The library, the archive, social media, and the city are all spaces in which people experience serendipity: the incidental discovery of valuable information. Humanities and social science scholars reap the benefits of these ‘a-ha’ moments during their daily working lives, from the computer screen to the hallways at conferences, and often put these discoveries down to chance. However, the connection made during the experience of serendipity is up to the individual scholar to realize, making these occurrences less ones of chance, and more so the result of years of knowledge accumulation and recognition of connections to one’s own work.  The HSS Commons is a meeting space where these scholars can connect and share their knowledge widely, with and beyond their own academic communities, and as a result, is an online environment rife with possibilities for serendipity. This talk will focus on a few affordances which members might wish to cultivate for themselves as the commons blossoms into a space for sharing, community, and cross-fertilization.

This is a recording of a featured talk by Kim Martin; the session was chaired by Alyssa Arbuckle. The talk was presented virtually during the Digital Humanities Summer Institute, as part of the Launching a Digital Commons for the Humanities and Social Sciences event series, on Thursday, June 9, 2022. More information can be found here: https://inke.ca/launching-digital-commons-3.