What? Since March 2020, Mass Observation (MO) has collected diaries and other writing from thousands of people across Britain on everyday life during the Covid-19 pandemic. This online seminar series will bring together archivists and researchers to discuss how best to use MO’s Covid-19 collections and the methodological challenges they present. The archivists will provide an introduction to the archive, the collections, and plans for digitisation and other projects/events. There will be opportunities for researchers to present papers (probably two speakers per seminar, plus time for discussion). One outcome of the series might be a website of seminar videos. Another outcome might be a journal special issue on using MO’s Covid-19 collections and related topics, such as:

• MO’s response to Covid-19: directives, publicity, partnerships, collections, digitisation.
• Journals, plagues, diaries, and Covid-19.
• The uses of MO by panellists, non-panellists, journalists, and researchers.
• Reading the 12 May day diaries.
• Reading the directive responses of MO panellists.
• Approaching the collections from the social sciences and the humanities.
• Sampling and the aesthetics of representation.
• Popular responses to Covid-19 and associated discourses of risk and responsibility.
• Practising everyday life during the pandemic.
• Using the collections to inform public health responses to the pandemic and its impacts.
• More broadly, using qualitative research to inform policy responses to emergencies and their impacts.

When? Every month, starting in late spring/early summer 2021.

Where? Online, probably using Zoom.

Who? The organisers are Nick Clarke (University of Southampton) and Clive Barnett (University of Exeter), in collaboration with Kirsty Pattrick and Jessica Scantlebury (Mass Observation) and the British Academy (Special Research Grant: Covid-19 – ‘Learning to Live with Risk and Responsibility: Understanding Popular Responses to Covid-19’ – see https://covidresponsibility.org). We invite participation from established and early career researchers, including PhD students.

How? To express an interest in participating, as a speaker or audience member, please e-mail Nick Clarke (n.clarke@soton.ac.uk) by 05/03/21.* To express an interest in presenting a paper at some point in the series, please include your name, institution, and ideas for a working title and brief abstract. We aim to send a schedule and joining instructions to participants in early spring.

*By e-mailing, you agree to be contacted about the seminar series. Your e-mail address may be visible to other participants when this happens, but will otherwise be held by the organisers in accordance with the University of Southampton’s data protection policy (available at https://www.southampton.ac.uk/legalservices/what-we-do/data-protection-and-foi.page).