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Can comics help understand community networks?

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It is not easy to explain the concepts behind community networks, both the technical characteristics of radio frequency networks and the social and human aspects of community technologies.

Can a comic help?

Let us know what you think, and please share any other examples on how to make the work behind community-owned networks more accessible to a wider audience:

https://www.apc.org/en/pubs/understanding-community-networks-through-comics

Comments

Submitted by George McBean on Mon, 06/01/2020 - 14:54 Permalink

Dear Leila

... this question you ask - Can a comic help understand community networks? - has been asked (as it should be) for the last 30 years in the development community. I have detailed some of the historic answers to this in my website.

But I do think the modern debate has changed so much it's worth sharing in a longer reply to you. One of the humanitarian areas which has gained a lot in the last ten years from comics is the Health field. What is now known as Graphic Medicine has allowed the 'recipients' of health interventions to feed back their experiences ... to medical professionals. Ie how the service the professionals boast about actually felt to the receiver... and in some cases the dire consequences. Meanwhile some of the medical professionals have also taken to the medium of comics to better explain preventative and curative measures.

So for the first time in humanitarian assistance you have a very active two way dialogue going on between the giver and the receiver of aid through comics. The main difference between the two is that the medical professionals have to get their information scientifically correct for it to have an affect. The recipients can tell their story of where services broke down and procedures failed and basically tell others of their personal experience. They can't dream up their own version of a cure (although some do)

Graphic medicine has opened the door to a different discussion about health delivery and it is affecting the top down - old fashioned medical communication.

This has gone on rather long but if you would like more on this let me know. Some of the other humanitarian organisation such as Migration and Shelter are taking to this approach now. To give more opportunity for two way dialogue through visuals.  

Best wishes George . https://www.georgemcbean.com

Submitted by leila_na on Fri, 06/05/2020 - 05:00 Permalink

Thanks a lot, George! We work with local communities (here's the link to the project) and each of them chooses their own ways to represent their work (videos, images, stories...), but we've found comics particularly useful in translating complex techincal concepts. 

Let's keep each other posted on ways to present this important work. Best!

Leila