Hot Off the Press:

Boler, Megan. “Feminist Politics of Emotions and Critical Digital Pedagogies: A Call to Action.” PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 130.5 (2015): 1489 – 1496. DOI:10.1632/pmla.2015.130.5.1489 Boler, Megan. “Motivations of alternative media producers: Digital dissent in action.” The Routledge companion to alternative and community media. Ed. Chris Atton. Routledge, 2015. Recent publications from Professor Boler’s SSHRC-funded ResearchContinue reading “Hot Off the Press:”

Event Summary: “Hacktivists, Cyberwarriors and International Relations”

In recent weeks, the International Relations Society hosted a conference on Hacktivism at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. Given the event’s focus on social action via the Internet, a few members from the Boler Research Team attended. Here is a quick summary of some of the highlights. How secure are weContinue reading “Event Summary: “Hacktivists, Cyberwarriors and International Relations””

Celebrating Armchair Activism

It was recent email from Avaaz.org that inspired today’s post. For those you unfamiliar with Avaaz, they are an internet advocacy organization. Tackling issues from climate change to human rights, Avaaz targets some of the world’s biggest problems with a creative and democratic approach to advocacy. Following the speculation that factory farming may have been linked with the H1N1Continue reading “Celebrating Armchair Activism”

Facebook and the Canadian Election

Canadians that are not in favour of the neo-conservative Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper are using Facebook to help oust him. It’s become an issue that Elections Canada had to look into facebook groups and they ended up concluding that, yes, the facebook groups are legal. The groups in question are easily accessible through facebookContinue reading “Facebook and the Canadian Election”

Fascist State Blocks Pirates

Ok, the title is a little exaggeration – but only a little. Recently the Italian government has blocked access to The Pirate Bay. The Pirate Bay is a site that allows people to download torrent files of popular entertainment and software. They even have comic books. The thing is that The Pirate Bay hosts onlyContinue reading “Fascist State Blocks Pirates”

Facebook is “a minefield of privacy invasion”

Another week and another accusation that Facebook destroys people’s privacy. However, this accusation could end up changing Facebook in Canada. The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), run out of the University of Ottawa, has filed a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada that outlines 22 problems with Facebook. The complaint thatContinue reading “Facebook is “a minefield of privacy invasion””

Teen Texting Found To Be A Linguistic Improvement

“I was able to gain access to a world that most middle-aged academics never get to,” University of Toronto researcher said after following thousands of teen texting conversations. Texting, according to research, is not a harbinger of linguistic decline but much more like the telegraph before it: Another facet in the constant evolution of language.AccordingContinue reading “Teen Texting Found To Be A Linguistic Improvement”

Military Report: Secretly ‘Recruit or Hire Bloggers’

Wired:  A study, written for U.S. Special Operations Command, suggested “clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers.”Since the start of the Iraq war, there’s been a raucous debate in military circles over how to handle blogs — and the servicemembers who want to keep them. One faction sees blogs as security risks, and a collective wasteContinue reading “Military Report: Secretly ‘Recruit or Hire Bloggers’”