Rogers Chair

Current Chair holder: Professor Anabel Quan-Haase, July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2023

Photo of Anabel Quan-Haase posing on Western's campus

Topic: COVID-19 and the Social and Informational Impacts of Social Media

COVID-19 has affected societies around the world in unimageable ways. Professor Anabel Quan-Haase, the current Rogers Chair of Studies in Journalism and New Information Technology, will examine the role of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on the informational and societal impacts of the technology. According to Burgess, Marwick, and Poell (2018), “the world is in the midst of a social media paradigm – a distinctive moment in the history of media and communications shaped by the dominance of social media technologies” (p. 1). The pandemic has only increased the centrality of social media in society, as people are in lockdown and following physical distancing guidelines, tethered to their screens looking for information and alternative means to socialize. Professor Quan-Haase will take an interdisciplinary approach to examining the role of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow us to emerge with better understandings, tools, and expertise. Four themes will be addressed over the course of the two-year Chairship.

2021-2023 Research Themes

FIMS Rogers Chair Wordmark Theme 1: Pedagogy during and after the Covid-19 pandemic: Differential social and informational impacts of social media on social subgroups

Theme 2: Misinformation and disinformation on social media: Prevalence and journalistic challenges

Theme 3: Factchecking during Covid-19: Approaches to countering misinformation

Theme 4: Social impacts of COVID-19 in time of pandemic: The role of social media

More Information

Previous Events

March 1, 2023

Hacking Online Virality

Featuring Filippo Menczer, Luddy Distinguished Professor of Informatics and Computer Science, Indiana University.



October 26, 2022

Disinformation Disorder and Potential Solutions for Canada

Featuring Heidi Tworek, Canada Research Chair in History and Policy of Health Communications, UBC.



Thursday, April 28, 2022

Disinformation on Social Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prevalence and Journalistic Challenges

Featuring Ahmed Al-Rawi (SFU), Lauren Pelley (CBC), Alfred Hermida (UBC) and Craig Silverman (ProPublica)



Friday, October 29, 2021

Computational Approaches to Studying Anti-Social Behaviour in Social Media

A social media workshop presented by Professor Anatoliy Gruzd, Ryerson University.



Thursday, October 28, 2021

Studying the COVID-19 Infodemic at Scale

Presented by Anatoliy Gruzd, Ryerson University.

About Anabel Quan-Haase

Professor Anabel Quan-Haase is jointly appointed to the Department of Sociology and the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University, and is the director of the SocioDigital Media Lab. She is the co-editor of the Handbook of Social Media Research Methods (Sage, 2017), co-author of Real-Life Sociology (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2021), author of Technology and Society (3rd ed., Oxford University Press, 2020), and co-editor of the Handbook of Computational Social Science (Routledge, forthcoming). Professor Quan-Haase has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings. She is past chair of the Communication, Information Technology, and Media Sociology section of the American Sociological Association and past president of the Canadian Association for Information Science. Through her policy work she has cooperated with the Benton Foundation, Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Canada’s Digital Policy Forum. Quan-Haase is also a frequent expert commentator and resource for mass media outlets including The Globe and Mail, CBC, Vice, CTV, Global News, Financial Post, The Huffington Post, and many others.

Previous Rogers Chair Appointees

  • Anabel Quan-Haase, Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies and the Faculty of Social Science, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2023.

  • Matt Stahl, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2021.

  • Sharon Sliwinski, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2017-June 30, 2019.

  • Nick Dyer-Witheford, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2015-June 30, 2017.

  • Grant Campbell, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2013-June 30, 2015.

  • Alison Hearn, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2011-June 30, 2013.

  • Daniel Robinson, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011.

  • Jonathan Burston, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010.

  • Edward Comor, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2007-June 30, 2009.

  • Sasha Torres, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2005-June 30, 2007.

  • David Spencer, Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, July 1, 2003-June 30, 2005.

  • Anantha Babbili, visiting professor from Texas Christian University, Forth Worth TX, September 1, 2000-April 30, 2001.

  • John Downing, visiting professor from The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX, May 1, 2000-August 31, 2000.

  • John Lent, visiting professor from Temple University, Philadelphia PA, January 1, 2000-April 30, 2000.

About the Rogers Chair

The Rogers Chair of Studies in Journalism and New Information Technology reflects a commitment to interdisciplinary studies in media and information technology, with a base in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies. Support for the Chair is provided by an endowment from Rogers Communications Inc., announced in the summer of 1994, and from a long-standing commitment by the Office of the Secretary of State, Government of Canada. The first appointment to the Rogers Chair occurred in January 2000. Exciting new research and teaching possibilities have been created for the University, the Faculty, and its students.

Each term, a public panel, sponsored by the Rogers Chair of Studies in Journalism and New Information Technology, is organized featuring faculty from the three disciplines that make up FIMS: Journalism, Media Studies and Library & Information Science.

The goal of these panels is to encourage faculty and students to discuss how they are thinking about a topic of mutual concern; more specifically, how their professional backgrounds and personal biographies are shaping their views and thoughts.