Contextualising Photovoice Method in a Digital Society

Group Submission Type: Workshop

Description of Session

Traditional research is increasingly seen as response-based rather than an engaging, creative, and enjoyable process. Although practitioners in development work have long used participatory methods, academic scholars are progressively embracing these approaches as legitimate ways of knowledge creation. Their flexibility and capacity to deal with hierarchical power structures support more democratic procedures and results.Arts-based methods can help us better understand dimensions of human life that may be hard to capture in quantitative or traditional academic ways (McNiff, 2008), thus deconstructing the colonial nature and reducing the power imbalance of traditional academic inquiry. Research identifies participatory action research and arts-based approaches as productive strategies for fostering youth identities, values, and commitments (Greene et al., 2018).

Arts-based photovoice, defined as a “process by which people can identify, represent, and enhance their community through a specific photographic technique” (Wang & Burris, 1997), enables people to act as recorders, and potential catalysts to change their own communities. Photovoice “enables us to hear and understand how people make meaning themselves or construct what matters to them (Wang & Burris, 1997). Wang and Burris further assert that the flexibility of the photovoice method can be adapted across groups, geographies and research foci. With a focus on Photovoice especially, this session is intended for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners who are interested in incorporating creative or participatory methods into their projects.

Workshop Content
Using case studies and real-world examples from different contexts, the workshop will cover a range of scenarios.In the first hour and fifteen minutes, we will introduce the Photovoice method (Why Photovoice, process leading to the end product and the objectives), present the technical realities of engaging in Photovoice (resources, opportunities and challenges), and discuss the ethical dimensions of this method (consent, ownership, dissemination, etc.) In the second hour and fifteen minutes, participants will practice the Photovoice method. After the hands-on activity, participants engage in guided discussion on topics such as involving youth in Photovoice, envisioning photovoice in the current digital society, and how this method combats and/or sheds light on ethical dilemmas in researching with marginalized populations, particularly youth.

Workshop Learning Outcomes
• To understand the fundamental ideas behind photovoice
• To understand photovoice's potential as a research method, particularly with youth
• To understand the ethics of photovoice


Workshop Structure
This is an in-person workshop only, which will be highly interactive, and space is limited to 15 participants. The first half will introduce participants to the method and will be scheduled as follows:

Part A: 1 hour and 15 minutes (lecture/discussion)
Introduce Photovoice Method
Why Photovoice? Potentials/Limitations
Approaches to Photovoice
Technicalities of Engaging in Photovoice
Opportunities/Challenges (e.g., access to technological devices, print-out places, sending out the photos, storing photos)
Different Contexts
Ethics of Photovoice
Access to technology across different contexts
Consent
Ownership/Dissemination

The second half will be focused on practicing the method and engaging in guided discussions.

Part B: Doing Photovoice (1 hour and 15 minutes)
Introductions
Photo-taking activity
Discussion
General experiences (e.g., how could you see that to be connected to your work?
Challenges/dilemma (e.g., What are technical/ethical challenges that you encountered?)
Open-ended questions (e.g., envisioning photovoice in the current digital society)

We then plan to end the session by asking participants if they plan to use this method in their work and are interested in continued engagement with these topics in a publication or working group through the Youth Development in Education SIG.

Sub Unit

• Book launches and Workshops / Workshop

Chair

• Andrew Babson, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania

Workshop Organizer

• InJung Cho, The George Washington University

Presenter

• InJung Cho, The George Washington University