News & Notes from FIMS

In Memoriam: Hanna Marti
The FIMS community was saddened to learn of the passing of former SLIS/GSLIS librarian Hanna Marti on January 21, 2018, at the age of 77. Hanna worked at Western's School of Library & Information Science as a specialist in rare books from the late 1970's to the late 1990's and worked to establish a collection of incunabula and works published before the year 1800. She also taught several courses and served as a resource for others. Marti's full obituary is available online.

Kathy English announced as 2017-18 Asper Fellow
Kathy English, Public Editor with the Toronto Star, was announced as the 2017-18 FIMS Asper Fellow and will continue to serve in this role until April 30. English has previously served as a journalist with the Toronto Star, and an editor with the Globe and Mail. Her career also includes a significant period in academia as a tenured faculty member in Ryerson’s School of Journalism, a position she held from 1989-99. English took up the appointment on January 1, 2018, and will be in residence throughout the winter term. During her appointment, she will teach one course and conduct research together with colleagues at FIMS on media literacy and journalistic ethics.

FIMS Homecoming Recap
The FIMS community was thrilled to welcome alumni into the new FIMS & Nursing Building on October 21, 2017, for a pair of events. To start the day, there was a panel titled “Accountability and Transparency in News Media in an Era of ‘Alternative Facts,’” featuring Sylvia Stead (Globe and Mail), Mary Baxter (TVO), Rebecca Zandbergen (CBC London), Andrew Lundy (Canadian Press), and Victoria Rubin (FIMS researcher). The panel was moderated by FIMS instructor Paul Benedetti. The second event, a public lecture titled “The Future Lasts Forever. Memory Institutions: Not a Thing of the Past,” was presented by Guy Berthiaume, Librarian and Archivist of Canada. Both events were well-attended and followed by receptions where current staff, faculty and students mingled with alumni.

FIMS partners with Library and Archives Canada for fake news panel
Guy Berthiaume, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, returned to London on March 13 to host the event “Double Trouble: The Problem with ‘Fake News’” at Wolf Performance Hall at the Central Branch of the London Public Library. Mr. Berthiaume moderated the panel of guests, which included Jennifer Anderson, Archivist, Kathy English, Toronto Star editor and FIMS Asper Fellow, and Alison Hearn, FIMS professor.

Mark Rayner, FIMS instructor, published his newest novel, The Fatness: A Novel of Epic Portions. The book is Rayner's fourth full-length novel.

Ajit Pyati, Associate Professor, was named a recipient of the inaugural Western Leadership in Wellness Award of Recognition for his contribution to promoting health and wellness on Western's campus. Professor Pyati was presented with his certificate by Melanie-Anne Atkins, director of Western's Wellness Education Centre, on October 4. Read the full story.

FNB Wins Top Honour in Buildings Category at Urban Design Awards
The FIMS & Nursing Building was recognized at the Urban Design Awards, taking top honour in the buildings category. The Urban Design Awards is an annual competition administered by the City of London. Winners qualify for entry to the National Urban Design Awards program, administered by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).

Mary Baxter, TVO Hub reporter (as part of the TVO Hub partnership with FIMS), published the online article "Libraries are providing more services than ever — so why aren’t we funding them?" on October 20, 2017. A related segment of The Agenda with Steve Paiken aired on the same day. The episode included an in-studio interview with Carolyn Doyle from the London Public Library, shot in the FIMS studio and aided by technical assistance from Paul Buckley-Golder and Erin Carroll (FIMS BTS). Additionally, Associate Professor Heather Hill was interviewed for the online article.

In February, Baxter and Paikin were honoured for their work, receiving the OLA award for Media and Communications at the OLA Superconference.

Anabel Quan-Haase, Associate Professor, participated in the production of a video from the American Sociological Association as part of a new series that presents findings from sociology. Quan-Haase provides her expertise for the first video in the series, titled "Connected Seniors" which can be seen on Facebook.

Successful Thesis Defenses

Links provided where available.

Anthony Naimi, Health Information Science PhD candidate, successfully defended his thesis "Supporting dynamic and distributed decision making in acute care environments: Insights from a cognitive ethnography" on Friday, March 23, 2018.

Jennifer Hambleton, Media Studies PhD candidate, successfully defended her thesis "Industrial Stagecraft: Tooling and Cultural Production" on March 8, 2018.

Meghan Fournie, MHIS student, successfully defended her thesis "Exploring Quality Improvement for Diabetes Care: A Multiple Case Study of Primary Care Teams in First Nations Communities in Canada" on February 2, 2018.

Janet Loughheed, MHIS student, successfully defended her thesis "A Foucauldian Genealogical Analysis of Healthy Eating Educational Materials in Ontario 1942-2015" on Thursday, February 1, 2018.

Selinda Berg, LIS PhD candidate, successfully defended her thesis "Expertise, Mediation, and Technological Surrogacy: A Mixed Method Critical Analysis of a Point of Care Evidence Resource" on November 30, 2017.

Kate Hoad-Reddick, Media Studies PhD candidate, successfully defended her thesis "Pitching the Feminist Voice: A Critique of Contemporary Consumer Feminism" on November 3, 2017.

Alan DelPino, MA in Media Studies student, successfully defended his thesis "The Representation of the Canadian Government’s Warrantless Domestic Collection of Metadata in the Canadian News Media" on October 31, 2017.

Sonya de Laat, Media Studies PhD candidate, successfully defended her thesis "Regarding Aid: The Photographic Situation of Humanitarianism" on Friday, October 27.

Qudsia Shaheen, MHIS student, successfully defended her thesis "Communities of Practice as a Knowledge Translation and Exchange Strategy: A Qualitative Secondary Ethnographic Analysis" on Wednesday, October 18.

Saumava Mitra, Media Studies PhD candidate, successfully defended his thesis "Local-Global Tensions: Professional Experience, Role Perceptions and Image Production of Afghan Photojournalists Working for a Global Audience" on October 12, 2017.

Shahad Rashid, MA in Media Studies student, successfully defended her thesis "Mapping the Arab Diaspora: Examining Placelessness and Memory in Arab Art" on October 10, 2017.

Darcy Griffin, MA in Media Studies student, successfully defended her thesis "(Not) One of the Boys: A Case Study of Female Detectives on HBO" on September 26, 2017."