This journal is an experiment to explore and promote non-digital modes of thinking and writing.

While artificial intelligence confronts us with the most recent transformation of academic research, this form of human activity has been in a mode of transformation for decades now.

Up until the introduction of the word processor in the 1970’s, academic thinking and writing was predominantly manual and non-digital in many ways. It involved curating a library of a limited set of sources, of physical books, printed academic journals, letters, and notes. It also involved writing in notebooks, by hand, or using a typewriter.

Without needing or wanting to be nostalgic, or wanting to go back completely to this previous mode of thinking and writing, this journal is dedicated to recovering it in part and reconsidering what was lost in the process of digitalization.

As it is an experiment, there is no fixed outcome in sight. This website will feature a set of ideas of how to go about doing non-digital thinking and writing, a few formats for research output – for instance, in the form of hand-written journal papers and curated letter conversations – and some reflections on the benefits and drawbacks of this mode of doing research that at this point has mostly been lost.

It is also an invitation to anyone who would like to join the experiment. Below, more links to useful content and ways to get involved will be posted in due time.