Zines as qualitative forms of analysis

Purpose: This report brings forward the possibility of capturing creativity and human experience through a visual ethnography approach, applying the use of ‘zines’ as a means of capturing individual engagement with a process. Zines are small (maga)zines from the do-it-yourself movement. They began as a means for fans to express their support of favourite musicians. They are a means to express collective voice from the ground up, less formal than a publication produced by an entity, but formal enough to be considered publications in their own right. Zines can be handcrafted in rough method or can be beautifully designed and produced to very high standards.

Zines are presented in this paper as a method of collecting and analysing data within a framework of qualitative analysis that retains more of the shape of the complete experience (Dewey). This is done so as to maintain a more overall sense of what the experience was for an individual participating in an activity within the organisational context. Accounting for experience only through evidence, this paper argues, loses many important elements of experience, such as tacit engagement, experiential knowledge, and individual judgement. What is being lost, this paper argues, is the human creative input and engagement with experiences in the organisational and workplace context.

Design/methodology/approach: For IFKAD 2016, we propose to produce materials ahead of the conference (in the form of an advanced colouring book or a photo album) and invite participants to gather materials, notate impressions, draw and photograph in response to their experience in the conference. We aim for this zine to be a holistic record of a process, incorporating both positive and negative elements as a way of informing future activities.

At the end of the conference, the researchers will collect and analyse the individual zines submitted by the conference participants and prepare an edited summarised publication of key impressions as made by the participants themselves as a response to the conference.

Originality/value: This work proposed could be done solely for the Creative Coordination track or could involve all members attending the conference. The aim is is to implement this as a qualitative means of accounting for human experience by using IFKAD 2016 as a testing ground. Can we capture the thinking and impressions in this way to account for creativity and inform new methods?

Practical implications: The researchers will co-create the materials. At the end of the conference, we will gather all mini publications from all the conference attendees who took part and create an edited summarised publication as a response to the conference. This will constitute a qualitative record of the creative endeavour during the conference.