Quote: "A basic concept in participatory asset mapping is to not pathologize individuals and their communities as embodying deficiency and abnormality but to strengthen the individual's and the community's capacity to take action" (Wang 190).
Connection: I remembered the cover of National Geographic - the one with the photo of the beautiful, Middle Eastern girl in the red cloak taken at a refugee camp in the eighties. There was a follow up photo years later that clearly showed the effects of time and hardship on this woman's life. I also kept thinking of the expression "A picture speaks a thousand words."
Question: Has a policymaker ever referenced Photovoice as an influence on his / her decisions or vote? In other words, is it catching on yet?
Quote: “What health concerns have been overlooked, unconceptualized, or ignored, yet may be central to women’s experience?” (Wang 190) Or as quoted from psychologist Abigail Stewart prior to this question: “Look for what’s being left out”.
Connection: I remember coming across a short documentary-type video about women who are homeless and how their menstrual cycle impacts their lives. Not only did this aspect of womanhood further complicate the maintenance of hygiene, but it also at times forced them to choose between keeping themselves clean, or eating a meal. Even as a woman myself, it had never dawned on me how being a woman makes homelessness even more difficult.
Question: Are there multiple planners involved in leading/facilitating a photovoice project or is it just one individual? (i.e. a person from the community itself, a health worker, a policymaker, or someone who’s knowledgeable about the photovoice method)
Quote: “In the United States, that homeless women and men have found the Photovoice process to be a useful tool suggests that it may be a relatively inexpensive way to enable people to reflect on their lives and communities and effectively communicate their perceptions and insights to others” (Wang 191).
Connection: I can recall volunteering at an Operation Stand Down in South Boston where my fellow veterans and I helped to feed, clothe, give haircuts, and provide first-aid to hundreds of homeless veterans. Other services provided included helping homeless veterans to find housing, become employed, get a license, and enroll in education or training services. While volunteering at the Operation Stand Down, I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster as the realities of the effect of being a homeless veteran unraveled before my eyes. As we erected the tents, kitchen equipment, tables, and chairs in the middle of a large baseball field, I was filled with a sense of purpose to help as much as I could. While plating food and busing tables, two men approached me and thanked me for my service to our country. I later learned that one of the men was a Master Chief Petty Officer while the other was a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy. The rest of the day was filled with similar moments that still resonate with me today. Over the course of the weekend, my friends and I took pictures that captured the negative effect homelessness has on veterans as well as the positive effect the theme “A Hand Up – Not A Handout” can have during Operation Stand Down. Many of the women and men that volunteer during Operation Stand Down show the pictures and share the stories of homeless veterans. As a result of the efforts by volunteers of Operation Stand Down, thousands of homeless veteran’s voices are being heard. Rhode Island’s Operation Stand Down takes place in Cumberland on September 15th through the 17th. For this reason and many more, I can understand why Photovoice is an excellent tool for women and men who desperately need it most, to advocate for themselves as well as others for policy changes that have a positive effect on the wellbeing.
Question: What efforts have been made to connect Photovoice groups advocating for a particular policy change at the state level with those groups in other states with similar interests in order to influence policy change at the federal level?
Quote: “There is a split between the fictitious woman represented publicly and how we know our daily and private selves to be.” pg 186
Connection: We all too often forget that the flood of images we see in magazines, and online, are only a fraction of reality and more often than not it is a fabricated and augmented one that ends up overshadowing the issues that people are facing in their true daily lives. My personal connection is with the many magazines that come in the mail that will try to show how “fun” and “exciting” it is to be a farmer. They show this through carefully chosen and staged photographs. What you don’t get to see is how “fun” it is when your loading multiple delivery trucks in the dark, or how “exciting” it is when it rains for a month and plants start to die because there was no sunlight. True reality wasn’t shown and so people are given a false view of what the lives of many people in that profession are like.
Question: What would happen if we had students use photo voice in their schools or at home? What would they choose to take pictures of, and how could we use that to make changes both to the school and how/what we teach?
Quote: "The lesson an image teaches does not reside in its physical structure, but rather in how people interpret the image in question."
Connection: At times, I find that it becomes difficult to piece together the correct sentences or phrases to express myself with my emotions, worries, concerns and excitements. There are many issues that follow women on a daily basis and this article really struck me when on pages 190-191, it was listed of the many concerns that are a part of women's daily lives. This concept of Photovoice is intriguing to me and I connected with it well that with this myriad of issues and struggles, some women NEED Photovoice to express themselves in a way that maybe could push them that one step forward to be more understood. This concept, and others that I am sure stem from this research, should be utilized more widespread as it helps portray many things with the simple click of a button.
Question: For individuals, males, policy makers, etc... How do we help bridge the gap between their understandings and beliefs and ours if they do not understand the concept of Photovoice?
Quote: “How can we as woman tell stories that eradicate the disparity between how we are seen and what we feel? How do we present who we really are in terms of images? And why does it matter that we do? To answer this we need to understand the very fundamental way that the representation of people helps to determine who they become.”(Wang 186)
Connection: When reading this the first thing that came to my mind was a middle school health class. I remember the teacher showing us a picture of a girl looking in the mirror. The teenager in the picture was beautiful but when she looked into the mirror she saw something completely different. She saw a heavyset girl filled with acne. As a class we discussed what this photo meant. After we had the discussion the teacher taught us about eating disorders. The picture really stood out to me because it made me realize that people don’t always have the same perspective of themselves as others. This picture really related to the quote I picked. The teenager girl had a disparity between how see we seen and how she felt. Being a middle school teacher I see young girls struggling with this everyday. I had lunch duty last year and some females would not eat in the lunchroom. They did not want other people watching them eat or judging them for what they were eating. The girls that were not eating were very skinny but they saw themselves as overweight. The article also remind me of the saying, “ A picture is worth a thousand words.” Photovoice is actually that, it is much more than a photo, it is how people interpret it. One imagine can open up a whole discussion and even change policies.
Question: Are students doing photovoice projects in school? For example are students taking pictures and then sharing them with their classmates? Are teachers using photovoice in their classroom to make students aware of health, personal, and community issues around the world?
Quote: "This community-oriented process requires that planners bring policymakers and other influential people to the table to serve as the audience for community people's perspective" (Wang 191).
Connection: Pictures can play a pivotal role in changing perspective or popular opinion. Much like advertisements, images may help sway the way that people think. This is much deeper than media ads promoting sales, but the concept is along the same lines. When people are able to see and form an opinion based off of image, it is often an effective tool for change. Showing diseased lungs on cigarette cartons may help a consumer make a more informed or careful decision. Furthermore, I can see Photovoice being useful for people who have difficulty articulating their true ideas, especially for difficult subject materials. Photos are thought of to be reliable primary sources.
Question: How can I use photovoice to bring issues in my community that effect my students to the attention of policy makers? Could I enlist the help of students to be photographers?
Quote: “With their messages-both explicit and hidden- (images) help to shape our concepts of what is real and what is normal.”
Connection: In reading through the PAR steps I couldn’t help but think of how these steps relate to making sure students learn or master material. For example the participation process first has to find a cause that the group wants to help. A Participation needs assessment is the same as getting a baseline data on the skills and needs of a student. Next, is Participation evaluation. Is the program, activities, or interventions of the project working? This is a process to assess if a student is learning the material. The purpose of the Action step of a PAR is to “identify the problem or the asset, critically discuss the roots of the situation, and develop strategies for improving the situation.” Doesn’t this sound like a discussion you may have with colleagues about a certain student?
Question: Can interpretations of photos lead to misinformation? How can you truly decipher what is real and what is normal? How do we define normal?
Quote: “Women may use photovoice as a tool to take inventory of their individual and collective strengths and gifts in order to identify and discuss strategies for change” (Wang 190).
Connection: When reading the article, specifically in reference to participatory asset mapping, I thought about how I prepare for a parent meeting when a challenging topic needs to be discussed. No matter how difficult the situation, parents want to hear a positive note about their child. Every student brings a different strength to the table and we as educators try to find that unique way to connect with our students. Once a positive relationship has been established, it is easier to discuss an area that needs attention. Photovoice uses this strategy having women focus on the positive areas of their lives in order to identify areas in need of improvement or change.
Question: How can I use the key components of photovoice in my classroom? Living in the age of social media, can photovoice still be used in a traditional format, using cameras and not cell phones, to instill sensitivity about what students post?
Quote: “Photovoice has three main goals: to enable people to (1)to record and reflect their personal and community strengths and concerns (2) to promote critical dialogue and knowledge about personal and community issues through group discussions of photographs, and (3) to reach policymakers.”
Connection: I selected the quote above because I envisioned how photovoice could benefit youth in the community I currently serve. I work in the small city of Central Falls, which is one square mile. My middle school students are working towards being independent and are at an age where they have opinions of their own. They roam the streets freely with their friends and are greatly influenced by them. With everyone living so close to one another, there is a strong sense of community in the schools. The flip-side is that students find it difficult to escape negative influences. Clicks are easily formed and often times conflicts that started in school trickle into the community and vice versa. At my middle school, I have had to support my students when they found themselves in a position where they were suddenly being peer pressured to follow along with their group of friends. The peer pressure put them in a position where they had to decide if having friends was more important than following school expectations and maintaining their grades. I have witnessed students turn on each other. I find it disheartening when students isolate one another because the reality is, many are sharing the same experiences outside of school. I know because when I have individual conversations with my students, many times they open up about their home situation. Central Falls is a community that has its strengths and many students have the same concerns about their school and community. I feel that photovoice would allow students to see the positive while opening up a dialogue of the struggles they face in and out of school in a way that may feel more authentic since they already love sharing photos with one another.
Question: Has photovoice ever been transferred into the classrooms and became a method of photography used by students rather than women?
Quote: "Photovoice entails people discussing the images that they have produced, and by doing so, they give meaning to, or interpret, their images."
Connection: I have been very interested in the Humans of Newyork page which consists of photos of people in New York and a story they like to share. My friend made his own Humans of Keene State page, and I've also been interested in starting my own page. Basically the photos are of a posed person of interested and they talk about a story they wish to share to the world.
Question: Would the Humans of... pages be a type of photo voice?
Quote: "Policies toward creating safe and enabling environments are crucial elements of women's health policy but are not necessarily based on what women need or want..."
Connection: The quote above is very typical to the culture we live in where policy is typically influenced by those farthest from the source. I read the article on and it reminded me the important of providing an avenue for voice from the source; "Photovoice values the knowledge putforth by women as a vital source of expertise".
Question: What are some current examples of photo voice projects (article is from 1999)? How might they look differently or have a different focus than the Wang article.
Quote: Women may use photovoice as a tool to take inventory of their individual and collective strengths and gifts in order to identify and discuss strategies for change (pg. 190, paragraph 1)
Connection: I feel as though a personal photovoice collection in a scrapbook or on display someone can serve as a solid visual reminder to yourself of your personal strengths. There are times where we all find ourselves needing a boost of confidence, and photovoice can almost serve as you giving yourself a pep talk based off of your photos.
Question: Why isn't there more support toward using photovoice? (This is the first I've heard of it)
Quote: "A basic concept in participatory asset mapping is to not pathologize individuals and their communities as embodying deficiency and abnormality but to strengthen the individual's and the community's capacity to take action" (Wang 190).
ReplyDeleteConnection: I remembered the cover of National Geographic - the one with the photo of the beautiful, Middle Eastern girl in the red cloak taken at a refugee camp in the eighties. There was a follow up photo years later that clearly showed the effects of time and hardship on this woman's life. I also kept thinking of the expression "A picture speaks a thousand words."
Question: Has a policymaker ever referenced Photovoice as an influence on his / her decisions or vote? In other words, is it catching on yet?
Quote: “What health concerns have been overlooked, unconceptualized, or ignored, yet may be central to women’s experience?” (Wang 190) Or as quoted from psychologist Abigail Stewart prior to this question: “Look for what’s being left out”.
ReplyDeleteConnection: I remember coming across a short documentary-type video about women who are homeless and how their menstrual cycle impacts their lives. Not only did this aspect of womanhood further complicate the maintenance of hygiene, but it also at times forced them to choose between keeping themselves clean, or eating a meal. Even as a woman myself, it had never dawned on me how being a woman makes homelessness even more difficult.
Question: Are there multiple planners involved in leading/facilitating a photovoice project or is it just one individual? (i.e. a person from the community itself, a health worker, a policymaker, or someone who’s knowledgeable about the photovoice method)
Quote: “In the United States, that homeless women and men have found the Photovoice process to be a useful tool suggests that it may be a relatively inexpensive way to enable people to reflect on their lives and communities and effectively communicate their perceptions and insights to others” (Wang 191).
ReplyDeleteConnection: I can recall volunteering at an Operation Stand Down in South Boston where my fellow veterans and I helped to feed, clothe, give haircuts, and provide first-aid to hundreds of homeless veterans. Other services provided included helping homeless veterans to find housing, become employed, get a license, and enroll in education or training services. While volunteering at the Operation Stand Down, I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster as the realities of the effect of being a homeless veteran unraveled before my eyes. As we erected the tents, kitchen equipment, tables, and chairs in the middle of a large baseball field, I was filled with a sense of purpose to help as much as I could. While plating food and busing tables, two men approached me and thanked me for my service to our country. I later learned that one of the men was a Master Chief Petty Officer while the other was a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy. The rest of the day was filled with similar moments that still resonate with me today. Over the course of the weekend, my friends and I took pictures that captured the negative effect homelessness has on veterans as well as the positive effect the theme “A Hand Up – Not A Handout” can have during Operation Stand Down. Many of the women and men that volunteer during Operation Stand Down show the pictures and share the stories of homeless veterans. As a result of the efforts by volunteers of Operation Stand Down, thousands of homeless veteran’s voices are being heard. Rhode Island’s Operation Stand Down takes place in Cumberland on September 15th through the 17th. For this reason and many more, I can understand why Photovoice is an excellent tool for women and men who desperately need it most, to advocate for themselves as well as others for policy changes that have a positive effect on the wellbeing.
Question: What efforts have been made to connect Photovoice groups advocating for a particular policy change at the state level with those groups in other states with similar interests in order to influence policy change at the federal level?
Quote: “There is a split between the fictitious woman represented publicly and how we know our daily and private selves to be.” pg 186
ReplyDeleteConnection: We all too often forget that the flood of images we see in magazines, and online, are only a fraction of reality and more often than not it is a fabricated and augmented one that ends up overshadowing the issues that people are facing in their true daily lives. My personal connection is with the many magazines that come in the mail that will try to show how “fun” and “exciting” it is to be a farmer. They show this through carefully chosen and staged photographs. What you don’t get to see is how “fun” it is when your loading multiple delivery trucks in the dark, or how “exciting” it is when it rains for a month and plants start to die because there was no sunlight. True reality wasn’t shown and so people are given a false view of what the lives of many people in that profession are like.
Question: What would happen if we had students use photo voice in their schools or at home? What would they choose to take pictures of, and how could we use that to make changes both to the school and how/what we teach?
Quote: "The lesson an image teaches does not reside in its physical structure, but rather in how people interpret the image in question."
ReplyDeleteConnection: At times, I find that it becomes difficult to piece together the correct sentences or phrases to express myself with my emotions, worries, concerns and excitements. There are many issues that follow women on a daily basis and this article really struck me when on pages 190-191, it was listed of the many concerns that are a part of women's daily lives. This concept of Photovoice is intriguing to me and I connected with it well that with this myriad of issues and struggles, some women NEED Photovoice to express themselves in a way that maybe could push them that one step forward to be more understood. This concept, and others that I am sure stem from this research, should be utilized more widespread as it helps portray many things with the simple click of a button.
Question: For individuals, males, policy makers, etc... How do we help bridge the gap between their understandings and beliefs and ours if they do not understand the concept of Photovoice?
Quote: “How can we as woman tell stories that eradicate the disparity between how we are seen and what we feel? How do we present who we really are in terms of images? And why does it matter that we do? To answer this we need to understand the very fundamental way that the representation of people helps to determine who they become.”(Wang 186)
ReplyDeleteConnection: When reading this the first thing that came to my mind was a middle school health class. I remember the teacher showing us a picture of a girl looking in the mirror. The teenager in the picture was beautiful but when she looked into the mirror she saw something completely different. She saw a heavyset girl filled with acne. As a class we discussed what this photo meant. After we had the discussion the teacher taught us about eating disorders. The picture really stood out to me because it made me realize that people don’t always have the same perspective of themselves as others. This picture really related to the quote I picked. The teenager girl had a disparity between how see we seen and how she felt. Being a middle school teacher I see young girls struggling with this everyday. I had lunch duty last year and some females would not eat in the lunchroom. They did not want other people watching them eat or judging them for what they were eating. The girls that were not eating were very skinny but they saw themselves as overweight. The article also remind me of the saying, “ A picture is worth a thousand words.” Photovoice is actually that, it is much more than a photo, it is how people interpret it. One imagine can open up a whole discussion and even change policies.
Question: Are students doing photovoice projects in school? For example are students taking pictures and then sharing them with their classmates? Are teachers using photovoice in their classroom to make students aware of health, personal, and community issues around the world?
Quote: "This community-oriented process requires that planners bring policymakers and other influential people to the table to serve as the audience for community people's perspective" (Wang 191).
ReplyDeleteConnection: Pictures can play a pivotal role in changing perspective or popular opinion. Much like advertisements, images may help sway the way that people think. This is much deeper than media ads promoting sales, but the concept is along the same lines. When people are able to see and form an opinion based off of image, it is often an effective tool for change. Showing diseased lungs on cigarette cartons may help a consumer make a more informed or careful decision. Furthermore, I can see Photovoice being useful for people who have difficulty articulating their true ideas, especially for difficult subject materials. Photos are thought of to be reliable primary sources.
Question: How can I use photovoice to bring issues in my community that effect my students to the attention of policy makers? Could I enlist the help of students to be photographers?
Quote: “With their messages-both explicit and hidden- (images) help to shape our concepts of what is real and what is normal.”
ReplyDeleteConnection: In reading through the PAR steps I couldn’t help but think of how these steps relate to making sure students learn or master material. For example the participation process first has to find a cause that the group wants to help. A Participation needs assessment is the same as getting a baseline data on the skills and needs of a student. Next, is Participation evaluation. Is the program, activities, or interventions of the project working? This is a process to assess if a student is learning the material. The purpose of the Action step of a PAR is to “identify the problem or the asset, critically discuss the roots of the situation, and develop strategies for improving the situation.” Doesn’t this sound like a discussion you may have with colleagues about a certain student?
Question: Can interpretations of photos lead to misinformation? How can you truly decipher what is real and what is normal? How do we define normal?
Quote: “Women may use photovoice as a tool to take inventory of their individual and collective strengths and gifts in order to identify and discuss strategies for change” (Wang 190).
ReplyDeleteConnection: When reading the article, specifically in reference to participatory asset mapping, I thought about how I prepare for a parent meeting when a challenging topic needs to be discussed. No matter how difficult the situation, parents want to hear a positive note about their child. Every student brings a different strength to the table and we as educators try to find that unique way to connect with our students. Once a positive relationship has been established, it is easier to discuss an area that needs attention. Photovoice uses this strategy having women focus on the positive areas of their lives in order to identify areas in need of improvement or change.
Question: How can I use the key components of photovoice in my classroom? Living in the age of social media, can photovoice still be used in a traditional format, using cameras and not cell phones, to instill sensitivity about what students post?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteQuote: “Photovoice has three main goals: to enable people to (1)to record and reflect their personal and community strengths and concerns (2) to promote critical dialogue and knowledge about personal and community issues through group discussions of photographs, and (3) to reach policymakers.”
ReplyDeleteConnection: I selected the quote above because I envisioned how photovoice could benefit youth in the community I currently serve. I work in the small city of Central Falls, which is one square mile. My middle school students are working towards being independent and are at an age where they have opinions of their own. They roam the streets freely with their friends and are greatly influenced by them. With everyone living so close to one another, there is a strong sense of community in the schools. The flip-side is that students find it difficult to escape negative influences. Clicks are easily formed and often times conflicts that started in school trickle into the community and vice versa. At my middle school, I have had to support my students when they found themselves in a position where they were suddenly being peer pressured to follow along with their group of friends. The peer pressure put them in a position where they had to decide if having friends was more important than following school expectations and maintaining their grades. I have witnessed students turn on each other. I find it disheartening when students isolate one another because the reality is, many are sharing the same experiences outside of school. I know because when I have individual conversations with my students, many times they open up about their home situation. Central Falls is a community that has its strengths and many students have the same concerns about their school and community. I feel that photovoice would allow students to see the positive while opening up a dialogue of the struggles they face in and out of school in a way that may feel more authentic since they already love sharing photos with one another.
Question: Has photovoice ever been transferred into the classrooms and became a method of photography used by students rather than women?
Sydney Curran
ReplyDeleteQuote: "Photovoice entails people discussing the images that they have produced, and by doing so, they give meaning to, or interpret, their images."
Connection: I have been very interested in the Humans of Newyork page which consists of photos of people in New York and a story they like to share. My friend made his own Humans of Keene State page, and I've also been interested in starting my own page. Basically the photos are of a posed person of interested and they talk about a story they wish to share to the world.
Question: Would the Humans of... pages be a type of photo voice?
Quote: "Policies toward creating safe and enabling environments are crucial elements of women's health policy but are not necessarily based on what women need or want..."
ReplyDeleteConnection: The quote above is very typical to the culture we live in where policy is typically influenced by those farthest from the source. I read the article on and it reminded me the important of providing an avenue for voice from the source; "Photovoice values the knowledge putforth by women as a vital source of expertise".
Question: What are some current examples of photo voice projects (article is from 1999)? How might they look differently or have a different focus than the Wang article.
Quote: Women may use photovoice as a tool to take inventory of their individual and collective strengths and gifts in order to identify and discuss strategies for change (pg. 190, paragraph 1)
ReplyDeleteConnection: I feel as though a personal photovoice collection in a scrapbook or on display someone can serve as a solid visual reminder to yourself of your personal strengths. There are times where we all find ourselves needing a boost of confidence, and photovoice can almost serve as you giving yourself a pep talk based off of your photos.
Question: Why isn't there more support toward using photovoice? (This is the first I've heard of it)