The Grey Lit Café

By Anthony Haynes

Grey (or gray) literature – 'grey lit' for short – includes such forms of communication as reports, white papers, dissertations, newsletters, slide decks, blogs, and podcasts. The Grey Lit Café explor... more

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FAQs about The Grey Lit Café:

How many episodes does The Grey Lit Café have?

The podcast currently has 74 episodes available.

The Grey Lit Café episodes:

August 25, 2025Spineless Wonders: the power of print unbound
Spineless Wonders is the splendid title for a splendid exhibition at the University of London's Senate House Library - an exhibition of unbound material in myriad formats, spanning five hundred years of printing.
This episode reviews the exhibition with its three curators:
Tansy Barton (Academic Librarian)
Christos Fotelis (Conservator)
Leila Kassir (Academic Librarian)
We consider how the exhibition came about, how exhibits were selected, what the aim of the exhibition is, and which exhibits constitute the curators' favourites.
And, as a by-product of our discussion we reflect on established themes of the podcast, namely how grey literature is defined and what relationship it has to ephemera.
Details of the exhibition, which continues to 15 November 2025, together with supporting digital resources, may be found on the University of London's website, here.
Further listening
We hope you found this episode rewarding. If so, you might find the following of particular interest:
Before Spotify: the remarkable story of chautauquas
But what about letters? Their scholarly use as grey literature
How to define grey literature? The implications of letters
Credit
The music is from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra

Support the show
About the publisher

This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.

We provide

consultancy

mentoring

editing and writing

training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).

To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
...more
28min
May 20, 2025Effective design features on posters (GM1 comms)
If you're studying on the University of Cambridge's Multidisciplinary Design course, this episode is for you.
The episode focuses on the visual aspects of advice.
It seeks to provide pragmatic recommendations that will make a marked difference to the communicative effectiveness of your poster presentation.
Contents
00:00 Navigation
01:56 Visual aspects of text
04:25 Contrast
07:21 Alignment
09:13 Naming
10:29 Further resource
Further Resources
Robin Williams, The non-designer’s design book, 4th edn (Peachpit
Press, 2014).
Writing, designing, and presenting a poster (a writing protocol): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bW8sj5j1W70PjYLUuLgPLPADyOvUOXVV/view/.
Credit: The music, from Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, is courtesy of the US Marine Band.
Support the show
About the publisher

This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.

We provide

consultancy

mentoring

editing and writing

training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).

To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
...more
13min
May 17, 2025Physical aspects of poster presentations (GM1 comms)
If you're studying on the University of Cambridge's Multidisciplinary Design course, this episode is for you.
The episode focuses on the (quite radical) implications of
the context of poster display
spectators' behaviour
aspects of inclusive practice.
These considerations will help you to optimise the communicative effectiveness of your poster presentation.
Contents
00:00 Key issues
03:29 Allocation of space on the poster
04:43 Non-linear sequencing
07:40 Inclusiveness
Credit: The music, from Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, is courtesy of the US Marine Band.
Support the show
About the publisher

This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.

We provide

consultancy

mentoring

editing and writing

training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).

To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
...more
12min
May 17, 2025Tactics: group presentations and Q&A (Comms for GM1)
If you're a student on the University of Cambridge's Multidisciplinary Design course (GM1), this episode is for you.
Indeed, it focuses on considerations specific to the course, based on observations from previous cohorts' presentations.
This is the third of three episodes on presentations. There is a parallel set of episodes on poster presentations.
Contents
00:00 Group prsentations
01:35 Use of space
03:30 Q & A
09:14 Further resources
Link
The protocol, 'Giving a presentation', is available from the Frontinus website, here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QyT64vNnO7RXUhoWj9WBStOewtOwzv6s/view.
Credit: The music is from Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, courtesy of the US Marine Band.
Support the show
About the publisher

This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.

We provide

consultancy

mentoring

editing and writing

training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).

To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
...more
12min
May 17, 2025Effective communication using slides (Comms for GM1)
If you're a student on the University of Cambridge's Multidisciplinary Design course (GM1), this episode is for you.
The episode stems from consideration of the pitfalls presenters fall into concerning use of slides.
Simply by avoiding these pitfalls, you can make your presentation outstandingly communicative.
This is the second of three episodes on presentations. There is a parallel set of episodes on poster presentations.
Contents
00:00 Key issues
04:37 Audience engagement
07:10 The three functions of slides
12:57 Using slides interactively
15:51 Implications for time management
Credit: The music is from Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, courtesy of the US Marine Band.
Support the show
About the publisher

This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.

We provide

consultancy

mentoring

editing and writing

training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).

To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
...more
18min
May 17, 2025What makes a good presentation (Comms for GM1)
If you're a student on the University of Cambridge's Multidisciplinary Design course (GM1), this episode has been created for you.
The episode stems from consideration of the big pitfalls presenters often fall into and provides advice on how to avoid them.
Simply by avoiding the pitfalls, you can make your presentation outstandingly good.
Contents
00.00 'Presentation' and 'slides' aren't synonyms
02:37 Where to look and why
08:06 Creating flow
10:18 Getting the timing right
Further listening
This is the first of three episodes on presentations. The other two concern:
slides
tactics concerning group presentations and course-specific factors.
Credit: The music is from Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, courtesy of the US Marine Band.
Support the show
About the publisher

This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.

We provide

consultancy

mentoring

editing and writing

training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).

To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
...more
17min
May 17, 2025How to add value to your poster (Comms for GM1)
If you’re a student on the Multidisciplinary Design course (GM1), this episode has been created for you.
Understandably, students tasked with preparing a poster presentation tend to assume that it’s all about the poster itself.
Of course, the poster’s the primary component of a poster presentation. But there’s more to poster presentation than that.
This episode explains the why and the how concerning two further components of poster presentations.
Attending to all three components of a poster presentation will help you to optimise the way you engage your audience and communicate your work.

Contents
00:00 What’s in the series?
00:58 What are the components of a poster presentation?
03:02 Who are you communicating with?
05:36 What does your poster not say?
07:07 How can you add value with supplementary resources?
10:23 Where next?

Further episodes
This episode is the first of a series of episodes on poster presentations. The others are:
How to optimise your use of space on your poster
How to optimise design features on your poster
A parallel set of episodes deals with presentations.

Support the show
About the publisher

This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.

We provide

consultancy

mentoring

editing and writing

training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).

To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
...more
11min
March 08, 2025Podcasting on grey literature: what have we done? whither will we go?
"Three years have passed; five summers, with the length/ Of five long winters!" (as William Wordsworth wrote). This episode was recorded to mark the third anniversary of The Grey Lit Café's first episode ('Welcome to the Grey Lit Café') and the conclusion of our seventh season.
We briefly review the season in the context of our developing conception of how best to discuss grey literature and we look ahead to the next season, which promises a novel focus.
Further listening

We hope you found this episode rewarding. If so, you might find the following of particular interest:
Another season over and what have we done?
How meetings work, with Carrie Goucher
Don't fall in love with your work, with Sabuhi Essa
Credits
Audio production and editing: Anthony Haynes
Opening announcement: Engy Moussa
Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher

This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.

We provide

consultancy

mentoring

editing and writing

training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).

To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
...more
7min
February 26, 2025Dissertations as an interface between industry and academia, with Joseph Gibbons
A key role of grey literature is to provide an interface between industry and academic research. In this episode, we continue our focus on innovation in grey literature by interviewing Dr Joseph Gibbons, Principal Technical Advisor at Natural Power Ireland.
Joseph outlines a scheme he established to enable doctoral students to spend time in industry, working on research projects that formed the basis of their dissertations.
Joseph explains:
what the scheme entails
its rationale
how it was implemented
above all, the benefits of the scheme for all stakeholders.
Links
Joseph's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-gibbons/
Natural Power: https:www.naturalpower.com/uk

Further listening

We hope you found this episode rewarding. If so, you might find the following of particular interest:
Dissertations and books: how are they related?
How to give a presentation on engineering?

Credits
Audio editing: Dr Bart Hallmark
Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher

This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.

We provide

consultancy

mentoring

editing and writing

training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).

To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
...more
49min
February 19, 2025Podcasting as a pedagogical tool, with James Austin
Anthony Haynes writes: A persistent theme on The Grey Lit Café is the role of grey literature genres in higher education. We've published episodes on abstracts, dissertations, essays, online lectures, posters, and slide decks.

In this episode, we take up a challenge from our recent episodes on essays: what alternatives - when it comes to expository and discursive communication - are there to essays?

Here, in the second of two interviews, Dr James Austin (University of Connecticut) explains how his pedagogy encompasses student production of podcasts.

References

James's publications are itemised on his university page: https://english.uconn.edu/person/james-austin/.

Further listening

We hope you found this episode rewarding. If so, you might find the following of particular interest:
Slide decks: their developmental use
How effective are essays as an academic genre? The case of examinations
How effective are essays as an academic genre? The case of examinations
Online lectures: Bart Hallmark on pitfalls and good practice
Posters as a form of research communication

Credits

Audio editing: Dr Bart Hallmark
Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra
Support the show
About the publisher

This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.

We provide

consultancy

mentoring

editing and writing

training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).

To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.
...more
35min

FAQs about The Grey Lit Café:

How many episodes does The Grey Lit Café have?

The podcast currently has 74 episodes available.