No. 465 - March 15, 2021

  • Coming Events:

    - FIMSwrites - Virtual Edition
    - "Something Had Been Ruined Forever: Interrupting AI Ethics"
    - "Embedding Anti-Racism and Decolonization in University"
    - "Social Selection of Algorithms"
    - "Digital piece work: the new workers and geographies of the digital economy"
    - "Indigenizing the Academy with Marie Battiste"
    - "Repair Stories: Why a Right to Repair matters for our things, and for our world"

  • Important Dates:

    - Friday, April 2, 2021 - Good Friday holiday (no classes, FIMS offices closed)

  • News & Announcements:

    - Green Awards and WISE Competition Deadline Extension
    - Register for the ARMA Canadian Virtual Conference

  • Publications & Presentations:

    - Roger Chabot (PhD'19, LIS)
    - Basil Chiasson
    - Larry Cornies (with Romayne Smith Fullerton and Mirko Petricevic, MAJ'98)
    - Lyndsey Janzen (MLIS'14)
    - Kelly Keus (MLIS'20)
    - Tanis Schumilas (MLIS'18)
    - Luke Stark
    - Sam Vettraino (MLIS'14)

  • In the Media:

    - Danica Facca
    - Anabel Quan-Haase (with Charlotte Nau, Darryl Pieber, Dennis Ho and Olivia Lake)
    - Romayne Smith Fullerton

  • Additional Activities of Note:

    - English translation available of Emanuele Leonardi's essay on PPPR site
    - Andrew Lewis gives Canada Post trucks a new look

  • News from the FIMS Graduate Library:

  • FIMS Undergraduate Round-Up:

    - Media Arts Festival (the virtual edition) goes live on March 19

  • News from Western Libraries:

  • Next Issue:


Coming Events

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.

"Something had been ruined forever: Interrupting AI ethics"
Thursday, March 18, 2021
4:00 p.m.
Zoom Webinar
Presented by Anna Lauren Hoffmann and hosted by Luke Stark.
In this talk, Anna Lauren Hoffmann interrupts the idea of "potential" in AI ethics discourse. She traces the ways it idealizes AI's development and forestalls certain critical—and especially queer—engagements with the historical and present violences perpetuated by data science and technology. This event is hosted by the Faculty of Information & Media Studies at Western University and co-sponsered by Ryerson University and Concordia University.

"Embedding Anti-Racism and Decolonization in University"
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
1:00 p.m.
Zoom Webinar
You are invited to join us for an afternoon discussion on the importance of embedding principles of anti-racism and decolonization in the core missions of Canadian universities, featuring special presentations by Dr. Malinda S. Smith (Calgary) and Dr. Sheila Cote-Meek (York). Dr. Nicole Kaniki and Dr. Bertha Garcia, Western’s special advisors on anti-racism, will then join us to outline their work to reimagine the current processes for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives at Western, and address how their work will activate the recommendations of the report to the President’s Anti-Racism Working Group (find out more).

"Social Selection of Algorithms"
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
4:30 p.m.
Zoom (by registration)
Presented by Alex Mayhew as part of the FIMS mediations lecture series. Contact the mediations Facebook team to register.
Abstract: Increasingly algorithms are being used to govern complex decisions, such as criminal sentencing and insurance premiums. The increasing influence of algorithms has brought the question of algorithmic bias to prominent attention. If the data we generate to power the algorithms captures our prejudices, then it is little surprise that algorithms themselves reproduce those same prejudices. Worse still, at the moment most algorithms are blackboxs, leaving this bias hidden (continue reading).

"Digital piece work: the new workers and geographies of the digital economy"
Thursday, March 25, 2021
7:00 p.m.
Zoom Webinar
Featuring Lilly Irani (UC, San Diego), Lisa Nakamura (Michigan), and Greig de Peuter (Wilfrid Laurier). Hosted by Nick Dyer-Witheford (Western) as part of the Big Data at the Margins series. How can we support workers in communities on the margins whose jobs and livelihoods are being threatened or transformed by developments in AI, big data and machine learning? How can we demand accountability from the powerful platforms that are engendering these transformations while denying the rights of their workers to fair pay and safe working conditions?

"Indigenizing the Academy with Marie Battiste"
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
12:30 p.m.
Zoom Webinar
Western University's Office of Indigenous Initiatives, in partnership with the President’s Office and the Equity Diversity and Inclusion panel, are pleased to present Marie Battiste. Moderated by Candace Brunette-Debassige. This session aims to provide an overview of contemporary efforts and promising practices for tackling the key concepts involved in the decolonization of education and its core units of antiracism and anti-oppression and Indigenous resurgence and reconciliation.

"Repair Stories: Why a Right to Repair matters for our things, and for our world"
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Zoom (by registration)
Presented by Alissa Centivany as part of the FIMS Seminar Series. All are welcome to attend. Contact Karen Kueneman for the Zoom link at kueneman@uwo.ca.
Abstract: Everything breaks, deteriorates, and falls apart eventually. This is not a condemnation, a failure, or a fluke but rather a simple, inescapable fact of existence. Within cycles of creation and destruction, repair is nestled like a dormant little balloon – if we breathe life into it, we can expand and prolong the cycle, keep things aloft a little longer and, perhaps, make the landings a little gentler (continue reading).


Important Dates


- Friday, April 2, 2021 - Good Friday holiday (no classes, FIMS offices closed)


News & Announcements


Green Awards and WISE Competition Deadline Extension
Applications are being accepted until March 18, 2021, for this year’s Western’s Ideas for Sustainability and the Environment (WISE) Competition. The contest is open to Western graduate and undergraduate students who foster innovative and high-impact ideas that reduce or eliminate today’s most pressing environmental concerns. The outcomes are tangible initiatives that are achievable today or in the near future (find out more).

Register for the ARMA Canadian Virtual Conference
Registration is open for ARMA Canada Region's Information Conference 2021. The conference will take place on May 31 - June 2, and students can register for $49 CDN plus taxes. Be part of the Canadian Information Management and Information Governance community, sharing and gaining valuable experiences and connections. Find out more.


Publications & Presentations


Roger Chabot (FIMS Instructor, PhD '19), Sam Vettraino (MLIS '14), Lyndsey Janzen (MLIS '14) and Tanis Schumilas (MLIS '18) presented a talk entitled "Asked and answered: Adapting Western University’s reference model in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic" at the recent 2021 North American Virtual Reference Online Conference.

Assistant Professor Basil Chiasson co-edited the newly available book, Harold Pinter: Stages, Networks, Collaborations, published by Bloomsbury. Chiasson also contributed the first chapter in the book, titled "Pinter's Modernism(s) Revisited: A Drama Reliant upon Prose."

Larry Cornies, FIMS instructor, published an op-ed titled, "Does city council support a strong local news media or not?" in the London Free Press on March 13. The article also references Associate Professor Romayne Smith Fullerton along with Mirko Petricevic (MA,18 Journalism), as they are both involved in the campaign discussed in the column.

Kelly Keus (MLIS'20) co-authored an article titled, "'She Wished Someone Would Help Them': PTSD and Empathy in the Six of Crows Duology," published in Children's Literature in Education in March 2021.

Assistant Professor Luke Stark co-authored an article titled, "The Ethics of Emotion in Artificial Intelligence Systems," published in FAccT '21: Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency in March 2021.



In the Media


Danica Facca, HIS PhD student, was featured in an article titled, "Danica Facca," published in USC News on March 3, 2021. USC News is produced by the Undergraduate Students' Council at Western.

Professor Anabel Quan-Haase, with FIMS Undergraduate Fellowship team members Charlotte Nau (Media Studies PhD student), Darryl Pieber (Media Studies PhD student), Dennis Ho (MIT graduate) and Olivia Lake (MIT graduate), were featured in a Western News article titled, "Study examines social impact of #MeToo movement," published on March 3.

Associate Professor Romayne Smith Fullerton appeared in a number of news sources this week as her commentary was sought out about the controversy over whether journalists should name perpetrators of crimes. More specifically, the Alex Minassian case is discussed. In addition to an interview on AM980, Smith Fullerton spoke to Chris Dela Torre on CBC's Afternoon Drive on March 10 in a segment called, "Should the media name those accused or found guilty of crimes?" She and research partner Maggie Patterson also spoke to Bob Garfield from New York Public Radio's On the Media podcast in a segment called, "To Name, or Not to Name." Listen to the clip below.



Smith Fullerton was also quoted in an article titled, "Questions raised about police response to stolen car hit and run," published by CBC online on March 11. Michael Arntfield (PhD'11, Media Studies) was also interviewed for the story.


Additional Activities of Note


English translation available of Emanuele Leonardi's essay on PPPR site
Platforms, Populisms, Pandemics and Riots has published an English translation of Emanuele Leonardi's ground-breaking essay, "Autonomist Marxism and World Ecology: For a Political Theory of the Ecological Crisis," available on the PPPR website. Professor Nick Dyer-Witheford also conducted an interview with the author, which can be read here.

Andrew Lewis gives Canada Post trucks a new look
FIMS instructor Andrew Lewis was interviewed by CBC News about his role in outfitting Canada Post trucks with new, eye-catching psychedelic exterior designs. There are currently 40 trucks in use across cities in Canada, including one in London. The artwork for the trucks grew out of an earlier project to design postage stamps. Read more about it in "This fleet of Canada Post trucks went psychedelic thanks to a London, Ont., artist's 'funny idea'."


News from the FIMS Graduate Library


Visit us!
The FIMS Grad Library is open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Come by to use our quiet, bright, and socially-distanced study space!

Contact us
When our physical location is closed, we 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.
If you require assistance after these hours, please use Ask a Librarian service available through Western Libraries.

Virtual Drop-In Hours
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays - 12:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Kendall, Carolyn or Sara will be staffing our virtual service desk from 12-1pm. Ask us anything: from citation help to finding the best resources for your assignments. Whether you have a library-related question or just want to check in and see a friendly face, we hope you'll join us. A Zoom link will be sent to your email before drop-in hours, reminding you to drop in!

ELIP Cover Art Contest
Get creative - photos, collages, original artwork
Do you enjoy making art? Then you may be the designer of ELIP's 2021 cover! For this year's cover art contest, we are looking for creative pieces that reflect the range of library and information science perspectives included in the issue. If your submission is selected, your work will be credited in the journal and will thanked with a FIMS swag pack. Please email Aarushi Mohan, ELIP’s Managing Editor (elip@uwo.ca) for further information or to submit your cover art by March 31st!

FIMS Undergraduate Round-Up


Media Arts Festival (the virtual edition) goes live on March 19
On Friday, March 19, submissions from FIMS undergraduate students to the annual Media Arts Festival will be available to view on https://makerthinker.org. Check out work from students covering a variety of topics through images, videos and creative essays.


News from Western Libraries


Western Libraries is excited to offer a series of free Research Skills Workshops to help you navigate scholarly publishing, access data sources including social media and COVID data, systematic reviews, geospatial tools and analysis (GIS), reference management tools and more! We expect these offerings to be of particular interest to graduate students. Faculty, staff, and undergraduate students are welcome to attend.

  • Mar 16: Social Media Data for Research: Twitter and Others
    1:00 pm delivered by Kristi Thompson, Data Management Librarian
    This session will provide an introduction to doing research using social media data. Register.

  • Mar 18: Ins and Outs of Publishing Fees
    10:00 am delivered by Courtney Waugh, Research & Scholarly Communication Librarian
    Have you been asked to pay an article processing charge or other fee to publish your work in a journal? Learn why these fees exist and understand your options for paying the fee or publishing without a fee. Register.

Western Libraries invites you to share your thoughts about open access at Western, as the Provost's Task Force on Open Access and Scholarly Communication continues its consultations for the development of a university-wide open-access policy.

Register for an upcoming consultation session:

  • Monday, March 15, 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
  • Thursday, March 25, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
  • Thursday, April 8, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
  • Friday, April 9, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

You can also provide feedback in a collaborative, online document available on the Provost's Task Force webpage.


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, March 29, 2021. The deadline for submissions is noon on Friday, March 26, 2021.