Total 556 words used.
Introduction
The Shutter magazine is the result of collecting cultural and artistic works produced by the employees of MCI through an organizational competition and festival called Shutter. The Shutter Festival, held from June to August 2024, introduced a new perspective on the concerns of organizational culture, providing cultural and artistic platforms that allowed employees to participate in an interactive and artistic environment to express their views and solutions regarding organizational culture issues.
What is Shutter?
The festival was established to hear the voices of employees on the concerns of organizational culture and introduced three categories:
1. Story Writing: Employees could write a story between 300 to 1000 words set within the organization.
2. Dialogue Writing: Three one-minute scenes from three well-known animations were provided, and employees were asked to write dialogues and narratives reflecting the organization.
3. AI Illustration: Employees could use AI tools to create a conceptual, creative image conveying their cultural message.
Employees were invited to submit their works in any of these three categories to the festival committee. The submitted works were then evaluated by professional judges, and the best works in each category were awarded. The main condition for submission was that all works had to be related to the theme of organizational culture. This approach enabled us to gather a collection of works that not only had aesthetic value but also conveyed employees' voices and provided diverse insights and solutions in the field of organizational culture.
Features of the Shutter Magazine
1. Enduring Impact and Documentation
The main objective of publishing this magazine was to preserve and sustain the name and approach of the Shutter Festival and to collect and maintain the selected works. While only a limited number of works were recognized as winners by the judges in the competition, the magazine included more works from employees that demonstrated merit and were published with the creators' names. This approach helped ensure that the Shutter Festival was viewed not only as a temporary event but as an ongoing movement and a documented source that future employees could refer to as a record of the organization's cultural concerns over time.
2. Artistic Added Value
The magazine production team aimed to enhance the selected works by adding artistic value, thus improving the magazine's appearance and content quality. These efforts ensured that the magazine met high artistic and professional standards while also being engaging and impactful. For example, each story featured custom illustrations, top dialogue writing entries were given humorous dubbing, and AI illustrations included custom captions.
3. Preserving Cultural and Aesthetic Values
The magazine was designed to uphold artistic and aesthetic values consistent with Iranian culture and the organization's ethos. This included using calligraphy, a rich heritage of Iranian culture, in digital handwritten Nastaliq script. Additionally, the graphic designs incorporated a puzzle theme revealed in the third section of the magazine, completing throughout the pages to form an image of a historic Iranian site where the first telegraphic communications in the Middle East were transmitted. This connection highlights MCI's pioneering role in Iran's telecommunications industry.
Conclusion
The Shutter magazine, as the festival's outcome, reflects the organization's commitment to listening to employees' voices and valuing their cultural contributions. Through this innovative and documented approach, the magazine transcends a simple publication and becomes a symbol for strengthening organizational culture and preserving artistic and social values.
Nomination Title: Shutter Festival: A New Approach to Organizational Culture
