The collaborative dimension in independent magazines
«La dimensione collaborativa nella riviste indipendenti».
This master thesis project stems from a personal interest in analysing how collaboration, interdisciplinarity and participation relate to the independent publishing. Through a rigorous method of research and the analysis of six case studies, I have identified different theoretical models of collaboration in the publishing environment of independent magazines, highlighting a trend away from the paper-based artefact.
This master thesis project stems from a personal interest in analysing how collaboration, interdisciplinarity and participation relate to the independent publishing. Through a rigorous method of research and the analysis of six case studies, I have identified different theoretical models of collaboration in the publishing environment of independent magazines, highlighting a trend away from the paper-based artefact.
ABSTRACT
The thesis «The collaborative dimension in independent magazines» investigates the contemporary independent publishing scenario, with the intention of detecting an evolution in publishing practices towards an increasing collaboration and interaction with the community of their readers. The need for independent magazines to face the complexity of modern times translates into the design of complex publishing systems that relate to the external environment and find in collaboration an important ally, which can affect the quality of the project. This assumption made it possible to bring out that, if the magazine is considered as an ecosystem in its complexity, it becomes the instrument of interaction between the subjects participating in it. The aim of the thesis was to categorise the existing modes of collaboration in the independent publishing, both in the design phase and in the cultural dissemination phase following publication.
Through the collection and analysis of several case studies, models of collaboration were distinguished on the basis of the materiality and immateriality of the publishing artefact and the space in which the interaction takes place. This research, therefore, highlights how independent magazines are increasingly expanding beyond their physical presence, towards practices that occupy dimensions such as space–temporality, with the aim of engaging stakeholders in the subject matter in order to provide critical, non–stereotypical, decolonising narratives.
2022 — POLITECNICO DI MILANO
Master's Thesis in Communication Design
SUPERVISOR
Prof. Elena Caratti
© 2023 STEFANIA ZANETTI