Events

Location: Dana Porter Library Learning Lab (LIB 323), University of Waterloo

Join Shana MacDonald in conversation with Olivia DeRamus, founder of Communia, a social media app for women and non-binary users. We will be discussing the marked increase in bots spreading violent misogyny within viral media events tied to gendered discourse.

Join us for the third session of SIGNAL’s Reading Group, a space for conversation about technology, culture, activism, and power.

On March 27, we will discuss On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder, a reflection on how democratic societies can recognize and resist the rise of authoritarianism. Drawing on historical lessons, the book invites readers to think critically about civic responsibility, truth, and the role of individuals in protecting freedom.

Whether you have finished the book, read a few chapters, or are simply curious about the conversation, everyone is welcome to join.

Join us for the second session of SIGNAL’s Reading Group, a space for conversation about technology, culture, activism, and power.

On February 27, we will discuss The New Age of Sexism: How AI and Emerging Technologies Are Reinventing Misogyny by Laura Bates. In this book, Bates explores how artificial intelligence and digital platforms are reshaping gender inequality in new and often hidden ways. Together, we will examine the social impact of emerging technologies and reflect on how we can respond critically and constructively.

Whether you have read the full book or are simply curious about the topic, all are welcome to participate.

This presentation explores what intersectional classification systems and practices might look like. Building on library and information science, digital humanities, and critical theory literature, we will explore what underlying assumptions and approaches to data-driven projects best support intersectionality. Kayla Dold (Digital Transformation and Innovation) will lead us through a conversation about how to balance the material and discursive usefulness of classifications with their normative power, highlight the lived experience of classification, and compare single facets of multi-faceted identities. The purpose of this work is to suggest how we can conduct transformative research on, and with, classification systems in ways that respect intersectionality as a social theory.

Dans la presse traditionnelle, le féminisme est souvent réduit à des questions qui font les gros titres, comme le droit à l’avortement et à des services de garde abordables – importantes, certes, mais qui ne sont que la partie émergée de l’iceberg. En revanche, des plateformes non traditionnelles comme les blogs révèlent le pouls plus profond du féminisme : un appel à l’autonomie corporelle, à une éducation équitable, à l’accès aux soins de santé et à des politiques transnationales. Ces voix de la base nous rappellent que le féminisme n’est pas une liste de contrôle ; c’est un mouvement pour un changement systémique, qui va de l’autonomisation personnelle à la refonte de la politique étrangère. Là où la presse simplifie, les femmes amplifient. Dans cette session Pascale Dangoisse Matecki (Communication et Cultures numériques) partagera les résultats de ses recherches doctorales sur les politiques féministes en contexte politique libéral.

Did women have legal and financial independence in Rome? Did Christianity make a difference? Did people actually follow the ‘Law’? Lyrdia Schriemer (Religious Studies) will join us to discuss some of the digital tools used in her research on the contractual abilities of women in Greek-language contracts from the Later Roman Empire and their role in studying the ancient world more broadly.

Join us for a half-day exploration of feminist social media data and what to do with it! Our workshop begingss with a discussion run by digital librarian and web archivist Nick Ruest around how to wrangle and organize metadata in social media data collection. This is open to anyone in the network and any students you might have that are interested in gaining metadata management and coding skills. The rest of the time will be spent collaboratively coding metadata and having fun. We have a huge repository of uncoded feminsit and queer memes from 2016 to 2024 that people can work with or people are welcome to bring their own data sets to practice with.