Join the Faculty of Information’s Crosstalk Series, an informal weekly speaker series in which two faculty members discuss their current research, look for common themes and answer questions from the audience. Learn about diverse research in the field of Information, uncover ‘hidden’ connections and encourage crossectoral collaboration within the Faculty.
All students, staff and faculty are welcome. Talks will take place on select Mondays from 11 am to 12 pm in BL728, 140 St. George Street (Claude Bissell Building). Light refreshments will be served.
Winter 2025
- January 6 | Lost in Translation
Fiorella Foscarini and Irina D. Mihalache
This crosstalk reflects the lived experiences of two academics born in Italy and Romania respectively, whose research (but not first) language is English. Fiorella and Irina will share examples from their research and writings, as they move across and in between languages and cultures.
The English language acts as an invisible, hegemonic force, which exerts strong influence over the framing of the global world. What are the consequences of the use of English as a lingua franca in academia and the profession? How is translation performed, and what is its impact on highly culture-dependent domains, such as archival studies and food studies? In this crosstalk, we will reflect what is lost in our daily acts of translation.
- January 20 | Pedagogical Research: Improving Student Success and Studying its Own Classroom Pedagogy
Maher Elshakankiri and Olivier St-Cyr
Pedagogical research (often called SoTL – The Scholarship of Teaching of Learning) is an important part of being a teaching stream faculty member at the Faculty of Information. In this crosstalk, professors Maher Elshakankiri and Olivier St-Cyr will highlight SoTL work they have conducted. Professor Maher Elshakankiri will present his research on how Flexible Deadlines and Timely Reminders Play Crucial Roles in Student Success and will discuss how these approaches can improve both the quality of submissions and student well-being based on recent research findings. Professor St-Cyr will present research on how teaching stream faculty members can study their own classroom pedagogy and discuss research on Monitoring the Short-Term Outcomes of Community-Engaged, Project-Based User Experience Design Courses.
- February 3 | Wayward Cultures
Jessica Lapp and Patrick Keilty
Wayward cultures often exist at the margins making their legibility difficult. In this session we discuss some of the connections between archival and data studies in accounting for wayward cultures and their material expressions.
- February 24 | Living with AI: Critical Labour and Creative Futures
Hadiya Roderique and ME Luka
How can we use AI in ways that lead us towards more equitable futures instead of less? What is the role of creative workers, journalists, information workers, and policy makers in ensuring this future?
- March 10 | Title TBD
Claire Battershill and SA Smythe
Featured News
Decolonization in action: A Museum Studies example
Museum Studies lecturer Bruno R. Véras helped the Faculty of Information play a key role in a recent decision by Harvard University to repatriate two human skulls to Brazil, including one believed to belong to a Muslim rebel who took part in an important slave revolt in 1835. Véras, who is Brazilian himself, first became […]
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BI student wins leadership award after finding her niche at Faculty of Information
It was love at first course for Sehar Bajwa when she switched to the Bachelor of Information (BI) program from engineering where she had completed her first two years of study at U of T. After two years in a purely technical environment, she realized it was stifling her creativity. “I looked at myself in […]
In Memoriam: Professor Twyla Gibson (1954 – 2024)
Friends and Colleagues remember Twyla Gibson as an interdisciplinary scholar whose information interests ranged from Plato to Marshall McLuhan While she came to academia later in life than usual, Twyla Gibson, left a big imprint, including at the Faculty of Information, where she held an assistant professor appointment from 2007 to 2011. Gibson was […]