Photo-essays : a creative format for effective communication
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Sun Media
Abstract
Scientists and educators regularly face the challenge of effectively, concisely and
interestingly communicating their ideas and findings, and the need to engage
readers unfamiliar with the concepts or issues they want to describe.
In the context of advancing the developmental origins of health and disease
(DOHaD) agenda, effective communication is essential, particularly when aiming
to engage government agencies, inform leaders in the health care professions,
and motivate organisations able to drive change in the community. Hence, it is important to consider approaches that might make key DOHaD concepts and
health promotion strategies more readily accessible to any target population.
In this chapter, we share our experience from a collaboration between the Peter Wall
Institute for Advanced Studies (PWIAS) at the University of British Columbia,
and STIAS at Stellenbosch University to explore ways to make research and global
public health issues accessible and meaningful to a broad readership; we identified
the genre of photo-essay as an established and valid format, and describe its origins
and principles.
A photo-essay effectively presents a broad range of facts and data to varied
audiences because the format principally relies on the impact visual images have.
When well-chosen images are combined with appropriate captions and a concise
explanatory text, the resulting composition can engage and inform a wide range of
readers, and in a way likely to allow even those unfamiliar with the topic to rapidly
gain an overall understanding of the information and recommendations presented.
Photographs are a powerful way to furnish evidence because they expand the scope
of the information provided and uniquely engage individual readers. The reader
cannot be made to look at the images in the presented order, nor can the time
spent on each image be indicated. So, we suggest that a photo-essay offers a very
individual, informative yet flexible format for sharing ‘what works and why”, and
how, and under what circumstances it works in the context of DOHaD.
Description
CITATION: Stothers, L., Mukisa, R. & Macnab, A. J. 2020. Photo-essays : a creative format for effective communication, in Macnab, A., Daar, A. & Pauw, C. 2020. Health in transition : translating developmental origins of health and disease science to improve future health in Africa. Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS, doi:10.18820/9781928357759/11.
The original publication is available at https://africansunmedia.store.it.si/za
The original publication is available at https://africansunmedia.store.it.si/za
Keywords
Visual communication, Public health -- Africa
Citation
Stothers, L., Mukisa, R. & Macnab, A. J. 2020. Photo-essays : a creative format for effective communication, in Macnab, A., Daar, A. & Pauw, C. 2020. Health in transition : translating developmental origins of health and disease science to improve future health in Africa. Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS, doi:10.18820/9781928357759/11.