Publications

Municipal Matters: Building Capacity for Local Climate Conversations

Municipal Matters: Building Capacity for Local Climate Conversations

This report examines the challenges of communication around local climate action—especially when policies face the spread of false information.

Platform Governance in Canada: Essay Series

Platform Governance in Canada: Essay Series

While encouraging, the emerging discourse in academia and public policy on platform governance too often remains siloed by topic.

Harmful Hallucinations: Generative AI and Elections

Harmful Hallucinations: Generative AI and Elections

This report reveals how technology threatens democratic processes like elections by enabling deception, polluting the information environment, and intensifying harassment.

The Peril and Promise of AI for Journalism

The Peril and Promise of AI for Journalism

Journalists around the world are responding to the dramatic rise of artificial intelligence (AI), and particularly generative AI. Many newsrooms are experimenting with these tools and identifying new opportunities. At the same time, many journalists and commentators see AI
as the biggest threat to journalism in decades.

Mpox Communications: A Queer Pandemic

Mpox Communications: A Queer Pandemic

Just as most countries lifted Covid-19 measures, another pandemic emerged in the summer of
2022: mpox. Mpox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus. It is endemic in East,
Central, and West African countries.

Responding to Online Abuse: What We Heard from Health Communicators

Responding to Online Abuse: What We Heard from Health Communicators

The pandemic created an unprecedented demand for health communication. This workshop report summarizes insights from a range of health communicators.

Platform Governance in Canada: Essay Series

Platform Governance in Canada: Essay Series

An introduction and set of 16 short essays on platform governance in Canada. Jointly published by the Centre for Media, Technology, and Democracy at McGill University and CSDI.

Online Hate During the Pandemic

Authors: Dr. Chris Tenove and Dr. Heidi Tworek This paper was funded by a grant from British Columbia’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC), which holds the copyright. The conclusions in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner. Case Study A: Hate and harassment targeting health communicators Authors: […]

Democratic Health Communications during COVID-19: A RAPID Response

Democratic Health Communications during COVID-19: A RAPID Response

This report recommends how to put health communications at the heart of democracies’ response to Covid-19.

Trolled on the Campaign Trail: Online Incivility and Abuse in Canadian Politics

Trolled on the Campaign Trail: Online Incivility and Abuse in Canadian Politics

This report examines incivility on social media in the 2019 federal election campaign and beyond.