Notably, many claims about zines—small, in de pen dent, self-expressive, user-created, alternatives to Big Media—are identical to those made about YouTube videos and blogs. Also notable is the strong political ethos that Duncombe highlights. While some zine writers overtly write about politics, the process of writing and distributing a zine itself requires certain elements that palpably reject corporate capitalism, like “borrowing” photocopies and computer time from an employer, corresponding with like-minded zinesters and fans through the mail, and utilizing a barter system.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 83