Catherine Middleton

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Catherine Middleton, B. A. (Queen’s), MBA ( Bond University, Australia), Ph. D. (York). Dr. Middleton held a Canada Research Chair in Communication Technologies in the Information Society from 2007 – 2017. In 2017-2018 she is a MITACS Canadian Science Policy at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC, Canada’s communications regulator). She was named to the inaugural cohort of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists in 2014. Her research focuses on digital inclusion, identifying and assessing policies and practices that enable people to get access to the communications technologies that are central to everyday life. She is also interested in how Canadians use (or don’t use) the Internet and mobile devices, and in understanding ways to advance individuals’ capacities to use communications technologies to engage in society.

Dr. Middleton’s research has been funded by SSHRC, Infrastructure Canada, Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society, Statistics Canada and Ryerson University. Her research projects have investigated the use of ubiquitous communication technologies in organizations, the development of next generation broadband networks (including Australia’s National Broadband Network), competition in the Canadian broadband market, and Canadians’ Internet use. She was the Principal Investigator for the Community Wireless Infrastructure Research Project, is a member of the Public WiFi in Australia research team and is the Co-Investigator on the Canadian Spectrum Policy Research Project.

Dr. Middleton was a “Big Thinking” speaker in 2010, offering insights to Canadian parliamentarians about what is needed to develop a digital society for all Canadians and gave testimony to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology Study of Broadband and Internet Access Across Canada in 2013. Her 2016 Big Thinking lecture, delivered to the Royal Society of Canada, addressed the challenges of digital inclusion in Canada.

Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol

/in , , , , /by

Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol is a senior researcher at the IN3, the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (UOC, Open University of Catalonia) where she serves as Co-director of the Research Group “Communication Networks and Social Change ”.

Her main research interest is the analysis of the socio-economic effects of the (mobile) digital communication in our hyper-connected societies. Her interests are set both in developed and in developing countries. In the area of mobile communication and ageing, projects include “A-C-M: Ageing and Mobile Technologies: research methodologies, systemic biases and access to Communications” (2011-2014, SSHRC ref. 890-2010-0138), “Ageism: A multi-national, interdisciplinary perspective”  (2014-2018,  ref. COST Action IS1402), and “BCONNECT@HOME: Being Connected” at Home – Making use of digital devices in later life” (2018-2021, ref. PCIN-2017-080).  Her publications include articles in high-impact journals (New Media & Society, Media, Culture & Society, or Nordicom Review) and books or book chapters in prestigious publishers (Routledge or MIT press), some of them co-authored with members of the ACT project.

Canadien de Montréal

/in /by


Cette thèse de doctorat, intitulée Les pratiques de mémoire autour du Canadien de Montréal, interroge les pratiques de mémoire hétérogènes qui ont émergé autour de l’équipe de hockey du Canadien de Montréal dans le cadre du centenaire de l’équipe en 2009. Elle a le double objectif 1) d’apporter un éclairage théorique singulier sur l’objet « mémoire » et 2) de développer une analyse conjoncturelle de ces pratiques, dans la mesure où elles articulent des enjeux propres au contexte québécois. La thèse repose sur une analyse d’archives (articles de journaux, notes d’observation, interviews, des publireportages etc.), sur une entrevue réalisée avec un ancien joueur de l’équipe, Léo Gravelle, et la visite des installations publiques produites par l’organisation du Canadien, telles le musée du Temple de la renommée, les patinoires extérieures et la Tour du Canadien. Le but est de questionner les différentes manières dont la mémoire est pratiquée, entre autres par la numérisation/diffusion d’archives personnelles sur internet, les divers modes d’incarnation de la mémoire dans des objets, mais aussi des pratiques de patrimonialisation et de commémoration. À travers les différentes manières dont se matérialisent la mémoire, il s’agit d’examiner ses effets au sein des relations sociales, autant intimes que publiques, mais aussi les façons dont elles ont articulé divers enjeux, liés par exemple au vieillissement dans la culture populaire et à la spectacularisation des villes. Cette thèse est l’occasion de développer une approche communicationnelle de la mémoire au croisement des études culturelles, où l’intérêt est porté sur les façons dont elle se réalise et non sur ce qu’elle est supposée contenir et représenter.

Chercheur:
Fannie Valois-Nadeau

Partenaire ACT:
Université de Montréal

Building Communities Together

/in , /by


A collaboration with Seniors Action Quebec (SAQ)

During the summer of 2013 the ACM was asked to collaborate with the Senior’s Action Quebec organization to assist them in the development of their project “Celebrating Seniors” funded by New Horizons for Seniors.

In collaboration with SAQ, the ACM assisted the organization in setting up research questions, creating an action plan for deliverables of the first phase of their project, and training SAQ interviewers in the use of digital audio technologies. We were on hand with the SAQ for their recording sessions with nine community leaders in Montreal, all picked by members of the Seniors Action Quebec board. Dave Madden, PhD Communications, and Sophie Guérin, MA Media Studies, helped to develop a workshop on audio recording and interviewing. Sophie Guérin photographed the sessions and, with the help of Kim Sawchuk, scanned materials brought in by the participants. Kendra Besanger, MA Media Studies, and Antonia Hernandez, PhD Communications, worked on the production of a booklet that was presented at a public event on Nation Seniors Day – October 1st.

The seniors profiled by Seniors Action Quebec include: Geraldine Doucet, Ved Vorha, Daphne Nahmiash, Clarence Bayne, Harold Geernspon, Ura Greenbaum, Catherine Gilbert, Belva Thomas and Patricia Macgurnaghan.

A copy of the first phase of the project, including photography and podcasts produced with SAQ was launched on October 1 2013, in collaboration with Seniors Action Quebec.

SAQ project leader:

Ruth Pelletier

SAQ interviewers:

Gemma Raeburn-Baynes;
Lyna Bouschel

ACM/MML project director:

Kim Sawchuk, Concordia University

ACM/MML team:
David Madden, audio and audio workshop;
Sophie Guérin, photography and scanning;
Kendra Besanger, booklet layout., design and information management;
Antonia Hernandez, layout and graphic design


Website:
http://www.seniorsactionquebec.ca/

Project updates


Related projects


Learning with Laptops

/in , /by

learning with laptops

The effects of interconnectedness on the potential well-being of senior citizens.

The primary goal of our workshops was to enhance the digital literacy of seniors through collaborative learning. We also aimed to positively improve the perceived well-being of the seniors through their uses of their newly-acquired computer skills. The final report, titled Learning with Laptops: Digital Learning at the Cross Links Senior Community Centre, can be found here. This report describes the various workshops provided to a seniors community in the York Region and is situated within the fields of study of ageing, communication and media.


November 8th 2013: Planning and organization for workshops began on this date.

Communication with research assistants (Arwen Fleming and Kendra Besanger) and project facilitator (Kim Sawchuk) who had worked on a similar project (MemorySpace) at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. MemorySpace organizers provided us with the manual they used during their workshops, which would help guide our workshop planning. This manual included information related to preferable technology (e.g. which scanners would be most effective) and provided detailed instructions on “How to Scan.” It also included as basic information related to the maintenance of the scanners.

Communication with Astral Zeneca Pharmaceuticals IT department started. Laptops were acquired for project.

Communication with Crosslinks Director began. The purpose of the initial meeting was to take a look at facility and rooms for workshops was set.

First workshop session. Included an introduction to the basic uses of the laptops as well as the Internet. This included the layout of programs on the desktop such as the location and uses of the “Start button” and its ability to aid the user to open desired programs.

Second workshop session: scanning tutorials were given. The workshops included: scanning photographs onto the computer, using a USB stick, and using Hotmail (or Outlook, Gmail, etc.).

Third workshop session: recap from last session; the creation of email accounts, which many of the residents did not have before these workshops; time for scanning for those who were unable to do so last week; and an introduction to Skype, using the newly created emails.

Final workshop session: recap of tutorials on surfing between different websites on the Internet; creation of email accounts for those who did not have an opportunity during the last session; a review of YouTube; review of other features of which members were unsure. Interviews of participants were conducted as well.

ACM Project Mentor:
Barbara Crow

Researchers:
Sumeet Farwaha and Erica Melamed


Project updates


Related projects


Sophie Guérin

/in , /by

Guerin, Sophie

As a part of her work for her Masters Degree in Media Studies, Sophie completed a documentary research-creation project called Un jour ou l’autre that speaks about the migration of elderly people into residential homes. Sophie is working on PAR, a series of collaborative digital media projects exploring the potential of new media tools for use by community-based groups that are headed by elders. She has been involved with RECAA: New Media Methods and Ethnocultural Resources Against Elder Abuse, a Participatory action research initiative that demonstrates the social, political and community-based potential of new media and design. She has also worked on the AddressKnown project. Apart these projects, she loves to meet great people and work within community-settings.

Mariam Esseghaier

/in , /by

Concordia University
Contact: mariam.esseghaier@gmail.com

Mariam Esseghaier is a student in the Joint PhD Program in Communication offered by Concordia University, l’Université de Montréal, and l’Université du Québec à Montréal.  She completed a Master of Arts in English literature from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2008 and a Master of Arts in Popular Culture from Brock University in 2010.  From January 2010 to May 2010, Mariam travelled to Tunisia, North Africa, where she studied Arabic and explored the country.  Mariam’s area of research focuses on the commodification of Muslim women in Western popular culture, with an emphasis on the representation of young Muslim women.

Line Grenier

/in , , , /by

Line Grenier is Associate Professor at the Département de communication at Université de Montréal in Montréal, Québec (Canada), and leads the Critical Mediations stream of ACT. Director of the research group Popular Culture, Knowledge and Critique (CPCC), she teaches predominantly in the areas of research methodologies, media theory, memory and media, and popular culture. A popular music studies scholar, her work on the history and politics of “chanson”, local music industries, broadcasting and cultural policies related to French-language vocal music, rites and processes of popularization and valorization in Québec, the Céline Dion phenomenon and the figures of fame and celebrity it embodies, as well as the business and politics of live music, especially on the role of small venues in Montreal, has been published in several journals, including Popular Music, Cultural Studies, Recherches féministes, Ethnomusicology, Recherches sociographiques, and Musicultures.  Her research interests have recently focused on the intersections of ageing and music, and the cultures of ageing that take shape therein. Grenier has taken part in a team ethnography of a music contest for seniors, which examines the entanglements of musicking, ageing, and memory.  She has studied discourses and public policies on “active ageing” in Québec, and the ways in which they inform how ageing is performed at different music events featuring older adults.  Through an ongoing collaboration with a community partner, Grenier contributes to digital music workshops designed to explore, among other issues, how ‘old’ and ‘new’ technologies mediate music practices, and how music is experienced differently, throughout the life course.  After having co-lead a participatory pilot project on ageing, deafhood and technologies, she is currently working with the same colleague on “deaf musics”. This pilot project aims at better understanding how ageing Deaf people access and experience music as a cultural practice today, and how they did so in the past.