No. 520 - June 12, 2024

  • Coming Events:

    - Western Farmers Market

  • Important Dates:

    - Friday, June 21, 2024 - FIMS Spring Convocation Ceremony (10 AM)
    - Thursday, June 27, 2024 - Meeting of the Board of Governors (10 AM, WIRB)
    - Monday, July 1, 2024 - Canada Day holiday (FIMS offices closed, no classes)
    - Monday, July 1 - Friday, July 5, 2024 - MLIS Research Week

  • News & Announcements:

    - Welcome to Professor Katelyn Esmonde
    - Welcome to Research Officer Chantal Lemire
    - Academic Reading Study Seeks Participants
    - Participate in the Western Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (WIDE) Survey

  • Awards & Accomplishments:

    - Tania Cañas
    - Giada Ferrucci
    - Nicole MacIntyre (MA'02, Journalism)
    - Amber Matthews
    - Luke Stark

    Publications & Presentations:

    - Revna Altiok
    - Jacquelyn Burkell
    - Vicky Chung
    - Juan Escobar-Lamanna
    - Danica Facca
    - Brad Hiebert (PhD'18, HIS)
    - Erin Isings
    - Mark Kearney
    - Julie Lowe
    - Lisa Macklem
    - Takuya Maeda
    - Selma Purac
    - Anabel Quan-Haase
    - Joanna Redden

  • In the Media:

    - Emily Austin (MLIS'13)
    - Tania Cañas
    - Nicole MacIntyre (MA'02, Journalism)
    - Lisa Macklem
    - Alessandra Mularoni
    - Effie Sapuridis
    - Luke Stark

  • News from the FIMS Graduate Library:

    - Reading Week Hours

  • News from Western Libraries:

    - Upcoming Research Skills Workshops

  • Next Issue:


Coming Events


Western Farmers Market
Every Wednesday
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Kent Drive (on campus)
Support local and shop fresh products, baked goods, flowers and more. Follow @westernufood on Instagram to stay in the know!
 


Important Dates

- Friday, June 21, 2024 - FIMS Spring Convocation Ceremony (10 AM)
- Thursday, June 27, 2024 - Meeting of the Board of Governors (10 AM, WIRB)
- Monday, July 1, 2024 - Canada Day holiday (FIMS offices closed, no classes)
- Monday, July 1 - Friday, July 5, 2024 - MLIS Research Week


News & Announcements

Welcome to Professor Katelyn Esmonde
FIMS and the Faculty of Health Sciences are happy to welcome Professor Katelyn Esmonde to the Health Information Science program (jointly offered by FIMS and FHS). Professor Esmonde will serve as the incoming Graduate Program Chair for HIS. She joins us from the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University.

Welcome to Research Officer Chantal Lemire
FIMS is happy to announce the appointment of Dr. Chantal Lemire as the new Research Officer for FIMS, the Faculty of Law and the Don Wright Faculty of Music. Dr. Lemire joins us from the University of Toronto and will begin in her role as of June 26.

Academic Reading Study Seeks Participants
Western Education researchers Dr. Rachel Heydon and Huamin Qi are seeking participants for the study: “Opportunities and possibilities: Exploring Non-native English-speaking students' post-secondary academic reading experiences”. The study aims to understand and explore students' academic reading experiences in higher education and identify opportunities and possibilities for improves students' participation and success in academic reading. You will be an eligible participant if your mother tongue(s) is not English and you have academic reading experience in an English-medium university program. Your participation will help you reflect on your own academic reading experiences, help instructors better understand how students live through and struggle with academic reading, and initiate more inclusive university curriculum and pedagogy related to academic reading.

Interested or have any questions? Please contact Principal Investigator Dr. Rachel Heydon (rheydon@uwo.ca) or Co-Investigator Huamin Qi (hqi27@uwo.ca).

Participate in the Western Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (WIDE) Survey
As outlined in Towards Western at 150, Western is committed to building a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive community. Accordingly, Western launched its first community-wide Equity Census in the fall of 2021, releasing an Equity Census Report in March 2022. Recognizing that the language people use to describe themselves is constantly evolving, the current Western Equity Census has been updated to better reflect individuals' uniqueness and individuality. Please take a moment to complete the new Western Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (WIDE) Survey to help us better understand the demographics of our community. Your input will help inform university policies and decision-making processes moving forward. Your voice is essential to us, and we value your participation.


Awards & Accomplishments


Tania Cañas, a FIMS postdoctoral fellow currently working on the Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador project with Professor Amanda Grzyb, was awarded a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship for her research project titled Creative Approaches to Postwar Memory: Canada and Australia.

Giada Ferrucci, Media Studies PhD candidate, successfully defended her thesis titled Networks of Resistance: A Regional Analysis of Extractive Conflicts in Central America on March 22.

Nicole MacIntyre, MA'02 (Journalism), has been named the new editor in chief of the Toronto Star, effective on July 11, 2024. She will replace Anne Marie Owens, MA'88 (Journalism), who has been in the role since 2021.

Amber Matthews, LIS PhD candidate, successfully defended her thesis titled Advancing Anti-Racisim in Public Libraries for Black Youth in Canada on May 15.

Assistant Professor Luke Stark was newly appointed as a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar for 2024-2026. The Global Scholar program provides resources for scholars to advance their research initiatives and to build international connections.


Publications & Presentations


Media Studies PhD candidate Revna Altiok published an article titled Unveiling Ken: the Healing Journey of a Manic Pixie Dream Monster in a special issue of M/C Journal focused on Barbie.

Professor Jacquelyn Burkell, HIS PhD candidate Danica Facca, and Brad Hiebert (PhD'18, HIS) co-authored the following article:

Comer L, Donelle L, Hiebert B, Smith MJ, Kothari A, Stranges S, Gilliland J, Long J, Burkell J, Shelley JJ, Hall J, Shelley J, Cooke T, Ngole Dione M, Facca D. Short- and Long-Term Predicted and Witnessed Consequences of Digital Surveillance During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review. JMIR Public Health Surveillance.

Vicky Chung, MLIS candidate, presented a lightning talk on an in-progress research project titled, “Exploring Synthetic Data and Machine Learning for Data-Intensive Health Research” at the 2024 Medical Library Association annual conference in Portland, Oregon (May 18-21). This project was developed during her fellowship with the MLA Research Training Institute (RTI) as part of the 2023 cohort.

Juan Escobar-Lamanna, Media Studies PhD candidate, published the following article:

Escobar-Lamanna, Juan Carlos. “‘You've Got to Put in the Time’: Neoliberal-Ableism and Disabled Streamers on Twitch.” Societies 14, no. 6 (2024): 75, https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14060075.

Assistant Professor Erin Isings will present a talk titled "Feedback Literacy and Mindfulness: Student reflections on the impact of a course-embedded wellness resource" at the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education's annual conference on June 12.

FIMS Lecturer Mark Kearney gave a presentation based on his recent book, Al Christie: Hollywood’s Forgotten Film Pioneer, at the annual Columbus Moving Picture Show in Columbus, Ohio on May 25.

Assistant Professor Julie Lowe presented a talk titled "Authorship and Attribution in Medieval Muslim Societies" at Huron Research Day on June 5.

Lisa Macklem, PhD'13 (Media Studies), published an article titled "Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud: What does the law say about defamatory lyrics?" in The Conversation on May 14. The article was later republished by the National Post.

Takuya Maeda, PhD student in Media Studies, and Professor Anabel Quan-Haase published a paper titled "When Human-AI Interactions Become Parasocial: Agency and Anthropomorphism in Affective Design" in the Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT'24). Takuya also presented the work in person at the conference on June 3.

Assistant Professor Selma Purac published an article titled, "Sick of reboots? How 'nostalgia bait' profits on Millennial and Gen Z's childhood memories" in The Conversation on June 6. The article was later republished by the Winnipeg Free Press.

Associate Professor Joanna Redden co-authored a book chapter with Lyndal Sleep titled "Reimagining failed automation: from neoliberal punitive automated welfare towards a politics of car," in the Handbook on Public Policy and Artificial Intelligence. The book is edited by Regina Paul, Emma Carmel and Jennifer Cobbe.

Professor Redden also participated in the following presentations and events:

Panel discussion on "The Future of Responsible AI" with Leila Kosseim, Elissa Strome, Eleni Stroulia and Geoffrey Rockwell at the 2024 Canadian AI conference held in Guelph, Ontario on May 30.

Presented on "The implications of AI for research ethics," during Western's Non-Medical Research Ethics Board Retreat on May 15.

Participated in the Treasury Board Secretariat's AI Ministerial Roundtable to discuss Canada's AI Strategy for the Federal Public Service on May 27.

 


In the Media

Emily Austin (MLIS'13) was featured in an article titled "Emily Austin is a juror for the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize - and wants to read your poems," published by CBC Books on May 15.

Tania Cañas, FIMS postdoctoral fellow, was featured in an article titled "Western researchers honoured with prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships," published by Western News on June 4.

Nicole MacIntyre (MA'02, Journalism) is featured in an article titled "Nicole MacIntyre named Toronto Star editor in chief as Anne Marie Owens steps away," published by the Toronto Star on June 10.

Lisa Macklem, PhD'13 (Media Studies) was a guest on the Hamilton Today with Scott Thompson podcast on May 17 to discuss the Drake-Kendrick feud and what counts as defamation in music.

Alessandra Mularoni, PhD in Media Studies candidate, contributed to a discussion about biohacking in the French online magazine Uzbek & Rica on May 16. The article is titled "Menstrual cycle, hormones, glucose...How women started to 'hack' their bodies." 

Effie Sapuridis, Media Studies PhD candidate, was a guest on Fansplaining: The podcast by, for, and about fandom, on April 24. Effie appeared in Episode 221, "Self-Inserts." 

Assistant Professor Luke Stark was a guest on CBC London Morning on May 14 to discuss advances in AI technologies like ChatGPT.

Professor Stark was also quoted in an article titled "As AI becomes more human-like, experts warn users must think more critically about its responses," published by CBC News on May 15.


News from the FIMS Graduate Library


Reading Week Hours

Saturday, June 29th - Monday, July 1st (CLOSED)
Tuesday, July 2nd - Friday, July 5th (10am - 1pm)
Saturday, July 6th - Sunday, July 7th (CLOSED)

*If you need access to the library outside of these limited hours, please email fimslib@uwo.ca.
*Regular hours for the Summer 2024 term resume on Monday, July 8th, 2024.


News from Western Libraries


You're invited to join us for these upcoming Research Skills Workshops, hosted by Western Libraries. From data collection to publishing, get expert help at all stages of the research cycle with free workshops.

June 13 - Data Sources at Western Libraries
June 19 - Diversifying Citations (and Perspectives)
June 20 - Introduction to Story Maps
June 27 - Introduction to Dashboards
July 23 - Publishing your work: let's de-mystify the process (online)
July 25 - Publishing your work: let's de-mystify the process (in-person)

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. 


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 second of four summer issues of the Bulletin. Future publication dates include: July 10 and August 7.