No. 504 - July 12, 2023

  • Coming Events:

    - FIMSWrites - Summer Edition
    - Western Libraries Research Skills Workshops
    - Cross-Border Connections - Stratford Festival

  • Important Dates:

    - Monday, August 7, 2023 - Civic Holiday (FIMS offices closed, no classes)
    - Friday, August 11, 2023 - Last day of FIMS graduate classes

  • News & Announcements:

    - GradCast podcast looking for FIMS grad students interested in guesting
    - ELIP 2023: Call for Submissions!

  • Awards & Accomplishments:

    - Adrienne Arsenault (MA'91, Journalism)
    - Jill Moffatt (MHIS'19)
    - Joanna Redden

    Publications & Presentations:

    - Lyndsay Foisey
    - Heather Hill
    - Dominique Kelly
    - Anita Kothari
    - Santasil Mallik
    - Toby Malone
    - Alessandra Mularoni
    - Alec Mullender
    - Kevin Oswald
    - Anabel Quan-Haase
    - Joanna Redden
    - Victoria Rubin

  • In the Media:

    - Gloria Dickie (BA'12, MIT)
    - Dominique Kelly
    - Susan Knabe
    - Anabel Quan-Haase
    - Romayne Smith Fullerton
    - Luke Stark
    - Bibliometrics and Research Impact Summer School (Isola Ajiferuke)

  • Additional Activities of Note:

    - Norma Coates
    - Joanna Redden

  • News from the FIMS Graduate Library:

    - On-Campus Work Opportunity in the FIMS Graduate Library

  • Next Issue:


Coming Events


FIMSWrites - Summer Edition
Every Wednesday
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
New this term: attend either in person or online.
Check your Western email for the link (or contact Pam McKenzie) or drop in to FNB 4070.
Do you expect to have assignment, story, article, report, thesis, and/or book writing deadlines coming up in the Winter term? Does having other people writing around you help keep you on-task? Then join us for FIMSWrites, an informal initiative to provide some solidarity in the sometimes-solitary writing process. What it is: a group of people sitting silently together working on their individual writing projects for 25-minute Pomodoro sessions, with short breaks between and a longer mid-morning coffee, snack, and socializing break. What it's not: a writing tutorial or workshop. Open to FIMS faculty and grad students who have writing to work on.

**On July 26 there will include an option to share what you're working on, get feedback, and talk about writing for grants, publications, and conferences.

Western Libraries Research Skills Workshops
Various dates and times in July
Did you know Western Libraries hosts Research Skills Workshops? These workshops offer an introduction to many of the research services and supports we offer here at Western Libraries. Most workshops are held on Zoom, more information provided on the event pages (linked below). Follow the links to register!

To find more upcoming Western Library events and workshops visit the Western Libraries Events page. If you have questions about workshops, please email rsclib@uwo.ca.

Cross-Border Connections - Stratford Festival
Saturday, August 19, 2023
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Lazaridis Hall, Tom Patterson Theatre
Each season, the Stratford Festival welcomes many Americans and others from around the world to our theatres, both in the audience and on stage. Join Susan R. Crystal, US Consul General in Toronto, Sarah Smith, Canadian Research Chair in Art, Culture and Global Relations at Western University and Stratford Mayor Martin Ritsma as they celebrate and consider the cross-border connections that have made the Stratford Festival such a success (get tickets).


Important Dates

- Monday, August 7, 2023 - Civic Holiday (FIMS offices closed, no classes)
- Friday, August 11, 2023 - Last day of FIMS graduate classes


News & Announcements

GradCast podcast looking for FIMS grad students interested in guesting
GradCast (co-produced by PhD students Meghan Voll and Brittany Melton, Media Studies, as well as Mark Ambrogio, LIS, is looking to recruit guests for the upcoming Fall term and is aiming for better representation from FIMS students. The podcast is a good way to showcase your research to the broader Western and London community (the podcast is aired on Radio Western) and it's a chance to practice explaining your work in lay terms. Interested students can email gradcast@sogs.ca to book a spot.

ELIP 2023: Call for Submissions!
ELIP (Emerging Library and Information Perspectives) Journal will start accepting submissions for its 6th volume on July 18. All submissions are due by August 25, 2023.

Emerging Library & Information Perspectives (ELIP) is an open access, peer-reviewed journal managed by students in the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program at Western University. The journal aims to further research and scholarship in the field of library and information science by way of fostering a publishing community among emerging librarians and information professionals.

ELIP is currently accepting submissions from the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) students and PhD Students in Library and Information Science (PhD LIS) at Western University, who are currently enrolled or got their degrees within the last 3 years. MLIS and PhD LIS alumni who got their degrees in Winter 2020 or before are not eligible for submission.

For its 6th volume, ELIP will accept five types of submissions: Articles, For the Field, In the Field, Interview, and Reviews. For further details about each category and submission guidelines, please visit the journal’s website and/or attend the ELIP information sessions. You can also send your questions to elip@uwo.ca.

ELIP’s managing editor team will organize information sessions next week for those who are interested in leaning more about the journal’s mission, content, and submission and review process.


Awards & Accomplishments

CBC National reported that Adrienne Arsenault, MA'91 (Journalism), received an honorary degree from Huron University College during the June Convocation period. Arsenault previously received an honorary doctor of laws from Western in 2013.

Jill Moffatt (MHIS'19), a former Western rower, advanced to the semifinals in women's double sculls at the World Rowing Cup II in June, as reported by The Peterborough Examiner on June 16. Moffatt and her partner then advanced to the finals and placed fifth, as reported by the Toronto Star.

Associate Professor Joanna Redden's recently published book Data Justice (co-authored with Lina Dencik, Arne Hintz and Emiliano Treré) was commended as runner-up for the Sage Social Justice Book Award for 2023.


Publications & Presentations


Lyndsay Foisey (PhD HIS), co-presented the following paper with Andrew Nevin (Western grad) and Professor Anabel Quan-Haase at the CCA Conference in Toronto, May 31-June 2, 2023: “Canadians’ Uses and Gratifications of Social Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic”.

Foisey also co-authored a paper stemming from a CIHR grant that she is a co-PI for (along with HIS professor Anita Kothari) titled "Exploring communication by public health leaders and organizations during the pandemic: a content analysis of COVID-related tweets." (Lesley James, Heather McPhail, Lyndsay Foisey, Lorie Donelle, Michael Bauer & Anita Kothari, Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2023).

Associate Professor Heather Hill and LIS PhD candidate Kevin Oswald co-published an article titled "'May Be a Picture of a Dog and a Book': The Inaccessibility of Public Libraries' Social Media Feeds" in Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research.

Dominique Kelly (PhD, Media Studies) and Associate Professor Victoria Rubin authored an article titled "Struggling to cancel an online service? You're not alone," published in The Conversation on July 6. The article was later picked up and run by Yahoo News.

Santasil Mallik, Media Studies PhD candidate, published a review of the film Geographies of Solitude, published by Offscreen (Vo. 27, Issue 3-4-5). The review is titled "Celluloid and Other Intimacies in Geographies of Solitude."

Mallik also published an article titled "The personal and fictional: Aesthetic mediation in the Indian documentary" in Studies in South Asian Film & Media on July 11.

Toby Malone, MLIS candidate, published an article titled "Paul Christie: A Life in the Theatre" on July 4 on the TMU Libraries website as part of his work there as Open Access and Repository Coordinator.

Associate Professor Joanna Redden co-presented "Automated Fraud Detection: The Need to Address Power, Poverty Politics and Injustice" with Jessica Brand at the ICA conference in June, as well as participating as part of a panel titled "Access to Information as Research and Research Creation" while at the CCA conference (also in June).

Professor Redden (along with Arne Hintz, Lina Dencik and Emiliano Treré) also co-edited "Special Section on Civic Participation in the Datafied Society," published in The International Journal of Communication. Further, they co-authored the introduction to the section.

Alessandra Mularoni, PhD in Media Studies student, published an article titled "Feminism and Finitude" in Technophany, A Journal for Philosophy and Technology on June 18.

Alec Mullender, PhD in LIS candidate, represented Western's Pride Library as a panelist for an online discussion on the censorship of LGBTQ materials in libraries, organized by Huron County Libraries on June 27.
 


In the Media


Gloria Dickie, BA'12 (MIT), was featured in an article titled "Western grad follows the bears to write new book," published in Western News on July 7, 2023. Dickie was also interviewed about her book by CBC London Morning on January 11.

Dominique Kelly, Media Studies PhD candidate, joined Chelsea on CHED to discuss her recent article looking at how online service providers make it difficult for customers to cancel services ("Struggling to cancel an online service? You're not alone," July 6, The Conversation)

Associate Professor Susan Knabe was interviewed for an article titled "'Reminding us we're not alone:' Q&A with Western's Queer Caucus," published in Western News on June 21. Knabe was interviewed in her capacity as a co-founder of Western's Queer Caucus.

Professor Anabel Quan-Haase was quoted in an article titled "Meta's 'Threads' may not be the Twitter killer some have suggested," published on CityNews Kitchener on July 11.

Professor Romayne Smith Fullerton was quoted in a CBC News article titled "Closing of a London AM radio station signals loss of local news options," published on June 17.

Assistant Professor Luke Stark was interviewed by CBC Ottawa Morning and CBC London Morning for a segment discussing the "AI Act", draft legislation passed by the European Parliament that aims to regulate AI based on risk categories.

Associate Professor Isola Ajiferuke's Bibliometrics and Research Impact Summer School was featured in an article titled "Western hosts summer school for academic librarians from Africa," in Western News on June 28. The school had a successful first run from June 26-29.


Additional Activities of Note


Associate Professor Norma Coates organized and ran the biennial meeting of the International Association of Popular Music at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Over 250 scholars from around the world attended, with over 70 presenting online. Professor Coates spent about five months organizing the event and also helped to organize extracurricular outings and events, including a great opening night reception at the Weisman Art Museum located on campus.

Associate Professor Joanna Redden co-organized the third Data Justice conference with her Data Justice Lab colleagues in Cardiff, UK, on June 19-20. Over 200 speakers and participants from around the world attended for two days of discussion about collective experiences in the datafied society. The recorded live streams of all the keynote talks are available online.


News from the FIMS Graduate Library


On-Campus Work Opportunity in the FIMS Graduate Library (2023-2024 Academic Year)

The FIMS Graduate Library is looking to hire a team of Student Library Assistants (SLAs) to work part-time in public service and project-based roles in the Library for the coming academic year. We value diverse perspectives, experiences, and differences, and encourage qualified candidates from all backgrounds and positionalities to apply, including: IBPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, and persons with disabilities. We are committed to building a diverse team; one that reflects and is representative of community the FIMS Graduate Library serves.

What we are looking for…

  • currently enrolled LIS graduate students who have completed, or who will complete, LIS 9003 by the end of August 2023
  • students who are keen to gain hands-on work experience in a small, special academic library
  • people with the ability to work on-site, part-time (including evenings and/or weekends) through the Fall 2023 and Winter 2024 academic terms
  • skills and interest in social media, public service, and library and educational programming and/or project work (Please note: Not all individuals require strengths across all areas; we are looking to build a team with these interests and capacities overall)

What to expect in the SLA role…

  • 6-9 hours of work (3-hour shifts) per week
  • regularly assigned shifts (i.e., the same hours each week) with the opportunity to pick-up additional hours and the flexibility to trade shifts with SLA colleagues
  • both public service and project-based work assignments
  • independent, as well as collaborative work (at times, working solo, on-site in the FIMS Graduate Library)
  • the opportunity to gain hands-on, practical experience in many aspects of day-to-day library operations, as well as the planning and execution of library services and programming
  • rate of pay: $22/hour

We encourage International graduate students to apply. In order to be eligible to work on campus, International graduate students must: 1) be enrolled at Western full-time; 2) have a valid study permit that includes working conditions; and 3) have an SIN number. If you are unsure of your eligibility to work on campus, please consult the following Government of Canada resource: Who Can Work On Campus? or book an appointment with an International Student Advisor here at Western.

If you require specific support to apply for this position, please get in touch and we will work with you to identify the best way to support you.

To apply, please submit an application via email (Attn: Melanie Mills, Director, FIMS Graduate Library) to fimslib@uwo.ca. Include an up-to-date resume or curriculum vitae, along with a brief statement that confirms your eligibility and outlines your interest in working at the FIMS Graduate Library for the coming academic year.

While we thank all applicants, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Interviews are anticipated to be scheduled during the week of July 24th – 28th, 2023.

Application deadline: Friday, July 21st, 2023 (12pm, EST)


Next Issue


The FIMS 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 .

This is the third of four issues of the FIMS Bulletin to be published over the summer. The final Bulletin will be published on August 9. The deadline to submit content for the August issue is Tuesday, August 8 at noon.