No. 497 - February 8, 2023

  • Coming Events:

    - FIMSWrites - Winter Edition
    - "Housing Experiences of American/Indian/Alaska Native People Living in Urban Areas across the United States"
    - "Doing Research with Fitness Trackers"
    - Black History Month Film Screenings
    - "The Sociological Indian: representations of Indigeneity in Canadian and American sociology journals" 
    - Save the Date: "Hacking Online Virality"
    - Save the Date: "Conversations on Access: Black Disability Activism"
    - Save the Date: "Museum Diplomacy in Changing Times" 

  • Important Dates:

    - Thursday, February 9 - Friday, February 10, 2023 - Senate Elections: Polls Open for Graduate Students
    - Tuesday, February 14 - Wednesday, February 15, 2023 - Senate Elections: Polls Open for Faculty/Staff
    - Thursday, February 17, 2023 - Senate (via Zoom)
    - Monday, February 20, 2023 - Family Day holiday (FIMS offices closed, no classes)
    - Monday, February 20 - Friday, February 24, 2023 - Reading Week/MLIS Research Week

  • News & Announcements:

    - Sign up for research skills workshops through Western Libraries
    - Subscribe to the Graduate Research Blog

  • Publications & Presentations:

    - Luke Arnott
    - Alissa Centivany
    - Sofia Locklear

  • In the Media:

    - Luke Stark
    - Sam Trosow

  • Additional Activities of Note:

    - Alissa Centivany

  • News from the FIMS Graduate Library:

    - Reading Week Library Hours
    - FIMS Graduate Library Presents... Winter 2023 Programming
    - Did you know you could borrow...?

  • Next Issue:


Coming Events


FIMSWrites - Winter Edition
Every Wednesday
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Check your Western email for the link (or contact Pam McKenzie)
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.

Housing Experiences of American/Indian/Alaska Native People Living in Urban Areas across the United States
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Via Zoom (Register)
Presented by Assistant Professor Sofia Locklear, Abby Feather (Aamjiwnaang First Nation) and Elizabeth Korver-Glenn (Washington University, St. Louis) as part of the FIMS Seminar Series 2022/23.
Abstract: Housing affects multiple aspects of human well-being—including education, health, and wealth outcomes. Yet, in the sociological research on housing, there is a glaring omission: the housing experiences of Indigenous people who live in urban areas. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews, we have been talking with American Indian/Alaska Native people who live in urban settings across the United States (continue reading).

"Doing Research with Fitness Trackers"
Thursday, February 9, 2023
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Via Zoom
This session explores the links between research, bipedalism, and data privacy. Academics and knowledge keepers walk to learn about our world. Digital technologies tend to purge movement from the research process as much as they allow us to track our every step. Learn how to incorporate walking into your research agenda and keep your fitness data safe. Hosted by Western Libraries.

Black History Month Film Screenings
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
UC 3110
Register for seats.
Join the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in hosting a screening of two short films to celebrate Black History Month. The films focus on the history of Black Canadians from the diaspora and African Canadians. The films are Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community and Speakers for the Dead.

"The Sociological Indian: representations of Indigeneity in Canadian and American sociology journals"
Friday, February 17, 2023
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Social Science Centre 5220
A lecture by Vanessa Watts, McMaster University.
Who are Indigenous peoples in sociology? Is there such thing as an “Indigenous social”? In this talk, representations of Indigeneity will be explored in thematic categories found across five sociology journals from the US and Canada (Canadian Journal of Sociology, Canadian Review of Sociology, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Social Forces) (continue reading). 

Save the Date: "Hacking Online Virality"
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Attend in person: FNB 4130
Attend online: Zoom Webinar
Presented by Professor Filippo Menczer, University of Indiana. Presented by the FIMS Rogers Chair.
Abstract: As social media become major channels for the diffusion of news and information, it becomes critical to understand how the complex interplay between cognitive, social, and algorithmic biases triggered by our reliance on online social networks makes us vulnerable to manipulation and disinformation. This talk overviews ongoing network analytics, modeling, and machine learning efforts to study the viral spread of misinformation and to develop tools for countering the online manipulation of opinions (continue reading).

Save the Date: "Conversations on Access: Black Disability Activism"
Thursday, March 2, 2023
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Via Zoom (link forthcoming)
Join us for a conversation about Black disability activism and culture work featuring Dr. Sami Schalk and Vilissa Thompson. Dr. Schalk is an Associate Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She recently published Black Disability Politics (2022), which explores how Black cultural workers have engaged disability as a social and political issue differently than the mainstream, white-dominated disability rights movement (continue reading).

Save the Date: "Museum Diplomacy in Changing Times"
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Attend in person
Attend virtually
What does museum leadership look like in tumultuous times? How has global engagement changed in the wake of COVID-19? Join us for a panel discussion featuring the directors of three North American museums to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the sector at this moment (continue reading).


Important Dates


- Thursday, February 9 - Friday, February 10, 2023 - Senate Elections: Polls Open for Graduate Students
- Tuesday, February 14 - Wednesday, February 15, 2023 - Senate Elections: Polls Open for Faculty/Staff
- Thursday, February 17, 2023 - Senate (via Zoom)
- Monday, February 20, 2023 - Family Day holiday (FIMS offices closed, no classes)
- Monday, February 20 - Friday, February 24, 2023 - Reading Week/MLIS Research Week


News & Announcements

Sign up for research skills workshops through Western Libraries
Western Libraries will be holding a series of workshops related to research skills including topics like Literature Searching for Systematic/Scoping Reviews, Basic Data Handling in Excel, the Open Educational Resources Grant and Support Program, and more. For a full list of workshops, visit Western Libararies' events page.

Subscribe to the Graduate Research Blog
Graduate Students are invited to subscribe to the Graduate Student Research Blog. The blog provides research information for graduate students - scholarship, fellowship, internship and other funding announcements, tips on writing scholarship/funding applications, and other research-related tidbits.


Publications & Presentations


Assistant Professor Luke Arnott published his essay "To Grasp Gamebooks, Turn to Media Archaeology" in the Winter 2023 issue of First Person Scholar.

Alissa Centivany

Assistant Professor Sofia Locklear co-authored a paper that was recently accepted to the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and the City:

Korver-Glenn, E., Locklear, S., Howell, J., and Whitehead E. “Racism and Unsafe Housing Conditions Across the United States”. (Forthcoming) Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and the City

About the paper: This equal authored paper merges restricted-access versions of the American Housing Survey, the Rental Housing Finance Survey, and the American Community Survey at a Census Restricted Data Center, allowing us to create a national portrait of rental units from perspectives of both renters and landlords. Our findings demonstrate neighborhood White proportion is a key mechanism shaping the condition of rental units even when controlling for neighborhood socioeconomic status, property features, and renter demographics. We argue these results support settler-colonial racial capitalism theories and discuss the implications of these findings for future research and housing policy.


In the Media


Assistant Professor Luke Stark was interviewed for a CTV London piece titled "'The textbook definition of plagiarism': Educators mobilize to counter essay-writing app ChatGPT," aired on January 27.

Associate Professor Sam Trosow was interviewed for a CBC Kitchener-Waterloo article titled "Court ruling blocking Kitchener, Ont., encampment eviction could affect cases across Canada, say legal experts," published on January 31.

Professor Trosow was also interviewed on the same subject for a CTV Kitchener article titled "Waterloo Region's encampment court ruling sends 'very strong message' to cities across the province," published on February 1.

Lastly, Professor Trosow was quoted by CBC London in an interview on February 6 related to Western's announcement that masks in classrooms would be strongly encouraged, as opposed to required.


Additional Activities of Note


Assistant Professor Alissa Centivany will provide testimony to the Canadian House of Commons on Bill C-244, An Act to amend the Copyright Act (diagnosis, maintenance and repair) on February 8. The bill is focused on the right to repair issue and proposes an amendment to the Copyright Act that would make it easier for Canadians to repair their computerized devices by making the necessary technologies, devices or components more available.


News from the FIMS Graduate Library


Reading Week Library Hours

Saturday - Sunday, February 18th and 19th (CLOSED)
*Family Day* Monday, February 21st (CLOSED)
Tuesday, February 21st – Friday, February 24th (9am-4pm)
Saturday – Sunday, February 25th & 26th (CLOSED)

FIMS Grad Library Presents… Winter 2023 Programming

Student-Run Journals: Orientation and Opportunities, with Emily Carlisle-Johnston, Noah Churchill-Baird, and Melanie Mills
Tuesday, February 7th (12-1pm, EST) via Zoom

Challenging Imposter Syndrome, with Dr. Melanie-Anne Atkins
Tuesday, March 14th (12-1pm, EST), FNB Room 4070

Please visit the FGL Events Page for session abstracts, speaker bios, and further details about each of the FGL’s upcoming sessions and workshops.

Did you know you could borrow...?

The FIMS Graduate Library has a series of items available for use inside and outside of the library. For more information, visit the service desk or email fimslib@uwo.ca.

  • Macbook and iPhone Chargers
  • Universal Laptop Charger
  • "Happy" Lights (for Seasonal Affective Disorder)
  • Portable DVD Player (USB connection)
  • Graphic Novels, Comics, Indigenous Fiction
  • Board Games
  • And more...

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 fims-communications@uwo.ca.

The next issue of the FIMS Graduate Bulletin will be published on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. The deadline for submissions is noon on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.