Wednesday, February 6, 2008

STAFF PHOTOVOICE PROJECT

"Photovoice enlarges the perimeters of health from the strictly medical to the psychological, economic, and social conditions of a given community."
Lucy Flint-Gohlke
http://www.photovoice.com/

Hi Everyone,

As discussed at the last staff meeting, we are introducing a staff photovoice project and would love it if you would participate! Photovoice is gaining popularity world-wide because of the opportunities to creatively say what is on your mind!

The images and narratives collected will allow us to identify as a group areas and themes within the community that we focus a lot of attention on and those that we may be failing to notice.

Theme: Community Health and Wellness
Key Questions: What does/doesn’t community health and wellness look like to you? What is/isn’t a healthily community?

It’s a very simple three-stage process:

Stage 1- Photographs
Those who are participating will take at least 5 pictures within our catchment area around the theme of health and wellness
.

Stage 2- Narratives
The narrative allows the artist to give specific meaning to the photograph. It describes what the image represents and helps the viewer understand the impact the image had on you. The narratives will be written individually, but we are available if you have any questions or need any assistance.

We would like the photos and narratives submitted by March 11th at the very latest so that we can prepare a presentation for the staff meeting on the 13th.


Stage 3- Discussion and Display
Finally, at a later date TBD, we will come together as a group and discuss each person’s contribution to the photvoice project. During the discussion, we will talk about what community health and wellness means to each of us, what it does and does not look like, who/what represents the theme and how we are addressing these issues within the Ralph Thornton Centre.

This conversation may help us identify the areas we focus heavily on and those that may be overlooked. We can discuss ways that we might want to share this information. Some possibilities include using the bulletin boards in the agency or a display in one of the rooms.

Call Out and Cameras
We will be checking in with everyone at the February 20th staff meeting to get a sense of who would like to participate. However, if you would like to participate but do not have access to a digital camera, please get in touch with us ASAP so that we can arrange one for you. Our contacts are below.


The Blog
This blog was initially set up for the youth photovoice project that we co-facilitate. Take a look through it to get a better sense of photovoice, starting at the bottom. It has links to extensive information about camera techniques, examples of photos from the neighbourhood, information on our community and information on community health.

Let us know if you have any questions, comments or concerns. We are really excited for the project!

Thank you,
Robyn & Katie

"Photovoice is a method that enables people to define for themselves and others, including policy makers, what is worth remembering and what needs to be changed."
-Caroline Wang
www.photvoice.com