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# Assignment 2: Hacking Ethnography
Due date
: May 9, 15:00
Working in groups of up to four students, you will design and produce a contribution to a collection of public-facing resources on the theme of Hacking Ethnography. Your contribution can take one of two forms:
1. A zine (for instance, to provide guidelines for how to protect the identities of your research participants).
2. An instructional video (for instance, to show how to use a certain tool to secure research data).
**You will find a selection of last year's assignments in [this collection](https://www.jboy.space/blog/hacking-ethnography.html).**
Regardless which format you choose, try to create your resource in such a way that it will be useful to others like you wondering what kinds of practices they can adopt in the course of ethnographic research to protect research participants, secure data, and otherwise ensure that their research is ethical. We will discuss possible topics during tutorials in [week 4](../weeks/4.md).
When you have created your resource, [choose a Creative Commons license](https://creativecommons.org/choose/) under which to release your work into the public.
## Zine
Zines are a self-published format with a DIY aesthetic. They usually consist of literally cut-and-pasted texts and graphics, and traditionally they have been reproduced using copying machines. Zines have been associated with a variety of subcultures, such as the punk scene of the seventies and riot grrrl scene of the nineties.
ABC No Rio, a cultural institution in New York that archives zines, has the following [advice](http://www.abcnorio.org/facilities/zine_library.html) for "new zinesters":
> Look at a variety of zines before starting out on one of your own, to really take your time with the layout, and to think about how your zine might be different, depending on where you are in the world: does it have a sense of PLACE? Be specific and descriptive. ... Just to let you know, there are a LOT of punk rock zines out there, so if you're doing one, go the extra mile to make yours stand out.
You can find lots of examples of zines created through the ages on [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/zines). For additional inspiration, look at the zines created by [Nika Dubrovsky](https://a4kids.org/), [Psaroskala](https://psaroskalazines.gr/zines/), and [Julia Evans](https://wizardzines.com/zines/wizard/). You may also want to build on [a template](https://medium.com/data-feminism-lab-mit/announcing-a-beautiful-open-source-zine-template-76d6279831f4) (though that may not exactly help with standing out).
After choosing a Creative Commons license for your zine, submit it, preferably as a single PDF, through Brightspace. Making hard copies to distribute to your friends is optional but encouraged!
## Instructional Video
Create a video that conveys a useful skill for ethnographers in 4--9 minutes. Aim to make an engaging and concise video that (1) incorporates visual cues highlighting important information, (2) uses minimal text, and (3) has some personality!
Once you have chosen a Creative Commons license for your video, upload it to [archive.org](https://archive.org/create/), the university's [Kaltura site](https://video.leidenuniv.nl/), or a PeerTube instance like [TubEdu](https://tubedu.org). Submit the public link through Brightspace.
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# Assignment 2: Care Manuals for Ethnography
Due date
: May 17 (end of day)
Working in groups of up to four students, you will design and produce **a care, maintenance or repair manual** for ethnographic research. This assignment encourages you to use your creativity and to experiment with ways of presenting and explaining concepts touched on in this course for a wider public.
The manuals are intended to be public-facing resources for other ethnographers, so you will create your manual in such a way that it will be useful to others like you wondering what kinds of practices they can adopt in the course of ethnographic research to respond to emerging dilemmas, protect themselves and research participants, secure data, and otherwise ensure that their research is ethical. We will discuss possible topics during tutorials in [week 3](../weeks/3.md).
After you have created your manual, you will [choose a Creative Commons license](https://creativecommons.org/choose/) under which to release your work to the public. Submit your assignment, preferably as a single PDF, through Brightspace. Making hard copies to distribute to your friends is optional but encouraged!
## Resources
Care, maintenance or repair manuals come in all kinds of formats. Aside from basic information about the thing being cared for, common elements include:
- bulleted lists
- checklists
- flowcharts
- diagrams
- step-by-step instructions
- recommendations for tools and instructions for their use
Manuals combine technical communication with intercultural awareness of the needs of the audience. They have to find a balance between, on the one hand, providing enough information to be helpful (or else risk knowledge gaps) and, on the other hand, maximalism (which may be overwhelming, lead to resignation, and create a hierarchy between the more or less technically competent). Will your group be able to find the right balance?
For inspiration regarding the **form** of your manual, consult the following projects:
- [Manuals + Guides](https://www.are.na/shannon-mattern/manuals-guides)
- [The Manual Library](https://archive.org/details/manuals)
- [Step by Step: Thinking Through and Beyond the Repair Manual](https://placesjournal.org/article/step-by-step-repair-manuals-political-ecology)
- [Academic Repair Manual](https://redesigningacademy.wordsinspace.net/spring2022/academic-repair-manual/)
- [Debt Resistor's Manual](https://strikedebt.org/drom/)
- [Dish of the Day: Digital Care Meal](https://pratododia.org/en/) (*Prato do Dia*)
- [Read the Feminist Manual](https://psaroskalazines.gr/zines/RTFM/)
- [A Rough Guide to Bicycle Maintenance](https://cpezine.omeka.net/items/show/7)
- [Bicycle Maintenance Zine](https://neighborhoodanarchists.org/bike-maintenance-zine/)
- [How to Darn Your Clothes](https://iffybooks.net/darning/)
- [iFixit Repair Guides](https://www.ifixit.com/Guide)
You can consult work by preceding cohorts of students in this course for inspiration regarding the **content** of your manual:
- [Zines](https://archive.org/details/@j_boy/lists/1/ecer?sort=date) by former ECER students
- [Zines and other resources](https://www.jboy.space/blog/hacking-ethnography.html) by former ECER students
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