No. 487 - July 20, 2022

  • Coming Events:

    - Research Ethics Workshop: "Conducting research with or about human participants"
    - Intersectional Realities: Resisting, Supporting, Healing

  • Important Dates:

    - Monday, August 1, 2022 - Civic Holiday (FIMS offices closed, no classes)
    - Friday, August 12, 2022 - Last day of classes for FIMS graduate programs

  • News & Announcements:

    - New hirings announced at FIMS
    - Vote for the MLIS Spirit of Librarianship and Fantastic FIMS awards

  • Awards & Accomplishments:

    - Alison Hearn
    - Amber Matthews
    - Jill Moffatt (MHIS'19)
    - Joanna Redden
    - Niel Scobie

  • Publications & Presentations:

    - Melissa Adler
    - Janet Allen
    - Edward Comor
    - Heather Hill
    - Tenille Holm
    - Amber Matthews
    - Danica Pawlick-Potts
    - Ajit Pyati
    - Michael Ridley
    - Victoria Rubin
    - Effie Sapuridis
    - Luke Stark
    - Sam Vander Kooy

  • In the Media:

    - Lisa Bowker
    - Amanda Grzyb
    - Michael Nyby
    - Anabel Quan-Haase
    - Paulette Rothbauer
    - Michaela Rye
    - Dan Smoke
    - Mary Lou Smoke
    - Sam Trosow

  • Additional Activities of Note:

    - John Davidson speaks to FIMS graduates at the June 2022 Convocation ceremony

  • Next Issue:


Coming Events


Research Ethics Workshop: "Conducting research with or about human subjects"
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Zoom (registration required)
Are you considering a Guided Research Project or starting your thesis research next term? If your research involves collecting data from or about people, attendance at this human research ethics workshop is required before submitting any Guided Research or thesis research proposal for the Fall 2022 term. You can also attend if you're considering a research project in a subsequent term, though the same workshop will be offered in the Fall 2022 and Winter 2023 terms. If you have already received ethics approval for your research/data collection, attendance is not required. Faculty researchers are also welcome to attend. To register, please email Shelley Long at slong@uwo.ca.

Intersectional Realities: Resisting, Supporting, Healing
Thursday, July 21, 2022
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Via Zoom
Register.
On May 17, 2020, we observed the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia. The focus was on breaking the silence – examining the many ways we must tell our stories, claim space, establish our voices, and ensure we are heard. This presentation will draw attention to the continued resistance needed in your organization where 2SLGBTQIA+ members of our community may remain “invisible” due to a myriad of reasons. In this workshop we examine the ways we must work at ensuring 2SLGBTQIA+ members are seen and heard. Dr. Andrew B. Campbell (ABC) has been an educator for over 25 years, presently at the University of Toronto and Queens University. He is also an author, workshop facilitator, and motivational speaker.


Important Dates


- Monday, August 1, 2022 - Civic Holiday (FIMS offices closed, no classes)
- Friday, August 12, 2022 - Last day of classes for FIMS graduate classes


News & Announcements


New hirings announced at FIMS
Between the end of June and the first half of July, FIMS announced two new hires. Nataleah Hunter-Young will join the faculty as Assistant Professor on January 1, 2023. Hunter-Young is currently a PhD candidate at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University. She brings a multi-faceted background in academia and the arts and will play a role in growing the Creative Arts & Production program. Melanie Mills was subsequently appointed as the new Library Director for the FIMS Graduate Library, starting August 1, 2022. Mills, who previously filled the role of Library Director back in 2008-2010, rejoins the faculty from her current position as Director of Library and Learning Services at Huron University College.

Vote for the MLIS Spirit of Librarianship and Fantastic FIMS awards
Nominations for the MLISSC Spirit of Librarianship and Fantastic FIMS awards have been announced. Congratulatiosn to nominees Ashley Heinrich, Klaudia Pechera, Beth Lindsay and Andy Cowley (Spirit of Librarianship), and to Hugh Samson (Fantastic FIMS). To vote, check your Western email for the link and vote by Friday, July 22 at midnight.


Awards & Accomplishments


Associate Professor Alison Hearn and Associate Professor Joanna Redden were awarded a SSHRC Insight Grant for their project Advancing Social Justice in an Age of Datafied Governance.

LIS PhD candidate Amber Matthews' doctoral project "Advancing Anti-Racism in Public Libraries for Black Youth in Canada" was selected by the Library Research Round Table (LRRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) for the 2022 Jesse H. Shera Award for the Support of Dissertation Research.

The Peterborough Examiner reported that Jill Moffatt, MHIS’19, and and teammate Karissa Riley finished seventh at the World Rowing Cup III tournament in Switzerland on July 10.

An article written by PhD candidate (Media Studies) Niel Scobie was included in a list of "Best Canadian Music Writing 2021," selected by Invisiblepublishing.com. Titled "Starting at the Bottom - Recognizing Jay W. McGee and his role as a Canadian Hip-hop pioneer," the piece highlights Jay "Mr. Q" McGee and his role in recording what Scobie says is Canada's first hip-hop record. It is based on his doctoral research on Toronto's early hip-hop scene.


Publications & Presentations


Melissa Adler (Associate Professor) was on the panel “From Censorship to Digitization: Bringing Sensitive Collections to Light” with Timothy Vollmer (University of California Berkeley) at the annual American Library Association conference in Washington, DC. The panel was held June 25 and hosted by Brooke Becker (University of Alabama, Birmingham) and sponsored by the History Section of the Reference and User Services Association.

Adler also presented the paper “Mounting the Antelope: How the American Wild became a Document” at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia on June 28.

She was the keynote speaker for a July 7 workshop on “Knowledge Organization and Nations,” organized by Hannah Turner and Julia Bullard (both at UBC) and held at the International Society of Knowledge Organization in Aalborg, Denmark. She presented remotely due to the SAS airline strike.

On July 13 Adler presented readings and the installation “Rivertime / This is not a canoe” with her collaborator, the poet and scholar David Janzen. This was for the 42 x 81 series at the TAP Centre for Creativity.

Associate Professor Heather Hill, Janet Allen, Amber Matthews, Danica Pawlick-Potts and Sam Vander Kooy (all LIS PhD students) presented a paper/panel at CAIS 2022 in June titled "A History of Unquestioning Faith: Vocational Awe and the Hope for a Future of “Bad” Librarianship." 

Edward Comor published an article titled "Law as a Mediating Institution of History: The Approach and Strategy of Harold Innis" in University of Toronto Quarterly in May.

MLIS student Tenille Holm's blog post titled "Knitting through history" was first published on the University of Waterloo website (where she is completing a co-op placement) and later picked up by Documentary Heritage News.

Associate Professor Ajit Pyati published the following article:

Pyati, A. (2022). Cultivating space in university life. The Arrow: A Journal of Wakeful Society, Culture & Politics 9(1): 63-67. https://arrow-journal.org/rest-and-creativity

Professor Pyati has made the article available on his faculty profile page under Publications.

Professor Pyati, along with Dr. Clara Chu (Director of the Mortensen Center for International Library Programs, University of Illinois) also gave a presentation as part of the International Relations Round Table Chair’s Program at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Washington DC on June 26, 2022. The title of the presentation was "Engineering Change in Libraries: A Pathway for Meaningful Action."

LIS PhD student Michael Ridley published “Explainable AI: Adoption and Advocacy” in Information Technology and Libraries. Along with Fiona Lucas (Toronto Public Library) he presented a workshop to TPL staff on “Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Life.”

In June, Associate Professor Victoria Rubin released a new book titled Misinformation and Disinformation: Detecting Fakes with the Eye and AI, published through Springer. The first chapter is available to view online.

Media Studies PhD candidate Effie Sapuridis gave several presentations in May including the following:

Invited Speaker
“Beyond Consent: Building Movements that Sustain Us.” Students For Consent Culture speaker series, Virtual, May 25 2022.

“Women in Leadership.” American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association: Montreal Chapter, Virtual, May 29 2022.

Conference Presentation
“Advocating for Antiracist Approaches to Writing in Canadian Contexts.” Canadian Writing Centers Association, Virtual, May 3 2022.

Assistant Professor Luke Stark published an essay titled "AI's boosters don't love you back" in the open-source collection Artificial Intelligence in the City: Building Civic Engagement and Public Trust (edited by Anna Brandusescu and Jess Reia, from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montreal at McGill University). The collection is available in English, French, and Spanish. 


In the Media


MLIS student Lisa Bowker was featured in the blog post "Freshly Minted: Lisa Bowker," published on Librarianship.ca on July 11.

CBC London Morning interviewed Professor Amanda Grzyb on July 11 about her involvement in helping to document the life of Max Eisen including editing his award-winning book, By Chance Alone.

MLIS student Michael Nyby was featured in the blog post "Freshly Minted: Michael Nyby," published on Librarianship.ca on July 17.

CBC Afternoon Drive interviewed Professor Anabel Quan-Haase on July 11 about the Rogers outage and its impact. Comments from Quan-Haase about Canadians’ reliance on technology were also included this morning as part of CBC London’s regional news.

Elders Dan Smoke and Mary Lou Smoke, along with Associate Paulette Rothbauer, were featured in an article titled "Archive project preserves iconic Indigenous radio program," published in Western News on June 21.

MLIS student Michaela Rye appeared in The Hamilton Spectator on July 3 in an article titled "From pool to school: photographed for the Star at five, Michaela Rye is now a researcher and disability advocate."

CP24 included comments from Associate Professor Samuel Trosow on July 9 about the digital divide in Canada following the Rogers outage in Canada.

Professor Trosow also provided comments to Global News on July 5 for an article titled "Rock the Parks adds water refill station after councillor candidate calls out City."


Additional Activities of Note


John Davidson speaks to FIMS graduates at the June 2022 Convocation ceremony
John Davidson, who founded Jesse's Journey and began raising money for research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy back in the 1990s, received an honorary doctorate from Western and spoke to FIMS graduates at the Convocation ceremony on June 23, 2022. His speech was covered by Western News in an article titled "Be storytellers, John Davidson tells FIMS grads."


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 fims-communications@uwo.ca.

The final summer issue of the Grad Bulletin will be published on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. The deadline for submissions is noon on Tuesday, August 9, 2022.