Photovoice workshop

On Tuesday afternoon Gyuri and Barbara introduced Photovoice, a participatory technique they are using with the Roma community in Hungary to capture how the community views certain issues and what they would like to change. It involves community photography and interviews with participants leading to actions and an exhibition of the work. I thought this a fun, creative way to generate content that uses the visual shorthand of a photographic image to capture different perspectives and overcome language and literacy difficulties. In the group discussion it was felt that, used strategically, the images could provoke an emotional response and be influential, but that interpretation might be an issue.        

We then took pictures of things we liked and didn't like so much about the camp. I took a picture of the Welcome sign hanging over the front door that Judith's team had made to represent the friendly and co-operative atmosphere. I also took a picture of the camp programme to represent that I didn't like feeling that I didn't know anything about the topics. Which of course is why I was there.

As we fed back our likes and dislikes from small groups Chris took the role of the power figure that might 'approve' the changes we sought, e.g. a bench was moved to outside the front door to accommodate sun worshippers (and the smokers). A picture paints a thousand words, indeed.

The workshop's analysis:

Photovoice
Description: Photovoice is a method that connects science with participation and social activism. It is usually made up of three steps. First, stakeholders make photos representing their opinions/views/feelings regarding research questions or goals outlined with the cooperation of researchers and stakeholders (research partners). Later on, group or individual interviews are conducted based on the photos. Third, after the cooperative scientific stages a commonly agreed action is carried out – for example, organising exhibitions from selected photos and texts in order to inform the wider public and/or political decision-makers about the results of the research. Our photovoice workshop in Dabas tried to introduce this method to the participants by following the aforementioned three steps.  First, we asked participants to make photos about two topics: (1) what they like in the participatory training we had earlier in the Dabas Camp, and (2) what they would change in connection with it. Second, we discussed these photos in small groups of three participants. Third, we gave feedback to the main organiser (“decision-maker”) Chris, based on the former photos and small group discussions.
Affordances	Requirements	Notes
Seeing things with someone else’s eyes. Different perspectives can be joined – it is a way of promoting diversity. Photos work for social learning (epistemic opjects) and strategic communication (boundary objects) Accessible to non-literate/linguistically excluded. Visual representation Immediate impact Emotive, open to interpretation. Allows people to be critical in a non-confrontational way. A means of generating knowledge collectively. Safe space for difference/conflicts. Captures a manageable number of items for discussion. Allows a deeper understanding about advantages/disadvantages, benefits/drawbacks. We can pin up our emotions and the things we think onto a picture. Achieving an emotional reaction. Opens space for manipulation. Creative visual ‘thinking’, funny, maing??	Clarity Openness to criticism Awareness of context Facilitation Kit preparation Understanding of symbolism/metaphor Camera Agreement on how images are to be used. Camera or smart phone. Space for outputs to be discussed and acted upon. People to take photos	1 camera per person? Will people who took the photos have copies of the pictures – electronic or hardcopy? Timescales With this method it is easier to start conversations with people. Easier to talk about it if there is a picture. Potential danger of overemphasisin minor issues. Excellent method but data should be triangulated where possible. Easily becoming biased towards effective photos. Marginalised communities – respecting values/norms – gender, age etc. The method could be used for evaluation (developments) Is mediated through the camera lense).
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