Rogers Chair

Rogers Chair holder: Professor Amanda Grzyb
Theme: Media and the New Fascism

Threads that Unite Us 2: Rafu / Mending
March 27, 2026
Featuring visiting artist Sharmistha Kar.

AI is a Morbid Symptom of the Interregnum
March 20, 2026
Presented by Dan McQuillan, Senior Lecturer in Critical AI at Goldsmiths, University of London. Co-hosted by the Starling Centre for Just Technologies and Just Societies.

Black Muslim Refugee: Militarism, Policing, and Somali American Resistance to State Violence in Minneapolis and Beyond
February 25, 2026
Presented by Maxamed Abumaye, Ohio State University, Department of African American and African Studies. Co-sponsored by the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies.

Risk Capital: The Right-Wing Origins of Venture Capital
January 15, 2026
Presented by M.R. Sauter, University of Maryland College of Information. Co-hosted by the Starling Centre for Just Technologies and Just Societies.

Dying for Something: Notes for the Study of Modern Martyrdom in an Authoritarian Age
December 5, 2025
Presented by Marisol Lopez Menendez, Professor of Political and Social Studies, Iberoamerican University, Mexico City. Co-hosted by the Transitional Justice Centre, the Department of Sociology, the Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism and the Hispanic Studies Program in the Department of Languages and Cultures.

Reactionary Futurism: The Rise of Technofascism in Silicon Valley
October 30, 2025
Presented by Becca Lewis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Co-hosted by the Starling Centre for Just Technologies and Just Societies.

Threads that Unite Us | Hilos que Nos Unen
October 2 & 3, 2025
Featuring Salvadoran embroiderer and visiting artist Teresa Cruz. Co-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Department of Visual Arts, the Department of Languages and Cultures, the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, Surviving Memory in El Salvador, the Liberia CRSV project, Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen, and SSHRC.

Rogers Chair holder: Associate Professor James Compton
Theme: Communicating Solidarity in an Unstable World

Three Faces of Labor: Uncovering the Hidden Ties Between Gender, Race, and Class
February 12, 2025
Presented by Nancy Fraser, Henry and Louise A. Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics at the New School for Social Research.

Communicating Solidarity in the Neoliberal University: Challenges and Solutions
October 30, 2024
A panel featuring Peter McInnis, Evan Fox-Decent and Karuna Dsouza. 

Reporting in a House of Mirrors
March 13, 2024
Presented by Justin Ling, investigative journalist and author.

Abstract: These days, it feels like we don't even know what we're arguing about anymore. Our society has been riven by political polarization, paranoid populism, even extremism, brought on by a deluge of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. Our collective conversation has been warped, skewed, stretched, and shrunk beyond recognition, making it harder and harder to see what's right in front of our faces. Journalists have rushed around, trying to correct all the distortion — often to little avail. Our body politic has suffered as a result, with crises and critical policy questions being ignored in favour of ideological crusades and small grievances made to look massive. If we are ever to face the myriad of problems facing us, we will need to return to some kind of collective reality. To get there, journalists will need to take the lead.

Lies, damned lies and democracy!
October 18, 2023
Presented by Professor Emeritus Anton Allahar.

Abstract: My title borrows from a famous quote that is attributed to Mark Twain who in turn attributed it to Benjamin Disraeli, a former British PM. Apparently when Disraeli was shown to be low in the poll numbers, he asserted: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics!” I modify this quote to read: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and democracy!” For my contention is that much of what passes for democracy today is based on transparent lies that are sold to an unsuspecting public by politicians, multiple civic leaders, media enterprises, teachers and even professors. It speaks to the processes by which a largely credulous populace exhibits a cultural willingness to accept myth and make-believe as ‘truth.’ In other words, the populace is so steeped in ideological distraction, so deceived that they are unable and even unwilling to see the ‘truth.’ I mean no disrespect to anyone, but that make-believe is rooted in the public’s widespread embrace of religion and the simultaneous rejection of scientific knowledge and fact. In the process ideologies of God, ‘race,’ gender, ‘tribe’ and nation are elevated and overall social solidarity is actively undermined. Finally, my argument directs attention to the phenomenon of Trumpism as a point of empirical reference.

Rogers Chair holder: Professor Anabel Quan-Haase
Theme: COVID-19 and the Social and Informational Impacts of Social Media

Hacking Online Virality
March 1, 2023
Presented by Professor Filippo Menczer

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.

Disinformation Disorder and Potential Solutions for Canada
October 26, 2022
Presented by Heidi Tworek, Canada Research Chair of History and Policy of Health Communications, UBC

Abstract: Poor-quality information and conspiracy theories seem to be floating around everywhere. But how can we understand the effects of these issues and are there any ways to address them? This talk will explore the history of disinformation to examine what is new about our present problems. It will then examine how poor-quality information and online abuse are affecting health and politics in Canada before finally suggesting some solutions to these complex questions.

Disinformation on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic: Prevalence and journalistic challenges
April 28, 2022
Panel discussion featuring Ahmed Al-Rawi, Lauren Pelley, Alfred Hermida and Craig Silverman

Abstract: Social media has been a strategic tool used by governments, health agencies, and experts during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing rapid updates on topics such as health regulations, safety recommendations, and disease risk. Yet, with its unmoderated and fast-paced nature, social media has contributed to the spread of disinformation, fears, and distrust of experts and the mainstream media. A 2021 CBC Marketplace investigation identified hundreds of social media posts spreading disinformation and no initiatives on part of tech giants to deal with the problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of an ‘infodemic’ that impairs effective health policy and requires immediate intervention. This panel will discuss many of the challenges confronted by journalists today with identifying and combatting disinformation. The panel brings together academic experts in the field of journalism and communication with professional journalists working on the ground. The panel also highlights how innovative forms of journalism like The Conversation contribute to sharing important information at an accelerated pace. The panel further addresses issues associated with journalism that have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic such as online harassment of journalists and experts, the subsequent burnout experienced by some media members, and challenges communicating complex information to a wide audience in an inflexible environment. 

Studying the COVID-19 Infodemic at Scale
October 7, 2021
Presented by Anatoliy Gruzd, CRC in Privacy-Preserving Digital Technologies and Director of Research at the Social Media Lab, Toronto.

Abstract: False narratives about COVID-19 have gone global and are spreading almost as fast as the virus itself. Since January 2020, there have been over 10,000 false and unproven COVID-19 related claims shared via social media and other channels. This presentation will discuss how researchers at Ryerson University's Social Media Lab, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), are spearheading an international effort to help stem the rise and counter COVID-19 misinformation via the COVID-19 Misinformation Portal.

Rogers Chair holder: Associate Professor Matt Stahl
Theme: Austerity & Media

Making Poverty Pay: Digital Creditors, Gentrifying Landlords and Financial Capitalism Today
April 14, 2021
Featuring Rob Aitken, University of Alberta, and Susanne Soederberg, Queen's University. Co-hosted by Big Data at the Margins.

Abstract: Translation is a point of entry for studying how social groups and topics are represented in the press. Investigating translation in a large bilingual corpus provides insight into the way anglophone and francophone journalists frame and explain economics and finance for large audiences. With Chantal Gagnon (associate professor at Université de Montréal), we look at the words “debt”, “austerity” and “victim” to see whether narratives converge or diverge when anglophone and francophone stories are set side by side and contrasted.

Researching Canadian business news through translation: debt, austerity and victims
February 27, 2020
Presented by Pier-Pascale Boulanger, Concordia University. Response by Melissa Adler, Faculty of Information & Media Studies. Co-hosted by Debt, Austerity & the Media.

Framing the Economic Case for Austerity: The Expansionary Fiscal Contraction Hypothesis
January 15, 2020
Presented by Ellen Russell, Wilfrid Laurier University. Co-hosted by Debt, Austerity & the Media.

Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi)
November 20, 2019
Screening of the film Vagabond, by Agnes Varda (1985), followed by a discussion of austerity and moralism in Canada today featuring Sorin Mitrea. Introduced and moderated by Amanda Grzyb, Faculty of Information & Media Studies. Co-hosted by Debt, Austerity & the Media.

Life Under Mike... And Doug: Understanding and Resisting Austerity in Ontario
September 4, 2019
Screening of the documentary film Life Under Mike (Guerrilla Films, 2000), introduced by Canadian journalist Dimitri Lascaris. Followed by a panel featuring filmmaker James Motluk and London North MPP Terence Kernaghan. Co-hosted by Debt, Austerity & Media. 

Rogers Chair holder: Professor Nick Dyer-Witheford
Theme: Cyber-Wars and Information Struggles

The State of Anonymous - Seminar
March 18, 2016
Presented by Gabriella Coleman, McGill University

How Anonymous (narrowly) evaded the cyberterrorism rhetorical machine
March 17, 2016
Presented by Gabriella Coleman, McGill University

Proxy Politics and Proxy Wars
March 4, 2016
Presented by Oleksiy Radynski, filmmaker.

The Kremlin and the Internet - Seminar
March 4, 2016
Presented by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, investigative journalists.

The Red Web: Internet Censorship in Russia
March 2, 2016
Presented by Andrei Soldatov, investigative journalist.

The Citizen Lab's Mixed Methods Approach to Research on Information Controls - Seminar
February 4, 2016
Presented by Professor Ron Deibert, University of Toronto.

The Needle in the Haystack: Citizenship and War in the Age of Big Data
February 3, 2016
Presented by Ron Deibert, University of Toronto.

Inside the Martial Gaze: Sensing, Imaging, Mapping - Seminar
January 14, 2016
Presented by Antoine Bousquet, Birkbeck College, University of London.

Under a Martial Gaze: The Logistics of Military Perception
January 13, 2016
Presented by Antoine Bousquet, Birkbeck College, University of London.

Bill C-51 and Knock-on Effects on Surveillance and Internet Censorship: The Law of Intended (?) Consequences
September 23, 2015
Lecture by Craig Forcese, University of Ottawa. Responses from Datejie Green, FIMS 2015 Asper Fellow, and Sam Trosow, Faculty of Information & Media Studies.