No. 544 - December 3, 2025

  • Coming Events:

    - FIMS Faculty Pastries & Pedagogy - Drop-In Session 
    - Notes From The Minefield - Andrew Lewis Solo Exhibition
    - Dying for Something: Notes for the Study of Modern Martyrdom in an Authoritarian Age
    - CA 2200 Sound Image Text Final Showcase
    - Sit & Stitch: A Cross Stitch Workshop
    - After Poiesis: The Work of Art in the Age of Generative AI
    - FIMS Faculty Lunch & Learn - "Our Pedagogy in the Age of AI"
    - Poster Session for LIS 9004 - Research Methods 
    - Taking a knowledge justice approach to designing equitable, accessible, and inclusive MLIS curriculum and pedagogy

  • Important Dates:

    - Friday, December 5, 2025 - Senate (Great Hall, 1:30 PM)
    - Saturday, December 6, 2025 - Indigenous Winter Market (10AM - 3PM)
    - Tuesday, December 9, 2025 - Last day of undergraduate classes
    - Thursday, December 11 - Monday, December 22, 2025 - Undergraduate exam period
    - Friday, December 12, 2025 - Last day of classes for FIMS grad programs
    - Monday, January 5, 2026 - MLIS Orientation Day
    - Monday, January 5, 2026 - First day of classes for undergraduate students and FIMS grad students
    - Thursday, January 8, 2026 - Senate and BOG Elections Information Session
    - Friday, January 16, 2026 - Senate (Great Hall, 1:30 PM)

  • News & Announcements:

    - Call for Papers for Data Justice 2026: The Datafied State
    - ELIP submissions now open

  • Awards & Accomplishments:

    - Emily Austen (MLIS'13)
    - Earlel Thiyagaratnam

  • Publications & Presentations:

    - Revna Altiok
    - Chris Arsenault (with Angeline Gisonni, Levons Enns-Kutcy and Josiane N'tchoreret-Mbiamany, all MMJC'25)
    - Joanna Redden
    - Sharon Sliwinski
    - Sarah E.K. Smith

  • In the Media:

    - Juan Andrés Bello
    - Heather Hiscox (MA'87, Journalism)
    - Harrison Powell
    - Selma Purac
    - Angela Murphy (incoming Asper Fellow)
    - Joanna Redden

  • Activities of Note:

    - Alanna Acchione
    - Pinar Barlas
    - Alissa Centivany
    - Joanna Redden
    - Luke Stark
    - Aditi Vashistha

  • News from the FIMS Grad Library:

    - Library Hours
    - Upcoming Events at the Library
    - Make of the Month

  • Next Issue:


Coming Events

Faculty Pastries & Pedagogy Drop-In Session
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
4th Floor Lunchroom
FIMS faculty are invited to ring in the winter by talking about teaching! The goal is to offer a relaxed space for colleagues to connect over coffee and pastries while discussing teaching strategies, exploring classroom challenges, and sharing what's been working. Seeking advice? Unsure about an assessment? Excited by a new strategy you're trying out? Looking to exchange ideas? Or, maybe you just want to caffeinate while chatting about teaching? Please drop by! This is the final drop-in of 2025 but sessions will resume in the new year. 

Notes From The Minefield - Andrew Lewis Solo Exhibition Opening Reception
Thursday, December 4, 2025
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
TAP Centre for Creativity (203 Dundas St)
Notes From The Mindfield presents a new series of artworks by FIMS instructor Andrew Lewis that explores the psychological and social effects on our current era—an era that is simultaneously affected by the wake of the pandemic and the rise of artificial intelligence. The series reflects the artist's unfolding observations and evolving ideas around the complexity of today's shifting mental and societal landscape. The exhibition will present over 250 drawings, paintings, sculptures and wearables from the new 2025 series. The exhibit runs until January 10, 2026.

Dying for Something: Notes for the Study of Modern Martyrdom in an Authoritarian Age
Friday, December 5, 2025
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Kresge Building, K106
Presented by Marisol López Menéndez, New School for Social Research, Iberoamerican University, Mexico City. 
Co-sponsored by the FIMS Rogers Chair and the Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction (as part of their speaker series), the Department of Languages and Cultures, the Department of Sociology, and the Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism.

CA 2200 - Sound Image Text Final Showcase
Monday, December 8, 2025
9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Weldon Community Room
Drop ins are welcome. Please join us to kick off the last week of the fall term by enjoying a coffee and compelling student creative works. This event will showcase insightful and creative group projects produced in CA 2200 like music videos, installations and films.

Sit & Stitch: A Cross Stitch Workshop
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
9:15 a.m.
FNB 2230
Offered by the students of LIS 9369 - Library Programming. Destress, socialize and create a cross stitched bookmark to celebrate the end of the semester! All materials provided free. All levels welcomed. First come, first serve.

After Poiesis: The Work of Art in the Age of Generative AI
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
12:00 p.m. - 1:20 p.m.
Attend in person: FNB 4130
Attend online: Register for Zoom
Presented by Assistant Professor Warren Steele as part of the FIMS Seminar Series 2025/26.
Abstract: My research examines the cultural and epistemic consequences of AI-generated poetry, situating it within recent debates about the automation of creative labor and knowledge production. I argue that while AI tools democratize access to poetry by making it easy to produce, they flatten style, homogenize voices, and circumvent the inconvenience of the artistic struggle (continue reading).

FIMS Faculty Lunch & Learn - "Our Pedagogy in the Age of AI"
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
RSVP
After Professor Steele's Seminar Series talk at noon, instructors can head on down to a special Lunch & Learn meant to help people think through their assessments as they go about planning Winter 2026 syllabi. A pizza lunch will be provided so please RSVP to help determine how much pizza needs to be ordered.

Poster Session for LIS 9004 - Research Methods
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
FIMS Graduate Library
Faculty, staff and students are invited to come by the FIMS Grad Library to check out the work done by the MLIS students enrolled in Assistant Professor Shengnan Yang's LIS 9004 Fall 2025 class.

Taking a knowledge justice approach to designing equitable, accessible, and inclusive MLIS curriculum and pedagogy
Wednesday, January 7, 2026
12:00 p.m. - 1:20 p.m.
Attend in person: FNB 4130
Attend online: Register for Zoom
Presented by Professor Pam McKenzie, Heather Campbell, and students from MLIS 9411 as part of the FIMS Seminar Series 2025/26.
Abstract: TBA 


Important Dates

- Friday, December 5, 2025 - Senate (Great Hall, 1:30 PM)
- Saturday, December 6, 2025 - Indigenous Winter Market (10AM - 3PM)
- Tuesday, December 9, 2025 - Last day of undergraduate classes
- Thursday, December 11 - Monday, December 22, 2025 - Undergraduate exam period
- Friday, December 12, 2025 - Last day of classes for FIMS grad programs
- Monday, January 5, 2026 - MLIS Orientation Day
- Monday, January 5, 2026 - First day of classes for undergraduate students and FIMS grad students
- Thursday, January 8, 2026 - Senate and BOG Elections Information Session
- Friday, January 16, 2026 - Senate (Great Hall, 1:30 PM)


News & Announcements

Call for Papers for Data Justice 2026: The Datafied State
Conference co-organizer Joanna Redden, and fellow Data Justice Lab co-directors Lina Dencik, Arne Hintz and Emiliano Treré invite you to submit an abstract for Data Justice 2026: The Datafied State, to be held in Cardiff, UK on June 1 and 2. Keynote speakers include Oriana Bernasconi, UC Chile, Sarah Myers West, AI Now, US, and Nick Srnicek, King's College London, UK. Submissions of abstracts (max 500 words) are due by December 31, 2025.

ELIP submissions now open
The Emerging Library and Information Perspective (ELIP) — Western’s student-run, peer-reviewed journal will accept submissions from November 15 to December 19 and be open to all LIS Graduate students, as well as alumni who have received their degrees within the last three years. This year, we are introducing the theme: “Unquiet Stacks: Refusal, Resistance, and Radical Futures”

Libraries and information work are caught in the crosscurrents of change: political pressure, new technologies, growing inequities, and renewed calls for Justice. This issue is about the friction between what is and what could be – those moments when we choose not to stay quiet. We can’t wait to shape this next collection with you!


Awards & Accomplishments

Emily Austen's (MLIS'13) novel We Could be Rats was included on CBC Books' list of the best Canadian fiction of 2025.

MHIS candidate Earlel Thiyagaratnam successfully defended their thesis titled Using Artificial Intelligence in Canadian Healthcare: Fixing Legal, Ethical, and Policy Problems with Privacy, Consent, Transparency, and Responsibility on November 28.


Publications & Presentations

Media Studies PhD candidate Revna Altiok presented a paper titled "Monsters in Anime: Challenging Binary Thinking" at the 122nd Annual PAMLA Conference in San Francisco (Nov 20-23), as part of the Anime and Manga panel. The presentation discussed three mechanisms through which anime challenges binary thinking and introduced the term "participatory hybridity."

Assistant Professor Chris Arsenault, along with his team of Josette Lafleur (CBC), Angeline Gisonni, Levons Enns-Kutcy and Josiane N'tchoreret-Mbiamany (all MMJC'25), launched their Michener-O'Hagan Fellowship-supported project How They Did It: The tradecraft behind Canada's top investigative journalism. Designed for students, new reporters, and educators, the multimedia project is an educational resource that offers an insider’s look at Canadian investigative journalism. Through a series of podcasts and related content, the project explores the process behind award-winning investigations—told directly by the journalists who broke the story. Check out their work at https://canadianinvestigativejournalism.ca

Associate Professor Joanna Redden co-authored an opinion piece titled "The Canadian government is hallucinating over its AI strategy," published in the Hill Times on November 19.

An exerpt of Professor Sharon Sliwinski's recent book An Alphabet for Dreamers: How to See the World with Eyes Closed was published on MITPress' The Reader on November 24. The exerpt is titled "Dreams and Mycelium: Mapping the Endless Network of Existence" and features a dream description from Professor Lewis Williams (Geography and Indigenous Studies).

Associate Professor Sarah E.K. Smith will be presenting during a workshop titled Paranational Archives and Restitution at the Käte Hamburger Research Centre global dis:connect on December 4.

Professor Smith also published co-authored two chapters in the new book Understanding Cultural Diplomacy and International Cultural Relations: The Art of Diplomacy" and "Museum diplomacy after crisis: examining Canadian museums and Art Galleries."


In the Media

Assistant Professor Juan Andrés Bello's work on The Telenovela Archives: Serialized Fiction in Cuba Before the Revolution 1950-1999 (currently on display in the FIMS & Nursing Building), is profiled in an article titled "Miami exhibit highlights how Cuba helped create the blueprint for the Telenovela" published in the Miami Herald on November 26. 

Heather Hiscox (MA'87, Journalism) was featured in retirement-related profile titled "Hiscox ready for new challenges," published in the London Free Press on November 27.

Fourth-year MACS student Harrison Powell was elected as a faculty councillor in the University Students' Council's October by-election and is highlighted in an article titled "Meet the winners of the fall USC by-election" published by the Gazette on November 28.

Assistant Professor Selma Purac is quoted in an article titled "Gifting AI toys this Christmas? Why Canadian child advocates say parents should be cautious," in the Waterloo Region Record on November 27.

Angela Murphy, incoming Winter 2025 FIMS Asper Fellow, was featured in a profile titled "Asper Fellow embraces challenge of guiding future journalists," published by Western News on November 26.

Associate Professor Joanna Redden was interviewed by CTV National News for a story titled "Use of AI among governments questioned," that aired on November 29. Additionally, Professor Redden's Tracking Automated Government (TAG) Register Canada tool is referenced as a likely source of influence on the federal government's new AI Register, discussed in Teresa Scassa's (CRC in Information Law, University of Ottawa) blog post titled "Canada launches its beta AI Register" (November 29).


Activities of Note

A team from the Starling Centre including Assistant Professor Alissa Centivany, Associate Professor Joanna Redden, Alanna Acchione (Media Studies PhD), Aditi Vashistha (LIS PhD), with support from Assistant Professor Luke Stark and Pinar Barlas (LIS PhD), hosted the Canadian Conference on AI Governance in Ottawa on November 18. The event brought representatives from civil society organizations, the public sector, the First Nations Information Governance Centre and Indigenous led organizations, and academics from research-based organizations to share knowledge that can be used to strengthen AI oversight.



News from the FIMS Grad Library

Library Hours

The library will be closed on Saturday, December 6, 2025 due to a planned power outage.

The library will be closed from Sunday, December 14, 2025 to Sunday, January 4, 2026 for the interterm period. Regular hours resume Monday, January 5, 2025 at 10:00AM.

Upcoming Events at the Library

The FGL hosts workshops, lectures, and community events each term to support graduate teaching, learning, and research. Events are posted to our website (https://lib.fims.uwo.ca/events/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fimsgradlib/)

 

Year-End Game Night @ FIMS Graduate Library

Winter is here—and we’ve got the perfect cure for the cold-weather blues: a cozy night of games, pizza, and good company.

🎲 Board Games
From Settlers of Catan to Monopoly to classic card games, we’ve got something for everyone. Feel free to bring your own favourites too!

🎮Video Games
Chill out in the FIMS Media Lounge with a mix of modern and retro video games.

🏁 Mario Kart Tournament @ 6 PM
Race for the win and take home a trophy + fun prizes! No experience needed, just bring your competitive spirit!

🍕 Free Pizza, Snacks & Soda

To help us order enough, please RSVP to fimslib@uwo.ca if you’re planning to attend.
Open to all FIMS faculty, students and staff.

Wednesday, December 3, 2025
5:00pm-8:00pm
FIMS Grad Library

Tetris Highscore Leaderboard: October 24 – November 21

Think you've got what it takes to top the leaderboard? From October 24 to November 21, drop by the FGL media lounge to play Tetris and log your highest scores on the leaderboard. It’s a low-pressure, high-fun competition where the top three players will walk away with prizes. Whether you're a seasoned player or just learning the ropes, we invite you to join in the fun!

FGL Lunch Hour Movies & Television

Every Tuesday and Friday at noon from now until December, the FIMS Graduate Library is screening films in the media lounge. Showing soon:

Friday, December 5 @ 12pm, Tokyo Godfathers (2004)
Tuesday, December 9 @ 12pm, Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

Make of the Month – December – Winter/Holiday Cards

This month we’re putting the CricutTM from our Makerspace to good use and making winter and holiday-themed cards. When you next need a break from your coursework or research, visit us in the Library to put your creativity (and crafting skills) to good use. We supply the materials, and even a few pre-cut designs to make and take. Themes include winter wonderland, happy holidays, Christmas, Hannukah and more. If the pre-cut cards aren’t your style, browse the large catalogue of cards that can be cut from the Cricut in ten minutes or less! We’ll show you how.


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 final Fall 2025 issue of the FIMS Bulletin. Publication will resume on Wednesday, January 21, 2026. Please submit any items by noon on Tuesday, January 20, 2026.