Long Night of Writing

What is the connection between transformation and writing? 

How could and should academic and scientific writing change in response to the emergence of AI tools such as ChatGPT and to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, the wars in Ukraine and elsewhere? What is the potential of writing to affect change, and how might students and researchers tap into this potential? These and other questions were explored during the fully booked 18th Long Night of Writing on February22, 2024 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Transformation Spaces. Participants worked on their projects in structured writing sessions, and they discussed their questions with librarians from the Media and Information Centre (MIZ), staff members and peer writing tutors from the Schreibzentrum / Writing Center (SWC), and Henrik von Wehrden (Center for Methods). The invited guest speaker was Andrea Scott  (Pitzer College, Los Angeles, and Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder), who invited participants in her workshop “Who Cares: Reimagining Academic Writing as Care” to reconsider writing in theoretical and practical terms in light of recent economic challenges, social turmoil and precarity, and related individual challenges. In her workshop, Dagmar Knorr (SWC) discussed the potential and limitations of powerful AI tools such as ChatGPT, and Erik Senst (MIZ) focused on the implications for research. Maximilian Waschka (SWC) invited participants to learn more about plagiarism detection software and to reflect on their impact on writing and assessment. Other contributions included a workshop by Henrik von Wehrden on potential problems when using research methods, a hands-on introduction to using MS Word by Will Radford (SWC), and a presentation by Sonja Antonova und Leonie Wetzel (SWC) on the revised and extended version of the SWC Writing Resources Wiki.

The venue greatly contributed to the success of the event. Participants wrote a lot and found the time to reflect on the future of (academic and scientific) writing because the Transformation Spaces allow users to explore new ways of learning, teaching, creating, and thinking. Those participating in the Long Night benefitted from seeminly unlimited options of making the space one’s own and from the cozy and productive atmosphere. It is a place to get involved, to experience and to particpate in processes of transformation, also in the case of writing.
 

The Long Night of Writing 2024 is a collaboration with library services, the Center for Methods, and the Language Center. This event has taken place at the Transformation Spaces (C25).

Please click here for the program.

The next Long Night of Writing will take place in February 2025.