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November-December 2010

On a borderless internet, how will we nurture Canadian content?

Navneet AlangWebsite

In 1999, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission took a hard look at the then-burgeoning internet. They then did what many Canadians would consider a very un-CRTC-like thing: they decided not to regulate it. That may come as something of a surprise, as we tend to think that if the CRTC has a thing, it’s […] More »

Listen to This #020: Ottawa Citizen Parliament Hill reporter Glen McGregor

Graham F. Scott

In Listen to This #020, This Magazine associate editor Nick Taylor-Vaisey talks with Ottawa Citizen Parliament Hill reporter Glen McGregor about the effect that social media like Twitter and Facebook are having on the news cycle, for readers and consumers, reporters, and politicians alike — but why social media is still no way to attract […] More »
September-October 2010

How the web blurs the line between truth and falsehood

Navneet AlangWebsite

Though you might reasonably condemn the modern internet for a variety of reasons—ruining attention spans, turning all public discourse into a shouting match, or insulting your sexual prowess with badly punctuated mass emails—one thing the medium could always reasonably claim was its potential for spreading truth. Decentralized and egalitarian, the web seemed to herald the […] More »

Listen to This #016: Heather Leson & Brian Chick of Crisis Commons

Graham F. Scott

In this edition of Listen to This — the premiere of our second season of original interviews with Canada’s most fascinating activists, politicos, and artists! — we talk with Heather Leson and Brian Chick, two of the more senior Canadian coordinators of Crisis Commons, an international online community of people who use their technology skills to […] More »

Toronto's G20 weekend in 7 Tweets

Graham F. Scott

Thousands of people who experienced the G20 summit weekend in Toronto have their own individual stories—some of them terrifying, we’ll have some from our own correspondents soon—and Twitter was one of the main ways that the narrative was shaped. Lots of people took their smartphones into the streets to document the protests and the police […] More »

This Magazine named Small Magazine of the Year by Canadian Editors

Graham F. Scott

Last night was the annual Canadian Society of Magazine Editors gala, and we’re very happy to report that This was named Magazine of the Year in the small publication category. We think it’s a huge honour, especially considering the fearsome quality of the nominees, including our friends at Explore and Spacing. Industry awards are always a […] More »

Diaspora wants to be your private, decentralized, open source Facebook

natalie samson

If you’re like me and you shudder to think of the store of personal information you’ve inadvertently let loose online, you’ll be happy to know that a few altruistic software programmers are on the case. Four NYU students recently decided they’d had enough of heavily centralized, corporate-minded social networking sites. They took on the task […] More »
March-April 2010

From a Toronto basement, Citizen Lab fights tyranny online

Aaron BrovermanWebsite

As the internet becomes a global battlefield, a clutch of Canadian programmers are subverting oppressive regimes, aiding online dissidents, and mapping the murky new world of digital geopolitics The Dalai Lama is charged with watching over Buddhist tradition, but on March 29, 2009 The New York Times revealed a shadowy presence was secretly watching him, […] More »

Stop Everything #17: Weapons of mass distraction create a climate of silence

rebecca mcneil

Well played, Mr. Harper, well played. While you’re probably sitting comfortably at 24 Sussex, sipping Chianti and learning how to play “Hey Jude” for Laureen’s next fundraiser, I’m sitting in bed at 11pm Monday night trying to rack my brain for what to say this week about the state of climate change in Canada. How […] More »

Interview: Jesse Hirsh on the Prorogue, Facebook, comedy, and small-group activism

rea mcnamara

[Editor’s note: an experimental guest post today from online-culture columnist and Tumblr-er Rea McNamara, in Skype-chat-conversation with Jesse Hirsh. The large screengrabs of that chat below may not display 100% correctly for everyone, please let us know if you have insurmountable trouble.] TGIF, if only to sit back and click through the old media misunderstanding […] More »
November-December 2009

Which party leader uses social media better?

Jen GersonWebsite

Separating the hax0rs from the n00bs in Canada’s parliament Part of Barack Obama’s victory came on the back of a grassroots campaign that effectively used the internet to collect supporters and funds. Among social-media-savvy politicians, the president is The Man. While Obama might be down with the kids today, have any Canadian leaders managed to […] More »