To see us through the Archer-less Fridays and Saturdays for the foreseeable time of isolation, we are back with the Academic Archers Saturday Omnibus for anyone to join, where we revisit past conference papers. We meet at 10.30 on Saturdays, on Zoom, with a presentation, Q+A, and general Archers (and anything else) chat.
Tune in to past Academic Archers Saturday Omnibuses
All the Omnibuses can be found here; or listen to each one via the links below.
Season 2
Saturday, 25 December: This week we are joined by Archers commentariat, Lucy V Freeeman, in a conversation that moves around the village, up the Felpersham bypass, and back again. Listen to the podcast here.
Saturday, 19 December: This week, as she got the day off from Grey Gables, we are joined by Kathy Perks, aka, Hedli Niklaus, talking of her time with The Archers and of Kathy’s life in Ambridge. Listen to the podcast here.
Saturday, 5 December: This week, the return of Maggie Bartlett, with her fascinating findings from interviews with the ‘silents’ in Ambridge. What they have to say is fascinating, and poignant, and this is one of the best papers we have had, its gone down in Academic Archers history. Listen to the podcast here.
Saturday, 28 November: A tour de force from Karen Pollock, who talked on the psychological types and love languages in Ambridge, and in particular exploring those systems which work, and those which are more dysfunctional, in Infj or Leo? Recourse investigator or Plant? Meaningless mumbo-jumbo or useful guides to how we interact with others? Listen to the podcast here and download the slides here.
Saturday, 21 November: This week Prof Carenza Lewis was with us to talk about the Brookfield dig, a topic she predicted in her paper at the first ever Academic Archers conference back in 2016. Listen to the podcast here and download the slides here.
Saturday, 14 November: Our very own Academic Archers co-founder/organiser, Dr Nicola Headlam, spoke from her chapter ‘Feeding the Horses’: Modern Slavery, the dark side of construction hidden in plain sight in Ambridge,’ in the forthcoming Academic Archers book, Flapjacks and Feudalism: Class Politics in The Archers. Listen to the podcast here, and download the slides here.
Season 1
Saturday, 13 June: This week, Queering Shula, an updated look at heternormativity in Ambridge, from Karen Pollock (conference film here); and A History of Ambridge in 100 Objects (revisited), from Felicity Macdonald-Smith (conference film here). If you listen to this podcast, please consider supporting us on Patreon towards its upkeep. Listen to the podcast here.
Saturday, 6 May: This week, two classics from the archive, Heavy petting: An examination of metaphoric relationships with pets, from Rachel Daniels and Annie Maddison Warren (conference film here), and Rich Relatives or Ambridge Fairy? Patronage and Expectation in Ambridge Housing Pathways (updated), from Claire Astbury (conference film here.) Listen to the podcast here.
Saturday, 30 May: This week, Ambridge – a case study in using genograms to assess family dysfunctionality, from Lou Gillies and Helen Burrows (conference film here, 14.37 mins)and ‘An everyday story of country folk’ online? The marginalisation of the internet and social media in The Archers, from Lizzie Coles-Kemp (though without Debi Ashenden this time; conference film here, at start.) Listen to the podcast here; read the ‘quack’ (chat – all will be revealed in the podcast - here.)
Saturday, 23 May: This week, two tour de force papers: Can’t Afford the Laurels? - Care Provision in Ambridge in 2041, from Ruth Heilbronn and Rosalind Janssen (conference film here 14.4 mins), and ‘This isn’t about curry, Alistair’: Shula Hebden-Lloyd and Iris Murdoch on Love, from Hannah Marije Altorf (conference film here.) Listen to the podcast here.
Saturday, 16 May: Listen to the podcast here. The Archers as a Lieu de memoires of the First World War (with possible reference to the virtual Ambridge War Memorial), from Jessica Meyer, and Psychological Wellbeing in Retirement: What the Archers Tell Us, from Bronwen Williams. Watch Jessica’s conference film here; watch Bronwen’s conference film here (59min.)
Saturday, 9 May: Listen to the podcast here. Cult and Culture - Transformative Fandom de dum de dum de dum (updated), from Helen Burrows; and I am Woman Hear me Roar, and now watch me play cricket, from Katharine Hoskyn. Helen’s conference film can be seen here (21.17), and Katharine’s film here.
Saturday, 2 May: This week: Listen to the podcast here – it’s a long one, but time flew by! Local Infrastructure for Emergencies - Resilient Ambridge Flood Team (RAFT) revisited, an update on AA2 paper, with evidence from subsequent experience in a Community Resilience Team, from Fiona Gleed. Watch the conference film here (13.30); My parsnips are bigger than your parsnips: The negative aspects of competing at Flower and Produce Shows, Rachel Daniels and Annie Maddison Warren. Watch the conference film here (8.10); Claire Mortimer, with Gossip, Power and the Working Class Matriarch in Ambridge (conference film here); and Sarah Kate Merry, with ‘Almost without exception they are shown in their relation to mem’: Ambridge Women and Their Conversations (conference film here.)
Saturday, 18 April: Listen to the podcast here. This week, Paths to the polling station at the village hall: Social networks and voting in Ambridge, from Tim Vercellotti, our very own political Peter Sedaris, and Fear, Fecklessness, Philip and Freddie: Policing the crimewave, from Charlotte Bilby, our very own Jane Tennison. Watch Tim’s 2018 conference film here. Watch Charlotte’s 2018 conference film here, and her 2019 conference film here.
Saturday, 11 April 2020: Listen to the podcast here. This week, a revisit of From kitchens to smartphones: Updating our understanding of The Archers listening practices in the digital age - situating this work in theory, from Jerome Turner; Death at Ambridge Hall:How the Archers demonstrates the impact on owners when they lose animals, from Bronwen Williams; and a watch of the conference film of Ambridgology and Counter-insurgency doctrine, from James Armstrong, political advisor to the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan. Watch the conference films here: Jerome Turner, Bronwen Williams, James Armstrong (1.46).
Saturday, 4 April 2020: Listen to the podcast here (and thank you for your listening patience in this one as we navigate the tech.) Seeming, seeming: Othello, The Archers, and Rob Titchenor, from Abi Pattenden; and The Archers Vs The Simpsons: What would happen when two very similar worlds collide? from Gary Gilday. Gary’s conference film here (at 3.24), and Archers Top-Trump cards here.
Saturday, 28 March 2020: Soundtrack to a Stabbing, Freya Jarman and Emily Baker, Dept of Music University of Liverpool, and Lynda Snell: Middle Class Warrior, Peter Matthews, University of Stirling. Listen to the Zoom chat here; and watch Freya and Emily deliver their paper at Lincoln here (at 43.52). Listen to the hilariously bad Zoom ‘dum tee dum’ recording we did for the DumTeeDum podcast.
About Zoom and how to use it
Zoom is a free online video conferencing tool. It can work from your computer, phone or tablet.
You will need to have a Zoom account to use it. This is free and can be got from https://zoom.us/ or via its app (from whatever app store you use.) Do this in good time before the session starts to save the hassle on Saturday.
Click on the link above and use the password above to join – click ‘Join a Meeting’ when prompted. Commonly you will be asked by Zoom is join using your camera and microphone – click yes to both (the camera can be turned off and the audio muted later on if you prefer, but do allow them to begin with.)
On joining the session, you will see a screen of all the people in the session, with a controls bar along the bottom and different screen layouts buttons on the top right.
Once you have joined the Zoom session, you can:
turn off the camera if you don’t want people to see you – your name will show in its place. Click the camera icon in the controls bar. You can toggle this on and off as you like.
you can turn off the microphone so people can’t hear the noise from where you are. Click the microphone icon the controls bar. You can toggle this on and off as you like.
you can chat to all the people in the session or just one – click the ‘chat’ icon in the controls bar and a side panel will open with the chat in it (looks very much like a Facebooks message format.)
you can leave the session at any time – click the ‘leave meeting’ button in the bottom right corner. If you want to rejoin, click back on the Zoom link.
Get yourself used to these as we will use them in the Saturday Omnibus sessions. The person leading the session will also share their computer screen with you – this is just a way for you to see what is on their screen and does not interfere with your computer/phone/tablet. Cara and Nicola cannot answer your IT questions and if you have any queries about using Zoom, please look at the video tutorials on its website.
Omnibus etiquette
If you join at the start of the session, before we begin the presentations, say a ‘hello’ and then please mute your microphone. You can wave to others as they join or say hello to them in the chat space.
If you join when the session is underway, please mute your microphone and say hello with a wave or in the chat space.
All microphones will be muted when the presenters are speaking.
If you have a question to ask or a comment to make, please either post this in the chat space or put you hand up – a function you will find on your Zoom control panel, and Cara and Nicola will come to you. When you come to speak, please unmute your microphone and then mute it again when finished.
Please keep your microphone on mute at all times, unless you are speaking. Background noise, the sound of typing, even of breathing, is all picked up and amplified around the chat space which is a distraction for all, and particularly hard for the person speaking to concentrate though.
Cara and Nicola will be reading the chat space and will share the comments made.