Digital Humanist's Helpdesk: Zine-ify Your Research

One of several workshops in the Digital Humanist's Help Desk series.

Zines can be a great tool for teaching and for sharing research. Researchers across disciplines use zines as a vehicle to communicate their findings to non-specialist audiences, to supplement more traditional published outcomes like research papers with graphics and personal reflections, and to advocate for action based on their research. This introductory workshop will introduce the medium of zines for academics, review examples and suggested starting points, and get researchers started creating their own zines with hands-on exercises. This workshop is offered in-person only.

What is a zine?

“Zine” comes from the word “magazine.” Prominent zinester Sarah Mirk defines a zine as a “multi-page publication made for passion, not profit.” Zines are often handmade and are a great way to be creative and share your interests. To get an idea of what they can look like, view some examples from the Barnard Zine Library.

Having attended this workshop, participants can expect to be able to:

• Understand the basics of zines and their use as a medium for researchers and academics
• Discuss the benefits and limitations of zines and different ways to create them
• Use simple tools to make their own zine!

About the instructor:

Cynthia Heider is the Public Digital Scholarship Librarian at Penn Libraries, where she works to initiate and support digital projects, scholarship, and programming that center community partnerships and public engagement. She previously worked in a number of roles that centered working with humanities data in cultural heritage and archives. Cynthia holds a Master's degree in history from Temple University’s Center for Public History as well as a BA in history from Goucher College.