Editorial

Introduction

Welcome to the CTRL+ALT+DH blueprint. CTRL+ALT+DH is a journal created and managed by students of the Culture and Technology Studies (CTS) program at the University of Guelph. It exists as an opportunity to give students a chance to have their work published for free, as well as peer-reviewed. This issue will act as an outline for future issues of CTRL+ALT+DH. Throughout the various projects, you will find sample pieces of what different types of submissions may look like once published. Many of these submissions focus on what a journal is, and what the process was like of creating this year's issue.

CTRL+ALT+DH was founded by four CTS students in the winter of 2023. Together these students created the beginning template for the journal, published a website on pub pub for the purposes of hosting the journal itself, and a submissions forum via the Online Journal System (OJS) which allows for the collection and review of an issue’s incoming submissions for any given year. The founding students worked in collaboration with three University of Guelph faculty advisors to manufacture the beginning template which was used to create the current template for Issue 01.

A journal is a compilation of academic works (typically of similar fields of study) published in a single scholarly space. Journals traditionally host a variety of articles pertaining to the journal’s specified subject matter. Articles are independent pieces of writing with several sections to create its makeup. Articles are typically composed of: an abstract, an introduction, description and methodology, a conclusion, and reference/citation pages. Digital Humanities (DH) journals tend to follow a less traditional path as exemplified by the formatting of CTRL+ALT+DH. For this journal we decided that we wanted a variety of digital tools, allowing for more than just the standard articles to be included. We accept Twine games, videos, essays, podcasts, art pieces, networks, infographics, and more. With this, it allows for a very dynamic journal. Those who are wishing to use a digital tool as a submission are required to submit an abstract which would act as a contextualization for their piece. 

For the first issue of the journal, our team decided to create our own submissions to act as samples of some of the formats we accept. The content of these submissions varies from information pieces to conversations about the process of starting a student-run journal. The 2023 CTRL+ALT+DH Team, a Video features the majority of the students involved in making the first issue of CTRL+ALT+DH, describing their roles and responsibilities. The students also talk about what the journal is and how they want it to grow in the future. Similar topics can be found in An Essay about the Unexpected Obstacles of Creating a Journal, detailing the challenges and solutions of each team, as well as Culture Chronicles: A Podcast about Crafting a Student Journal on Modern Pop Culture which features a discussion on pop culture and the initial topic for the first issue of CTRL+ALT+DH. From Wires to Wireless: An Art Piece is a digital piece of visual art showcasing the evolving world of culture and technology, and A Timeline of the Creation of CTRL+ALT+DH provides a glimpse into each step of creating this journal, starting with tasks performed by past students in the previous semester. For a broader perspective, What is CTRL+ALT+DH?: Journal Publishing Infographics outlines important information that defines CTRL+ALT+DH as an open-source journal, as well as an introduction to journal publishing. Specific to our journal, What Should I Submit to CTRL+ALT+DH? A Twine Story presents the submission criteria for each format of work, as well as important information to remember when submitting to our journal.

This journal was created as a potential set of guidelines or tips for future teams making the next volume of CTRL+ALT+DH. The successes, obstacles, and failures of future entries to CTRL+ALT+DH could be very similar or very different from the ones this team faced during the first volume’s development. We hope that this journal will continue each year within the CTS program. Although in this term we were unable to get enough submissions to create our first official issue, we hope that what we have created will inspire students to create work that could be published in future publications. Regardless, we hope that you are able to find something of interest and value within the first volume of CTRL+ALT+DH.