No. 516 - March 6, 2024


Coming Events


FIMSWrites - Winter Edition
Every Wednesday
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Check your Western email for the Zoom link (or contact Pam McKenzie).
Do you expect to have assignment, story, article, report, thesis, and/or book writing deadlines coming up this 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 (virtual fika). What it's not: a writing tutorial or workshop. Open to FIMS faculty and grad students who have writing to work on.

Disposable People: Data cleaning and power in AI ethics
Thursday, March 7, 2024
4:30 p.m.
Attend in person: FNB 4110
Attend virtually: Zoom link
Presented by Pinar Barlas, LIS PhD candidate, as part of the Mediations Lecture Series.
Abstract: From employment discrimination to wrongful arrests, many Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications have been found to produce harmful results. These harms affect marginalized groups – such as Black and other non-White people, people with disabilities, and non-men – more frequently and more intensely, in line with existing systematic injustices in society. In order to minimize or counteract these negative effects, researchers have been investigating the results of deployed systems as well as the datasets used to train them (continue reading).

The Nest - with Chase Joynt and Julietta Singh
Friday, March 8, 2024
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
FNB 4110
Presented by Julietta Singh, decolonial scholar and author, and Chase Joynt, FIMS Asper Fellow. Light refreshments at 10:30 a.m. followed by the talk.
Abstract: In this talk, Chase Joynt and Julietta Singh explore the practice of collaboration, the complexities of archival research, and the work of fabulation through their feature-length experimental documentary, The Nest. The film centers on radical women, interracial alliances, and anticolonial pasts across 140 years of Canadian history told through the story of a single house in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The documentary, currently in post-production with the National Film Board of Canada, looks to architecture as a portal through which to tell unexpected and interconnected histories of Indigenous uprising, ecopolitical activism, disability rights, and the racialization of a nation (continue reading).

Settler Colonial Ways of Seeing
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Attend in person: FNB 4130
Attend virtually: Zoom link
Presented by Danielle Taschereau Mamers, author of Settler Colonial Ways of Seeing: Documentation, Administration and the Interventions of Indigenous Art, and PhD'17 (Media Studies).
Abstract: How are documents good for thinking about settler colonial policies? And how can art help us look at documents and the policies they bring into being? For many decades, Canadian state agents have used paperwork to materialize the category of Indian status. From the text of the Indian Act to registration forms, status cards, and reports, administrative documents have been tools that the state has used to make visible—and invisible—Indigenous peoples (continue reading).

Reporting in a house of mirrors
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Attend in person: FNB 4130
Attend virtually: Zoom Link
Presented by Justin Ling, Montreal-based investigative journalist and author. Refreshments will be served.
Description: These days, it feels like we don't even know what we're arguing about anymore. Our society has been riven by political polarization, paranoid populism, even extremism, brought on by a deluge of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. Our collective conversation has been warped, skewed, stretched, and shrunk beyond recognition, making it harder and harder to see what's right in front of our faces. Journalists have rushed around, trying to correct all the distortion — often to little avail. Our body politic has suffered as a result, with crises and critical policy questions being ignored in favour of ideological crusades and small grievances made to look massive (continue reading).

Film Screening - Hey Viktor! with Cody Lightning
Thursday, March 21, 2024
7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
McKellar Room, UCC
Join students and faculty from the Creative Arts and Production (CAP) program for a free screening of Hey Viktor! Writer/director Cody Lightning will be in the house for a Q&A following the screening, moderated by Nataleah Hunter-Young. Introduction provided by Sally Kewayosh. Cody Lightning is a Cree actor and filmmaker from Edmonton, Alberta (continue reading).

Save the Date: FIMS 9328 - Misinformation and Viral Deception Poster Session
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
FNB Atrium (first floor)
The FIMS community and wider Western community are invited to check out work from over 20 graduate students enrolled in FIMS 9328. Light refreshments will be provided.
 


Important Dates

- Thursday, March 7, 2024 - Western Day Community Coffee Break (registration required)
- Friday, March 15, 2024 - Meeting of the Senate (1:30 PM, SH, Great Hall)


News & Announcements


Alumni Awards of Merit - Nominations Open
Know an amazing Western alum? The Alumni Awards of Merit are an annual awards program that recognizes alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their professions or communities. The accomplishments of Western's alumni around the world bring credit and recognition to their Alma Mater. In return, the Alumni Awards of Merit program seeks to identify and recognize alumni for their achievements. Nominations are now open.


Awards & Accomplishments


FIMS instructor Mark Kearney's book Al Christie: Hollywood’s Forgotten Film Pioneer, has been nominated by the Theater Library Association (of New York) for its annual 2023 Richard Wall Memorial Award. The award is presented to recognize "performing arts scholarship published during the previous calendar year (2023) that demonstrates exemplary use and interpretation of library and archival collections." The Theater Library Association is part of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The winner will be announced during the association's awards ceremony in New York City in October. The award has been handed out annually since 1974 and first prize is $500.

Associate Professor Victoria Rubin has been promoted to full professor. The promotion will take effect as of July 1, 2024.


Publications & Presentations


Giada Ferrucci, Media Studies PhD candidate, will give a presentation titled "Migration Chronicles: Museums as Architects of Global Conversations on Diaspora and Mobility" at the Roots on Routes Conference at Western on March 23. The presentation stems from Giada's research collaboration with Associate Professor Sarah Smith on a project titled "The Diplomacy of Diaspora and Migration Museums."

Associate Professor Ajit Pyati gave a talk titled "Contemplative Practice and Meaning: Finding Your Dharma," at the 2024 Contemplative Higher Education Alliance for Research, Teaching & Service (C-HEARTS) conference, held in Kentucky on March 1.


In the Media

Associate Professor Norma Coates was quoted in a CBC News article titled "Joni Mitchell, Nelly Furtado, Amanda Marshall and the art of the comeback," published on February 29, 2024.

Professor Romayne Smith Fullerton was quoted in an article titled "Buying your way to being a girl boss: Western profs decode 'femvertising'," published in the Gazette on February 27.


Additional Activities of Note


Assistant Professor Luke Stark is hosting a group of artificial intelligence researchers from Radboud University (Netherlands) on campus for a workshop on Thursday, March 7. The Radboud team will present short, 15-minute presentations on their work followed by a Q&A and discussion. The workshop is part of the Western-Radboud Exchange Program.


News from the FIMS Graduate Library


FIMS Presents…

Naloxone Training with SERT
Thursday, March 14th, 12-1pm, EST (FNB 4070)

In partnership with Western’s Student Emergency Response Team (SERT), we are pleased to offer the FIMS Graduate community access to naloxone training. Participants in this workshop will become knowledgeable and confident in how to respond to an opioid poisoning emergency, including how to administer intranasal naloxone. Learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of opioid poisoning, what naloxone is and how naloxone works to reverse an opioid poisoning.

Space is limited. Please register in advance, via fimslib@uwo.ca (email subject line: NT RSVP).

On-Campus Work Opportunity in the FIMS Graduate Library (Summer 2024 & Fall 2024)

The FIMS Graduate Library is hiring Student Library Assistants (SLAs) to work part-time in public service and project-based roles in the Library this summer and fall. 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 April 2024
  • students who will be enrolled in Western’s LIS Program full-time (i.e., minimum of three courses) in both the Summer and Fall 2024 academic terms) and 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) for eight consecutive months
  • 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…

  • 3-6 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 several 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. 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.

While we thank all applicants, only those who meet the eligibility criteria and who are selected for an interview will be contacted. Interviews are anticipated to be scheduled during the week of March 25th – 28th, 2024.

Application Deadline: Wednesday, March 20th, 2024 (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 .

The next issue of the FIMS Bulletin will be published on March 20, 2024. The deadline to submit content is Tuesday, March 19 at noon.