💙 A Manifesto for Publishing the HumDrum Way 💙

We understand the manifesto as active, growing, lived in and through, alive. A verb and a constantly evolving document or conversation. We also understand the manifesto as a vehicle to underpin the values, philosophies, missions and visions of a practice, a process or a project, as well as the mundane, day-to-day maintenance and slow growth in it's development. As such, as a form, a vehicle, a way of thinking and doing, the manifesto fits perfectly in helping inform our growing HumDrum publishing model.

We, HumDrum Press, are currently in the process of developing our publishing model and practice. Our aim is to develop a publishing process that is both informed and upheld by the commons, and that will merge internal and external working practices and relations.

Developing such a process and practice has proven very challenging, and a difficult journey to know exactly where to start. One of the methods we have been using to express our wishes and our desires for this commons-based publishing practice, especially in a way that can be transparent, open, adaptable, communicable and commonable within our growing network of friends, collaborators, partners and more, is to develop an ongoing manifesto of publishing.. the HumDrum Way.

The below texts form part of a manifesto that will continue to evolve as our conversations, thoughts, influences and experiences do so too, throughout the duration of this project.

If you wish to comment, add, adapt, edit, the editable source document can be found here and we welcome you to participate in its growth and evolution.

💙A Manifesto for Publishing the HumDrum Way 💙

HumDrum Internal

This means:

How are our day-to-day operations going to work? What are the definitions of our roles, responsibilities and future vision? What is our structure?

Communication is 🔑

• Communication between all parts / verbally informing
• Individual responsibilities: Wibke – Design, Amy – Editing
• ALL other tasks are collective responsibilities. These include:
• • Communications (All, this includes reaching out to partners via email, checking in with collaborators, updating social media etc. etc.)
  • Funding Applications (Brainstorm and ideas)
  • Production
  • Note: If there are things that cannot be overseen together (due to lack of time, knowledge, enthusiasm etc.) then it must be collectively decided who we will reach out to as an alternative. No one should feel that they have to take on large and time-consuming tasks by themselves
• Rule: We always oversee meetings together. However this can be approached with flexibility in discussion from both sides.

Collaborators

How do we wish to form collaborations going forward? What are green flags? What are red flags?

• Red flags:
• • Delivering final project from beginning with little to no wriggle room
  • A lack of willingness to collaboration, think collectively, contribute to a larger project or vision
• Green flags/our criteria for future collaborators are they you must:
• • Approach us with an open idea, and not a closed or completed project. By this, we mean that the project you wish to publish could be in any stage, from initial concept, to full first draft, our stipulation lies in that you must be willing to collaborate and be open minded towards your project and the final outcome it might take
  • Open to HumDrum open presentation sessions
  • Open to collaboration with the HumDrum community
  • Able to work with HumDrum’s max. page and word count (to be decided upon)
  • Happy for content to be freely digitally distributed
  • Happy to think about ways to broaden and open up the publication form and purpose

How do we say no to certain projects? By delivering our above criteria and showing precisely where the projects do not align, but still inviting them into our larger community 💙

How much input do we have in each project? For each publication we aim to organize an open crit session. Inspiration for this includes Conversas, Tell Me Something I Don’t Know

How much internal time and labor do we allocate to each project?

• One full round of editing. By this we mean:

→ Content delivered, Amy does full editing with comments, suggestions, cuts etc.

→ Option for meeting to discuss editing

→ Final delivery and proofread

• One full round of design. By this we mean:

→ Initial meeting to talk about and agree upon design

→ Wibke delivers design, one round of comments and feedback which Wibke will then implement

We are happy for collaborators to work with external editors and designers, it would be great for us to be involved and in conversation about this, to ensure everyone is in communication and the collaborating parties can be invited into our wider network.