The Why and How of Digital Multimodal Scholarship

This event will take place in-person at The Old Fellows Dining Room, Hilde Besse Building, , University of Oxford on Wed-Fri, 11-13 Feb 2026.

Hosted by the EMPTINESS project and co-organised by Stanford University Press, this series of panels/presentations aims to demystify digital project development, publishing, and preservation. While the traditional print book has and will continue to advance scholarly communication, it is becoming increasingly more useful to present scholarly arguments in a multimodal framework. Digital publications allow authors to frame their arguments within and alongside the data, media, and multi-linear pathways that best represent and exemplify those arguments. The sessions will present insights into the various aspects of digital publishing, from making the decision to go digital and securing funding and partnerships, to working with a publisher and ensuring a project’s longevity.

The event will be of particular interest to Social Sciences and Arts & Humanities researchers and publishers as well as digital technicians/research software engineers interested in digital preservation pathways and web archiving.

Attendence is free, but places are limited. See Agenda below for the topics, dates/times, and details of each session.

Registration is by day. If you wish to attend the whole event, please register separately for each day. We look forward to seeing you there!

Presenters/panellists

• Dace Dzenovska, PI, EMPTINESS project / Associate Professor in the Anthropology of Migration, University of Oxford / lead author of Living Emptiness: Power, Place, and Meaning-making from the Baltic to the Russian Far East (forthcoming, Stanford University Press, 2026)
• Jasmine Mulliken, Digital Program Manager, Stanford University Press
• Allison Levy, Director, Brown University Digital Publications
• Max Saunders, Interdisciplinary Professor of Modern Literature and Culture, University of Birmingham, co-author of (Stanford University Press, 2023)
• Alisa Lebow, Professor of Screen Media, University of Sussex, author of (Stanford University Press, 2018)
• Shahzad Bashir, Dean of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University, author of (MIT Press, 2022)
• Tom Bevan, Head of Design & Production, MeThree, web developer of Living Emptiness: Power, Place, and Meaning-making from the Baltic to the Russian Far East (forthcoming, Stanford University Press, 2026)

Info: Moderator: Allison Levy I Panellists: Dace Dzenovska, Max Saunders, Alisa Lebow, Shahzad Bashir I In this conversational panel, authors who have published digital projects with Stanford and MIT University Presses will discuss why they chose to go digital rather than pursue traditional book publication pathways. They’ll cover topics ranging from multimodality and audience reach, to tenure/promotion and longevity. Q&A will follow.

Info: Presenters: Jasmine Mulliken, Dace Dzenovska with Tom Bevan, Allison Levy I
This series of presentations will introduce attendees to some examples of digital publications and the modalities and platforms they employ; offer insights and experiences on acquiring grant funding for digital projects, and outline the kinds of support and relationships that underpin successful digital project development. Q&A will follow each of the three presentations.

Info: Presenters: Allison Levy, Jasmine Mulliken I
From drafting text and preparing multimedia assets, to writing a proposal and identifying potential publishers, to managing expectations for peer review, contracts, and production, the digital publishing trajectory consists of a series of efforts and milestones that together inform a final product that is equal in value and legitimacy to a traditional book. This session aims to help authors navigate the process and convey to supporters and stakeholders the scholarly rigor and innovative practices inherent in digital publications.

Info: Presenter: Jasmine Mulliken I
While books enjoy long-established archiving and preservation methods, digital projects are distinguished by their ephemerality in the face of changing and evolving technologies. This presentation will explore three pathways for mitigating the seeming fragility of digital projects and provide insight and guidance on how the digital can persist as reliably as print in the scholarly record.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road, Oxford, United Kingdom

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