Why is the entertainment industry one of the most robust industries even during a recession?
Why did Donald Trump experience such a strong rise in his path to the presidency?
Why do we identify with people who share the same national identity as us, even in a large country where we may not share geography, living situation, or other demographic similarities?
Information alone is not enough to change behavior. As the image above shows, if people have good reason to behave a certain way (in this case to cut the corner across a grassy lawn rather than taking a purpose built path on the sidewalk), they will keep behaving in that way, even if told otherwise (please use sidewalk).
Continue reading “Information Design is Needed Now More Than Ever”
Think about the last time you shared something on Facebook or Twitter. What was your primary motivation for doing so?
Perhaps it was because you learned about some news or current events that you felt others should know about. Perhaps it was because you saw a cute video or picture that you thought other people would like to see too. Perhaps it was because you saw a pithy quote or saying that you felt really described the way you were feeling in that moment, and you wanted to convey that feeling to other people in your network.
Continue reading “Why do we share information? It’s the relationships”
I have spent the bulk of my week at a fantastic academic and policy related conference that brings together scientists and leaders from a wide variety of fields. What’s really been great about this experience is it’s commitment to engaging with a variety of disciplines. We’re not just seeing health scientists, researchers from STEM fields, or social scientists and humanities scholars, but truly a variety of perspectives from across the research spectrum. Another strength of this conference, which I realize now has not been part of my general conference experience is I’ve noticed a real effort to balance gender representation on the panels. Most of the panels I have attended have either had equal numbers of men and women present, or had greater numbers of women and men, reflecting their attendee balance, which identifies as about 60% women.
Continue reading “Diversity in Canadian Science: Not yet there”
Yes, it’s true, Facebook has been implicated in some incredible abuses of power. From Cambridge Analytica to Facebook’s role in the uprisings in Myanmar, to censorship in China and beyond, Facebook has some ‘splaining to do. And consumers (FB users) should just “vote with their feet” and leave the platform once and for all or Facebook will never be held accountable.
I agree with most of the #QuitFacebook arguments. And also, I don’t agree that everyone can just stop using Facebook. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
There are currently over 500 wildfires burning in my home province of British Columbia, Canada. At the same time, Toronto, Ontario is experiencing floods due to heavy August rainfall. Around the world, extreme weather events seem to be becoming more common place. California, like BC, is experiencing wildfires, Sweden’s reindeer are starving after a severe drought, and Hawaii is in the path of a hurricane, just to name a few examples.
Continue reading “Climate Change Through the Lens of Communication”
This is a repost of a blog post I originally contributed to Medium.com, related to my local news research project from 2015-2017.
Local news outlets contribute more to communities than just access to relevant information. Ryerson Professor, Joyce Smith, has published a paper in The Future of Local News: Research and Reflections that shows how embedded local news outlets have traditionally been in the practice of charitable giving in their communities. Her work details a historical connection between local news and charitable giving, and then touches on the ways that new media technologies have influenced, and in some cases disrupted this relationship.
Local news outlets play a role in their communities that digital replacements have yet to replicate… To read more visit Medium.
In a recent Vancouver Sun Op-Ed, SFU President, Andrew Petter makes the compelling argument that universities are vital contributors to their communities, writing, “Canada’s public universities, colleges and institutes have an obligation, as well as an opportunity, to harness the instruments at our disposal to the greatest extent possible to benefit the communities we serve”. I, and many of my colleagues at institutions of higher education across Canada, could not agree more with this sentiment. The university of the future will absolutely have a strong role to play in creating the kind of communities that we all want to live in, and also in fostering the kinds of citizens who want to actively contribute to those communities for the good of all. I agree with Petter, and as an Ashoka U change leader and the program head of the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies at Royal Roads, I have seen this work firsthand. As a result of my work at a university that, like SFU, is pushing the boundaries of education, I can see that providing social support within community means changing the ways we deliver education, so that our raison d’etre in higher education is centered around the good of the communities we serve.
Continue reading “How can Universities Ensure We’re Providing Social Support?”
Recently, Dr. Ann Dale, researcher Brigitte Petersen and I conducted a study in which we looked at the hashtag community formed by people who post using the tag #ClimateChange on Instagram. We wanted to see whether this community showed evidence of the potential for community agency, that is to say, do the posts related to this hashtag seem like content that could, under the right circumstances, inspire community action around the issue of global warming?
Continue reading “New Article Out: The Instagram #Climate Change Community”
We know it happens, because it’s influenced elections.
We know it happens, because it’s impacted people’s careers.
We know it happens, because it’s spawned effective protest movements, and even encouraged people to take up knitting and crocheting.
Communication, via popular social media platforms CAN create social change.
But HOW?
