Five studies, five ways: Transforming youth engagement through co-created infographics, factsheets, comics, videos and songs

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Five studies, five ways: Transforming youth engagement through co-created infographics, factsheets, comics, videos and songs

Author: Robert Inglis – The Yazi Centre for Science and Society in Africa, South Africa

Co-authors:

  • Hannah Keal – Africa Health Research Institute, South Africa
  • Nomathamsanqa Majozi – Africa Health Research Institute, South Africa

Fostering dialogue between researchers and researched communities can be challenging. Inherent power dynamics and differing world-views may result in poor communication and a lack of genuine engagement. This demonstration outlines the strategy, implementation and evaluation of a participatory multi-media youth engagement programme. It is presented in hope of sharing lessons learned, challenges and recommendations.

In 2019 the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) partnered with science communication agency Jive Media Africa to deepen understanding of scientific research among young people. Participatory, co-creation approaches were used to enhance dialogue, empower participants and gather insights which c inform future research relevant to the communities where it is conducted.

Five adolescent health research studies undertaken at AHRI (which hosts a large health and demographic surveillance and intervention programme in rural South Africa) formed the basis for the programme. These included; a tuberculosis prevalence survey, piloting home-based testing for sexually transmitted infections, assessing healthcare services, understanding health risks associated with migration and gaining insight into concepts of hope and resilience among young people.

Scientists, staff, ‘peer navigators’, public engagement personnel and 30 school pupils workshopped, co-produced and tested:
Fact sheets (1), incorporating infographics (2) and comic strips (3)
Short films (4) on themes identified in the studies, starring scientists and youth
Five original songs (5), created, recorded and performed in response to each of the 5 studies. (The Hip Hop Health methodology has been previously presented at PCST). The songs were used to develop short radio packages incorporating researcher interviews for broadcast on community radio stations in isiZulu and English and are also being incorporated into a theatre production.

Focus group discussions with participants provided insight into both products and process. The work is highly replicable in both high- and low-income settings and we look forward to engaging with others to share approaches and insights from participatory co-production processes.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Demonstration
Theme: Transformation

Whose story is it anyway? Participatory approaches to science engagement

Author: Robert Inglis – The Yazi Centre for Science and Society in Africa, South Africa

Despite awareness of negative impacts of deficit-model science communication (in which the scientist is seen as the knowledge-holder, and the target audience seen simply as the passive recipient), a huge number of science communication initiatives continue to use this mode. Not only is it often ineffective and regularly damaging, but it limits possibilities for the creation of new knowledge and active participation by society in science.

The deficit model has strong parallels to the concept of “banking education” used by education theorist and activist Paulo Freire to describe and critique traditional education systems. Paulo Freire was concerned about the extent to which these modes of engagement tend to entrench, rather than transform, the status quo. Paulo Friere proposed that it is through active participation in processes which transform their worlds, that members of society can, through “cycles of action and reflection” gain “critical consciousness” and come to understand the problems and needs within their realities.

The proposed workshop will be highly interactive with the aim of exploring some basic elements of participatory processes to encourage new approaches to science engagement and collaborative knowledge production. Inspired by Paulo Freirean methodologies, these will include; Defining the issues/s (by eliciting personal experiences of participants to bring them into personal engagement with the problems), (b) Exploring the issues through various creative strategies, (Photo voice, songwriting, participatory video) and finally, sharing those learnings through events or engagement activities.

Robert Inglis is an award-winning science communication practitioner with over 15 years’ experience in creating opportunities for audiences to become involved in and understand scientific research. He has used a range of participatory methods including; citizen science research on adolescent health, science related song-writing and performance, community radio collaborations between learners and researchers and co-creation of film and other media.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Workshop
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Where no one has gone before: A journey into the nano world

Author: Robert Inglis – The Yazi Centre for Science and Society in Africa, South Africa

Co-authors:
Anthony Lelliott – University of the Witwatersrand
Mthuthuzeli Zamxaka – South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement

The world of nano-science and nanotechnology exist outside our lived experience. Nanotechnologists, wearing white lab coats and swilling tubes of amber liquid reveal little of the incredible stories of how matter, manipulated at the sale of billionths of a meter is impacting people’s lives.

Jive Media Africa responded to a call from the Nanotechnology Public Engagement Programme (NPEP) at the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) to make this invisible world, visible. Using a comics and cartoons approach, four stories were created for distribution across South African on large, highly visual posters.

The campaign was aimed at school learners, and aimed to harness the power of identification and imagination through visual story-telling to reveal the hidden world of nanotechnology. Each poster dealt with an application of nanotechnology – starting with a problem being faced in a developing context and proceeding into a journey through scale as two protagonists became smaller and smaller until they were at the scale of the unique scientific principles being employed in the technology. Topics included water treatment in low-resource settings through application of antimicrobial silver, the development of super-efficient photo-voltaic cells, the creation of gas monitoring devices for use in mining and targeted drug delivery through bio-engineering gold nano-particles.

This highly visual poster presentation will showcase the work and research undertaken into its efficacy as a science communication tool. It will reflect on the campaign with a view to sharing innovative approaches to making complex and inaccessible information clear and relevant to audiences in low resource settings.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Visual talk
Theme: Stories
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Stories can save lives: Breaking through stigma with video stories

Author: Robert Inglis – The Yazi Centre for Science and Society in Africa, South Africa

Co-author: Jacob Bor – Boston University School of Public Health

If the HIV and AIDS epidemic has an epicenter, it is southern Africa and the province of KwaZulu-Natal. In the small rural village of Matubatuba, the average life expectancy dropped below 49. Lives were shattered and families torn apart as literally thousands of people died. A generation grew up surrounded by death and disease and little hope for the future.

In 2004, with the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, the situation started to change. Over the past 13 years, life expectancy has been on the rise and the most recent data demonstrates it is now pushing 67 years. But how can this dramatic story be told to the young people who grew up in the shadow of HIV and AIDS? The stigma is massive, and the numerical concepts of average life expectancy, and the physiological details of antiretroviral therapy are complex.

Stories can save lives. Researchers from Boston University who were based at the Africa Health Research Institute in Mtubatuba, partnered with multi-media science communication specialists Jive Media Africa, to film the stories of people who were living long lives due to antiretroviral therapy. It was their hope that the personal narratives of people who had survived and thrived in spite of HIV could be used to encourage young people to see a different future for themselves, and to take steps to secure their futures through HIV testing and treatment. Through mixed methods research the results and impacts of the approach were measured.

Using participatory approaches to create compelling media is the subject of this show, tell and talk presentation. A short excerpt of the video will be screened and the results of the research shared along with insights about the science communication considerations, including critical aspects such as streamlining production processes, securing informed consent and ethical considerations.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Show, tell and talk
Theme: Stories
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

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