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I’m in Montréal this week, one of the world’s great cities, and had the pleasure yesterday to take part in a very interesting panel discussion at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Canada’s largest gathering of academics. The topic of our panel was called “Fighting the Trolls” – a detailed look at the research behind online harassment of academics who are brave enough to do some form of public
scholarship, including writing for The Conversation. An ongoing project from this workshop will be developing ways to support those who are subject to online abuse.
One of the researchers we’ve been working with, and who took part in the panel discussion, is Dr. Sibo Chen of Toronto Metropolitan University. The research he and his colleagues have done about “toxic comments” received by our authors show that two types of stories attract the most online abuse – articles posted in our Politics and Culture + Society sections.
Our team at The Conversation Canada develops close ties with our authors and we applaud those who are willing to share their expertise and knowledge with the general public, even if it means they are exposing themselves to hateful comments. So for your weekend reading pleasure, I thought I would comb through some recent great reads from our network that come from the Politics and Culture + Society sections. Please enjoy them and, if you’re able, maybe drop a positive note in the comments section.
Have a great weekend and we’ll be back in your Inbox on Monday.
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Weekend Reads
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Blayne Haggart, Brock University
Google’s use of artificial intelligence to power its searches is an alarming development, especially considering how search engines are driven by financial interests.
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Leah Hamilton, Mount Royal University; Corinne L. Mason, Mount Royal University
Given the increase in anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate and hostility, queer youth need more support and allyship. Here are 10 ways to support 2SLGBTQIA+ youth this Pride Month.
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Daniel Drache, York University, Canada; Marc D. Froese, Burman University
Even in places where democracy has not yet fallen off a cliff, all-powerful billionaires, broken political parties and angry voters are moving into destructive alignment.
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Thomas D. Beamish, University of California, Davis
Public tragedies are heartrending events that gain widespread public attention. But where once prominent tragedies often brought Americans together, such tragedies no longer unify the country.
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Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia; Sonia Suter, George Washington University
The SCOTUS opinion did not take on the substance of the plaintiffs’ claims against mifepristone, and the abortion pill is already facing other challenges.
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Paul Rogers, University of Bradford
All indications are that Hamas is surviving the Israeli onslaught more successfully than previously anticipated.
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Matthew Lebo, Western University
The “PM and the Pendulum” model has been successfully forecasting British elections since 2005. This year’s predictions suggest UK Conservatives are in for a major drubbing on July 4.
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Alexandre Frambéry-Iacobone, Université de Bordeaux
As a parliamentary system with a presidency, France is unique: the effective leader is the president when parliament supports him, but in the event of cohabitation, the prime minister calls the shots.
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Vinita Srivastava, The Conversation; Dannielle Piper, The Conversation; Ateqah Khaki, The Conversation; Jennifer Moroz, The Conversation
In this bonus episode, you’ll meet some of the producers who help make this podcast to revisit some of our favourite episodes from past seasons.
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Gemma Ware, The Conversation
Astronomers Vicent Martínez and Bernard Jones explain the mystery of the Hubble tension, and why it matters so much for our understanding of the universe, on The Conversation Weekly podcast.
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