Interaction, feedback, reinforcement and collective identity: the role of zine making in the formation and sustaining of informal communities

This paper will explore the roles played in the formation and operation of zine communities. Utilising data from thirty-two interviews with zine makers in three continents, information sharing roles within informal networks, as discussed by Cross and Prusak (2002), are used to codify the roles within zine communities. The paper identifies that within zine communities there are two additional information sharing roles (emancipator and change agent) suggesting an emerging approach to information interaction. Further, I argue that knowledge transfer and experience sharing processes, which are fundamental to innovation and creativity within a community are potentially compromised within zine communities,leading to a further disaggregation of membership, and ultimately to an increasing and difficult to breach gap between these disparate zine communities.