue in April and October. We are never dependent on physical presence, and we keep in contact all throughout the summer and even during the Christmas and Easter holidays (we also rest, don’t worry!), and this is a great characteristic that provides us with a lot of flexibility as a team. It also means that all of the software platforms that we work with and all of our files are online, giving us access from anywhere and at anytime. Therefore, most of the team works at their own pace, and adapts their Reinvention duties to their schedule as a full-time student. We can pick up where we left off at any time that suits us and wherever we might be.
A day in the life of Reinvention’s editorial team
As a day in the life of a Reinvention assistant editor (and marketing coordinator), I plan out what needs to be accomplished for the week in the Reinvention calendar: what posts need to go up, who needs to be contacted, what papers in the peer reviewing process am I in charge of, when is the next editorial meeting, etc. When this is clear and I know what I’m doing for the week, I organise my schedule. This is a completely individual process that I can do at my own pace. When things are ready to pass on to the next stage, whenever I have a question or I want another opinion on the content I’m creating, I get in contact with the editor and our supervisor, and we schedule a meeting for that week or simply exchange ideas through messages. Everything I need is on my computer, and I know that no matter where I am, if I ever have a few minutes or a few hours to spare, I can work on Reinvention projects.
The dark side of the screen
Of course, there are disadvantages to this type of work set up. Although Microsoft Teams is a great tool to connect online, we lack a continuous in-person contact, which might feel a little isolating whenever you are doing your part of the work. Even though we try to remind our readers, as well as ourselves, that there is a very human and very present team behind the journal, it is sometimes easy to forget. That is why it is important to remember that everyone is there to help you out or answer your doubts, always one message or call away. I personally go on the website and look at the issues that have been published to remind myself of the result of all the work we put into Reinvention together with the amazing research undergraduates accomplish, and it is always such a satisfying feeling. Not only that, but we have created a strong network that connects people all over the world, and we continue to nurture very exciting initiatives such as this blog, or collaborations such as our last special issue.
Therefore, this aspect of our team facilitates a lot of what the journal stands for in the first place. We are a remote team which focuses on publishing undergraduate research no matter where the student comes from, and no matter the discipline, and this is possible thanks to our strong online presence. We are passionate about our international scope and the voice we provide for researchers who are just starting their careers or who want to share their findings on a global scale while obtaining the merit they deserve. We hope that we will continue to provide this platform for a very long time, remotely and beyond!
Interested in publishing your research with Reinvention as well? Find out more at Reinvention: an International Journal of Undergraduate Research (reinventionjournal.org) or get in touch via reinventionjournal@warwick.ac.uk