Zine+Movement

=The Zine Movement= BY CINDY WONG toc

Ideas
In my previous two assignments, I focused on the Business of Magazines in the first one, and the different types of Zines in the second. In this third assignment, I plan to elaborate the story behind the zine movement as well as the historical timeline that brought zines to where they are now. I also chose zines because it seemed to have a more interesting background to it compared to a background to magazines, books or tabloids.

Research
It was difficult to find statistics on how many readers a zine has or exactly how many were distributed within the world. The information is too old or the majority of society has little or no information or knowledge of zines today because it is not as popular. Therefore, I just left the research up to the interesting facts and to develop a timeline. Because zines were a pop culture that focused on cut and paste theories, colourful methods and do-it-yourself kind of style, I hope to incorporate it into my design.


 * Historical Facts**

//18th century://
 * zines have been estimated to have started at this time and era
 * Benjamin Franklin was most likely have begun the structuring of zines
 * he developed a literary magazine for psychiatric patients that were distributed amongst staff and patients
 * considered the first zine that captured the essence of meaning in zines

//1940s://
 * fanzines were brought back and fans were able to make their own zines
 * science fiction fandom was also brought back but fans made perzines instead
 * //"perzine//" - personal zine

//late 1970s://
 * punk zines, part of the punk movement emerged
 * started in U.K. and USA, then spread to Ireland
 * fanzines were made with cheap photocopying, made it easier

//1980s://
 * Factsheet Five, a company that reviewed any zine or small presss creation
 * formed a networking point for zine creators and readers
 * "zinesters" - assortment of different and obscene topics

//1990s://
 * "riotgrrl" - underground feminist punk movement
 * they raised popularity to zines, DIY ethic, art and political action, "Girl Germs" zines
 * more gender balanced, explosion of zines, more raw/explicit, more confrontation
 * feminists raised awareness because males used to make the majority of zines

//mid 1990s://
 * zines enjoyed a brief period of attention
 * a number of zines were collected and published into book form

//late 1990s://
 * zines were a declining fad
 * faded from public awareness
 * could be argued that it faded because of natural course, some argued because of the sudden growth of the internet
 * internet served the same role as personal expression that could be transformed into websites

//present://
 * post-1997, zines have been a medium for artistic expressions (mainly)
 * zines continue to be popular, but known for its importance in the D-I-Y Do-it-yourself movement
 * most zines today discuss social issues, such as globalization, environmentalism
 * some zines cover interesting and fun hobbies, such as sewing, cooking, creative crafts
 * zines are replaced primarily by the internet, especially blogging