My apologies if this is a cross posting for some of you,

Inspired by Paulo Freire's approach to critical pedagogy, my MA research
involved having immigrant ESL speaking women create a participatory
photonovel about eating well in Canada. A photonovel is like a comic book,
but uses photographs with balloon captions.

Creating a photonovel is very user-friendly and economical. In terms of
technology, all that is required is a digital camera, computer and a
comic-producing program that costs 30 dollars (Comic Life, which can be
bought online: www.plasq.com/ or it comes with most Mac computers).

My research findings demonstrated that a photonovel can be an effective
health literacy tool for immigrant ESL-speaking women, that it created
community amongst the women, that it helped the women feel important and
that it shifted their consciousness about nutrition in Canada
To view the photonovel the women created, and others, go to:

www.photonovel.ca

My MA research won a Canadian Population and Public Health Masters
Research Award (2006) and was shortlisted for the Canadian Language and
Literacy Masters Research Award (2008).

For some more information about the use of photonovels in education:

Nimmon, L. (2007). Within the eyes of the people: Using a photonovel as
a consciousness-raising health literacy tool with ESL-speaking immigrant
women. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 98(4), 337-340.

Rudd, R., & Comings, J. (1996). Learner developed materials: An empowering
product. Health Education Quarterly, 21(3), 313-327.

Wang, C., & Burris, A. (1994). Empowerment through photonovella:
Portraits of participation. Health Education Quarterly, 21(2), 171-186.

In response to the growing interest in photonovels as an empowering
educational tool, I have created a new website at www.photonovela.com

The goal of this site is to have a place where user created photonovels
can be shared and disseminated more widely.

Should you have any questions about facilitating photonovel projects,
please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Laura

-- 
Laura Nimmon
Doctoral Fellow
Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada
Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
University of British Columbia
Literacy Education
www.photonovel.ca