This dissertation turns to Open Pedagogy and Critical Information Studies as lenses through which to understand Victorian fiction’s role in 21st-century educational dialogues. Although pedagogy is often left out of research monographs, there is an increasing push for scholars to integrate the work we do as educators with our subject-specific research. Indeed, there is a substantial overlap between questions that media studies scholars are asking about nineteenth-century print culture and emerging discussions about how we teach. My dissertation highlights these connections as one way of applying a novel perspective to literary studies scholarship. In alignment with broader efforts to reimagine the dissertation genre, I embrace this project as an opportunity for critical praxis. Instead of comprising a proto-monograph, I construct a pair of public-facing resources that intervene in contemporary modes of teaching Victorian studies. The first project component is a series of essays that I refer to as the “UnDissertation.” This text explores principles that researchers, educators, and students (broadly defined) might use to interrogate and resist systemic forces of exclusion in academic writing. In opening sections, I explore how the study of nineteenth-century periodical literature intersects with new digital infrastructures and contemporary legal systems. Print culture from this time is largely in public domain, enabling a freedom of access and reuse that could, in theory, increase opportunities to participate in the field of Victorian Studies. In practice, I argue, evolving interpretations of intellectual property law combine with broader trends toward digitally-restricted content in ways that compromise public domain rights and fair use principles. I argue that people studying nineteenth-century texts are uniquely well-positioned to understand how these changing infrastructures can promote or impede academic inclusion. The second resource in this project, [The Woman In White: Grangerized], is an open, participatory volume edition of a nineteenth-century serial novel as it was published in its original periodical format. This resource incorporates SoTL-informed student engagement strategies for engaging with literary texts. Its supplemental essays and its integration of open-source platforms and unrestricted public domain materials reflect my ongoing efforts to put the principles I explore in my “UnDissertation” into practice.
