Zine Lab for Public Interest Technology

October 01, 2024

The Zine Lab is a collaborative community project funded by the Public Interest Technology University Network. “Zines are world-making tools” and in the process of zine-making, “students make their ideas material while ensuring them a future, often for those whom our society harbors the most genocidal and negating tendencies towards” (Scheper, 2023, p. 31). Originating in diverse cultural movements, including sci-fi fandom, 1960s counterculture, and 1980s punk rock, zines remain an active and activist form of tactical feminist publishing practices that have expanded into digital formats (e-zines). As a writing technology, zines are excellent pedagogical tools for instilling communication, collaboration, and content creation skills in advancing social justice and promoting technological equity. In the first season of the Zine Lab, Missouri S&T and East Carolina University are collaborating on four zines that cover gender-affirming technologies, reproductive health care technologies, technologies affecting survivors of gender violence, and technologies affecting women and gender minorities on campus. The website will hold e-zines donated to or made by the Zine Lab, available for public use. All zinemakers are invited to send us zines for our physical and digital archives, see our website for instructions (sites.mst.edu/pitzinelab). We are especially interested in zines that relate to gender and technology.

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