Subscribe
Back to Search
Contact(s)
Lakehead University professor Sandra Jeppesen feels like she has hit the jackpot, winning almost $500,000 in research funding from the federal government.
The proposal to study how social activists are using “cutting-edge” digital technologies to further social causes around the world and what the rest of us can learn from them garnered the maximum grant allowable from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s (SSHRC) Insight Grants. It’s the largest such grant in Lakehead’s history.
“We are thrilled. When we put the grant together, we thought we’d shoot for the moon and hoped we’d get at least a portion of it,” she said about the grant for a five-year project.
Jeppesen said 50% of the money is going toward hiring researchers.
“I am in the process of assembling the team of researchers,” she said.
Her colleague on the New Media Activism in the Global Digital Economy project is Dr. Adrienne Hurley of McGill University. Her research specialty is social movements in Asia.
They will also work with Holly Nazar of Montreal, who is working on a PhD at Concordia University in communications. Nazar put together the nuts and bolts of the grant proposal along with Jeppesen and Hurley.
Lakehead University (Thunder Bay and Orillia campuses combined) received $1.5 million for several research projects from SSHRC.
A visioning retreat will be held at Lakehead Sept. 28.
“Everyone is coming here and we will spend a full day talking about the project, what we want to get out of it, what things we are interested in accomplishing and what our vision is for at least the first year,” she said.
Jeppesen, who joined the Lakehead University Orillia staff in 2010, started the undergraduate media studies for social change program, the only program of its kind in Canada.
Her research team will endeavour to interview 150 grassroots media activists around the world. The group will start with people in Canada, then expand to Europe, Latin America, Asia and other places.
“There’s a huge, global social upheaval going on today and social media supports that. It gets out the message through Facebook and Twitter and all kinds of social medial networks that are giving a strong voice to citizens,” she said.
“They are people who produce independent media — citizen journalists who are usually really critical of what’s going on in the world. They are anti-racist, anti-colonial, anti-homophobic. They have a social justice slant to them.”
These people are also the ones who have grabbed the latest technology tools and are running with them, she added.
“They are the leading edge. They are the early adopters,” she said.
The researchers are all part of the social justice movement, so they are already aware of conversations taking place and want to “amplify” the voices through the study.
“What can we learn from them in terms of media literacies?” Jeppesen asked.
Because social activists often work with the poor and marginalized, Jeppesen said she is interested to see how they can bring these digital media tools to these people.
“We want to use this research to fuel digital literacy in Canada and (bring) these digital media skills to a broader range of people in Canada through digital divides, including people in marginalized groups,” she said.
Activists tend to work in small collective groups and make decisions as equals rather than take direction from a leader.
“They create these mini-worlds that do things differently. I’m fascinated by that and I think there is a lot of potential for social change,” she said.
It’s more participatory and has built-in mechanisms for respect and dignity and self empowerment, she said
Photo: Lakehead University professor Dr. Sandra Jeppesen has been successful in getting almost $500,000 in federal funding over five years to conduct research using leading-edge digital media tools.
