In SOPHIA’s 2015 strategic plan, we decided that it will be important for us to leverage technological tools for building communities of philosophical conversation. One way in which we can do that simply is to create introductory videos for each member. When you register on our site to JOIN or RENEW your SOPHIA membership, please fill in as much information as you feel comfortable adding. The reason is that most the info you write will be posted on your Profile page in our SOPHIA Directory (no, not your credit card info). One option we have, among others, is to post a link to a YouTube video in which you can introduce yourself to other SOPHIA members. I made a short sample video to introduce myself:
My suggestion is that people share:
- Who you are: name, title, institutional affiliation (if any)?
- What your background and interests are in Philosophy?
- What brought you to SOPHIA?
- What is something unique or interesting about you beyond philosophy or professional details?
If any of you would like, I (ETW) could hold a video conference with you to introduce you in a bit more of an interview format. Alternatively, if recording a video doesn’t sound straightforward (on some devices it’s less simple than on others), we could hold such a conference call and we could just record the member’s video frame as he or she answers such questions – or others that you suggest. There are things we can do to help make this process easier. The more we can put a voice and a face to a name, the better for community. Share your thoughts or questions on this initiative.
And of course, if you have not yet had a chance to JOIN or RENEW your membership to SOPHIA, please take a few minutes to do so.