Hi everyone-
I am excited about this week's discussion and appreciate the opportunity to
serve as a guest moderator.

As I think about photonovels, photnovellas, or fotonovelas, and their
signficance in relation to our aims in health literacy, I am reminded of a
post last year from Dr. Zarcadoolas (2/14/07). It involved a discussion
thread about the definition of health literacy and questions, such as, Why
is it so hard to make meaning of health information? Why is it so hard to
advance the public's health literacy?  Dr. Zarcadoolas suggested that it is
in part because we initially took and tend to continue to take a very narrow
definition of health literacy.  She reminded us that literacy and health
literacy are not about reading a list of words or filling in blanks in a
paragraph, that as human beings our literacy abilities suggest much more
powerful and inventive possibilities...that people are meaning makers when
it comes to language.

As we share our experiences developing and using photonovellas, my hope is
that we will illuminate the extraordinary ability of novelas/stories to
build on the wide range of literacy skills we have as humans to connect with
others, to make meaning in our lives, and to make change in our world.
Stories are not only easier to remember than a set of facts; developing
stories together can not only increase our understanding of health and
channel our abilities to create healthier communities; the very act of
sharing and listening to each other's stories can improve our health -
physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Consequently, I think
the photonovella can be a powerful, multi-dimensional tool for advancing
health literacy that we are only just beginning to appreciate.

I look forward to hearing your stories and questions about photonovellas and
to sharing more about my experiences with them as the week goes on.

Susan



Auger Communications, Inc.
PO Box 51392
Durham, North Carolina 27717
tel:  919.361.1857
fax: 919.361.2284
email: auger at augercommunications.com

-----Original Message-----
From: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 10:10 AM
To: healthliteracy at nifl.gov
Subject: [HealthLiteracy 2447] Any questions about photonovellas?

Hi Everyone,

As we get ready for our discussion next week on photonovellas, I would like
to invite any questions that you may have that we can direct to our guest
speakers. If you have specific questions that you would like us to explore
during the discussion, please send them in, and I will hold them and give
them to our guest speakers. This way, we can better prepare the discussion
to fit your needs.

We will also have some teachers and health educators who have experiecnce
using and creating phonovellas, and questions for them are also welcome.

Thanks,
Julie

Julie McKinney
Health Literacy List Moderator
World Education
jmckinney at worlded.org
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