Algorithms and digital platforms play increasingly important roles in governing how we communicate and how we discover and engage with media and culture. The ‘platform turn’ in dominant media systems has significant implications for life opportunities, employment, participation in the digital economy (whose content is distributed and prioritized?), the star system (who is promoted and how? what counts as success?), politics (which and whose perspective is dominant? how has political deliberation and debate been re-mediatized?), international relations (whose view of the world is dominant?) and social relations (how are inequities in representation reproduced and transformed?).

This conference will draw together researchers in Canada and beyond to explore the intersections between media/communications/cultural policy and platforms. Presentations will address arts policy, broadcasting policy, communication rights, Indigenous communication and cultural policy, competition policy, cultural industries policy, heritage policy, internet policy, media policy, speech regulation, privacy, smart city regulation, and platform regulation.

For more information, go to https://cnmap.mcmaster.ca/events/comcultpolicy2021/index.html.

Speakers

Sharon McGowan is a founding member and past president of Women in Film and Television Vancouver and serves on the board of directors as Co-Chair of its Advocacy Committee. She is well known for her leadership in the movement for gender equity in the Canadian film and television industry and her advocacy work has included decades of analysis and lobbying of Canadian funding agencies, regulators, and unions to increase equity and diversity.  She serves on the Telefilm Canada Gender Parity Working Group and is a founding member of the newly formed WIFT Canada Coalition. Sharon’s background is as an award-winning documentary writer and director and as an independent producer of internationally recognized feature films.  Sharon is also a committed industry educator. She has an MFA in Film Studies and is an Associate Professor at UBC where she served for several years as Chair of the Film Production Program and Associate Head of the Department of Theatre and Film. She has also served as a mentor and workshop leader for many national industry organizations and training programs.

Susan Brinton has decades of experience in film and television policy and analysis in Canada, and is nationally respected as an expert and spokesperson in this area. Her background includes senior management roles in the Canadian private broadcasting sector and federal public funding agencies. Susan has been a policy consultant and led producer-focused international export development initiatives for the Canadian Media Producers Association and other industry organizations.
As Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee for Women in Film and Television Vancouver (WIFTV), Susan has been a vital leader in many of its successful advocacy initiatives. She is a founding member of WIFT Canada and is currently the Vice President of WIFT International. Susan is also a member of the Women in Production Steering Committee for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Susan holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree and a Master’s degree in Communications, is the author of numerous industry reports and publications and has lectured on creative industry policy for both Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia.