ACADEMIC

From teaching to published research, I take my writing experience to the classroom.

Master's Thesis

The Role of Legacy Media: An Examination of Coverage During the Coastal GasLink Conflict

2022 - This thesis examines three legacy media outlets' (Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, and National Post) digital coverage of the Coastal GasLink conflict between January 1 and March 15, 2020. This thesis aims to understand how Canada's largest daily newspapers portray Indigenous communities, particularly during times of conflict with the government.

Through a content analysis, a review of past coverage as examined in existing academic literature, as well as through interviews with academics, experts and critics, this thesis uncovers minimal change in coverage patterns over the past several decades. Legacy media still relies on stereotypical portrayals of Indigenous communities and often does not present the larger context of a conflict that would provide better information for readers to interpret.

Ultimately the thesis addresses some of the questions about how legacy journalism is built and conducted overall and argues that it does not work to best portray Indigenous issues and communities.

Insights into Communication Studies: Understanding Foundational Theories for Media Literacy

Chapter 9: Theories of Technology

2024 - To what extent does technology shape our interactions with the world, and conversely, how much influence do we exert in shaping technology to fit our needs and preferences? From shaping interpersonal relationships to society at large, technological determinism-based theories aim to focus their study of communication on the technology we use to answer this question.

Two theories stand out in this framework. First, Marshall McLuhan’s theory of media ecology aims to consider how technological advances in communication influence the organization of society. McLuhan believed technology strongly influences how we receive information, so much so that his famed phrase “the medium is the message” has become a lasting representation of his work. Second, media multiplexity, conceptualized by Caroline Haythornthwaite, aims to mainly analyze how our relationships are affected by the technology we use. Specifically, Haythornthwaite examined the relationship between the strength of relational ties and the media we use to communicate with those individuals. Both theories offer us a look at how technology itself influences our interaction and understanding of life and relationships.

In the Classroom

Mount Royal University

JOUR 1709 Journalism Foundations II

COMM 2410 Media Ethics and Law

JOUR 4705 Online Editorial Board (lab)

JOUR 4707 Magazine Reporting and Publishing (lab)

JOUR 1727 Digital Storytelling I

GNED 1403 Writing in a Digital Context

GNED 1202 Texts and Ideas

GNED 1404 Writing about Images

GNED 2403 Social Media and Social Movements

COMM 2500 Introduction to Communication Studies