Our second project will continue our explorations into materiality and remediation by asking you to build a prototype for Zine on a topic of your choice. As part of your goal for Blog #5, you will watch a video on Zine making and think about its role in community spaces in general and for book history in particular.

Zines are generally understood to be small circulation, self-published work that mixes (and remixes) original content with existing materials. Although some of them begin or end with digital lives, most Zines have a very strong history in material and print cultures. We will reflect on their roles as remediation and as potential digital surrogates at the end of this project.

With this in mind, brainstorm a topic that interests you and you think would be of interest to one of your discourse communities. 

The first thing to consider is why you are creating a zine in the first place (other than the fact that I assigned it): What are your goals? What do you hope to accomplish? What do you think is important or deserves attention? Choose one aspect of your community interests/values to center your zine around. Think about what is timely, what’s useful right now. This will help you focus your content. Then, narrow your focus to a specific audience: who exactly are you writing this for? Choose an audience that would be appropriate for your goals. This audience should guide and shape all of the choices you make as a writer and remixer. Lastly, as you fill your zine with content relative to your audience and goals.

In two weeks (March 29), you will bring to class a 1-page proposal that includes your choice for: 

• content (title, themes you’ll explore using writing/drawing/photography/etc.) 
• materials (colors, ink, cutting/pasting method, printing, tape, etc) 
• format (layout/structure) 
• circulation (# of copies you envision, where you might distribute it in your community and online, whether you plan on scanning and saving it online)

I would also encourage you to bring a draft of one sample page (this does not need to be set on our booklet, since you may want to organize your topics differently for the final draft).

Completing Your Zine

The final draft, which you will scan and submit to Blackboard by April 16 should follow these requirements:

• Your zine needs a cover, back cover, contact information, table of contents, and page numbers
• You must have at least 12-15 pages of content (this does not include your front cover or your back cover) — this will require at least two bound gatherings, which you can glue together or find other ways to keep them as one (such as stapling, adding a hard cover, etc).
• Your zine must incorporate visuals alongside text, but the text can be in a mix of languages
• You cannot leave an entire page blank

Additionally, you will submit a 4-5 page reflection addressing the following:

• What subject(s) did you focus on for this zine? If you addressed more than one subject, what overall theme is tying them together? 
• What was your target audience, and what kinds of arguments do you see your Zine making that will feel important to this audience? Describe at least two pages as examples.
• What was your experience designing and creating this project? Discuss your process in terms of hands-on making something (for the first time?) as well as any emotions (frustration, confusion, excitement) that surfaced. 
• What was your favorite page to create, and why? 
• Having completed this project, discuss your opinion on the ephemeral nature of Zines. What is the benefit (or drawback) of making work that is often intentionally short-lived and aimed at a narrow audience? Do you feel like Zines are most successful when they are material objects, or is there a value to born-digital Zines (i.e. ones that were not made on paper and later scanned)?
• Where did you go for materials, and how much of your own original work did you decide to include, and why? 
• The last page should include appropriate citations and bibliography for all non-original materials, including images and text.

By the time you’re reading to submit this project, please upload a scan of the full Zine as one file and a Word document or PDF with your reflection.

Some examples of Zines to inspire you:

• https://archive.qzap.org/index.php
• https://issuu.com/poczineproject 
• https://asyang.wixsite.com/small-science
• https://www.pinterest.com/ad_illustrates/zines/