Authentic real-life materials

Authentic materials provide valuable raw material for future materials development. We can start collecting authentic materials at the same time as we begin research into the program context and the participants. Authentic materials include pamphlets, newsletters, bulletins, contracts, letters, forms, flyers, posters, maps, schedules, directories, and so on. We collect any print material that participants may have to engage with in the process of carrying out real-life tasks in the workplace, union and the various systems they encounter in the community.

Collections of authentic materials can be organized around themes and issues relevant to different worker populations, for example:

• CLC - national materials for all affiliated unions and their members
• provincial federations of labour - provincial issues for affiliated unions and their members
• national affiliate unions - materials for members of a specific union
• sectors - materials for workers in specific sectors of the economy
• local workplace/local union - materials for workers in a specific workplace
• local labour councils - materials for unions affiliated with a labour council

Collections of authentic materials can also be organized around general themes and issues relevant to systems that impact on workers' lives outside the workplace; for example

• housing
• health
• education
• transportation
• consumer issues
• citizenship and elections
• environment
• family life
• community
• leisure