Research
Research is a core activity of the faculty and graduate students in the School of Communication. These activities are carried out individually (see the faculty profiles) and through centres, labs, and projects. Some of these are listed below, with links to their respective web sites.
Centre for Policy Research on Science & Technology
Established in 1988, the Centre for Policy Research on Science & Technology (CPROST) engages in research on the relationship between public policy and technology. The Centre brings together practitioners and scholars to study the interaction of advances in science and technology, their implemetation in the marketplace, and their impacts on community and individual interests. Several CMNS faculty members are members of CPROST, including the Director of the Centre, Dr. Richard Smith.
Technology’s role in the health sector has been a key research focus of communication professor Ellen Balka for the past several years. Her $3 million, SSHRC (INE) funded project will expand on previous work and allow her research team to further investigate the design, use and effectiveness of technology in the health sector, in order to inform the design of policies and new technological systems. The need to better understand the role of health information technologies was also identified in the recent Romanow and Kirby reports on the nation’s health care system.
As health budgets shrink, information and communication technologies are increasingly viewed as the means for more efficient and effective delivery of health care services. ACTION for Health questions this very assumption in an innovative, four-year study that commenced in the fall of 2003.
Emergency Preparedness Information eXchange
The Emergency Preparedness Information eXchange (EPIX) is operated by the Telematics Research Lab in collaboration with the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology and PolyLAB . The purpose of EPIX is to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information among Canadian and international public and private sector organizations about the prevention of, preparation for, recovery from and/or mitigation of risk associated with natural and socio-technological disasters.
Media Saturated World: Helping Kids Reduce The Risk
The project is based on the desire to demonstrate that communities can do something to reduce the lifestyle risks and ill-effects associated with the media saturated world our kids are growing up in. The goals of this project are to help make our children’s lives safer and healthier by reducing the risks associated with TV watching, Internet use and playing with video games. The project was coordinated by the Media Analysis Lab at Simon Fraser University in partnership with the North Vancouver Parents Advisory Council and the North Vancouver District Board of Education. Funding for this pilot project has been provided by the Ministry of Justice Canada.
NewsWatch Canada undertakes independent research on the diversity and thoroughness of news coverage in Canada’s media, with a focus on identifying blindspots and double-standards. Click here for the Newswatcher’s Guide.
Centre for Policy Studies on Culture and Communities
The Centre for Policy Studies on Culture and Communities (CPCC) grew out of a multi-year project teaching cultural policy at SFU in partnership with local arts and community groups. From 2005–2008, SFU, in partnership with the Creative City Network of Canada, conducted a cross-Canada review of the state of Canadian built cultural infrastructure, assembling a Center for Expertise on Culture and Communities with a separate advisory board of notable cultural scholars. In 2008, SFU’s Senate approved the permanent Centre, renaming it the Center for Policy Studies on Culture and Communities.
Labs
The Applied Communication and Technology Laboratory (ACT Lab) is engaged in research on the intersection between communication technology and cultural creation. It brings together graduate students, practitioners and researchers to study a wide variety of applications of advanced technology to education, community, entertainment, and the arts.
Created in 1997, the Assessment of Technology in Context Design Lab (ATIC-DL) is a research facility specializing in research related to the human dimensions of technological change. The ATIC-DL’s research work is based on the philosophy that technological systems are more than simply machines, and in order for technology to work properly, a wide range of human factors must be considered.
Emergency Preparedness Information eXchange Lab
The Emergency Preparedness Information eXchange (EPIX) is operated by the Telematics Research Lab in collaboration with the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology and PolyLAB . The purpose of EPIX is to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information among Canadian and international public and private sector organizations about the prevention of, preparation for, recovery from and/or mitigation of risk associated with natural and socio-technological disasters.
Global Media Monitoring and Analysis Lab
The Global Media Monitoring and Analysis Lab is a unique and state of the art research facility for critical media analysis and assessment in a digitalized and globalized media environment.
The Media Analysis Lab provides a creative environment for learning about, analyzing and researching the role of mediated social communication. Its mandate is to generate a synergy between the critical analysis of media and their application in democratic public communication, particularly in the areas of education, advocacy and community development.
The Sonic Research Studio is the home of the World Soundscape Project (WSP)-an educational and research group established at Simon Fraser University during the late 1960s and early 1970s.