How the world has changed since our last newsletter! We hope you managed to stay safe over the last months, and that you’re finding your way through online teaching and learning! Here are some things we’ve been up to since.
News
Site remodel
Based on the survey we conducted last year, we have now upgraded the website, adjusting its look and functionality to the way it is being used. Search and browsing are now more prominent, less used elements have been moved out of the way, teaching texts display better, and there are a number of other minor improvements. We hope you’ll like the new design, and thank you to all who took part in the survey!
A surge in contributions
Following our last big expansion, we received a lot of new contributions – thank you! We managed to publish them all within days of receiving, so it seems that our new system is working well. Massive thanks to all contributors, and we hope you’ll continue to send us more suggestions in the coming weeks! Please also remember you can expand on our existing entries, or add comments to stub entries!
Bloomsbury Encyclopaedia of Philosophers for free
One of the most diverse resources detailing the work and biographies of philosophers from multiple traditions and backgrounds, is now free to use on request. ‘Change your conception of the canon’ is their motto, and we can assure you that browsing through the catalogue of over 8,000 thinkers from all over the world can be quite fascinating and eye-opening. Check it out now!
Volunteer Spotlight: Chris Blake-Turner (he/him or they/them)
I’m a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, writing a dissertation on reasoning and inference. Before that, I did undergraduate and masters degrees at the Universities of Durham and Oxford, respectively. I’ve been involved with the DRL for just over a year, as an Editor Assistant in Asian Philosophy, Epistemology, and Logic. I’ve also just finished an APA-funded project, working with Clotilde Torregrossa on expanding the DRL’s database with 351 texts contributed by the public. It’s great to see people taking up the call to contribute to the DRL; consistent public contributions will really help take things to the next level.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to be part of such an important project. I’ve relied on the DRL in the past when designing courses, and will continue to do so even more in the future. I think that others are starting to see the value in doing so too, and I hope that the DRL’s status as a crucial aid in course design will only become more secure. Along with making our pedagogy more inclusive (see Jacquart et. al 2019 on this: http://doi.org/10.5840/teachphil2019417102), diversifying our syllabi is one best things we can do for students and for the profession as a whole.
Get involved, get funded!
We continuously expand our list and you can help us by contributing papers via our contribution page.
We couldn’t do what we do without the help of our fantastic volunteers. If you would like to join them and volunteer for us please get in touch! There are so many ways to get involved: reviewing public contributions; helping us with small one off jobs; becoming a regular editor; and promoting the DRL at events and online.
You might even be able to access funding to support your time working on the DRL like Chris (see above). We’re keen to support any volunteers in getting this kind of funding. You can read more about this here.
Thanks so much again for all your support,
The DRL Team