DPJ Editorial: Launching the new journal

We welcome and invite new readers, authors, reviewers and editors to the new journal.  A short history of the journal foundation is given along with the reasons for launching this publication. A long, but not finished, list is provided of important and interesting themes and areas of interest for dialogic educational practice, research and theory.


So, "Will this journal be for you?" What is Dialogic Pedagogy and who belongs to the DPJ international community
The terms like "dialogue" and "dialogic" are heard a lot in the education arena.They encompass a variety of meanings.Some educationalists may say that Dialogic Pedagogy is about using interaction in a classroom rather than lecturing students.Others may say that using some kind natural conversation in the classroom over contrived known-answer questions is Dialogic Pedagogy (e.g., "Instructional Conversation").Some others may say that Dialogic Pedagogy is a Socratic method of challenging students' misconceptional opinions, attitudes, and worldviews.In contrast, some other people think that Dialogic Pedagogy is an educational philosophy rather than a method, strategy, or a tool that can be switched on and off, involving meaning making process, relating to other people, and certain way of being in the world.
In another divide about domain, some educationalists interested in Dialogic Pedagogy may focus more on teacher's teaching, some on students' learning, some on students' self-studies, some on educational environment outside of schooling, and yet some on conditions that canalize education to shape it in one way over another.
Educators may differ about promises of Dialogic Pedagogy.Some educators passionately argue that Dialogic Pedagogy is the pathway and the tool for social justice, equity, democratic participation, and critical thinking.While others focus on rationality, search for truth, and intellectual rigor that Dialogic Pedagogy promises.Some may be interested in using Dialogic Pedagogy for making students deeper understand the academic curriculum while others may be more interested in promoting students' agency and activism in targeted practices.
Finally, some people may criticize Dialogic Pedagogy all together as being unrealistic, culturally biased, ineffective, educationally misleading, limited, and so on.
In our view, all of these educationalists belong to the DPJ community and are very welcomed to participate in the journal.Whoever has found any relevance in the notion of "Dialogic Pedagogy" (and synonymous terms and concepts) in their attraction or repellence to it is welcomed.Those who are indifferent may pass by.

Dialogic nature of DPJ, its governance, and its processes
A Reader may be surprised, "Why is that?Why can't you define what is 'Dialogic Pedagogy'?Why is it so loose?Why do you want to invite a cacophony of voices?Don't you, yourself, have a vision for Dialogic Pedagogy?Aren't you afraid of losing a focus for a journal that invites everybody but stands for nobody?"Yes, we agree that it can be risky as centrifugal forces can tear the journal apart.However, That is why we believe in democratic, polyphonic, and dialogic government of our journal.We think that everyone who wants to be a DPJ editor can and should join the DPJ editorial board.The DPJ editorial board is actively involved in strategic decision making about the journal.Currently, it has about 100 volunteers with diverse and dynamic levels of activism and participation, which is OK and how it should be, in our view.The decision making process is democratic, participatory, and dialogic.We discuss issues first and then vote on them.Any member of the DPJ Editorial Board can offer an agenda for discussion and voting.

History of the development of the journal
The DPJ has started in 2010 when Mark Smith and Eugene Matusov started exploring how to develop an alternative Open Access Online journal on dialogic pedagogy.The focus on Open Access and Online has come from a concern that we need to make academia more accessible, open, reaching out and reaching further internationally, democratic, and free from for-profit businesses of publishers as much as possible.In the summer 2010, Eugene Matusov has launched a website on Dialogic Pedagogy that included the proposal for the journal.By now several similar sites have been started: The School of the Dialogue of Cultures (in Russian, by followers of a Russian/Soviet philosopher Vladimir Bibler, -probably, the oldest website on Dialogic Pedagogy), Dialogic Teaching (by Robin Alexander), Dialogic Learning (Wikipedia), Dialogic Education for the Internet Age (by Rupert Wegerif).
Our next impetus has come from the mini-Bakhtinian conference on Dialogic Pedagogy, Delaware, USA, in March-April 2012, where many participants (e.g., Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Yifat Ben-David Kolikant, Jayne White) called for establishment of a new journal on Dialogic Pedagogy.One concern that some participants had was whether the new journal would have enough readers, authors, reviewers, and editors.To address this issue Ana (Marjanovic-Shane) and Eugene (Matusov) launched an international survey about a potential interest in a new journal in the mid April 2012 for 2 months.We sent about 1000 emails.278 people from 36 countries have responded.Out of them 180 people want to serve as reviewers and 113 people plan to be authors.
In June 2012, we, Ana and Eugene, launched a Google forum group of the DPJ Editorial Board discussing and making decisions about the organization and policies of the new journal (you can find the results of this decision making process here).At the end of June 2012, we engaged in a fundraising campaign (with a goal of raising $2000) and negotiations with several University Libraries about publishing and hosting our Open Access Online journal.At the end of July, the DPJ Editorial Board elected its first Officers.By the end of July, we raised $2,789 (yes! -it's incredible, thanks!).On September 1 st 2012, we signed a contract with the University of Pittsburgh Digital Library for publishing and hosting our journal.Our remaining step is to incorporate the journal.

E4
Instead of establishing a journal around an existing society, we have decided to build a society around a new journal.Let's see if this model works!

The past, present and future in the society and DP/Education
We live in interesting times!Almost everywhere we see several trends in the society across the globe affecting education that sometimes support and sometime fight with each other (let's see if you and how you would disagree ;-).One big trenda more dialogic trend --is increasing contact among diverse people, ideas, cultures, values, worldviews, perceptions, social groups, and desires through Internet, social networking, commerce, economy, professional organizations, technology, art, entertainment, science, and political actions.There seems to be growing tolerance to this diversity and even appreciation of it.We also see is increasing demand, appreciation, desire, and need for human creativity, agency, design, eventfulness, postupok (i.e., in Russian "ethical deed"), uniqueness, authorship, meaningfulness, irreplaceability, immeasurability, particularism, embodiment, and responsibility in economy, politics, design, and definition of "good life".
At the same time, there is an opposite, and more monologic, trend coming from a strong opposition if not fight of this diversity through the religious, ideological, patriarchal, and nationalist fundamentalism, the bureaucratic standardization, the cultural assimilation, and the accountability "quality control".In addition and, arguably, concord with it, there is also an increasing focus on measurement (especially, summative assessment but not only), metrics, accountability, automatization, robotization, certainty, compliance, replaceability, conformity, predictability, finalizing, universalism, decontextualization, alienation, reification, and disembodimentall in support of conventional education.
In our view, these two societal trendsdialogic and monologic --are opposing and irreconcilable (in contrast to some of Dialogic Pedagogy colleagues of ours).These opposing trends have very different and, we strongly argue, antithetical visions for education.According to one type of the trends, education is defined by moving the students' consciousness to the curricular endpoints preset by the society (and/or educators) -Aristotle called this type of practice poiésis (ποίησις).According to the other type of the trends, education is defined by developing new meanings, new qualities, new values that have not been before for the practice and/or its participants -Aristotle called this type of practice praxis (πρᾶξις).Although we, personally, can be wrong, we think that Dialogic Pedagogy belongs to the second definition of educationthis is our particular, partisan position, of course.Historically and currently, education is overwhelmingly defined as poiésis.However, we think that the future is after the praxis definition of education.
We see these opposing societal visions as defining the current moment of education, and as the key forces that determine almost every aspect of educational practice, its potentials and its limits.We invite you, reader, and all DPJ community to explore these and other important and interesting issues in our journal.

What major challenges do we, DPJ Editors, see in and for the field of Dialogic Pedagogy?
Here is our particular and parochial list of important tensions in and for the field of Dialogic Pedagogy:


What is Dialogue?Why is it important for Education and elsewhere?Is dialogue for raising test scores in school?Is it about having social interaction in the classroom?Is it about learning better and deeper