History scholar’s publication ranked first in download list of Australia National University Press

Dr Natalie Koehle, Research Assistant Professor of the Department of History, published a new book Fluid Matter(s): Flow and Transformation in the History of the Body, which ranked first among the Top Ten New Releases 2020 of the Australian National University (ANU) Press, according to the number of downloads.

The book is also ANU’s first title published using Shorthand, a digital storytelling platform. It has been downloaded about 22,500 times since its release in September 2020. 

As the co-editor with Professor Shigehisa Kuriyama, Reischauer Institute Professor of Cultural History at Harvard University, Dr Koehle made use of online programmes like Shorthand to visualise her academic researches into image-rich contents. Instead of challenging traditional publication formats, she sees digital platforms as a new style of academic exposition which could be an emerging way to transform academic findings to digital storytelling.

The interview with the co-editors, conducted in November 2020 with ANU, can be viewed at:

https://press.anu.edu.au/news-events/20000-downloads-first-shorthand-title