Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Graphic CV: Mapping Lived/Research Experiences

Recently, Professor Merlyna Lim was invited by the University of Humboldt in Berlin to deliver a public lecture in which she was asked to "autobiographically reflect on [her] approach, locating [her] work in the larger fields and debates." She was reluctant but eventually said yes! So, in her attempt to help audience understand the... More

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Do political polls have value? Or are they ‘useless’?

By Scott Mitchell Can polls accurately predict future outcomes of elections? Or are they meaningless numbers often disconnected from reality? The latter sentiment is often tied to conversations around the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The story goes that polls were showing Hillary Clinton as a near-certain victor, and so Donald Trump winning... More

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Attention: We Stand in Solidarity with Youth Climate Action

ALiGN stands in solidarity with the global community in fighting climate change. The strikes were started by the Swedish young activist Greta Thunberg in September 2018 and now are happening in different communities around the world. They are joined by people protesting the lack of awareness and action towards climate change. ALiGN is proud... More

Monday, September 30, 2019

Thousands of Ottawa Students March to Protest Climate Change

  ALiGN recently spoke with several students who attended the climate change protest on Friday, September 27th, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, inspired by the strikes initiated by Greta Thunberg. This includes Carmen Warner, a PhD student at Carleton University. “I’ve had many conversations with people about the value of protesting, that... More

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

UNRWA in Canada’s First National Leaders Debate – Wait, What is UNRWA?

By Ghadah Alrasheed  Credit: AFP In the first federal leaders’ debate, three party leaders talked through some of the issues that matter most to Canadians including the economy, health care, and environment. But when the debate shifted to the UNRWA, it seemed strange that an organization unlikely familiar to many Canadians took centre. In... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Becoming Migration Researchers: Disquieting Borders with Auto-Ethnography

An introduction to "Migration Stories" by Laura Bisaillon What do five Canadian women with kinship ties to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam have in common? Quite a lot, as it turns out. In this special collection, contemporary experiences with human movement and circulation across borders, both material and conceptual, are... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

From Vietnam to Canada: Exploring through Photographs, Footprints and Fingertips

In July 2017, my family and I returned to Vietnam, thirteen years after our last visit. Duong Bui, my father, took my younger brother, Allan, and I to visit his childhood home. He lived there from birth until he escaped Vietnam after the Vietnam War. Like many others, he became a refugee and made his way to Canada, in search of better... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Language Past, Present and Future: Being Memon, Expressing Life in Kutchi

In this paper, I highlight the significance of language as a key feature supporting cultural and community practices. Starting with my ethnic community, Memon, and the language we speak, Kutchi, I argue that it is important for us to find ways to preserve. Currently, it is only an oral language. Without an official script, I am concerned that this... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

From Asia to North America: Praying Here, There, and Everywhere

This paper aims to explore social belonging for Muslims and Muslim immigrants in North America using the object of a janamaz (prayer mat). I argue that in the face of rising intolerance and an inherent ‘othering’ of Muslims embedded in legal structures and social awareness, being backed by a community creates a sense of social belonging that... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Growing up in a Bengali Kitchen

In this paper, I share how as an immigrant in Canada, I felt detached from my home country of Bangladesh in my early years due to a desire to assimilate into dominant Canadian culture. As I grew older, I actively sought a connection to cultivate my ‘Bengaliness’ by holding onto Bengali food customs and practices. I use my personal narratives... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

A Song for my Mother: No Turning Back

In this essay, I contest ideas and representations about migrants as “vulnerable” and “other” from a presumed “us”. I argue that migrants are strong figures who deal with uncertainties over which they have little control. I have composed a music composition entitled No Turning Back. This analyses features my mother’s migration to... More

Monday, August 12, 2019

ALiGN researchers participate in the Forced Migration Training camp in Nairobi

ALiGN is proud to announce that, thanks to its partnership with LERRN: the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network at Carleton University, two of our writers and researchers, Kathy Dobson and Ghadah Alrasheed, have been invited to participate in the annual "Forced Migration Training" camp at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi at the... More

Thursday, August 1, 2019

ALiGN Publications & Media Coverage

We're still enjoying our summer break. However, it doesn't mean nothing's going on at ALiGN :-) We're busy working on various things, our own research and, of course, the next special issue! In the meantime, in the last couple months, several publications from ALiGN folks are published. These include: Dobson, K. (2019). Connecting, Bypassing, and... More

Saturday, June 1, 2019

Mobilizing Emotion, Not Knowledge

  May 2019 IN THE SPOTLIGHT MERLYNA LIM Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Digital Media and Global Network Society Mobilizing Emotion, Not Knowledge As Canada prepares for a federal election, Canada Research Chair Professor Merlyna Lim is analyzing how social media users—human and otherwise—are mobilizing emotions rather... More

Thursday, May 2, 2019

[Workshop] Public Sector Writing

On 11 April 2019 the ALiGN Media Lab held a "Public Sector Writing" at the School of Journalism and Communication Studies, Carleton University. Organized by Ghadah Alrasheed (Postdoctoral Fellow, ALIGN Media Lab, Carleton University) and Aden Dur-e-Aden (PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto), the workshop was led... More

Thursday, May 2, 2019

[Workshop] Pathways to Digital Literacy

On 3 April 2019, the ALiGN Media Lab held a "Pathways to Digital Literacy"workshop for the middle grade students (7th and 8th) at Abraar Secondary School. Organized by Ghadah Alrasheed (ALiGN postdoctoral fellow), in four 60-minute sessions, participants learned about media literacy and media production. Two media literacy sessions, facilitated... More

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Lim’s “10 DON’Ts in Writing”

Merlyna Lim has developed a list of 10 things to be avoided in good writing. Now, we are sharing it with you for your own use in writing or teaching. She said: Don't be Cardi B of writing!", "This thesis is too Kardashian!", "Spidey moment!" Those are among feedback I give students to improve... More

Friday, March 1, 2019

“Braids” and Raids

By Ghadah Alrasheed  A gendered perspective is generally ignored in understanding causes of war. It is equally disregarded in understanding its dynamics and impact.  Attempts to figure out war through a gender perspective have largely been inhabited by, among other factors, the myth that war is a gender-neutral phenomenon, affecting all types of... More

Friday, March 1, 2019

Can media framing be a good thing? How the ways we talk about climate change impact public perceptions

By Scott Mitchell  When we talk about ‘media framing’ it’s usually in a negative light. We’re drawing attention to how the news might cover something in a way that takes information out of context, sensationalizes it, or connects it to some kind of larger narrative.1  But could there be an upside to framing? Is it always necessarily... More

Friday, February 15, 2019

Is it me? Or is it You(Tube)?

At the end of 2018, popular Canadian YouTube vlogger, Lilly Singh, otherwise known as her YouTube personality, Superwoman, posted a short video to her 14 million subscribers sharing her reasons for leaving the platform that grew her success as a comedian and artist. In her video, she cites a few other YouTubers who have... More

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

[Cartoon] Toxic Masculinity

In conversation with Gillette's "We Believe: The Best Men Can... More

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

From the Director’s desk: Have a Wonderful 2019!

Dear friends and colleagues of ALiGN, On behalf of the Alternative Global Network (ALiGN) Media Lab at Carleton University, I would like to wish you an exciting year of 2019 with hopes for a wonderful new beginning and a memorable past.  As we begin the new year, let me recite my not-so-little wishes for all of us. May you find... More

Sunday, December 16, 2018

Lim on Big Data from the South

On 4 December 2018, Merlyna Lim spoke at the public plenary on "Big Data from the South: -- with Nick Couldry (London School of Economics), Ulises Mejias (SUNY Oswego), and Payal Aurora (Erasmus University Rotterdam). The event was held in advance of the workshop  “Big Data from the South: Towards a Research Agenda” which took place at... More

Saturday, December 1, 2018

ALiGN participated in the AgroEcology Field School 2018

Last August, ALiGN participated in the AgroEcology Field School and Research Summit 2018, hosted by FLEdGE, Lakehead University, USC Canada, and Just Food. The event took place from August 16th to 18th, with two days of field-visits and a full-day workshop on the future of agroecology in Canada. In the workshop, farmers, researchers, community... More

Friday, November 30, 2018

Punching and Kicking: Leaving Canada’s Toughest Neighbourhood

On November 30th, 2018, ALiGN Media Lab--in a collaboration with the Faculty of Public Affairs, School of Journalism and Communication, and Véhicule Press--proudly co-hosted a launch for ALiGN researcher Kathy Dobson’s latest book Punching and Kicking: Leaving Canada’s Toughest Neighbourhood. The book shares Dobson’s experience of growing... More

Thursday, November 22, 2018

[Publication] Disciplining Dissent: Freedom, Control, and Digital Activism in Southeast Asia

Professor Merlyna Lim has just published a piece titled "Disciplining Dissent: Freedom, Control, and Digital Activism in Southeast Asia" [PDF]. Urbanized parts of Southeast Asia have been places with the most vibrant digital activism for the past two decades. And, yet, the region has been marginalized from "global accounts” of the role of... More

Monday, November 5, 2018

Rajani at Mediating Change conference

ALiGN researcher Nasreen Rajani presented a paper titled “Silencing violence 2.0: Examining online activism by marginalized groups in ending violence against women in Canada” at the Mediating Change Conference, held on 1-2 November 2018 at University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, USA. The conference was an interdisciplinary media and... More

Thursday, November 1, 2018

I’m burning for a Silicon Valley revolution!

  It’s time to stop the culture of online harassment and “networked misogyny” (because let’s face it, these online attacks are disproportionately gendered). While increasing the number of women in leadership roles is a necessary condition for effecting cultural change, it is by no means sufficient. Assuming we want to foster diversity... More

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Anti-clickbait: These online communities are helping fight against the “clickbait economy”

Scientists are working to resurrect woolly mammoths!   You might remember headlines from a while ago proclaiming this Jurassic Park-esque possibility. It had something to do with retrieving frozen DNA. Or maybe something about using that gene-editing technique that everyone keeps talking about? CRISPY, or CRISPER, or whatever it’s called?... More

Thursday, November 1, 2018

[Publication] Dis/Connection: The Co-Evolution of Sociocultural and Material Infrastructures of the Internet

Merlyna Lim just gets another publication out. Titled "Dis/Connection: The Co-Evolution of Sociocultural and Material Infrastructures of the Internet in Indonesia", her latest article is part of the special issue #105 of Indonesia (published by Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program) on "Infrastructures". About this article: From warnet to... More

Monday, October 1, 2018

Re-Worlding by Re-Wording

Although “speculative fiction” is sometimes used as a catch-all term that includes fantasy, science fiction, horror, and superhero literature, Margaret Atwood identifies speculative and science fiction as different genres. While science fiction, according to Atwood, “has monsters and spaceships”, speculative fiction is about things... More

Thursday, September 13, 2018

40th Anniversary: Making Communication Matter

The Communication and Media Studies Program is celebrating this month its 40th anniversary to mark a major milestone in the history of Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication. What began as a small program with few students within the School of Journalism and Mass Communication has grown into a top-ranking program known... More

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Warning! You’re entering a sick zone

Scott Mitchell, ALiGN researcher and PhD candidate of Carleton's Communication and Media Studies program, just published an article titled “Warning! You’re entering a sick zone”: The construction of risk and privacy implications of disease tracking apps" in Online Information Review.  Congratulations Scott! Below is the abstract. Purpose... More

Saturday, September 1, 2018

Challenging Technological Utopianism

A special issue on "Challenging Technological Utopianism" in the Canadian Journal of Communication, Volume 43 No. 3, is just published. This issue is edited by ALiGN Media Lab Director Merlyna Lim, and with contributions from: Bivens & Hogue; Dobson & Knezevic; Mitchell & Lim; Knezevic, Pasho, & Dobson. All of these contributors... More

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Lim delivers a keynote at he 11th biennial conference of the International Society for Media, Religion, and Culture

Merlyna Lim delivered a keynote speech titled "Rhythms and Algorithms: Collective Actions in the Social Media Age" at the 11th biennial conference of the International Society for Media, Religion, and Culture (ISMRC), held in Boulder, Colorado, in August 8-11, 2018. The conference was hosted by the Center for Media, Religion and Culture and... More

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