Kiesewetter (2026) Preparing, Reviewing, and Fixing Versions: Editorial Work in ‘Database as Book’ | Copim Community

This is the sixth blogpost documenting the ‘Database as Book and Lively Community Archive’ book pilot project.

The blogpost brings together reflections on editing and peer review. It is based on a conversation held in Nairobi ahead of the hybrid workshop ‘Extending Knowledge and Publishing Infrastructures in and from Africa’. The conversation included Aurelia Munene, Syokau Mutonga, Leonida Mutuku, and Angela Okune who are part of the Research Data Share author collective; François van Schalkwyk representing the publisher African Minds, Mike Fortun from the Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography (PECE), the database side of ‘Database as Book’; as well as Janneke Adema and Rebekka Kiesewetter supporting the pilot from the side of the OBF Experimental Publishing Group.

Among other things, the participants in the conversation discussed how texts have been engaged with across different roles, formats, and experimental environments, and how this shaped the process of the book’s becoming. They also outlined the project’s approach to editing and peer review, how this has been organised, and how feedback has been gathered and taken forward. Finally, they reflect on how these editorial and review practices relate to more conventional editorial and publishing roles and workflows.

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