No. 464 - March 1, 2021

  • Coming Events:

    - FIMSwrites - Virtual Edition
    - "Transmutation: From Influence to Originality"
    - "'I Was Trying to Drag People Into Caring': Governance, Diversity, and Controversy in Open Technology Projects"
    - "Indigenous voices in the digital age"
    - FIMS Workshop: Research Funds & Accounts
    - "A Conversation with Author David A. Robertson"
    - "Making Poverty Pay: Digital Creditors, Gentrifying Landlords & Financial Capitalism Today"

    Save the date for these upcoming March events:

    - "Something Had Been Ruined Forever: Interrupting AI Ethics"
    - "Social Selection of Algorithms"
    - "Digital piece work: the new workers and geographies of the digital economy"
    - FIMS Seminar Series: Alissa Centivany

  • Important Dates:

    - Friday, March 12, 2021 - Meeting of the Senate (1:30PM, Zoom)

  • News & Announcements:

    - Call for Nominations: Spirit of Librarianship and Fantastic FIMS
    - Assistance for Faculty and Grad Students to upload your research to Western's Open Access Repository

    Awards & Accomplishments:

    - Isola Ajiferuke
    - Chandell Gosse
    - Jessica Singer

  • Publications & Presentations:

    - Michael Ridley
    - Nafiz Shuva

  • News from the FIMS Graduate Library:

  • FIMS Undergraduate Round-Up:

    - MIT students honoured by Canadian University Press

  • News from Western Libraries:

  • Next Issue:


Coming Events

FIMSwrites - Virtual Edition
Every Wednesday
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Via Zoom
Do you expect to have paper, story, article, report, thesis, or book deadlines coming up? Does having other people writing around you help keep you on-task? Then join FIMSWrites, an informal initiative to provide some solidarity in the sometimes-solitary writing process. All FIMS graduate students, staff and faculty are welcome to bring their favourite writing devices and join us to write and check in. If you're interested, contact Pam McKenzie or Lola Wong for further information.

"Transmutation: From Influence to Originality"
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Via Zoom (contact kueneman@uwo.ca for the link)
Presented by Basil Chiasson as part of the FIMS Seminar Series.
Abstract: This presentation has to do with artistic influence and influence's complex relationship to originality; the aim to introduce myself to colleagues and students at FIMS. The presentation's second part offers a glimpse of some recent work I've done on the British playwright Harold Pinter, research and published material which evolves my ongoing concern to better articulate the various ways that originality might be said to emerge from, and thus rely on, artistic influence.

"'I Was Trying to Drag People Into Caring': Governance, Diversity, and Controversy in Open Technology Projects"
Friday, March 5, 2021
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Online webinar
Presented by Christina Dunbar-Hester, Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California. 
About this Event: In recent years, conflicts over values and practices have emerged in hacking and free/libre and open source (FLOSS) communities, centering around diversity and inclusion. This talk presents ethnographic research on feminist hacking and "diversity" efforts in mainstream hacking, which have gathered momentum in these communities in recent years (continue reading).

"Indigenous voices in the digital age"
Friday, March 5, 2021
4:30 p.m.
Via Zoom (contact the mediations Facebook team for the link)
Presented by Percy Sherwood and Joy SpearChief-Morris as part of the mediations lecture series.
Abstract: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls both call on academic institutions, journalists, and more generally anyone working in media and communications to support Indigenous Peoples in sharing their stories, from their perspectives, free of bias, discrimination, and false assumptions, and in a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive way. In taking up this call to action, how might digital media be appropriately used in the context of research involving Indigenous Peoples? Read more.

FIMS Workshop: Research Funds & Accounts
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Via Zoom (contact kueneman@uwo.ca for the link)
Research money questions? We have answers! A how-to workshop about research funds & accounts. In your FIMS mailbox each month, you have received a printout of your research accounts. Do you know what the statements mean or how to read them? Ever wonder how you find a speedcode, get access to your PER funds, how much you should pay RAs, or who you should contact for finance help? Join us for a how-to workshop explaining what the numbers can tell you. Open to all FIMS faculty members who hold research accounts (read more).

"A Conversation with Author David A. Robertson"
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
2:30 p.m.
Via Zoom (email fimslib@uwo.ca to register)
David A. Robertson is the bestselling author of a new memoir, Black Water, and middle-grade book, The Barren Grounds, along with several other children’s books, graphic novels, and novels. These works educate and entertain readers about Indigenous Peoples, reflecting their cultures, histories, communities, as well as illuminating many contemporary issues. Brought to you by: LIS-9370 - An Introduction to Indigenizing and Decolonizing Library and Information Science, FIMS and the FIMS Graduate Library (continue reading).

"Making Poverty Pay: Digital Creditors, Gentrifying Landlords & Financial Capitalism Today"
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
7:00 p.m.
Zoom Webinar
Register now.
Featuring Rob Aitken, University of Alberta, and Susanne Soederberg, Tier 2 CRC in Global Political Economy, Queens University. A joint FIMS Rogers Chair and Big Data at the Margins event. How is finance capitalism today “making poverty pay”? For several years now, corporations and governments have been developing systems for accessing and capturing the details of impoverished people’s everyday lives, and for extracting profit out of their day-to-day activities (continue reading).

Save the date for these upcoming events.

March 18
"Something Had Been Ruined Forever: Interrupting AI Ethics"
Anna Lauren Hoffman.

March 24
"Social Selection of Algorithms"
Alex Mayhew - More Info.

March 25
"Digital piece work: the new workers and geographies of the digital economy"
Lisa Nakamura, Lilly Irani and Greig de Peuter.

March 31
FIMS Seminar Series
Alissa Centivany - More Info TBA.


Important Dates


- Friday, March 12, 2021 - Meeting of the Senate (1:30PM, Zoom)


News & Announcements


Call for Nominations: Spirit of Librarianship and Fantastic FIMS
Nominations for the Spirit of Librarianship and Fantastic FIMS awards are now open! You have until Wednesday March 10, 2021 at midnight to submit nominations for these awards. To submit a nomination, check your Western email for the call out and reply to the message. Your nomination should include an explanation as to why you are nominating that individual. You can submit multiple nominations.

Assistance for Faculty and Grad Students to upload your research to Western's Open Access Repository, Scholarship@Western
MLIS student Andrea Tonkovic is available to assist FIMS researchers and FIMS graduate students to upload their presentations and publications to scholarship@western, Western’s open access repository. Andrea can be reached by email at atonkovi@uwo.ca; email her if you have questions or would like assistance uploading your material to scholarship@western.

Andrea also is available to assist FIMS researchers and FIMS graduate students to set up ORCIDs (see https://orcid.org/). ORCID is a ‘persistent digital identifier’ that distinguishes individual researchers. Researchers can link existing scholarly productions to a new ORCID, and they can link new productions (presentations, publications, etc.) to the same ID. This gathers all scholarly production into a single, internationally recognized access point, which should minimize the need to maintain active profiles on the large (and increasing) number of online platforms such as Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and academia.edu.


Awards & Accomplishments


Associate Professor Isola Ajiferuke is part of a multi-national research team that recently received funding to research and address sustainability in West Africa. Funding was awarded by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarships Advanced Scholars West Africa program, and the project will be spearheaded by The Africa Institute at Western. Read more in the Western News article, "New research team to address sustainability in West Africa."

Chandell Gosse, PhD in Media Studies candidate, successfully defended her thesis titled, More barriers than solutions: Women's experiences of support with online abuse, on February 17, 2021.

Jessica Singer, MMJC student, has been named a 2021 Joan Donaldson CBC News Scholarship recipient. CBC News offers scholarships annually to aspiring journalists from across the country. Recipients spend 16 weeks with the CBC, gaining experience in all areas of multi-platform news working in digital, radio and television.


Publications & Presentations


Michael Ridley, LIS PhD candidate, presented "Folk Theories, Machine Learning, and XAI" as part of the Thursday Seminar Series, Vector Institute in Toronto on February 25, 2021.

Nafiz Shuva, PhD'20 (LIS), published the following articles:

Shuva, N.Z. (2021). Internet, Social Media, and Settlement: A Study on Bangladeshi Immigrants in Canada / Internet, médias sociaux, et établissement : une étude des immigrants bangladais au Canada. Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science, 43(3), 291-315. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/781389.

Shuva, N. Z. (2021). “I actually got my first job through my ex-colleague”: Employment-related information seeking behaviour of Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000621992806 


News from the FIMS Graduate Library


Visit us!
The FIMS Grad Library is open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Come by to use our bright, socially-distanced study space!

Contact us!
When our physical location is closed, we are still here to help you with any library-related questions.
We can help with access to resources and services for your teaching, learning and research.
You can email us (fimslib@uwo.ca) or call and leave a message (519-661-2111 x88488).
We are available to offer assistance Monday to Friday, 9am to 4:30pm.
If you require assistance after these hours, please use Ask a Librarian service available through Western Libraries.

Virtual Drop-In Hours
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays - 12:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Kendall, Carolyn or Sara will be staffing our virtual service desk from 12-1pm. Ask us anything: from citation help to finding the best resources for your assignments. Whether you have a library-related question or just want to check in and see a friendly face, we hope you'll join us. A Zoom link will be sent to your email before drop-in hours, reminding you to drop by!

FIMS Graduate Library Presents…
Email fimslib@uwo.ca to register for any of our workshops or events

Bookclub: The Barren Grounds by David Alexander Robertson
Monday, March 8, 2021 - 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
In conjunction with David Robertson’s virtual visit to FIMS, your FIMS Grad Library is also hosting a book club! Please join us on zoom for a discussion of David A. Robertson's The Barren Grounds: The Misewa Saga, Book 1. We encourage you to register for book club and we’ll have a dissuasion online, before David’s visit. All are welcome! Anyone with an interest in the book, indigenous issues or specifically in the decolonization and indigenization of the library will no doubt benefit from this discussion. Copies of the book are available at your local public library, free with an Audible trial and four copies will be available at the FIMS Grad Library. Please contact us if you are having difficulty finding a copy.

A Conversation with Author David Alexander Robertson
Tuesday, March 9, 2021 - 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
This FIMS’ event, hosted by the LIS-9370 class (Introduction to Indigenizing and Decolonizing LIS) and the FIMS Grad Library, is a conversation with bestselling author David A. Robertson. He is the author of a new memoir, children’s books, graphic novels, and novels whose works educate and entertain readers about Indigenous Peoples, reflecting their cultures, histories, communities, as well as illuminating many contemporary issues.

A Crash Course on Systematic Reviews for FIMS Grad Students - Marissa Tippet, Western Libraries
Thursday, March 11, 2021 - 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
This workshop will introduce methods for systematically searching the literature, including identifying key databases and developing a search strategy.

ELIP Cover Art Contest
Get creative - photos, collages, original artwork
Here’s another opportunity to contribute to ELIP! We’re looking for cover art for the 2020-21 issue. Take a look at ELIP covers and content for inspiration: https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/elip/index
Email Aarushi Mohan , ELIP’s Managing Editor (elip@uwo.ca) for further information or to submit your cover art by March 31st!


FIMS Undergraduate Round-Up


MIT students honoured by Canadian University Press
Liam Afonso (fourth-year MIT) and Lucas Arender (second-year MIT) were recognized recently by the Canadian University Press for their work as student journalists at the Gazette. Afonso was name Student Journalist of the Year, and he also teamed up with Arender to produce a video that won the Prize for Digital Storytelling. Read more in the article, "MIT students honoured by the Canadian University Press."


News from Western Libraries


Western Libraries is excited to offer a series of free Research Skills Workshops to help you navigate scholarly publishing, access data sources including social media and COVID data, systematic reviews, geospatial tools and analysis (GIS), reference management tools and more! We expect these offerings to be of particular interest to graduate students. Faculty, staff, and undergraduate students are welcome to attend.

  • Mar 2: Introduction to GIS Dashboards
    1:00 pm delivered by Liz Sutherland, GIS Specialist
    Learn about the ArcGIS Dashboards product and how dashboards are being used to showcase Western University-led research projects. Explore examples of dashboards from the Northern Tornadoes Project to the COVID-19 Canada dashboards. Then follow along as we create our own dashboard using research data. Register.

  • Mar 9: Tips & Tools for Building/Promoting Your Scholarly Identity
    1:00 pm delivered by Emily Carlisle-Johnston, Research & Scholarly Communication Librarian
    It is increasingly necessary for researchers to have a professional presence online. In this workshop you’ll learn how to establish and manage your scholarly identity to help you connect with colleagues, find collaborators, and expose your research to new audiences. You’ll also learn how to boost your scholarly impact using social media and how to make sense of alternative metrics that come with these new methods of knowledge communication and dissemination. Register.

  • Mar 11: Introduction to Story Maps
    10:00 am delivered by Liz Sutherland, GIS Specialist
    Story Maps are a great way to combine your maps with narrative text, images, and multimedia content to create compelling, user-friendly web apps. In this workshop, you’ll follow along with a demonstration of building a Story Map from the planning stage to the publishing stage. Register.

  • Mar 16: Social Media Data for Research: Twitter and Others
    1:00 pm delivered by Kristi Thompson, Data Management Librarian
    This session will provide an introduction to doing research using social media data. Register.

  • Mar 18: Ins and Outs of Publishing Fees
    10:00 am delivered by Courtney Waugh, Research & Scholarly Communication Librarian
    Have you been asked to pay an article processing charge or other fee to publish your work in a journal? Learn why these fees exist and understand your options for paying the fee or publishing without a fee. Register.


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 bblue@uwo.ca.

The next issue of the FIMS Graduate Bulletin will be published on Monday, March 15, 2021. The deadline for submissions is noon on Friday, March 12, 2021.