No. 461 - January 18, 2021

  • Coming Events:

    - Western Law Distinguished Speaker Series: Senator Murray Sinclair
    - 1Lib1Ref 2021 - Virtual Coffee Hour
    - FIMSwrites - Virtual Edition
    - 1Lib1Ref 2021 - Virtual Coffee Hour
    - "Riot Platforms: Protest, Police, Planet"
    - "Digital Care and Cruelty: social provisioning and deprivation in the era of big data"
    - Save the Date: "Media Distortions: Understanding the Power Behind Spam, Noise, and Other Deviant Media"

  • Important Dates:

    - Thursday, January 21, 2021 - Meeting of the Board of Governors (1PM, Online)

  • News & Announcements:

    - Subscribe to the Graduate Research Blog
    - Call for Papers: mediations workshop series
    - Nominations open for membership on Western's Senate and Board of Governors

  • Awards & Accomplishments:

    - Tracy Moore, MA'00 (Journalism)
    - Gregory Nightingale
    - Christine Pinkney, MLIS'15
    - Sadiq Raji
    - Eada Novilla-Surette
    - Kamran Sedig

  • Publications & Presentations:

    - Janet Allen
    - Jacquie Burkell
    - Pam McKenzie
    - Charlotte Nau
    - Darryl Pieber
    - Anabel Quan-Haase (with Dennis Ho and Olivia Lake)

  • In the Media:

    - Desmond Cole
    - Anabel Quan-Haase
    - Sharon Sliwinski

  • Additional Activities of Note:

    - MLIS 9004 Research Methods and Statistics end-of-year poster presentations
    - Luke Stark

  • News from the FIMS Graduate Library:

  • FIMS Undergraduate Round-Up:

    - Selena Guo named Schwarzman Scholar
    - Audio Journalism and Podcasting students produce series aired on Radio Western

  • Next Issue:


Coming Events


Western Law Distinguished Speaker Series: Senator Murray Sinclair
Monday, January 18, 2021
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Via Zoom
Senator Sinclair will speak about becoming the first Aboriginal judge in Manitoba, chairing Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and sitting on Canada's Senate. Senator Sinclair served the justice system in Manitoba for over 25 years. He was the first Aboriginal Judge appointed in Manitoba and Canada’s second. He served as Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in Manitoba and as Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Read more.

1Lib1Ref 2021 - Virtual Coffee Hour
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Via Zoom (registration required)
Western Libraries and FIMS Graduate Library are hosting a virtual coffee hour to encourage participation in the 1Lib1Ref campaign to improve the quality of Wikipedia articles by adding missing citations. This is an event where you can learn about Wiki editing, become a Wiki Editor yourself and help us eliminate the backlog of "citation needed" notices on the Wikipedia platform. Drop-in for a moment or stay for as long as you'd like. Read more.

FIMSWrites Virtual Edition
Every Wednesday
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Via Zoom
Do you expect to have paper, story, article, report, thesis, or book deadlines coming up? Does having other people writing around you help keep you on-task? Then join FIMSWrites, an informal initiative to provide some solidarity in the sometimes-solitary writing process. All FIMS graduate students, staff and faculty are welcome to bring their favourite writing devices and join us to write and check in. If you're interested, contact Pam McKenzie or Lola Wong for further information.

1Lib1Ref 2021 - Virtual Coffee Hour
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Via Zoom (registration required)
Western Libraries and FIMS Graduate Library are hosting a virtual coffee hour to encourage participation in the 1Lib1Ref campaign to improve the quality of Wikipedia articles by adding missing citations. This is an event where you can learn about Wiki editing, become a Wiki Editor yourself and help us eliminate the backlog of "citation needed" notices on the Wikipedia platform. Drop-in for a moment or stay for as long as you'd like. Read more.

Riot Platforms: Protest, Police, Planet
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Via Zoom (registration required)
Presented by Professor Nick Dyer-Witheford as part of the 2021 FIMS Seminar Series.
Abstract: From 2018-2019 the planet was swept by a wave of mass uprisings, running from Paris to Hong Kong, Santiago, Beirut, Quito, to Tehran and Baghdad, and many other locations. These social rebellions have been marked not only by their scale, duration and intensity of confrontations with police, but also by new uses of digital platforms to coordinate and connect wide-area mobile actions, and by fresh digital countermeasures from security forces and reactionary vigilantes (continue reading).

"Digital Care and Cruelty: social provisioning and deprivation in the era of big data"
Thursday, January 28, 2021
7:00 p.m.
Zoom Webinar (registration required)
Part of the Big Data at the Margins series. Featuring: Virginia Eubanks (SUNY, Albany), Sasha Costanza-Chock (MIT), Joanna Redden (Western).
What good can big data, automation and artificial intelligence do for individuals in need of social assistance and what harms can it perpetuate? The first in our Big Data at the Margins series explores the impacts of artificial intelligence, big data and digital technologies on those in need of social supports and resources in smaller towns and cities across Canada. Increasingly, cash-strapped city governments are outsourcing decisions about who can receive social benefits, such as housing, health, or other social services, to privately-owned software providers. Read more.

Save the Date: "Media Distortions: Understanding the Power Behind Spam, Noise, and Other Deviant Media"
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Online (registration required)
Presented by Elinor Carmi, professor, digital rights advocate, feminist, researcher and journalist. This event is co-sponsored by FIMS, and part of The Feminist and Accessible Publishing, Communications, + Tech Series. Find out more.


Important Dates


- Thursday, January 21, 2021 - Meeting of the Board of Governors (1PM, Online)


News & Announcements


Subscribe to the Graduate Research Blog
Graduate Students are invited to subscribe to the Graduate Student Research Blog. The blog provides research information for graduate students – scholarship, fellowship, internship and other funding announcements, tips on writing scholarship/funding applications, and other research-related tidbits.

Call for Papers - mediations: a workshop series
The mediations organizing committee are welcoming proposals for the Winter 2021 term workshop series from any member of the FIMS and UWO communities – students and faculty alike – on any work that engages with the rich, diverse, and loosely defined disciplines of Media and Information Studies. Check your Western email for the Call for Papers message containing all the details. The deadline is Friday, January 22, 2021.

Nominations open for membership on Western's Senate and Board of Governors
Nominations are now open for membership on Western’s Senate and Board of Governors. Nominations will close at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26, 2021 for faculty and administrative staff constituencies. Online elections for both Senate and the Board of Governors will be held from 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 10, 2021. Full information about Senate and the Board of Governors elections (including the election procedures, schedule, and nominations forms) can be found at: Senate elections: www.uwo.ca/univsec/senate/elections.html 


Awards & Accomplishments


Tracy Moore, MA'00 (Journalism), was named among the 2020 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award recipients in December. The awards are presented annually by the Women's Executive Network (WXN). Moore is currently working as a television host for Citytv, Rogers Sports & Media, and supports a number of charities.

Gregory Nightingale, LIS PhD Candidate, successfully defended his thesis titled, The Public Library as Past Become Space, on December 2, 2020.

Christine Pinkney, MLIS'15, recently accepted a position at Toronto Public Library, and as of January 18, 2021, will be a Library Service Manager, Barbara Frum District.

Sadiq Raji, HIS PhD Candidate, successfully defended his thesis titled, Regional Integration: Physician Perceptions on Electronic Medical Record Use and Impact in South West Ontario, on December 16, 2020.

Eada Novilla-Surette, MHIS Candidate, successfully defended her thesis titled, Trends and Factors Associated with Suicide Deaths in Older Adults, on December 2, 2020.

It was announced on January 14, 2021, that Associate Professor Kamran Sedig has been promoted to Professor.


Publications & Presentations


Janet Allen (LIS PhD student), Associate Professor Jacquie Burkell and Professor Pam McKenzie published the following article:

McKenzie, P., Burkell, J., & Allen, J. (2020). The Public Library is….; Mapping Stakeholder Perspectives on the Values and Purposes of the Public Library. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS / Actes Du congrès Annuel De l’ACSI. https://doi.org/10.29173/cais1117 

Professor Burkell also co-authored a chapter titled, "Framing the Challenges of Digital Inclusion for Young Canadians," which was contributed to Citizenship in a Connected Canada: A Policy and Research Agenda.

The FIMS Undergraduate Fellowship team composed of Professor Anabel Quan-Haase, media studies doctoral students Charlotte Nau and Darryl Pieber, along with undergraduate students Dennis Ho and Olivia Lake, published the following paper:

Quan-Haase, Anabel; Mendes, Kaitlyn; Ho, Dennis; Lake, Olivia; Nau, Charlotte & Pieber, Darryl (2021). Mapping #MeToo: A synthesis review of digital feminist research across social media platforms. New Media & Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820984457 

Darryl Pieber, Media Studies PhD Candidate, published the following article:

Pieber, D.A. (2020). “Filtered in/filtered out : Locative media and social accessibility in urban spaces”. Studies in Communication Sciences, pp. 1-13. URL: https://www.hope.uzh.ch/scoms/article/view/2165  


In the Media


Desmond Cole, 2021 Clissold Lecture presenter, was featured in an article titled, "Activist author Desmond Cole challenges journalists, media and status quo," published in Western News on January 12, 2021. Cole spoke with Western News in advance of his public lecture on January 14.

Professor Anabel Quan-Haase was interviewed for an article titled, "How do I know if a website, online source is reliable?" published on Toronto.com on January 8, 2021.

Professor Sharon Sliwinski was a guest on CBC London Afternoon Drive in a segment titled, "Researchers are studying what our COVID-19 dreams really mean," on December 1, 2020. She chatted with host Chris dela Torres about her partnership with the Museum of London (UK) collecting and researching people's pandemic dreams. CBC also published a print piece on the subject titled, "Weird pandemic dreams are a thing, and researchers in Canada and U.K. are collecting them."


Additional Activities of Note


MLIS 9004 Research Methods and Statistics end-of-year poster presentations
In lieu of the in-person poster session that would normally be held in the absence of COVID-19, students in the Fall 2020 MLIS9004 Research Methods and Statistics course (instructed by Pam McKenzie and Melissa Adler) instead published their work online in a Sway presentation. Synchronous Zoom sessions were held to give students time to discuss their work with others, and the posters are still available to be viewed online.

Assistant Professor Luke Stark's book project Ordering Emotion: Histories of Computing and Human Feelings from Cybernetics to AI is now under contract with the MIT Press and will be forthcoming in 2022.


News from the FIMS Graduate Library


Contact us!

Although our physical location is closed, Kendall and I are still here to help you with any library-related questions.
We can help with access to resources and services for your teaching, learning and research.
You can email us (fimslib@uwo.ca) or call and leave a message (519-661-2111 x88488).
We are available to offer assistance Monday to Friday, 9am to 4:30pm.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, January 27th 12-1pm: Writing at the Graduate Level
Do you want to feel more confident about your upcoming writing assignments? Has it been a while since you’ve written an essay?

If so, join Paul Schmidt, program coordinator from the Writing Support Centre, as he shares his expertise and guides you through the process of writing successful graduate level papers.

Email fimslib@uwo.ca to register. A Zoom link will be sent to you the day before the event.

Instructional Videos from FIMS Grad Library staff

Take a look at some workshops and tutorials created by library staff to help with your searching for your assignments and research.

These videos include an introduction to Omni (Western Libraries catalogue), along with discipline specific databases (Library Literature, LISA, Web of Science and more). https://lib.fims.uwo.ca/ 

Temporary eAccount to London Public Library (LPL) resources continues

LPL has graciously offered eAccess to our grad students regardless of their location to ensure everyone has access to resources needed for classes. More information is available on the FIMS Graduate Library electronic resources page: https://intranet.fims.uwo.ca/graduate/services_groups/electronic_resources.html 

Be Social @FIMSGradLib!

Follow us @FIMSGradLib on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for updates on electronic resources, access to informative articles, and lots of humour to get you through the term.


FIMS Undergraduate Round-Up


Selena Guo named Schwarzman Scholar
Third-year MIT student Selena Guo was recently named a Class of 2022 Schwarzman Scholar. The prestigious scholarship will allow her to pursue a master’s degree in global affairs at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University in Beijing, beginning in August 2021. Only five students were selected from Canadian postsecondary schools. Read more in an article titled, "Selena Guo named among Class of 2022 Schwarzman Scholars," published in Western News on December 16. Selena also participated in a Q&A about her accomplishment.

Audio Journalism and Podcasting students produce series aired on Radio Western
Students from Fall 2020's MIT 3776A: Podcasting and Audio Journalism (instructed by Bernard Graham) produced a four-part audio journal that aired on Radio Western over several weeks. "The Covid Cohort" documents an unprecedented year for students at Western. The pandemic has turned life upside down both on and off campus. Hear the voices of students as they struggle with their physical and mental health in an era of warnings, restrictions, and being forced to learn online.


Next Issue


The Grad Bulletin is your source for news, announcements, and events pertaining to FIMS graduate programs. Submissions from the FIMS community are always welcome and may be sent via e-mail to bblue@uwo.ca.

The next issue of the FIMS Graduate Bulletin will be published on Monday, February 1, 2021. The deadline for submissions is noon on Friday, January 29, 2021.