Department of Communication
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Item Reassessing clictivism: a tool of the (pandemic) times(2023) Puplampu, Adiki; Macpherson, IainActivism has long taken place in digital spaces, from the 1990s hacktivism of the Zapatistas to Edward Snowden’s digital leaks and modern-day online petitions (Karatzogianni 2015). In contemporary digital culture, online activism is often characterized as clicktivism, or dismissed as slacktivism, and defined as “low-risk, low-cost activity via social media whose purpose is to raise awareness, produce change, or grant satisfaction to the person engaged in the activity” (Rotman et al. 2011, 821). Less generously, it can be defined as “acts of participating in effortless activities as an expedient alternative to expending effort to support a social cause” (Hu 2014, 354). Despite its unfavourable reputation in both academic and non-academic writing, clicktivism became an undeniably powerful tool at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns forced people around the globe to stay home for extended periods of time, resulting in increased exposure, via various media, to local and global social issues. This intensified social consciousness, in combination with public health orders prohibiting large gatherings, fostered clicktivism as a primary method of social activism, shedding new light on its qualities, both positive and negative. Criticisms of clicktivism fall into two main themes. First, many consider it inferior and counterproductive to “real world” activism which is characterized by actions such as street demonstrations (Halupka 2014, 116). Second, critics argue that motivations for clicktivism are murky because of the slippery slope between genuine activism and mediated virtue-signalling. In more theoretical terms, there is a concern that impression management, efforts to influence others’ perception of us, is the motivation for clicktivist action, not a desire for social change. In response to criticisms of clicktivism we contend that these arguments hinge on misconceptions around online activism and identity construction. In the case of online activism, critics often assume it always involves what psychologists call moral balancing: reliance on previous moral action, such as “liking” a political social-media post, to excuse future (in)action such as not demonstrating or donating. In fact, people are at least equally motivated to maintain consistency between past, present, and future behaviour (Lee and Hsieh 2013). As for impression management, critics associate it with deception, diametrically contrasting it with authenticity. This perception fails to recognize that everyone regularly impression manages in their face-to-face and technologically mediated interactions with others, and typically not from vanity or insecurity (Goffman 1959).Item Better than the real you? VR, identity, privacy, and the metaverse(2023) Macpherson, Iain; Puplampu, AdikiIf tech-sector CEOs from firms like Meta and Microsoft, plus industry hypers and investors, get their way, then days and nights like Kentarō’s will become commonplace. This future is heralded under a banner-word the metaverse, envisioned as a blending of virtual and physical realities that will profoundly alter how people experience everyday life, from entertainment to work to relationships. Think ‘augmented reality’ (AR): So, these are computer visuals overlaid by screen or lens onto the actual world – but re-imagine this as a more seamlessly immersive experience, in which we intensify or reduce, at will, our envelopment in virtuality. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently described the metaverse as an “embodied Internet, where instead of just viewing content, you are in it” (as cited in Newton, 2021, para.11). This metaverse will depend on advances and convergences across a vast technological array: 5/6G telecommunications, computer processing/graphics, VR, AR, artificial intelligence, social media, the mobile Internet, ‘smart’ glasses/lenses, body tracking and face recognition, holograms and deepfakes, blockchain and cryptocurrency, and ‘the Internet of Things.’ If this massively, multi-user, multimedia metaverse comes to pass, there will be ramifications for everything from the economy and politics to psychology and relationships. This chapter explores implications for human identity, in three senses: psychological well-being, a deeper ‘sense of self,’ and digital privacy. In each case, we highlight negative and positive discoveries and potentials regarding existing and emergent technologies. Our conclusions are tentative, since findings on ‘virtual identity’ remain debated, and the metaverse isn’t here yet, but this chapter will equip you to decide whether you approach its subject with worry, wonder, or doubt that virtual reality (VR) will transcend niche interests any time soon.Item Transgressing the boundaries of faith: belief systems, evil and the human subject in Wes Craven films(2023) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.Contributors use a variety of theoretical frameworks to analyze distinct areas of Craven's work, including ecology, auteurism, philosophy, queer studies, and trauma.Item Mediatization(2022) Macpherson, IanMediatization refers to the powerful influences and effects that media technologies and organizations exert within everyday life.Item The devil's cinema: the untold story behind Mark Twitchell's kill room(2013) Lillebuen, SteveOn the night of October 10, 2008, Johnny Altinger was heading to his first date with a woman he had met online. He was never seen again. Two weeks earlier, aspiring filmmaker Mark Twitchell, a young father with a devotion to the television series Dexter, began a three-day shoot for his latest short film. His horror story featured a serial killer who impersonates women on an online dating site to lure unsuspecting men to his suburban kill room. But was his script actually the blueprint for a real-life murder? And what of Twitchell's other writings, including the elaborate and shocking document titled "S. K. Confessions"? Was it a work of fiction or a diary detailing his dark transformation into a would-be serial killer? A powerfully gripping narrative, The Devil's Cinema is the definitive account of the notorious "Dexter Killer," a case and trial that captured the world's attention. Steve Lillebuen takes us deep into the extraordinary police investigation and the lives of everyone involved, while unveiling never-before-revealed details, all drawn from extensive and exclusive interviews -- including months of contact with the killer himself.Item Greta Thunberg in Canada: climate activism, mediated imagery, and public sphere(2022) Thomas, Ronie; Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.The significance of the ongoing climate debates is characterized by discursive media representations that disseminate mediated constructs of images and ideas to the public sphere. By analysing the recent accounts of Greta Thunberg’s visit to Edmonton, Alberta, this research paper examines the effect of media representations in forming public opinion. It argues that celebrating the emergence of a new Thunberg-era climate discourse through mediated images has reinforced political, cultural, and economic scepticisms that led to repercussions in the form of agitations in the democratic process. Exposure to discourses in the form of activism, counter-activism, and propaganda has had an impact on the oil-based economy of Canada, especially in the results of the 2019 federal election. Through the focused visualization of mediated imagery, these discourses can play an agenda-setting role in shaping public opinion, even in the presence of a refeudalized public sphere.Item Porn Tube sites: how do gratifications, interactivity and contextual age predict usage and addiction?(2023) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Menon, DevadasThe advent of the internet and compact and compatible smartphones have led to a dramatic increase in the usage of Porntube sites across the globe. Guided by the uses and gratification theory, this study (N = 405) identified six gratifications obtained from tube site usage: Excitement seeking, Diversion, Fantasy, Arousal, Habitual pastime, and Information seeking. This research also located the relationship between gratifications obtained from porn tube sites, life position indicators, interactivity, and problematic usage. Some of the prominent findings of the study are: there are significant age and gender differences in tube sites' usage; life satisfaction negatively predicted tube sites' usage; excitement seeking, diversion, arousal, and habitual pastime gratifications positively predicted porn tube usage; age, gender and interactivity were positive predictors of addiction; excitement seeking arousal, and habitual pastime gratifications positively predicted tube sites' addiction.Item Search for empathy: poverty porn popular culture in Indian television(2023) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.The bipolar political conditioning in the Cold War era was perfect for media discourses to find propagandist methods to frame stories in ways that help set special agendas. The coloniser's curiosity for the indigenous and ritualistic cultural forms of these lands was a sign of exploitation rather than inclusion; the looting and importing of natural resources and artistic assets from colonised regions attest to the desire for things that had pure materialistic value. The revulsion associated with the visual perception of these "outside spaces" is fundamental to the construction of power dominance as it signifies notions of social acceptance and rejection. [...]the notion of "disgust" gets associated with the body of the colonised Other, and the representations of the "disgusted other" essentialises cultural identities.Item Between the borders of life and art: Roman Polanski’s transgressive negotiations(2023) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.Roman Polanski’s films are noted for their subversive psychological style that explores themes of sexuality, desire, alienation, and violence. His narratives often reflect a dark sense of humour through which the director perceives the absurdity of the human condition in relation to his own cultural dislocations and artistic eccentricity. This article investigates how different connotations of transgression play a major role in defining Roman Polanski as a filmmaker. It specifically explores how the polysemy of transgression structures Polanski as an artist whose real and cinematic negotiations are often intertwined. Through the constant subversion of moral, cultural, and social discourses, his visual style and narrative ideology maintain a notorious affinity that disturbs the notion of reality and manipulates it with new narrative texts. It is the idea of transgression that changes the way Polanski’s auteur status is perceived, appreciated, and rejected for his actions and creations in the past and their repercussions in the present. Polanski’s works use historical, social, and personal realities to renegotiate his transgressive image in real life by incorporating his contested victim status and persecuted selfhood in narratives that manipulate both the past and present.Item Bollywood self-fashioning: Indian popular culture and representations of girlhood in 1970s Indian cinema(2023) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.This article investigates how Bollywood cinema represented girlhood experiences in India in the early 1970s. It argues that the films during this time focused on representing girls who displayed a variety of new fashion styles and attitudes, some of which were borrowed from western cultures. This was a sign that there was a new way of representing girls which broke with the submissive, dull and melancholic sari-wearing Indian female stereotype entrapped within domestic settings. The immediate result of this was the emergence of new style leaders and popular icons in Indian popular cinema. This study uses Stephen Greenblatt’s concept of self-fashioning and Guy Mankowski’s idea of self-design to examine how Indian girlhood was renegotiated in the 1970s as an individual-centric idea with more agency and power. Here, self-fashioning refers to the way girls adopt new elements of fashion, styles and attitudes to distinguish their identity from earlier archetypal modes of representation in film and culture. It specifically analyses the emergence of Jaya Bhaduri in Guddi (1971) and Dimple Kapadia in Bobby (1973) as case studies to understand the transformation of girlhood representations in early 1970s Bollywood that opened a new space for girls to redefine their selfhood through the assimilation of consumerism, western culture and fashion styles.Item The little people: a fairy tale by a real queen(2023) Wurfel, MarleneA version of The Little People by Carmen Sylva, Queen of Roumania (1901). Edited, annotated and re-arranged by Marlene Wurfel. Music Intro by Reid Alexander Whelton.Item Legend of the wooden shoe(2023) Wurfel, MarleneLily finds this old folktale about the origins of wooden shoes, The Netherlands, and gnomes to have a fascinating and different way of looking at our relationship with nature. It's rewritten and rearranged for Tales from the Lilypad by Marlene Wurfel. “The Legend of the Wooden Shoe” is adapted from a 1918 version in English by William Elliot Griffis in Dutch Fairytales for Young Folks. Original music composed by Reid Alexander Whelton for Tales from the Lilypad. Project Gutenberg link to eBook version of Dutch Fairytales for Young Folks: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7871/pg7871-images.htmlItem Merry Christmas from Lily(2022) Wurfel, MarlenePeace, love & joy from Lily to you! Music by DJ Williams courtesy YouTube Audio LibraryItem Six husky puppies(2022) Wurfel, MarleneThis poem is inspired by the land and literature of Yukon, Canada.Item The orange shirt story featuring Phyllis Webstad(2022) Wurfel, Marlene; Webstad, Phyllis“The Orange Shirt Story” read by author Phyllis Webstad with permission from Medicine Wheel Education www.medicinewheel.education This is the true story of a little girl and her very important orange shirt. Six-year-old Phyllis Webstad was as excited to wear her shiny new orange shirt as she was to attend school for the first time. But her first day at the St. Joseph Mission near Williams Lake, BC was nothing like she expected. Her orange shirt was taken away from her, never to be returned. Since 2013, each year on September 30th, we wear orange to honour the Residential School survivors like Phyllis. We honour their experiences and the experiences of their families. Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity for Indigenous Peoples, local governments, schools and communities to all come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for future generations of children. It is a day to reaffirm that EVERY CHILD MATTERS. Music by Alexander Reid Whelton For more information about Orange Shirt Day visit www.orangeshirtday.org Books available: medicinewheelpublishing.com/collections/english-books/products/the-orange-shirt-storyItem Thor and the storm fairies(2022) Wurfel, MarleneA chocolate lab named Thor is caught in a summer storm. He catches something in the rain: a storm fairy. A Tales From the Lilypad original story by Marlene Wurfel Music: Midsummer Sky by Kevin MacLeod & Danse Macabre by Kevin MacLeod Storm sounds courtesy of a Creative Commons Licence via freesound.org Midsummer Sky by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100158 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Danse Macabre - Busy Strings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100556 Artist: http://incompetech.com/Item The moosicorn part III(2022) Wurfel, MarleneLily is back for Season II of Tales from the Lilypad with an original story by Marlene Wurfel: The Moosicorn Part III. Mordecai is taking magic lessons from the Aurora Borealis. But what was his homework? Intro Music by Reid Alexander Whelton Sound Effects courtesy and Creative Commons Licence via freesound.org Lake sounds and warbler sounds by BenBonCan, Story Logo sound by SergeQuadradoItem Update from Lily(2022) Wurfel, MarleneUpdate: Lily is just fine but still hibernating. She'll be back in May with a brand new season of Tales from the Lilypad Bedtime Stories and Folk Tales. Music for this episode "Bedtime" courtesy Reed Mathis.Item The new civic journalism? An examination of Canadian public libraries as community news sources during the 2019 and 2021 federal election(2023) Lillebuen, Steve; Shamchuk, LisaBackground: This article examines to what extent Canadian public libraries participate in civic journalism at a time when news media coverage is declining in many communities. This pilot study was prompted by reports that public libraries in the United States were undertaking civic-minded journalism following the closure of community newspapers. Analysis: A content analysis of 64 Canadian public library websites found nearly a dozen examples of basic news reporting or civic-minded journalism initiatives (basic reporting, n = 8; civic, n = 3) published during the 2019 and 2021 federal election campaigns. This article also articulates and explains the shared goals and philosophy of the civic journalism movement and the mandate of public libraries.Item Bodies that need queering: the queer hetero-topias in Malayalam cinema(2023) Raj, Sony Jalarajan; Suresh, Adith K.This edited volume offers a comprehensive understanding of the queer space in tandem with the transforming socio-cultural-political relationships in a country that exhibits diversified shades of ideologies and history – that is, India. The featured essays deal with the presence of queerness in visual media, particularly in films and the digital arena, from multilingual and multicultural perspectives, thus creating an exhaustive discourse encompassing argument and analysis. This book aims to depict the plurality and complexity of the Indian scenario, fostering mass acceptance of queerness, a rare scholastic endeavour.