Hi Joshua,
I'm writing to welcome you once more as Reviews Editor for Design and Culture. I'm so glad that the you will be joining the team.
In our prior correspondence (January 25th-ish) I outlined the process for pitching, assigning, and editing a review. I would now like to invite you to begin participating in that process by pitching a few objects (books, exhibitions, websites, symposia, films, magazines, etc.) for review.
You can make your pitch in the Reviews team's working google spreadsheet, which we use to track pitches, reviews in process, and published pieces. I've assigned you a color, so when you make your object suggestions in the pitch section (labeled 'possible', and at the top of the spreadsheet), please highlight your pitches in your color.
This makes it easier to keep track of who is working on what. In addition to suggesting objects, I also recommend proposing one or two possible reviewers (there is a designated column for this).
After you've made your suggestions, which I hope you'll do in the next couple of weeks, we can correspond as a group about which to commission for review.
I hope you'll begin by commissioning two reviews so, if you like, you can suggest two objects, or you can suggest more than that if you have a bunch of objects you'd like to pitch.
In addition to the reviews spreadsheet, I have also shared with you a number of documents pertaining to commissioning reviews.
These include:
(1) an email template that you can use when contacting a potential reviewer;
(2) an email template that can use when contacting a publisher to request a review copy of a book for a reviewer; and
(3) separate review guidelines for reviewers of (a) books, (b) exhibitions and (c) objects (i.e. everything else).
Please let me know if you have trouble accessing the folder or any the documents within.
I look forward to working with you and am of course happy to field any questions you may have as you begin work on the journal.
All my best,
Maggie
Maggie Taft, PhD | she/her/hers
Preceptor, Master of Arts Program in the HumanitiesUniversity of Chicago