Can you take a picture “worth a thousand words”?
If yes, then you are invited to participate in an exciting citizen science style PhotoVoice project.
“Photovoice is a long-established method in community capacity building. As the name implies, the process uses self-generated images and captions to help participants have a ‘voice’ and articulate their interests and concerns around some problematic situation. For example, the community impacts of environmental pollution or uncontrolled climate change.”
Years 9, 10, 11 and 12 students and their home-schooled equivalents across the Toowoomba region are invited to get snap happy and find their voice in the lead up to the 2021 Youth Summit. Proudly hosted by Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE) Inc. and St Ursula’s College, the free virtual Youth Summit is being held from the 19th to the 22nd of April and will address current topical issues relating to the environment, social justice, animal welfare/conservation and heritage conservation and protection.
The PhotoVoice “citizen’s science” project welcomes youth to submit a photo, short video or drawing/sketch of an issue that they find concerning, type up a short caption to match, and submit to HOPE by the 16th of April. This caption should aim to be about 30 words long and explain why the picture was taken, what it means to the student, why it is important, what issue it highlights and why it does so effectively, and what we as a community can do to improve the issue.
Youth are urged to be respectful of the people’s personal space and privacy – always ask permission first! Try not to take close-up portraits, and instead try to take images of things rather than people. Make sure to stay safe, check-in with teachers and parents, don’t go adventuring alone, and avoid hazardous situations. Some jumping off points are shown below but students are encouraged to get creative and inspired and choose whichever topic sparks their interest.
Submissions for the PhotoVoice Project are due by Friday16th April, 2021 and are to be submitted to HOPE via email, Google Drive or any other easily accessible platform. For photos and drawings, please submit a scanned A4 PhotoVoice submission and for videos, please attach a link to your email. Youth are asked to include their name, year level and school in their submission.
For more detailed information on the PhotoVoice project, email HOPE at office@hopeaustralia.org.au.
Submiited by:
Frank Ondrus
President – HOPE Inc.
Ph 4639 2135
