U N I V E R S I T Y O F T O RO N T O
FA C U LT Y
OF
I N F O R M AT I O N
Coach House Institute
McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology
39A Queen’s Park Crescent E, Toronto
WINTER / SPRING PROGRAMS
JANUARY - MAY 2016
CITY AS CLASSROOM
MONDAY NIGHT SEMINARS / WORKSHOPS / SPECIAL EVENTS
Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology
U NIV ERS ITY O F TO RO NTO
UNIVERSITY OF
ST. MICHAEL’S COLLEGE
Coach House Institute
MISSISSAUGA
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology is an initiative of the Coach House Institute,
Faculty of Information (iSchool) at the University of Toronto, in partnership with
the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto and the Institute of Communication,
Culture, Information and Technology, University of Toronto Mississauga.
Coach House Institute, Interim Director
Seamus Ross
McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, Director
Sarah Sharma
Program Curators
Paolo Granata, David Nostbakken
McLuhan Centenary Fellows:
Andrew Chrystall, Paolo Granata, David Nostbakken, John Oswald, Sandy Pearlman
Coach House Institute Executive Committee:
Mark Chignell, Costis Dallas, Barbara Fischer, Robert Gibbs, Mark McGowan, Don McLean, Seamus Ross, Anthony Wensley
Thanks to: Neil Andersen, Joshua Barker, Mary-Marta Briones-Bird, Mark Chignell, Alessandro Delfanti, Silvia Falsaperla,
Donald Gillies, Sara Grimes, Silvia Fabbri, Luigi Ferrara, Sal Greco, Nadia Halim, Steve Hicks, Audrey M. Johnson, Agnes Kruchio,
Alex Kuskis, Alice Lee, Robert K. Logan, Mark McGowan, Andrew McLuhan, Eric McLuhan, Michael McLuhan, Glen Menzies,
David Mulroney, Cosmin Munteanu, Kathleen O’Brien, Chris Penney, Janis Peters, Domenico Pietropaolo, Denise Pinto, Jeff Pinto,
Anna Pralat, Adam Pugen, Billal Sarwar, Dominique Scheffel-Dunand, Brian Cantwell Smith, Kathy Shyjak, Ruthanne Wrobel.
Coach House Institute
McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology
BLOOR ST. W
ROYAL
ONTARIO
MUSEUM
39A Queen’s Park Crescent East, Toronto
Parking available off 121 St. Joseph st.
(Marshall McLuhan Way)
YONGE ST.
ST. MICHAEL’S
COLLEGE
BAY ST.
MUSEUM
QUEEN’S PARK CRESCENT E
HART
HOUSE
QUEEN’S PARK CRESCENT W
AVENUE RD.
CHARLES ST. W
L @McLuhanCHI
F mcluhancentre
ST. JOSEPH ST.
P
COACH
HOUSE
WELLESLEY ST. W
WELLESLEY
coach.house@utoronto.ca
+1 416 978 7026
www.mcluhan.utoronto.ca
OVERVIEW
City as Classroom
A roster of programs for Winter/Spring 2016 brings together an eclectic mix of
raconteurs, innovators, thinkers and doers from the university, the city and the
larger global village.
The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology,
A Video Lounge program showcases some rare film
Faculty of Information (iSchool) at the University of
and documentaries that focus on McLuhan’s
Toronto, is pleased to announce a Winter/Spring
intellectual influence during the Sixties and
2016 rollout of events.
Seventies.
Weekly bull sessions carry on the “Monday Night
Seminar” tradition of McLuhan, where open, frank
Town Hall meetings featuring leading figures with ideas
and sometimes explosive exchange takes place in the
same intimate Coach House setting where McLuhan
Special events include:
to share about the way ahead in the 21st century.
Collaborations with Digifest, Toronto’s international
once held court. In this up-close and personal
festival celebrating digital creativity, and with
environment, a range of participants – academics,
#Jane100, celebrating urban activist Jane Jacobs’
business people, scientists, artists, designers and
planners – explore the mosaic of the metaphoric city
as a source of knowledge and inspiration.
100th Anniversary.
A public lecture by Joseph Morong, 2015 recipient of
the Marshall McLuhan Award for Investigative
Journalism, awarded annually by the Canadian
Faculty members of the iSchool share their innovative
projects and discoveries in a winter series of
workshops and UofT lab researchers lead a spring
Embassy in Manila.
The launch of a mobile app “McLuhan Walks”, a
digitally-enhanced self-guided tour of the city.
series intended to help us better know who we are in
A summer school designed to engage recognized
the university community. These workshops are open
scholars from around the world for an advanced
to all within and outside academia.
program of study in culture and technology.
An international conference (October 27-30, 2016) in
The New Explorations Group series is designed and
partnership with the University of St. Michael’s
conducted by graduate students at the iSchool to
College in the University of Toronto, to explore the
challenge the conventional, to push boundaries and
tradition of the so-called Toronto School and to
to carve out new paths. Open to all interested parties.
consider how we might build on its legacy today.
A series of Book Salons highlights new book launches,
including recent arrivals with McLuhan-related themes
or texts springboarding from McLuhan thought.
This program of events is designed to
challenge notions, provoke thought and
help us imagine our collective future.
Come join the conversation!
OVERVIEW / City as Classroom
3
JANUARY 25, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Engaging Community Inaugural season seminar
Is there a global village?
With Rohinton Medhora, Bonnie Rubenstein, Nora Young
ROHINTON MEDHORA
BONNIE RUBENSTEIN
NORA YOUNG
Rohinton P. Medhora is
President of the Centre for
International Governance
Innovation (CIGI), joining in
2012. He served on CIGI's
former International Board of
Governors from 2009–2014.
Previously, he was vice president
of programs at Canada’s
International Development
Research Centre (IDRC). He has
published extensively on these
issues in professional and nontechnical journals, and has
produced two books: Finance
and Competitiveness in
Developing Countries
(Routledge, 2001); and
Financial Reform in Developing
Countries (Macmillan, 1998),
which he co-edited with José
Fanelli.
Bonnie Rubenstein has been a
director at the CONTACT
Photography Festival in Toronto
since 2002 and is responsible for its
artistic programming. In 2003 she
established the public installation
program and since then has
overseen well over 100 projects by
both emerging and established
artists from Canada and around the
world. Each year she curates
several high profile, large scale
installations of photography in
public spaces throughout the city.
For many years Rubenstein has
also been actively engaged with the
curation and organization of visual
arts exhibitions at major museums
and galleries for CONTACT and
previously for Lisson Gallery,
London, the Museum of
Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
Nora Young is a journalist
specializing in technology and
culture. She is particularly
interested in technology and
philosophy, technology and the
body, and the use and abuse of
data. Her radio
show/podcast/blog, Spark, airs
across Canada on CBC Radio
One. She also has an indie
podcast called The Sniffer, about
trends in technology, media and
the arts, with her friend, Cathi
Bond. She authored The Virtual
Self: How Our Digital Lives Are
Altering the World Around Us
(2012).
L@RohintonMedhora
L@nora3000
L@ContactPhoto
4
MONDAY NIGHT SEMINARS / Winter Series 2016
L #CityAsClassroom
@McLuhanCHI
FEBRUARY 1, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
The Invisible Village
Where is our cultural memory?
With Adriana Ieraci, Heather Rumball, Tom Sherman
ADRIANA IERACI
HEATHER RUMBALL
TOM SHERMAN
Adriana Ieraci is an entrepreneur
and designer with a background in
Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Toronto. She works
with agile start-up processes and
design methodologies to create
new product ideas. Adriana
founded Conveyor Built, a design
consultancy and innovation skills
development firm to explore
Internet of Things technologies.
She founded Get Your Bot On!, a
community of roboticists and
enthusiasts to collaborate on robot
prototypes in a hackathon format
and discuss topics in robotics,
sharing ideas at the monthly
meetup. Adriana teaches start-up
methods and design at the
University of Toronto coaching her
students in developing their own
product ideas. She is currently
working on an electronic jewellery
product with a haptic interface.
Heather Rumball is the President
of the Toronto Public Library
Foundation. She joined the
Foundation in December, 2003
having worked as Vice President,
Marketing & Fund Development
for the Odyssium (science centre)
in Edmonton, Alberta. Prior to
that Heather worked for the
Stratford Festival as Annual Fund
Director.
A native Torontonian – and one of
the city’s biggest fans – Heather
is passionate about the Library’s
central role in building a city of
life-long readers, learners and
creators for a successful Toronto,
and how the Foundation can
inspire giving in support of
exemplary collections, groundbreaking programs and services,
and innovative community
spaces.
Tom Sherman is an artist and
writer. He works across media
(video, radio, performance, print
and the Web). From a
phenomenological perspective,
he is focused on describing
environments and authors all
manner of texts. His
interdisciplinary work has been
exhibited internationally, including
shows at the Vancouver Art
Gallery, the Museum of Modern
Art and the Venice Biennale. He
published Before and After the IBomb: An Artist in the
Information Environment in 2002.
He received the Governor
General’s Award for Visual and
Media Art in 2010. Sherman is a
professor in the Department of
Transmedia at Syracuse
University in New York.
L@TPL_Foundation
L@adrianai
mcluhan.eventbrite.ca
#CityAsClassroom / Engaging Community
5
FEBRUARY 8, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
The Community Speaks
How do we decide what matters in the city?
With Mary Donohue, David Miller, Richard Stursberg
MARY DONOHUE
DAVID MILLER
RICHARD STURSBERG
Named as one of the 18
Outstanding Women In Tech,
2015, and Diversity MBA’s top 50
under 50 in 2015, Dr. Donohue is
a passionate advocate of
revolutionizing today’s workforce
training through technology and
developing internal talent. Her
book with Jack Canfield became
a best seller on Amazon in the
both the US and Canada in
September 2015. As Founder of
the Donohue Learning
Systems™, she designs
technologies that provide people
with a roadmap to achieve a
better work/life balance.
Dr. Mary is a world-renowned
speaker and TEDX presenter,
television personality and
columnist. Her work appears in
the Huffington Post and Financial
Post.
David Miller is a former politician
in Ontario, Canada. He was the
63rd Mayor of Toronto who
served from 2003 to 2010. He
entered politics as a member of
the New Democratic Party,
although his mayoral campaign
and terms in office were without
any formal party affiliation. He did
not renew his party membership
in 2007.
In 2011, Miller assumed a
position with the World Bank as
an advisor on urban issues. In
2013, he was appointed as
president and CEO of WWFCanada, the Canadian division of
the international World Wildlife
Fund.
Richard Stursberg is a Canadian
Media Executive. He has been
head of all English services at the
CBC, Executive Director of
Telefilm Canada, Chairman of the
Canadian Television Fund,
President of Starchoice and
Cancom (now Shaw Direct),
President of the Canadian Cable
Television Association and
Assistant Deputy Minister of
Culture and Broadcasting for the
Government of Canada. He is
currently President of Aljess, a
boutique consulting firm. He is
the author of The Tower of Babble
(2012), named one of the best
books of the year by the Globe
and Mail.
L@iamdavidmiller
L@stursberg
L@DrMaryDonohue
6
MONDAY NIGHT SEMINARS / Winter Series 2016
L #CityAsClassroom
@McLuhanCHI
FEBRUARY 22, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
People, Place and Imagination
How does the city learn?
With Misha Glouberman, Kate Marshall, Robert J. Sawyer
MISHA GLOUBERMAN
KATE MARSHALL
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Misha Glouberman does many
things. He is the host of the
always-sold-out Trampoline Hall
Lectures, a monthly non-expert
barroom lecture series.
He is the author, with Sheila
Heti, of The Chairs Are Where
The People Go, which the New
Yorker described as a "a
triumph of conversational
philosophy". He teaches a
course called "How to Talk to
People About Things" which
helps people be better at
coming to agreements and
resolving differences.
Kate Marshall has spent her
professional career in a variety of
advertising and marketing roles.
Over the course of her career she
has worked in ad agencies in
Toronto, London, New York and
China. Client-side, Kate has
worked in marketing roles at
RBC, Habitat for Humanity
Canada, and since 2013 at Ted
Rogers School of Management at
Ryerson University as Director of
Marketing & Communications.
Her passion and enthusiasm for
Toronto and its stories led Kate to
join Heritage Toronto as a
volunteer Walk Assistant in 2006,
and the Heritage Toronto Board in
2011, where she is the current
Chair.
Robert J. Sawyer is the only
Canadian to have won all three of
the top international science
fiction awards: the Nebula Award,
Hugo Award and John W.
Campbell Award. He has
published over 20 novels,
including Triggers and the novels
of the WWW trilogy.
His novel Flashforward was
adapted for an ABC TV series of
the same name.
A passionate advocate for science
fiction, Sawyer teaches creative
writing and appears frequently in
the media to discuss his genre.
He prefers the label
"philosophical fiction," and in no
way sees himself as a predictor of
the future.
L@kmbmarshall
L@RobertJSawyer
L@mishaglouberman
mcluhan.eventbrite.ca
#CityAsClassroom / Engaging Community
7
FEBRUARY 29, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
The Art of Urban Living
Does beauty matter?
With Sean Martindale, Elyse Parker, Lilie Zendel
SEAN MARTINDALE
ELYSE PARKER
LILIE ZENDEL
Sean Martindale is an
internationally recognized,
Toronto-based, artist and
designer. His interventions
activate public spaces to
encourage engagement, often
focused on ecological and social
issues. His playful works question
and suggest alternate possibilities
for existing spaces,
infrastructures and materials
found in urban environments.
Frequently, Martindale uses
salvaged goods and live plants in
unexpected ways that prompt
conversations and interaction. His
projects have been featured on
countless prominent sites online,
and in traditional media such as
print, radio, broadcast television
and film. Among recent projects
was Martindale’s major
installation for Nuit Blanche
Toronto 2015, including video
collaborations with JP King.
Elyse Parker is a landscape
architect and urban designer with
responsibility for the Toronto
Street Furniture program, the
Toronto Walking Strategy (52
actions to make Toronto a more
walkable city, including OADA),
neighbourhood improvement
projects and the City's Graffiti
Management Plan and StART,
Toronto's street art program,
which won a Canadian National
Leadership award from the
Institute of Public Administration
in 2015.
Her particular passion is
“Everyday Urbanism”, the often
small interventions and design
moves that build and shape cities
incrementally and have an
extraordinary impact on the
everyday lives of the public.
Lilie Zendel has spent over 30
years translating vision into action
in the Canadian arts and culture
sector. With a background in
theatre performance, Lilie began
her career at Toronto's
Harbourfront, where by producing
over 150 events including the
celebrated international World
Stage theatre festival, she helped
grow this emerging cultural
organization into one of the
country's most celebrated
performing arts venues. For more
than a decade, Lilie lived in New
York City where she led the
Cultural Affairs section at the
Canadian Consulate General.
Currently, as Manager of
StreetARToronto (Start), Lilie has
overseen the creation of six
programs that have funded over
100 public murals.
8
L@TorontoComms
L@LilieZendel
MONDAY NIGHT SEMINARS / Winter Series 2016
L #CityAsClassroom
@McLuhanCHI
MARCH 7, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Culture is our Business
Is culture the real business of the city?
With Chantal Pontbriand, Stephen Stohn & Linda Schuyler, Jini Stolk
CHANTAL PONTBRIAND
STEPHEN STOHN & LINDA SCHUYLER
JINI STOLK
Chantal Pontbriand is a
contemporary art curator and
critic whose work is based on the
exploration of questions of
globalization and artistic
heterogeneity. She has curated
numerous international
contemporary art events:
exhibitions, international festivals
and international conferences,
mainly in photography, video,
performance, dance and
multimedia installation. She was a
founder of “Parachute”
contemporary art magazine in
1975. After curating several major
performance events and festivals,
she co-founded the FIND
(Festival International de Nouvelle
Danse), in Montreal and was
president and director from 1982
to 2003. In 2015, she was
appointed CEO of MOCCA, the
Museum of Canadian
Contemporary Art in Toronto.
Stephen Stohn is an
entertainment lawyer and
television producer. He is
currently the president of Epitome
Pictures Inc., which he and his
wife Linda Schuyler founded and
which was sold to DHX Media in
2014. Stephen and Linda are
best known as the producers of
the teen drama series "Degrassi".
For nearly 20 years, until 2009,
Stephen was executive producer
of the telecast of Canada's music
awards show, The Juno Awards,
and during that period was a
director and then Chair of
Canadian Academy of Recording
Arts and Sciences. Linda
Schuyler who began as a teacher,
is the primary creator and force of
the Degrassi series and Instant
Star series of teen
programs.
Jini Stolk, Research Fellow at
Toronto Arts Foundation and past
Chair of the Ontario Nonprofit
Network, has been a leader,
connector and advocate in the
arts and non-profit communities.
She helped create powerful
collaborative organizations like
ONN and Creative Trust - which
became a model for capacity
building in the arts - and led
major producing organizations
(Toronto Dance Theatre) and
membership organizations. She
cofounded numerous advocacy
campaigns and coalitions, and
chaired and served on many
boards, including Centre for
Social Innovation, Toronto Arts
Council, and Toronto Artscape.
She has won awards for her
contributions to Toronto's cultural
life, and writes on boards, and on
building capacity, audiences and
space for the arts at
www.creativetrust.ca.
L@chanpont
L@stephenstohn
L@TOArtsFdn
mcluhan.eventbrite.ca
#CityAsClassroom / Engaging Community
9
APRIL 4, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Casting a Vision Inaugural season seminar
Is the future of the future the present?
With Marc Glassman, Roberto Dante Martella, David Rokeby
MARC GLASSMAN
ROBERTO DANTE MARTELLA
DAVID ROKEBY
Marc Glassman is an arts
journalist, film programmer,
teacher, bookseller and cultural
impresario. The recipient of the
Toronto Arts Award in literature in
2000 and the Tom Berner Prize
for his support of independent
filmmaking in 2003, he is an
Adjunct Professor at Ryerson
University’s Masters of Fine Arts
in Documentary Media
programme and the Artistic
Director of the festival Pages
UnBound as well as its fall and
spring series (formerly This Is Not
A Reading Series) a multidisciplinary project that explores
the creative process in literature.
Roberto Dante Martella is the
owner of grano in Toronto. Over
the years grano has been
proclaimed by Toronto Life, as
celebrating all things Italian from
the language to the linguine, this
latter the title of the Italian
language classes which grano has
offered for the past 25 years.
He is a graduate of the University
of Toronto with fluency in English,
French and Italian and a working
knowledge of Spanish. He has
studied Japanese. Cultural
initiatives at grano include the
grano series, the grano sessions,
Language and Linguine Italian
Language Lessons, Ben McNally
Authors’ Evening and numerous
socio-cultural events. Cavaliere
della Repubblica Italiana and a
Jane Jacobs Prize recipient.
David Rokeby is an artist who
works with a variety of digital
media to explore the impacts
these media are having on
contemporary human lives.
Rokeby's early work Very Nervous
System (1982-1991) was a
pioneering work of interactive art,
translating physical gestures into
interactive sound environments.
He has exhibited and lectured
extensively internationally and has
received numerous international
awards including a Governor
General’s Award and the Prix Ars
Electronica Golden Nica for
Interactive Art.
L@GlassmanMarc
L@Drokeby
L@grano1986
10
MONDAY NIGHT SEMINARS / Spring Series 2016
L #CityAsClassroom
@McLuhanCHI
APRIL 11, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Beyond the Buzz
What holds the community together?
With Don Morrison, Douglas Rushkoff, Christina Zeidler
DON MORRISON
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF
CHRISTINA ZEIDLER
Don Morrison was Chief
Operating Officer of Research in
Motion (now known as
BlackBerry), a position he held
from 2000 until his retirement in
the fall of 2011. Don is currently
the Chairman and Founder of
New Seeds: The Thomas Merton
Centre for Interreligious Dialogue
here in Toronto, and the Chair of
the Board of the Dalai Lama
Center for Ethics and
Transformative Values at the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) and a member
of the Board of the MasterCard
Foundation focused on education
and financial inclusion projects in
Africa. Don was the recipient of
the 2011 Human Relations Award
from the Canadian Centre for
Diversity.
Douglas Rushkoff is the author of
Present Shock: When Everything
Happens Now, as well as a dozen
other bestselling books on media,
technology, and culture, including
Program or Be Programmed,
Media Virus, Life Inc, the novel
Ecstasy Club, and and Coercion,
winner of the Marshall Mcluhan
Award for best media book.
Winner of the Media Ecology
Association’s first Neil Postman
award for Career Achievement in
Public Intellectual Activity, he is
Professor of Media Theory and
Digital Economics at
CUNY/Queens. He wrote the
graphic novels Testament and
A.D.D., and made the television
documentaries Generation Like,
Merchants of Cool, The
Persuaders, and Digital Nation.
Christina Zeidler is a film and video
artist with over thirty short film and
video titles in distribution, which
have been shown internationally at
festivals and appeared on television
and the web. Christina was named
one of Toronto’s 10 best
Filmmakers by Cameron Bailey
and won the Best Canadian Media
Award at the 2004 Images Film
Festival. Her first feature film
"Portrait of a Serial Monogamist" (a
lesbian romantic comedy about
coming of middle age) will have its
North American theatrical release
in early 2016.
As a curator and entrepreneur she
is interested in building trust with
cultural communities and
communities of artists by creating
space for people to engage in
creative risk taking.This approach
has informed her work as the "chief
alchemist" of The Gladstone Hotel.
L@rushkoff
L@GladstoneHotel
mcluhan.eventbrite.ca
#CityAsClassroom / Casting a Vision
11
APRIL 18, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Hacking the Classroom
Who is in charge?
With Sanaa Ali-Mohammed, Greg Van Alstyne, Alessandro Ruggera
SANAA ALI-MOHAMMED
GREG VAN ALSTYNE
ALESSANDRO RUGGERA
Sanaa Ali-Mohammed is a
grassroots innovator and
researcher with a passion for
community building and devising
solutions to social exclusion in
various contexts. She was on the
2015 Samara Canada Everyday
Political Citizen shortlist for her role
in Young, Canadian and Muslim:
Making Our Ballots Count!, working
with DawaNet's Project Civic
Engagement and the National
Council of Canadian Muslims
(NCCM). Sanaa has also been a
researcher with the Tessellate
Institute for a number of years,
studying the lived experiences of
diverse groups in Canada. Her MA
major research paper is an
ethnographic study of women's
post-secondary education and
activism in Saudi Arabia.
Greg Van Alstyne is an
accomplished futurist, designer,
educator and researcher with
extensive experience in creative
concept development, writing,
visualization, art direction, and
design management. His
strengths include presentation,
process facilitation, and team
management, as well as program
development, group critique, and
evaluation.
Greg's career spans more than
twenty-five years, including
interaction, communication and
exhibition design, design strategy,
strategic foresight and innovation
consulting. He has developed
graphic, environmental and
interaction design for publishers,
agencies and brands in Canada,
United States and Europe.
Alessandro Ruggera received his
degree in Italian literature at
Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice
(1995). His teaching career
began in 1996 as lecturer at
the University of Prague, where
he taught until 2002. He began
working with the Italian Ministry
for Foreign Affairs in 2008. In
2011 he became director of the
Italian Cultural Institute in Addis
Ababa. In 2015 he became
director of the Italian Cultural
Institute in Toronto.
L@sancastic
L@gregvan
12
L@IICToronto
MONDAY NIGHT SEMINARS / Spring Series 2016
L #CityAsClassroom
@McLuhanCHI
APRIL 25, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Breakdown as Breakthrough
Does the imagination have ethics?
With Martin Arnold, Julia Moulden, Gaëtane Verna
MARTIN ARNOLD
JULIA MOULDEN
GAËTANE VERNA
Martin Arnold is a musician
based in Toronto. His notated
compositions are performed
nationally and internationally.
Martin is also an active member
of Toronto’s improvisation and
experimental jazz/roots/rock
communities performing on live
electronics, banjo, melodica, and
guitar. Martin lectures in Cultural
Studies at Trent University and
Art, Culture and Media, at the
University of Toronto,
Scarborough. He also works as a
landscape gardener.
Julia loves to observe: she’s the
author of three books on
emerging global trends and was a
Huffington Post columnist for five
years. Julia also loves to talk,
having spoken to audiences on
four continents. After travelling
widely and living in three
countries, she came home to
Toronto. Her communications
agency helps drive productivity,
innovation, and growth, and she’s
currently at work on her fourth
book. April 2, 2016 is her 60th
birthday and she’s just getting
started.
Gaëtane Verna is Director of The
Power Plant Contemporary Art
Gallery in Toronto. Verna was
formerly Executive Director and
Chief Curator of the Musée d’art
de Joliette and the Curator of the
Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop’s
University. Committed to building
bridges between visual art and
the public in a multi-disciplinary
context, she is interested in a
variety of artistic practices,
especially those that explore
issues connected with questions
of migration, identity and
diasporas.
L@JuliaMoulden
L@ThePowerPlantTO
mcluhan.eventbrite.ca
#CityAsClassroom / Casting a Vision
13
Program at a Glance
A roster of programs for Winter/Spring 2016 brings
together an eclectic mix of raconteurs, innovators,
thinkers and doers from the university, the city and
the larger global village.
L #CityAsClassroom
@McLuhanCHI
All events are free and open to the public.
You are encouraged to register online.
mcluhan.eventbrite.ca
JANUARY
25
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Rohinton Medhora, Bonnie Rubenstein, Nora Young
27
Book Salon
Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
McLuhan in an Age of Social Media
FEBRUARY
1
2
3
8
9
10
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Adriana Ieraci, Heather Rumball, Tom Sherman
Workshop
Tuesday, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
With Cosmin Munteanu
New Explorations Group
Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
GG2: Glenn Gould
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Mary Donohue, David Miller, Richard Stursberg
Video Lounge
Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Marshall McLuhan, the Man and his Message
11
22
23
24
29
The Marshall McLuhan Prize
Thursday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Public lecture by Joseph Morong, 2015 winner
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Misha Glouberman, Kate Marshall, Robert J. Sawyer
Workshop
Tuesday, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Alessandro Delfanti
Book Salon
Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Marshall McLuhan + Vilém Flusser’s Communication
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Sean Martindale, Elyse Parker, Lilie Zendel
Book Salon
Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Finding McLuhan: The Mind/The Man/The Message
MARCH
1
2
14
Workshop
Tuesday, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
With Sara Grimes and Andrew Feenberg
New Explorations Group
Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
(Un)Popular Music
7
8
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Chantal Pontbriand, Stephen Stohn, Jini Stolk
Video Lounge
Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Picnic in Space
PROGRAM AT A GLANCE / Winter Series 2016
APRIL
4
5
6
11
12
13
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Marc Glassman, Roberto Martella, David Rokeby
Workshop
Tuesday, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
With Mark Chignell, Interactive Media Lab
New Explorations Group
Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Narcotic Media
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Don Morrison, Douglas Rushkoff, Christina Zeidler
Workshop
Tuesday, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
Joshua Barker, Ethnography Lab
Book Salon
Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
On the Nature of Media
18
19
25
26
27
28
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Sanaa Ali, Greg Van Alstyne, Alessandro Ruggera
Video Lounge
Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
The Video McLuhan
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Martin Arnold, Julia Moulden, Gaëtane Verna
Video Lounge
Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
The Medium is the Massage
Book Salon
Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
The New Science of Communication
Special Event
Piazza McLuhan
Digifest 2016, Corus Quay, 25 Dockside, Toronto
MAY
2
3
4
9
Monday Night Seminar
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Shauna Brail, Atom Egoyan, Khalil Shariff
Workshop
Tuesday, 6:00 - 9:00 PM
With Chris Penney and Jeff Pinto, TELL
New Explorations Group
Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Total Posthuman
10
11
16
Special Event
Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
McLuhanWalks
Book Salon
Wednesday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Counterblasting Canada
Special Event
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Seasonal Reception: Summer/Fall Kick-off Event
Monday Night Seminar: #Jane100
Monday, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Paul Bedford, Ken Greenberg, Denise Pinto
JULY/AUGUST
OCTOBER
25-5
27-30
McLuhan Advanced Summer School
in Culture and Technology
More info: www.chi.utoronto.ca/summerschool
International Conference
The Toronto School: Then, Now, Next
More info: www.chi.utoronto.ca/torontoschool
PROGRAM AT A GLANCE / Spring Series 2016
15
MAY 2, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
People Are the Territory
How do we overcome boundaries?
With Shauna Brail, Atom Egoyan, Khalil Shariff
SHAUNA BRAIL
ATOM EGOYAN
KHALIL Z. SHARIFF
Shauna Brail is an Associate
Professor, Teaching Stream, at
the University of Toronto, Urban
Studies Program and a Research
Associate in the Innovation Policy
Lab at the Munk School of Global
Affairs. Her research lies broadly
in economic geography with a
focus on the social, cultural and
economic changes associated
with the shifting strengths of
cities; her secondary research
focus relates to pedagogy and
learning outside the classroom.
Dr. Brail was appointed as the
Presidential Advisor on Urban
Engagement at the University of
Toronto in June 2015.
Atom Egoyan is one of the most
celebrated contemporary
filmmakers on the international
scene. His body of work – which
includes theatre, music, and art
installations - delves into issues of
memory, displacement, and the
impact of technology and media
on modern life. Egoyan has won
numerous prizes at international
film festivals including the Grand
Prix and International Critics
Awards from the Cannes Film
Festival, two Academy Award®
nominations, and numerous other
honours. His films have won
twenty-five Genies - including
three Best Film Awards – and a
prize for Best International Film
Adaptation from The Frankfurt
Book Fair.
Khalil Shariff joined the Aga Khan
Foundation Canada as Chief
Executive Officer in August 2005.
He was previously with the
Toronto office of McKinsey &
Company, an international
management consultancy, where
he advised governments, financial
institutions, and health care
providers on strategy,
organization, and operational
improvement.
Mr. Shariff served on AKFC’s
National Committee for five years,
and has cultivated his interest in
international development and
conflict resolution issues through
a variety of activities.
L@shaunabrail
L@AKFCanada
L@TheFullEgoyan
16
MONDAY NIGHT SEMINARS / Spring Series 2016
L #CityAsClassroom
@McLuhanCHI
MAY 9, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
In collaboration with
“The Burning Would”
Jane Jacobs and Marshall McLuhan at #Jane100
With Paul Bedford, Ken Greenberg, Denise Pinto
PAUL J. BEDFORD
KEN GREENBERG
DENISE PINTO
Paul Bedford is a member and
fellow of the Canadian Institute of
Planners, with 45 years of
experience in urban planning. As
Toronto’s chief city planner for
eight years, he championed
numerous innovative planning
strategies with Jane Jacobs for
the King–Spadina and King–
Parliament districts, a new
city-wide official plan, and a
principles plan for the central
waterfront, called “Making
Waves,” which was the basis for
the creation of Waterfront Toronto.
Ken Greenberg is an architect,
urban designer, teacher, writer,
Visiting Scholar at the Ryerson
University City Building Institute
and Principal of Greenberg
Consultants. For over three
decades he has played a pivotal
role in diverse urban settings
focusing on the rejuvenation of
downtowns, waterfronts,
neighbourhoods, campus master
planning and regional growth
management. He is also the
author of Walking Home: the Life
and Lessons of a City Builder
published by Random House.
Denise Pinto is the Executive
Director of the Jane’s Walk
project. She has walked with
Jane’s Walk leaders and delivered
keynote lectures in Vienna, Hong
Kong and Chicago. Trained as a
landscape architect, she is also
an Advisory Board member for
Open Streets Toronto, a Steering
Committee member for Walk
Toronto, and the former Chair of
the Editorial Board for Ground
Magazine, where she also
frequently contributes. In 2012,
she won a Medal of Excellence at
the Royal Architectural Institute of
Canada’s Urban Design Awards
for a project on urban agriculture.
L@KGreenbergTO
L@denisepinto
Author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) and fervent promoter of livable and sustainable
communities, Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) is an inspiration to people around the world.
Jane’s Walk is a movement of free, citizen-led walking tours inspired by Jane Jacobs. The walks get people to
tell stories about their communities, explore their cities, and connect with neighbours.
2016 marks Jane Jacobs's 100th Anniversary. Join the global festival on May 6th, 7th & 8th in Toronto and
more than 150 cities around the globe.L@janeswalkTO L@janeswalk
mcluhan.eventbrite.ca
#CityAsClassroom / Casting a Vision
17
WORKSHOPS, WINTER SERIES
Tuesday February 2 6:00 - 9:00 PM
COSMIN MUNTEANU ICCIT, University of Toronto Mississauga
The rise of the intelligent machines – bridging or widening the digital
divide for underserved users?
In this workshop I will survey several examples of intelligent new media
interfaces that can provide support for underserved users, will bring up
for debate issues of online privacy, safety, and isolation for such users,
discuss the role of interactive interfaces in making the information-centric
society less threatening and more accessible, and argue that emerging
smart interactive technologies can both help and hinder our efforts to
close the digital divide. I will then propose for discussion several possible
short- and long-term directions that can bring us closer to eliminating or
at least reducing this divide that in many ways affects all of us.
Tuesday February 23 6:00 - 9:00 PM
ALESSANDRO DELFANTI ICCIT, University of Toronto Mississauga
Participation and non-participation in digital media
Can we draw a lesson from Melville’s novel “Bartleby” that applies to
contemporary digital politics? Perhaps, if we explore non-participation
as a form of mediated political action rather than as mere passivity. We
generally conceive of participation in a positive sense, as a means for
empowerment and a condition for democracy. However, digital
participation is not the only way to achieve political goals, and practices
aimed at abandoning or blocking participatory platforms can be seen as
equally politically significant and relevant. In this workshop we will
analyze how the technologies and practices that compose the digital
sphere force us to reconsider the concept of political participation itself.
Tuesday March 1 6:00 - 9:00 PM
SARA GRIMES Faculty of Information (iSchool), University of Toronto
Special guest Andrew Feenberg, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Rationalizing Play: A Critical Theory of Digital Gaming
Sara Grimes researches and teaches in the areas of children's digital
media culture(s), digital game studies, critical theories of technology and
play. Her current research tracks the growing phenomenon of childgenerated digital content in digital games and online environments,
focusing on what this development means for children's cultural rights,
existing regulatory frameworks and industry standards of practice.
The workshop constructs a new framework for the study of games
as sites of social rationalization, applying Feenberg’s critical theory
of technology.
18
WORKSHOPS / Winter Series 2016
WORKSHOPS, SPRING SERIES
Tuesday April 5 6:00 - 9:00 PM
INTERACTIVE MEDIA LAB
With Mark Chignell and Andrea Wilkinson, Department of Mechanical and
Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto
Living with Dementia. Re-engaging through Ambient Augmenting Activities
The Interactive Media Lab carries out innovative design informed by applied
cognitive psychology and human factors engineering. How can redesign of
environments and activities improve the quality of life for people living with
dementia? In this workshop, we will explore the challenges of engaging
people with dementia, managing their behaviours, and creating meaningful
activities that they can participate in without continuous support. We will
introduce some of the ambient activities developed with an industry partner
(Ambient Activity), and discuss issues around designing for dementia. Our
goal is to encourage an exchange of ideas and expertise between
humanists, scientists, designers, and stakeholders.
Tuesday April 12 6:00 - 9:00 PM
ETHNOGRAPHY LAB
With Joshua Barker, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto
City as Subject, City as Sandbox:
How U of T's Ethnography Lab is Embracing Toronto
The Ethnography Lab promotes ethnographic research methods and
practice in the university and outside academia. Arranged in interest
groups, the Lab explores the craft and impact of ethnography in the
contemporary world. In this workshop, we will introduce and discuss
the Ethnography Lab's experiences developing the Kensington Market
Research Project, a long-term effort by students, faculty, and
community members to produce a body of rich and detailed knowledge
about transformations underway in Toronto’s most celebrated
multicultural heritage district.
Tuesday May 3 6:00 - 9:00 PM
TORONTO EXPERIENCE AND LEARNING LAB (TELL)
Christopher Penney, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
Jeff Pinto, Center for Distance Education, Athabasca University
Breaking Silos to Connect City & Classroom
How can the themes of "community creation" and "city as a classroom"
raised during the McLuhan Centre’s Fall 2015 seminar series be
extended to incorporate the student voice? This workshop will bring
together representatives of U of T's various divisions and faculties to
explore the following provocations: How do we create a student-driven,
interdisciplinary, creative problem solving laboratory at U of T? How can
students help address the pressing challenges experienced by those in
the city and communities in which U of T is embedded.
WORKSHOPS / Spring Series
19
BOOK SALONS, WINTER SERIES
Wednesday January 27
Wednesday February 10
Wednesday February 24
6:00 - 8:00 PM
6:00 - 8:00 PM
6:00 - 8:00 PM
PAUL LEVINSON
J. MCLEOD ROGERS, T. WHALEN,
C.G. TAYLOR (Eds.)
MELENTIE PANDILOVSKI,
TOM KOHUT (Eds.)
Finding McLuhan:
The Mind / The Man / The
Message
Marshall McLuhan +
Vilém Flusser’s
Communication +
Aesthetic Theories
Revisited
McLuhan in an Age of
Social Media
Connected Editions, 2015
With Paul Levinson,
Ira Nayman, Hugh Spencer
This essay can be considered a
new chapter in my book Digital
McLuhan, published in 1999, or
before the advent of Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube, and the
social media of our age. Marshall
McLuhan’s ideas, including hot
and cool, the medium is the
message, and the tetrad, are
applied to help us understand
selfies, tweeting, iconic television
shows such as The Sorpanos and
Mad Men, the Arab Spring, the
U.S. Presidential election of
2016, and the Kindle revolution
itself.
Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor
of Communication & Media
Studies at Fordham University in
New York City.
20
University of Regina Press, 2015
With Gary Genosko, Adam
Lauder, Jaqueline McLeod Rogers
In 1965, Tom Wolfe famously
asked of Marshall McLuhan:
"Suppose he is the oracle of the
modern times: what if he is right?"
Fifty years later, McLuhan's
biographer Douglas Coupland,
McLuhan's sons, and sixteen
scholars explore the many ways
in which McLuhan's predictions
have come true.
Engaging with McLuhan's
remarkable legacy and
responding to his call to
participate actively in
understanding technologies,
Finding McLuhan offers relevant
and timely insights for readers
encountering him for the first time
and for those re-encountering
and re-evaluating him.
BOOK SALONS / Winter Series 2016
Video Pool Media Arts Centre, 2015
With Clint Enns, Tom Kohut,
Melentie Pandilovski
This book includes discussions
McLuhan and Flusser’s influence
on media and communication
theory as it applies to
contemporary and new media art,
film, philosophy and politics, and
this book would be of immediate
interest to readers and
researchers interestested in:
distributed consciousness and
telematics; cinema and causality;
collective evolution; media and
theology; digital culture; Occupy
Wall Street and other political
movements; cybernetics;
contemporary technological art;
the ideologies of clinical practice;
asemic writing; institutional
critique and many other topics.
BOOK SALONS, SPRING SERIES
Wednesday April 13
Wednesday April 27
Wednesday May 11
6:00 - 8:00 PM
6:00 - 8:00 PM
6:00 - 8:00 PM
MARSHALL MCLUHAN
ANTHONY M. WACHS
On the Nature of Media:
Essays, 1952-1978
The New Science of
Communication:
Reconsidering McLuhan’s
Message for our Modern
Moment
G. BETTS, P. HJARTARSON,
K. SMITKA (Eds.)
Gingko Press, 2016
With Philip Marchand,
Eric McLuhan, B.W. Powe
Media studies has been catching
up with McLuhan over the last 50
years. These essays are drawn
from the most productive quartercentury of his career (1952-1978),
and demonstrate his abiding
interest in the materiality of
mediation, from comic books to
fashion, from technology to
biology. Anchoring these essays
are four meditations on the work of
his great predecessor, Harold
Adams Innis, who first proposed
the centrality of mediation to every
facet of our daily lives. McLuhan
took this task literally; rejecting the
specialist approach of academic
study, he published in mainstream
magazines such as Look and
Harper’s Bazaar on topics such as
sexuality and the fashion industry.
The essays offer a rare glimpse
into a great mind as it works out
the implications of the effects of
media not only on what we know
but on how we are coming to
understand our being.
Duquesne University Press, 2015
With Anthony M. Wachs,
Alex Kuskis, Robert K. Logan
The New Science of
Communication offers an original
contribution to scholarship on
McLuhan and media ecology, as
scholars interested in the
interactions of media with human
feeling, thought, and behavior have
forced modern presuppositions
onto their readings of McLuhan.
Wachs, however, corrects this
misreading by uniquely combining
communication and media, and
restoring classical and medieval
communication theory as an
alternative to modern rationalist
theories.
Anthony M. Wachs is assistant
professor and director of forensics
in the Department of Languages,
Literature, and Communication
Studies at Northern State
University.
Counterblasting Canada
University of Alberta Press, 2016
With Gregory Betts,
Kristine Smitka, Adam Welch
In 1914, Ezra Pound and
Wyndham Lewis—the founders of
Vorticism—undertook an
unprecedented analysis of the
present, its technologies,
communication, politics, and
architecture. The essays in
Counterblasting Canada trace the
influence of Vorticism on Marshall
McLuhan and Canadian
Modernism. Building on the initial
accomplishment of Blast,
McLuhan's subsequent
Counterblast, and the network of
artistic and intellectual relationships
that flourished in Canadian
Vorticism, the contributors offer
groundbreaking examinations of
postwar Canadian literary culture,
particularly the legacies of Sheila
and Wilfred Watson. Intended
primarily for scholars of literature
and communications,
Counterblasting Canada explores a
crucial and long-overlooked strand
in Canadian cultural and literary
history.
BOOK SALONS / Spring Series
21
NEW EXPLORATIONS GROUP
A collective experiment in how to be human in the C21st. Probing the hidden structures of new media environments, the New
Explorations Group seeks not only to conceive but also to perceive the ways in which our psyches and cultures are being transformed
by our intimate relationships with (de-)evolving technologies. This series is curated by Adam Pugen (UofT iSchool).
Wednesday February 3 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Wednesday March 2 6:00 - 8:00 PM
GG2: GLENN GOULD AND PERFORMANCE BEYOND (UN)POPULAR MUSIC: ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE
THE GUTENBERG GALAXY
AND SUB-CULTURE IN ACOUSTIC SPACE
We explore the work of Glenn Gould, the influence of Marshall
Join us with your acoustic or electric guitar, bass, keyboard,
McLuhan on Gould’s philosophy of performance, and the
drums, bongos, etc. (or if “unmusical” just bring yourself!) to
relevance of McLuhanesque/Gouldian aesthetics to the current
probe the nether regions of existence, wrought of the escape
state of music composition and distribution. We refocus our
from the bounds of logical, visual space. This will be a night of
investigation to consider the question: in an era of constant
satire, performance of the burlesque and the bizarre, and
recording and remix, how does the experience of spontaneity
consideration of the potential for genuine counter-cultural
fare in our daily performances of self? Bring your old/new
activity in the new media environment of late capital, which
recording technologies and prepare to record and be recorded!
itself thrives on cultural appropriation and transgression.
Wednesday April 6 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Wednesday May 4 6:00 - 8:00 PM
NARCOTIC MEDIA: ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY AS TOTAL POSTHUMAN: REMEMBERING THE
THE “GENITAL STAGE” OF MEDIA EVOLUTION
EXTREME NOW
How do we account for the contemporary western interest in the
In an exploration of the persistent power of symbols, we
“body” and in various techniques of bodily and emotional
juxtapose scenes from Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s 1977 film Our
equilibrium, which have come to supplement the new era of
Hitler with theories from Marshall McLuhan and the Frankfurt
technological innovation with a “new age” of ancient
School on the totalitarian potential of media environments. We
consciousness? In this session, we enter a global YouTube
then consider the contemporary cultural tension whereby the
community, which, through whispers, crinkle noises, and role-
power of digital networks to connect humans is tempered by the
playing, seeks to engender the peculiar cognitive euphoria
tendency to recombine human “material” to give birth to the
known as Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR).
obscure yet pervasive phenomenon of the “posthuman.”
22
NEW EXPLORATIONS GROUP / Winter and Spring Series
VIDEO LOUNGE
A screening program showcases some rare films and documentaries that feature McLuhan’s intellectual influence during the Sixties
and Seventies. A panel discussion follows the screening.
Tuesday February 9 6:00 - 8:00 PM
MARSHALL MCLUHAN:
THE MAN AND HIS MESSAGE
Television documentary written and hosted by Tom
Wolfe. Produced and directed by Stephanie
McLuhan-Ortved (1984).
Tuesday March 8 6:00 - 8:00 PM
PICNIC IN SPACE
Picnic in Space is a rare film featuring Marshall
McLuhan and his long time collaborator, Harley
Parker, a Canadian artist and scholar (1967).
Tuesday April 19 6:00 - 8:00 PM
THE VIDEO MCLUHAN
A selection from a set of six video tapes gives the
viewer every bit of the feeling of being with McLuhan
- a rare, extremely stimulating, and sometimes
frustrating experience. Written by Tom Wolfe and
produced by Stephanie McLuhan-Ortved (1996).
Tuesday April 26 6:00 - 8:00 PM
THE MEDIUM IS THE MASSAGE
McLuhan's ideas are presented through pictorial
techniques, his own comments, and the reactions of
others to his views. Produced by NBC (1967).
VIDEO LOUNGE / Winter and Spring Series
23
Thursday February 11 6:00 - 8:00 PM
The Marshall McLuhan Award
for Investigative Journalism
In collaboration with
Embassy of Canada in the Philippines
Public lecture by Joseph Morong, 2015 winner
The Marshall McLuhan Prize is the Embassy of Canada in Manila’s flagship
public diplomacy initiative. Launched in 1997, this is an advocacy to
encourage investigative journalism in the Philippines with the belief that a
strong media is essential to a strong democratic society.
Every year, the Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility
(CMFR) assists the Embassy in choosing a Filipino journalist who has either
published an outstanding piece of investigative report or possesses a collective
body of journalistic work that contributes to positive changes in the social
arena or at least has raised the level of public discourse in a relevant issue.
Aside from contributing to good governance by raising transparency in the
public arena, the McLuhan Prize also aims to create in the long-term a critical
mass of influential media personalities with good knowledge and interest in
Canadian issues or at least the values Canada stands for: democracy, good
governance, and human rights.
Sun Life Financial Inc is a partner of the Embassy of Canada in this initiative
by providing funding to the recipient’s travel to Canada.
Joseph Morong, a senior
reporter for GMA Network Inc,
one of the Philippines’ largest
news organizations, was named
the 19th Marshall McLuhan
Fellow in recognition of his
reportage in the past year
focusing on the complex issues
surrounding the peace process in
Mindanao and other important
issues of governance,
particularly allegations of
misuse of congressional funds.
Mr. Morong has more than 15
years of experience as a
broadcast journalist and is
known to have covered various
important beats.
April 28-30
Digifest 2016, Corus Quay, 25 Dockside Dr, Toronto
Piazza McLuhan
In collaboration with
A crossroad for innovators, a playroom for the digital village
Piazza McLuhan is an exciting meeting place hosted by Digifest, an outpost to
experience and explore the quickly changing and confounding world around
April 28-30, 2016
us from the prescient legacy of Marshall McLuhan.
Corus Quay
25 Dockside Drive
Toronto, Ontario
Digifest is Toronto's international festival celebrating digital creativity taking
www.torontodigifest.ca
place April 28-30, 2016 at the innovative Corus Quay building. The festival
showcases groundbreaking creations and trending content in digital media,
art, design and technology. The festival fosters connections by bringing
together industry, the academy and the public, and inspires us to think about
how digital tools and technology will shape our lives and our future. Digifest
2016 will explore the themes of "Design, Technology and Entrepreneurship"
showcasing the trends driving change today.
24
SPECIAL INITIATIVES
Tuesday May 10 6:00 - 8:00 PM
McLuhanWalks
In collaboration with
Toronto in the footsteps of Marshall McLuhan
App launch with Paolo Granata,
Kate Marshall, Denise Pinto
This mobile app will take you on a tour of
McLuhan’s Toronto, mapping out spaces and
places that were meaningful to him. Extracts from
his letters, both written and read aloud, bring the
city alive and provide a unique window into the life
of an extraordinary Canadian.
“McLuhanWalks” is a project promoted by the
Urban Media Lab research initiative led by Paolo
Granata, Visiting Professor and McLuhan
Centenary Fellow at the University of Toronto, in
conjunction with Digitelling and MobileMuseum
research units at the University of Bologna. It aims
to design and develop new forms of storytelling for
the historical, artistic and cultural heritage through
mobile technologies.
Upcoming May 2016
July 25 - August 5
McLuhan Advanced Summer School in
Culture and Technology
An inaugural McLuhan Program in Culture and
The two week intensive course will be conducted in a
Technology Summer School will be launched in
supportive and stimulating environment and will
Summer 2016 to engage recognized scholars and
feature a dynamic and interactive student centred
distinguished lecturers from around the world in an
approach to learning. The Summer School will be
advanced program of study. Key subjects or issues to
open to 15 participants; a mix graduate students,
be addressed will be shaped in part by the students
researchers and professionals.
themselves, who will be encouraged to challenge
Please consider joining us in this unique international
conventional ways of learning.
experience. Full details of the Summer School
The Summer School will aim to develop critical skills
including an indication as to costs and how to apply
for the examination of the reciprocal influences of
will be available in late January 2016 at
culture and technology in the context of the human
www.chi.utoronto.ca/summerschool
ecosystem and media ecology.
SPECIAL INITIATIVES
25
The Toronto School: Then, Now, Next
International Conference
St. Michael’s College, Elmsley Hall, October 27-30, 2016
The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at
The movement got its start from the Canadian
the Faculty of Information (iSchool), in partnership with
economist Harold Innis (1894-1952), who came to
the University of St. Michael’s College in the University
teach at the University of Toronto in 1937, and
of Toronto, is pleased to announce an international
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) who joined the St.
conference on “The Toronto School: Then, Now, Next”
Michael's College as a professor of English Literature in
(October 27-30, 2016). The conference aims to explore
1946. He, shortly thereafter, initiated a diversified and
and re-evaluate the emergence and impact of a
lively research project along with the anthropologist
number of scholars and thought leaders that took the
Ted Carpenter (1922-2011). During the same period,
world by storm.
from 1929 to 1947, the University of Toronto also
Between the 1930s and 1970s, Toronto was a
attracted Eric Havelock (1903-1988), a British classicist
recognized as an intellectual space that catalyzed a
who was close to Innis, and instrumental, along with
large groups of academicians sharing the belief in
McLuhan and Milman Parry, in steering the intellectual
communication as the fundamental process that
path of Walter J. Ong (1912-2003). Along with these
structures minds and societies. The impact of this
pioneers, other figures should be remembered for their
field of thought and those behind it is still not
work in the intellectual environment of Toronto in that
adequately recognized.
period. These include a particularly relevant figure of
Toronto and its major university provided just the right
the time, Northrop Frye (1912-1991), along with a
kind of subsoil for the birth of a manifold and diverse
diverse group of personalities variously connected to
intellectual tradition that readily integrated thinkers
Toronto's artistic and intellectual scene.
from Canada and the world.
26
SPECIAL INITIATIVES
DISCOVER THE iSCHOOL
People. Information. Technology.
Exceptional Faculty & Research
They intersect at the iSchool, a launch pad for your
Our internationally recognized faculty come from
future as a highly-skilled practitioner or researcher.
distinguished academic institutions, leading corporations
Today’s technologies have transformed the way we
and renowned heritage institutions. Through collaborative
connect with, shape and use information. Similar
ground-breaking research, iSchool professors explore new
changes have been taking place in the field of
and emerging areas of information and museum studies.
museums and cultural heritage. We invite you to
This enables the faculty to deliver current and relevant
explore this rapidly evolving landscape.
instruction while nurturing your creativity, innovation and
Interdisciplinary Approach
ranked in the top three in North America.
leadership. You’ll also have access to an academic library
With over 75 years of experience, we’ve pioneered and
refined our interdisciplinary approach to provide you
with the right blend of knowledge, practical experience
and career preparation. We welcome people from all
academic backgrounds with fresh perspectives to
problem-solving, to pursue the rewarding degrees of
Master of Information (MI), Master of Museum Studies
(MMSt), or a Doctorate in Information Studies (PhD).
“If you recognize the central role of
information in society, you’ll find no
better place to start your journey than
here at the Faculty of Information at
the University of Toronto.”
− SEAMUS ROSS (Dean 2009-2015)
ischool.utoronto.ca
Someday, all of us will spend our lives
in our own school, the world.
– MARSHALL McLUHAN
McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology
39A Queen’s Park Crescent East, Toronto
Parking available off 121 St. Joseph st.
(Marshall McLuhan Way)
L @McLuhanCHI
F mcluhancentre
coach.house@utoronto.ca
+1 416 978 7026
11/2015
www.mcluhan.utoronto.ca