In June 2009 I was awarded a small grant from the Arts Council England to do a project focussing on Self-Publishing and Empowerment.

This project had two aspects. Firstly I facilitated workshops for queer youth about media stereotypes of LGBTQI people and used zine making to explore the importance of self-representation. We produced a zine about their experiences that was distributed amongst their peer group.

LGBT youth making zines at a workshop hosted by Freedom Youth, Bristol, December 2009. 

Secondly, I researched and wrote a booklet entitled Self-Publishing and Empowerment: A Resource for Community Groups. It covers the main forms of self-publishing that are currently available at a low-budget cost: zines, blogs and Print-on-Demand publishing. The booklet is also available free from me in hard copy.

The booklet is a mixture of practical information, inspiring profiles of individuals, groups and projects, workshop guides and resources. It contains contributions from Melanie Maddison, Red Chidgey, Melissa Steiner, April L. Hamilton, Deseronto Archives and the Remebering Oilve Collective.

Research from the project about Web 2.0 technologies and community publishing will also appear in the publication Do you Remember Olive Morris? which is being launched by the Remembering Olive Collective in January 2010.