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Tag: Photovoice

Reflection on photovoice training workshop

Published 8th April 2024 by Gillian

It’s been fascinating running the training workshops for my research project. I have a lot of experience teaching and engaging different groups of people, but setting up, planning and delivering the photovoice training workshops has been interesting. Fundamental to my planning was my attempt to remove all barriers to attending and engaging with the research project.

Plan

First, I had to make sure that the training workshop was designed to deliver key information and underpin the activity I wanted the co-researchers to engage with. Planning with the end goal in mind, I wanted through the following questions:

  • What did I want attendees to know by the end of the workshop?
  • What are the ethical principles and ground rules that they need to follow?
  • What activities could I use to help them understand the project?
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
  • What did I want attendees to know by the end of the workshop?

They had to understand the principles of the project – what I was trying to achieve, the method I’m using and what I’m asking them to do. The literature offered some vague guidance, normally a sentence or two about ‘participants were trained in the principles of photovoice’. That’s where the experience of attending the Photovoice workshop was useful as I could reflect on the ideas we discussed and consider their activities.

  • What are the ethical principles and ground rules that they need to follow?

The ethical principles and ground rules are key. This was set out by the University’s ethical principles and my ethics application before I started the project. I’ve made all the information available on my blog, so it’s readily available to anyone. However, I wanted to be clear and concise about key principles.

  1. Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

    They only need to share what they are comfortable sharing, and they shouldn’t put themselves at any risk when taking photographs.

  2. They were specifically asked not to take photographs of people.

I was going to be very clear that any individuals who were photographed would need to sign explicit consent forms before the photographs were taken, so it’s much easier to focus on things and ideas, rather than people.

  • What activities could I use to help them understand the project?

With images dominating the world around us, I wanted to take the time to talk with my co-researchers about the fundamental principles of visual literacy. Taking the time to discuss images to demonstrate how individuals can ‘see’ and ‘read’ images differently depending on their background, history and experience has been valuable. I used two activities with photographs. First – to discuss the content, ideas and perceptions of a photograph. The second, to classify, organise and sort a selection of photographs. I chose the photographs that were relevant to my context, and that modelled what I wanted, in the sense that they didn’t include people.

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

I also needed to consider any potential barriers that might prevent individuals from getting involved in the research. I reviewed their timetable, their assessment dates and any additional events the programme team were planning for the cohort. Therefore, all the data collection (training workshops, photography and focus groups) would have to be completed by the week before Easter. Taking that as my end point, I then broke down the research activities into chunks so that I could deliver the training workshops in enough time for them to take the photographs and engage with the focus groups before the Easter break.

Planning the content of the workshop, there are key elements that must take place. The co-researchers needed to know exactly what I’m asking them to do, and they needed to complete it within the ethical boundaries of the project. Although some photovoice projects can last a year or longer, the time restrictions mean that mine has had to be focused and succinct. The research project ran along the lines of an assignment: they have prompts or a brief for the photographs, a deadline to upload them by, and a focus group to discuss them in.

Delivery

Delivering the workshops has been interesting. I delivered one workshop online (to account for potential co-researchers who weren’t in the country yet) and all the others have been face to face. The potential co-researchers were able to choose a date and time to suit them and I was as flexible as I could be around their timetabled session and availability of rooms. This meant that often the workshops were delivered on a one-to-one basis. I was concerned that this could be intimidating, but it was interesting for me to work with these students on an individual basis. Working through the activities they have all looked at them differently and brought different ideas and perspectives to the discussion. There is no right or wrong with the images, and it’s been so lovely to see the photographs from completely different perspectives. I couldn’t have predicted what they have highlighted from their observations. I haven’t recorded what they have said as they were training workshops, but I’m really excited to see what they bring to the photographs and focus group discussions.

Photo by Jason Strull on Unsplash

Reflection

After each workshop, they left with a physical handout (explaining the project, what I’d like them to do and with guidance on how to do it safely). They were also given a consent form for the photographs. This is separate from the research project – as it asks them how they would like their images to be credited (their name or a pseudonym) and asserts their role as the copyright holder of the photographs, giving me licence to use them for the research project. After the workshop I also then emailed them copies of the documents, along with a link to their personal padlet site for them to upload their photographs to. Again, this follows my idea of trying to make it as easy as possible for them to engage with the project and remove any potential barriers I could foresee.

Lessons learnt:

  • Take time to plan (this investment will make everything go smoother).
  • Focus on your co-researchers: what do they need to know, how can you remove barriers so it’s easier to engage with the project?

Useful links:

PhotoVoice training

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Annotated Bibliography – an introduction to photovoice

Published 12th February 2024 by Gillian

Annotated Bibliography – an introduction to photovoice

I wanted to put together my thoughts from the literature I’ve been reading. I’m presenting it as my version of an annotated bibliography so you can see that ideas that have caught my imagination from what I’ve read. These are my thoughts, so they don’t represent the whole complexity of the literature but are things that I’ve identified as being relevant to my research and interests in these areas.

I wanted to introduce photovoice through the literature. In these four sources I’ve followed photovoice from its inception to its implementation and use within the library and information sector (LIS). The sources introduce photovoice as a way of researching and empowering a community (Wang and Burris, 1994). There is then a call to use photovoice within LIS (Luo, 2017), followed by two contemporary examples that have inspired my own research project (Hicks and Lloyd, 2018; Tewell, 2019).

1.   Wang, C., & Burris, M. A. (1994). Empowerment through Photo Novella: Portraits of Participation. Health Education Quarterly, 21(2), pp.171–186.

This is one of the first articles that I’ve found that discusses the inspiration of photovoice. In this case, the authors are referring to the method they’ve used as photo novella. The article explains the creation of the process and how it was used in their public health research (Wang & Burris, 1994).

“Photo novella is a participatory process that integrates empowerment education, feminist theory, and documentary photography” (Wang & Burris, 1994, p.172).

Identifying the inspiration behind photo novella (that we now think of as photovoice) Wang and Burris highlight three key projects:

  1. The 1984 Peru-Mujer project that used researcher created line drawings in booklets as a basis of discussion with “illiterate and semiliterate rural women”. Demonstrating how discussion around visual prompts can facilitate deeper understanding of a community.
  2. The work of educationalist Wendy Ewald in 1975 who gave children cameras to photograph their lives. Ewald’s work demonstrated the empowering impact of cameras on the lives of the overlooked.
  3. In the 1980s the work of a documentary photographer, Jim Hubbard, who through teaching homeless children to take photographs gave the children a chance to express their own experience and their point of view.

A fundamental strength of the photo novella method was the dialogue between the women, about the photographs.

“We learned early on the necessity of including the women’s explanations for their photographs. The combination of their images and their words explaining what they represent to them was not just compelling the way only a picture can be, but they were true to the eye behind the camera” (Wang & Burris, 1994, p.180).

Wang and Burris recognise the potential limitations and challenges of the project and photo novella as a method, highlighting a number of challenges they experienced. They explore the role of documentary photography and the negative implications that has had on the photographic subjects. Whilst the photographer can gain global recognition and use the image to promote their ideas and thoughts on a specific situation or context, many of the subjects are not acknowledged and don’t receive any financial benefit from the notoriety of their image.

In contrast Wang and Burris (1994) use photo novella as an empowering method to facilitate individuals in bringing their ideas, thoughts and experiences to policy makers. Inspired by feminist theory, empowerment education and documentary photography photo novella gives a voice to those who are often overlooked or struggle to make their voices heard. The discussions around the photographs amongst the participants gives them an opportunity to discuss elements that they may not get the chance to do normally, and from those discussions may arise potential solutions. It was really interesting to read about the projects that influenced the development of their research project.

2.   Luo, L. (2017). Photovoice: A creative method to engage library user community. Library Hi Tech, 35(1), pp.179–185. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-10-2016-0113

The article looks at the potential benefit of photovoice to the library and information science community. Luo (2017) introduces the methodology and then summarises three articles that used the photovoice method in relation to library and information research.

Luo (2017) suggests that traditional research methods such as interviews, surveys and focus groups may not be successful with all user groups, including international students.

“Photovoice is a qualitative method often used in community-based participatory research (CBPR), where community members take photos related to a particular issue and tell their stories behind the photos in a facilitated discussion. Community members are believed to be more imaginative and observant of community issues than the most experienced photographers and photo journalists” (Luo, 2017, p.179). This links to the observations made by Wang and Burris (1994).

Interestingly in describing the process of a photovoice project Luo (2017) explains that in stage 5, after the participants take the photographs, Luo states “we select a subset we find interesting particularly and ask the participants to do the same” (Luo, 2017, p.181). Reflecting on this it appears that the author as ‘researcher’ identifies what they want to discuss, rather than being participant led.

In the facilitated discussion Luo (2017) calls on the photographer of the selected image to explain the reasoning behind the photograph. The question arises as to whether the individual knows that they’ve been selected and what happens if several of the photographs come from one participant? This puts a lot of pressure on the individual to justify their work. It potentially reinforces the power dynamic inherent in library culture, as identified by Tewell (2019). I prefer the idea that the participants choose their own photographs to put forward.

Aligning with the findings of Wang and Burris (1994) in their photo novella method, Luo states that “The ‘co-researcher’ role empowers community members to become vocal about the needs of the community and contribute to a sense of community ownership” (Luo, 2017).

The article looks at three studies the used photovoice to explore a library related topic. The studies from Canada, Australia and Egypt are used by Luo (2017) to emphasize the key stages of the photovoice method and how it can be used to explore user needs. The examples explored typical library issues, information literacy practice including academic integrity.

3.   Hicks, A., & Lloyd, A. (2018). Seeing information: Visual methods as entry points to information practices. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 50(3), pp.229–238. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000618769973

In their article Hicks and Lloyd suggest that visual research methods are flexible and adaptable to modern life (Hicks & Lloyd, 2018).

The paper looks at two studies that have used photovoice as a methodology, building on the work of Wang and Burris (1994). They explain how photovoice gives power to the participant as they choose what to photograph and bridges language and cultural barriers (Hicks & Lloyd, 2018).

“In relinquishing control of data generation to participants, visual methods provide an entryway to previously inaccessible locations and broaden the range of settings in which information research can take place” (Hicks & Lloyd, 2018, p.233).

The authors highlight the ethical and security/safety issues integral to photovoice, therefore presenting the importance of clear training and enhanced guidance for participants.

In recognition of how images may misrepresent things, Hicks and Lloyd (2018) emphasize the importance of discussion (whether interviews or focus groups) to understand and contextualise both the photos and the intent behind them (think of Wang and Burris (1994) – the photograph of the woman as a tiny dot in the large field she was working on alone. The facilitators suggested she zoom in to get a better picture, but she wanted to capture the enormity of the challenge the woman faced farming all that land on her own).

The clear links with the work of Wang and Burris was really interesting to see as Hicks and Lloyd (2018) bridged the gap from the public health origin of the research method to its application in the LIS sector.

4.   Tewell, E. (2019). Reframing Reference for Marginalized Students. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 58(3), pp.162–176.

This article presents a photovoice project with undergraduate students at an American university, it specifically looks at information seeking behaviour (Tewell, 2019). By contextualising their project in the LIS literature Tewell (2019) acknowledges that “libraries reinforce cultural norms” (p.162) based on ingrained expectations, assumptions, and biases. They highlight that marginalised communities, or those outside of the cultural majority (for example “students of colour, LGBTQ students … are infrequently considered in library and information research” (Tewell, 2019, p.163).

Information practice is informed by a number of different factors including cultural background, information seeking, and cross-cultural differences.

Reflecting on the power dynamics inherent in library interactions Tewell (2019) justifies the use of photovoice as a way of exploring community perspective, rather than just the researcher’s interpretation. In presenting their research with 11 undergraduate students from various backgrounds Tewell (2019) stresses the importance of communicating with users rather than overgeneralising.

“This underscores the point that if librarians wish to determine how to best support students, there is no better way to find out than to ask directly (Tewell, 2019, p.173).

 

 

Reviewing these papers, which span thirty years of photovoice, you can see that the key message of empowerment that Wang and Burris (1994) embedded in their photo novella research is maintained. The fundamental premise is providing a platform for communities to have their voices heard, facilitating discussion amongst a community that presents their experience in a visual and approachable way for outsiders to understand.

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The Ethics Process

Published 22nd January 2024 by Gillian 

Gather all the information you can!

A fundamental part of any research project is the ethics that underpin it. For the research project funded by the AHRC-RLUK fellowship ethical approval was essential. In order to get the project up and running as soon as my fellowship started in January, I had to get ethical approval by December.

Applying for ethical approval is something I have done for a few different projects over the years. However, it feels a lot more serious when you know without it you’re stuck. When it’s a project you’re doing alongside the day job, you can work on it as you go and if you don’t meet the deadline, you know there’s still time and you can plug away at it. The same is not true when there is funding riding on it and there are external deadlines you have to meet. That’s why one of my biggest bits of advice is to do your research and READ! Getting to know the language of the ethical process, understanding the paperwork you need to complete, and the expectations of the organisation are essential.

In my case I had to make sure I was meeting the ethical requirements of my funders and my institution. I also wanted to make sure I was adhering to the ethical principles of my professional organisation – CILIP. I wanted to do it properly first time. So, it was time to do what they told me to do when revising for exams – read the whole paper through before you start. For the Library and Learning Services ethical committee at UON, they have a digital copy of the online ethical application form. This meant I can read through it fully before I start filling it in online. There were also useful statements and guidance in the form to make sure I included the information they needed to assess the application. Any time they referred to any specific institutional policies or paperwork, I looked them up.

Therefore, it was key that I read them thoroughly and understood them. What was my deadline – when did I have to submit the paperwork? Generally, how long did it take to get ethical approval? (I needed to start in January, I had to allow for any amendments or updates, so I had to submit my form for the 1st November deadline). As I read the policies and procedures, I began making notes – what language were they using, what procedures did I need to take into account. There’s no point reading something and then forgetting what you’ve read. Ever the librarian, I typed up my notes, so I know exactly what I read and where it came from!

I used the draft ethics form to begin writing my responses. Some questions were easy to answer, but for others I’d draft an outline and need time to think about what I needed to include. Then there are all the additional bits you need to include – it’s not just the form, you have to include all the elements that you’re going to use in your project:

  • Participant information sheets and consent forms
  • Publication information (publicity / marketing / recruitment information)
  • Prompts for any focus groups / interviews (what are you asking your participants to do?)
  • Data management plan
  • Risk assessment form

In participatory photography you use focus groups to agree the main themes and photographs you’re going to use. So, I had to think about this too.

Therefore, I had to draft these as I went along. I had been thinking there would be time in January to get this done, but I’m glad I got these planned for the ethics process. A great way of getting ahead.

For anything that your participants are going to read and need to sign – keep it simple. Plain English is key, make sure there is no confusion about what the project is about and what you’re asking them to do.

Publicity information is similar, you want your potential participants to want to get involved and to understand the project quickly. I don’t want them to have to look up what I’m talking about, I want them to read it and know what I’m asking them to do.

Creating prompts, questions and ideas for the focus groups and interviews was interesting. I was thinking I would have time to think these through alongside reading more about participatory photography. However, time was of the essence here, so I had to keep focused. What did I really want to find out? How could I use the prompts to do that? Time focused meant less procrastination and more action. Sometimes deadlines are your friend!

I am grateful that I’ve engaged with regular continuing professional development (CPD) through my career. One session I attended related to data management, ostensibly this was to support colleagues doing research, but it paid dividends when drafting my own data management plan. Here it was important to read the questions carefully and focus on exactly what they were asking:

  • What data are you collecting?
  • How are you storing it?
  • Why and how long for?

On the first few read throughs the form seemed repetitive, but when you read it again you could see the questions were different and it was important to look at the specifics. Put yourself in the mindset of the reviewer – keep it simple and answer the question. Clarity wins out!

The Risk Assessment Form was a challenging one. In my day-to-day work, this is integral to the workload of my colleagues and not something I would see. However, taking the time to think through the questions and consider the risks was important in helping to plan to mitigate them. Talking to colleagues was really useful as they could help me understand the questions and consider the risks involved in my project.

The ethics application can seem like quite a long and drawn-out process. This can be really frustrating when you think you’re doing an ‘easy’ project that doesn’t risk harm to others. It’s not like you’re doing experiments or tests on people… However, we are all individuals, and you never really know what’s happening behind the façade. Taking the time to think through all the implications of the project and identify any potential risks means you can avoid them. Taking the time to do the ethics application properly will mean it is easier for people to get involved with your project and you can feel confident that you are prepared for the project to start!

Lessons learnt:

  • Take time to read through everything.
  • Write down all the parts that contribute to the ethics application. Work through them step-by-step.
  • Ask questions about things you don’t understand. Make sure you understand before you try filling in the forms!
  • Check and re-check to make sure you’re answering the questions they’ve asked (not the ones you think they’re asking)!

Useful links:

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What is Photovoice / Participatory Photography?

Published 16th January 2024 by Gillian

What is Photovoice / Participatory Photography?
A camera being held on it’s side
Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

Disclaimer! I’m still new to this, so this is my understanding at the moment. This will deepen as I read more and potentially change.

Photovoice or participatory photography as a term is often used interchangeably. They relate to a visual research method that is based on the principle that the research participants showcase their experience, culture and environment through the photographs they take. In a research project using participatory photography, participants take part in workshops.

In these workshops the participants are taught photography – how to use the digital cameras and explore how to frame, focus and highlight their lives and experience. They’ll also explore how images are used, often referred to as visual literacy. The research method is viewed as a way to give power to the individuals that are the subject of the research topic and give them a voice.

It was first used in public health research in the 1990s to showcase the experience of women living in rural China [I think some of the original work is in this book: Wu et al. (1995) and there is reference to their study in Wang and Burris (1997)]. Through the project the participants learnt a skill (photography) and they were able to present their lives and experiences in a way that couldn’t be captured in interviews or focus groups. The photographic exhibition showed what life was like through their eyes. It was a really powerful way of reaching decision-makers and the stakeholders of that community.

Since then participatory photography has been seen as a way of giving a voice to individuals who may have been overlooked – women, children, people living with homelessness. Rather than their thoughts and feelings being translated through a researcher, they are given a photographic voice to depict what they want to show people.

Photo by Vitalii Khodzinskyi on Unsplash

Photography has been used in many ways to showcase life and ideas. Rather than a professional selecting the shot that goes on a website. Participatory photography empowers individuals to choose what they want to showcase and to describe it in a way that is meaningful to them. Although participatory photography started as a research method in public health, it has now been used in multiple different disciplines and subject areas, including Library and Information Science. This opens up conversations away from a scripted interview that is directed from the researcher and allows the research participants to guide the conversation and decide the final outcome. The participants choose the photographs they want to showcase, and they choose how the images are described. It is their voice.

This is a new and exciting area for me to explore.  There are so many ideas around this research method that I’ve barely scratched the surface. You’ll see this in my blog posts when I reflect on my reading. I’ll try and bring you the ideas and questions that occur to me as I’m reading about Photovoice and the wider subject of international students and their experiences here in the UK. No doubt you will see different ideas and thoughts as they occur to me. This is a work in progress that I will continue exploring, even after my fellowship ends.

Lessons Learnt

  • Keep reading – there’s a lot to explore.
  • I need to expand my vocabulary – I keep on writing about voices and showcasing. I’m also conscious I want to use the word ‘allow’ but that doesn’t feel right in this context. Everyone involved will be an adult so maybe encouraged will be a better word.
  • Read more, I want to feel confident I know who said what in the world of participatory photography.

Useful links:

Photovoice was originally used in 1992 by Caroline C. Wang and Mary Ann Burris in rural China. I believe the reference below is to one of the outputs from the project:

Wu K, Burris M, Li V, Wang Y, Zhan W, Xian Y, Yang K, Wang C (eds.): Visual Voices: 100 Photographs of Village China by the Women of Yunnan Province. Yunnan, Yunnan People’s Publishing House, 1995.

I found this book chapter interesting (there’s a lot more I need to read): Wang, C. C. (2003). Using Photovoice as a participatory assessment and issue selection tool: A case study with the homeless in Ann Arbor. In M. Minkler & N. Wallerstein (Eds.), Community based participatory research for health (pp. 179–196). Hoboken, NJ, US: Jossey-Bass/Wiley.

Wang C, Burris MA. Photovoice: concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment. Health Educ Behav. 1997 Jun;24(3):369-87. doi: 10.1177/109019819702400309. PMID: 9158980. Available open access here: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/67790

On my “to read” list and interlibrary loans:

Wang C, Burris M, Xiang YP: Chinese village women as visual anthropologists: A participatory approach to reaching policymakers. Soc Sci Med 42(10):1391-1400, 1996.

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Why this project?

Published 16th January 2024 by Gillian

Why this project?Sunshine on the trees of the forest with a grassy path in the foreground

The fellowship is an amazing opportunity to explore things in depth. When I first thought of applying, I knew I needed something that would have enough within it to keep me interested and be relevant to the wider LIS sector.

As an Academic Librarian, one of the best things about my job is teaching and working with students. Every day I get the chance to learn something new, if I’m open to it. Working in a university also means I have access to incredible resources for research and continuing professional development. Whilst I’ve been at the University, I’ve tried to make the most of these opportunities. My first research project came out of my job and was facilitated by a CPD opportunity.

I work with students from foundation level, all the way through to post-doctoral research. Every student has their own experiences that help shape the way they interact with the university. I support the health programmes here and our MSc Public Health programme was growing in popularity and had increasing student numbers. These students come from all over the world and have studied a range of different courses and qualifications before coming here. There’s no ‘one’ student profile. This really interested me, where are the students coming from and what are they experiencing when they arrive at UON?

It can be quite a steep learning curve coming from undergraduate to postgraduate study. The emphasis on independent study becomes even more pronounced. Plus, you have to adjust to a new institution with different processes. If you’re coming from another country there’s even more adjustment and knowledge to take on board. I wanted to find out what it was like for our international students, what they found when they arrived and look at how I can adapt and change what I teach to better support them. It’s easy to make assumptions based on anecdotal information, but I wanted to find out what it’s really like.

Therefore, I knew who I wanted to work with (MSc Public Health international students) and I knew what I wanted to find out (what’s it like coming to UON and how do they find the information they need to support their study). Now I needed to think about the best way of exploring what I wanted to find out.

Photo by Marc Pell on Unsplash

I didn’t want to do surveys – I wanted to learn about the experiences they had. So, I wanted to use a qualitative methodology. I could have used interviews or focus groups, but I wanted something that would really showcase their experience and catch people’s eyes. Research papers tend to be quite dry; they get published and then they sit in databases. The individuals involved rarely get to see what they contributed to and it doesn’t necessarily attract the attention of the key stakeholders involved: the students, their colleagues, the programme team, the wider library, and the institution.

As part of the fellowship, I get the benefit of working with a mentor (an expert in the field that can guide me through the research). When talking through my initial ideas, they suggested thinking about a visual research method, such as photovoice. I’d never heard of it before, but it was something I was really interested in finding out about. I love photographs and they are definitely eye catching. Exploring the literature around photovoice it really gave me a feel for how it has been used (initially in public health research) and then in library and information science. I could see how this would give the participants a chance to show their experience from their perspective (not ‘translated’ through my interpretation). The photographs would also be a great way of encouraging discussion between participants, seeing if there is common ground between their experiences. In participatory photography or photovoice, the participants define the main findings from the research. I would be facilitating it, but it would be the student’s voice. This was a great way of me exploring the topic.

So, I now knew how I was going to investigate – participatory photography. Taking the time to think things through, ask questions, listen to other people’s thoughts, to explore and read around ideas all helped me to choose my topic and the methods I’m going to use.

Lessons learnt:

  • Keep interested, keep listening, keep learning. There is so much going on, see if there is something that can catch your attention and inspire you.
  • Try something new. I’ve never done a project with a visual research method before, but it’s very exciting and I think I’m going to get a lot out of it.

Useful links:

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