Using Images and Stories to Create Community Change: An Introduction

to Photovoice

Pennie Foster-Fishman, Ph.D.

Jennifer Mortensen, M.A.

Michigan State University

Session Overview

• Experiential training

• Share example Photovoice project

• Consider how to incorporate Photovoice into your work

WHAT IS PHOTOVOICE?

What is Photovoice?

• Innovative participatory research and evaluation method

• Puts cameras in the hands of individuals often excluded from decision-making processes

(Wang & Burris, 1994; Wang, Burris, & Xiang, 1996)

What is Photovoice?

• Innovative participatory research and evaluation method

• Puts cameras in the hands of individuals often excluded from decision-making processes

(Wang & Burris, 1994; Wang, Burris, & Xiang, 1996)

• Captures individuals’ voices and visions about

– their lives,

– their community, and

– their concerns

Ultimate goal of Photovoice: Use images and voices of photographers to

inform decisions, strategies, and policy-making.

WHY USE PHOTOVOICE?

Why Use Photovoice?

“It gave everybody a voice, you know. We all could actually go in there and say what we wanted to say and people would listen, and so that was the best thing.”

“Honestly I felt a little powerful because we could actually show what we were talking about or what we really wanted to be changed. And a picture, you can’t change a picture after you take it, you know what I’m saying? I mean it’s some kind of sense of power to me…Growing up where I did I’ve notice these things ever since I was a kid…Doing this made it possible so I could say what I wanted to say….”

Gives Voice

Why Use Photovoice?

“I have found out that I have some other strengths that I didn’t realize I

had – this leadership role – I knew I could lead kids, but I did not know that I could actively lead them to see how things can be done to improve their life.”

Develops Leadership Skills

Why Use Photovoice?

“I feel that I am part of the community now. Whereas before I lived here

but I was not really involved, but now I am. So, it has really – I feel that I am now part of this community.”

Increases Sense of Community

Why Use Photovoice?

“[Photovoice] is makin’ me feel more powerful so, next time I see this, I

can be like ‘hey, hold it.’ It gave me a lot of courage to tell people what I feel inside.”

Empowers Participants

Uses of Photovoice

Trigger Policy/Practice Change

Strategy Design

Problem Identification

Asset Mapping

Evaluation

Needs Assessment

Example Photovoice Projects

•Youth described their concerns about their neighborhoods and after-school option

Needs Assessment

•Homeless adults described the kinds of supports and services they need and barriers they faced

Needs Assessment

•Adults from poor neighborhoods described how change can happen in their community Strategy Design

•Youth and adults documented the problems in their neighborhoods and the changes as they unfolded in a community building initiative

Evaluation

PHOTOVOICE PROCESS

Project Design

Participant Training

Participants take photos

Participants select photos

to share

Participants meet to discuss photos

Public exhibit is displayed

Designing for Impact

What’s the story?

Focusing the story

Identifying the storytellers

Project duration

Defining project goals

• What do you want to learn?

• Whose lives and/or what issues do you want to understand better or do you want the community to listen to?

• Who needs to be included to tell the story?

• What impacts do you want to achieve?

What’s the story?

Purpose of Photovoice is to tell stories through photos and words

• What should the stories focus on?

Framing Questions provide the context for the exploration

• Provide participants with a lens through which to examine their lived experiences.

Focusing the story

Project 1: • Understand neighborhood

conditions and the impacts they have on residents.

• Understand hopes and dreams of residents and what needs to be done to make them a reality.

Project 2: • Understand the dreams of youth

in Battle Creek and what needs to be done to make those dreams a reality.

• Understand how youth are engaged in their communities and what factors facilitate and impede this engagement.

Framing questions: • What is your life like? • What is good about your life? • What needs to change?

Framing Questions • What are your dreams for your

future? • What are your educational and

career goals? • How are you and your friends

involved in your schools, your neighborhoods, and in Battle Creek?

Focusing the story (Example)

Identify who needs to be included Considerations • Number of reflection groups you can support and

size of each group • Budget to support cameras and photo

development • Sensitivity of the area of inquiry • Need for diversity

Identifying the storytellers

2002 PV Project

• 7 neighborhoods

• Youth and Adults

• 32 participants; 29 completed 4 weeks

2007 PV project

• 5 middle schools

• 20 youth completed 4 weeks

Identifying the storytellers (Example)

Duration Considerations • Digital or film cameras? • How many reflection meetings? • Over what time period?

In our experience, if your goal is to promote critical reflection then participants need an intensive, prolonged experience.

Project duration

• How could you incorporate Photovoice into the work of your coalition?

– What do you want to learn?

– What framing questions might you ask?

– Who could be involved?

– Who should be the audience for the photos and stories?

DATACOLLECTION

CYCLE

Typical Project Cycle

Analysis & Dissemination

Training

PHOTOVOICE TRAINING

Photovoice Process: Training

SELECTING AND PORTRAYING

SUBJECT MATTER

ETHICS AND SAFETY

BASIC PHOTOGRAPHY

Training

SELECTION AND REFLECTION PROCESSES

Selecting and Portraying Subject Matter

Selecting and Portraying Subject Matter

• When using images to tell a story, you can be…

– Literal

– Creative

– Symbolic

• Most importantly, THERE IS NO RIGHT ANSWER!

Basic Photography

Think in Thirds

Find the Frames

Love those Lines

Get up, Get down, Get close

There are no Rules!

Ethics and Safety

• Potential for great impact, possibility of harm

• Consider power, safety, ethics – Responsibilities when using camera – Safe and unsafe photo topics – Acceptable ways of approaching for a photo

• Strategies to minimize risk – “Cards” and scripts – Consent forms

Data Collection Cycle

Data Collection Components

•Photography

•Written reflections

•Personal reflections

•Group dialogue

DATACOLLECTION

CYCLE

Data Collection Cycle Sharing, Showing,

&Telling

Selectio

n an

d R

eflection

(ind

ividu

al)

Participant Photography

Sel

ecti

on

an

d R

efle

ctio

n(g

rou

p)

• Photos taken around framing questions assigned for that week

• Film cameras: 1 roll of film per week for # weeks. Film processed and 1 set of prints delivered to participants

• Digital cameras: Unlimited photos per week for # weeks. Participants upload photos to computer.

• Go out and take photos in response to framing question (10 minutes!)

• Framing Question: What does leadership look like? What makes someone a leader?

Photovoice Process

• Each week, participants

chose # photos from

that week that they

wanted to share.

• Participants complete

written reflection

worksheets on these

photos to help them

prepare for group

conversations:

• “I want to share this

photo because. . .”

Sh

aring

, Sh

ow

ing

, &

Tellin

g

Selection and Reflection(individual)

Par

tici

pan

t P

ho

tog

rap

hy

Selection and Reflection(group)

Individual Photo Reflection

First Name: ______________________________________ Initial of Last

Name: ____

Region: ____________________ Table: _____________

Picture #: ________

Brief description of photo:

I want to share this photo because…

What is important for people to understand about this photo?

What does this photo tell others about me or community?

Photovoice Process

In Person

• Weekly, 2-hour small-group meeting with other participants from their school/neighborhood and facilitator

• 1st hour: round-robin style sharing of photos and personal reflections

• Example facilitation question:

• What is important for people to understand about this photo?

Sharing, Showing, &Telling

Sel

ecti

on

an

d R

efle

ctio

n(i

nd

ivid

ual

)Participant Photography

Selectio

n an

d R

eflection

(gro

up

)

Photovoice Process

Online

• Bi-weekly/monthly posting of individual blog posts (photo and narrative)

• Example facilitation question:

• What is important for people to understand about this photo?

Sharing, Showing, &Telling

Sel

ecti

on

an

d R

efle

ctio

n(i

nd

ivid

ual

)Participant Photography

Selectio

n an

d R

eflection

(gro

up

)

• Select one photo and complete reflection sheet

• Share photo in small group

Photovoice Process

• Group photo selection –

sticky dot “voting” (use

“Like” function online)

• Group dialogue around

# photos with the most

votes.

• Explore meaning of

photos and different

interpretations of

issues/ideas presented

together.

• Example facilitation

question:

• Why does this happen?

Sh

arin

g, S

ho

win

g,

&T

ellin

gSelection and Reflection

(individual)

Particip

ant P

ho

tog

raph

y

Selection and Reflection(group)

Introduction to Critical Dialogue

• Critical Dialogue Consists of:

– Listening carefully to what others are saying

– Asking questions to help you gain deeper understanding

• Helps make sure you are coming to the right conclusions

• Helps identify root causes

Components of Critical Dialogue

• When people are really listening to you…

– What do you see?

• Eye Contact

• Body facing the speaker

– What do they say?

• Ask questions that start with one of the five INQUIRY words

– Why

– How

– What

– When

– Where

EXAMPLE

“If there were more things for youth to do it would be harder to get with a troubled group. If you have more options, more

things to do, you won’t get into as much trouble.

What don’t we understand from what this 6th grader has said so far?

What do we need to understand more of?

What do we need to ask to better understand this?

EXAMPLE

“If there were more things for youth to do it would be harder to get with a troubled group. If you have more options, more

things to do, you won’t get into as much trouble.

What don’t we understand from what this 6th grader has said so far?

What do we need to understand more of?

What do we need to ask to better understand this?

“If there were more things for youth to do it would be harder to get with a troubled group. If you have more options, more

things to do, you won’t get into as much trouble.

What kinds of things do youth need to do?

What do you mean “get with a troubled group”

How does having more options help youth not get into trouble?

Why doesn’t your community have enough things for youth to do?

• Vote on one photo for a group discussion

• Discuss selected photo using critical dialogue questions

Reflections • What was it like to participate in Photovoice?

What did you like? Dislike? What did you find useful? What did you find challenging?

• Consider what it might be like for members of the community and groups you work with. How might they experience this process?

TAKING PHOTOVOICE ONLINE

Adapting the Photovoice Process

• Training – Using a blog (or other platform)

• Uploading photos • Creating blog posts • Commenting on other posts

• Facilitation – Questions are “permanently” visible – No set time for discussion – Requires additional reminders to participate

• Support – Ongoing technical support – Need access to computers and internet

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION

Data Analysis

Informal

• Group identifies most important photos and stories to share

• Each photographer shares their most important photo

Formal

• Train participants to theme (candy store game)

• Give each narrative a ‘headline’

• Group similar ‘headlines’ together

• Create ‘mega-headlines’

• Share major themes

ReACT Method (Foster-Fishman, Law, Lichty, Auon, 2010)

Pill Pushers/Poppers

“Drugs are a big problem in my community that teens face. Some teens have mom and dad or other family members that are doing drugs in front of them…Also, if our community had a place for these teens to go to deal with their drug problem in our county maybe our county

would be a better place….”

Pill Pushers/Poppers

“Drugs are a big problem in my community that teens face. Some teens have mom and dad or other family members that are doing drugs in front of them…Also, if our community had a place for these teens to go to deal with their drug problem in our county maybe our county

would be a better place….”

Main Ideas

Drugs are a big problem in my community that teens

face

if our community had a place for these teens to go to deal with their drug problem in our county maybe our county would be a better place

Some teens have mom and dad or other family members that are doing drugs in front of them

Headlines

DRUGS INFEST THE

COMMUNITY Drugs are a big problem in my community that teens

face

TEENS NEED HELP WITH DRUG ABUSE

if our community had a place for these teens to go to deal with their drug problem in our county maybe our county would be a better place

FAMILIES MODEL DANGEROUS BEHAVIORS TO YOUTH

Some teens have mom and dad or other family members that

are doing drugs in front of them

Dissemination

• Dissemination

– Traditional photo exhibit

– Digital alternatives

• Digital story

• Website

– Printed guide book

Dissemination Goals

• To expose a broad or specific audience to the images and meaning captured by participants.

• To encourage community dialogue.

• Promote policy change and community action.

EXAMPLE PHOTOVOICE PROJECT

West Virginia NYLI Photovoice • West Virginia National Youth Leadership Initiative

– Partnership between CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America), Community Connections, Inc., and MSU

– Used Photovoice as a tool for doing this

• Photovoice component came from a grant in 2010 (Foster-Fishman, P. and Grabill, J.)

• Funded by OJJDP (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)

• Identified strengths/resources in their community as well as challenges that youth face (generally around underage drinking, teen pregnancy, smoking, drug use)

A problem that youth face in my community is their voice being heard; adults often ignore the opinions of the youth because they think we have no idea what is going on in the world. I think that no matter what the age is, everyone’s voice is important and has a right to be heard. Although we are young we aren’t stupid, we do know about problems in our community, and how to solve or fix them.

Lessons Learned, Unanticipated Events

• Youth using ‘found’ images (Google, Facebook, family photos)

– Copyright

– Purpose of Photovoice

• Personal Disclosure

– Family substance abuse

HOW COULD PHOTOVOICE BE INCORPORATED INTO YOUR WORK?

Small Group Discussion

• How could you incorporate Photovoice into the work of your coalition?

– What do you want to learn?

– What framing questions might you ask?

– Who could be involved?

– Would an in-person or online format work better?

– How long should the project last?

– Who should be the audience for the photos and stories?

Contact

Pennie Foster-Fishman

fosterfi@msu.edu

Jennifer Mortensen

morten19@msu.edu

http://systemexchange.msu.edu