Communications and Technology Research Symposium

This annual symposium, hosted in May, serves as a forum for professionals and academics from various disciplines to showcase and discuss issues related to communication and technology. A distinguished lecturer is invited to present a perspective on this diverse field. The symposium is an excellent opportunity to network with other individuals working and studying in communications.

A research poster session is held prior to the keynote address by the distinguished lecturer. As a requirement of their program, second year MACT students participate in the session with posters of their culminating research project proposal.

The Communications and Technology Research Symposium takes place on the final day of the MACT Spring Institute each May.

Distinguished lecturers:

  • 2022: Mr. Kofi Yeboah (Mozilla Foundation/MACT Alumnus) Artificial Intelligence in Africa
  • 2019: Mr. Graeme Everton (New Zealand) Beads and blankets for your spectrum?
  • 2018: Ms. Mary Pat Barry (University of Alberta) Rock Grandfather and You: Musings on MACT Matters
  • 2017: Dr. Marco Adria (University of Alberta) Reading the Grand Palimpsest of Mixed Reality
  • 2016: Dr. Catherine Middleton (Ryerson University) Let's Talk Broadband: Defining and Delivering Essential Telecommunications Services
  • 2015: Dr. Tharon Howard (Clemson University) Creating Social Networks and Online Communities that Last
  • 2014: Dr. Ron Deibert (University of Toronto) The Internet After Snowden: Surveillance, Privacy, and the future of Global Communications
  • 2013: Dr. Robin Mansell (London School of Economics) Internet Social Imaginaries: Crowdsourcing, Collective Action and Governance
  • 2012: Dr. Keith Hampton (Rutgers University) Keeping it Real? The Good, the Bad and the Data on How New Media are Affecting our Relationships
  • 2011: Dr. John Durham Peters (University of Iowa) Communication Infrastructures Old and New
  • 2010: Dr. Linda Putnam (University of California, Santa Barbara) Models of Engaged Scholarship: Developing the Research Paradigm
  • 2009: Dr. Leopoldina Fortunati, (University of Udine, Italy) Reflections on Mediated Gossip
  • 2008: Dr. Martha S. Feldman (University of California, Irvine) Social Networking for a Change
  • 2007: Dr. Joshua Meyrowitz (University of New Hampshire) Media at work and at home
  • 2006: Dr. Terry Anderson (Athabasca University) Connected Learning - How Networked Technologies Change the Way We Learn
  • 2005: Dr. James Taylor (Université de Montréal) Text and Context in the Organization
  • 2004: Dr. Stella Ting-Toomey (California State University at Fullerton) Intercultural facework competence: Connecting theory with practice
  • 2003: Dr. R.K. Logan (University of Toronto) Language, Learning, Collaboration, and Media
  • 2002: Dr. JoAnne Yates (MIT Sloan School of Management); Unintended consequences in the emergence of online communities
  • 2001: Dr. Mark Knapp (University of Texas, Austin): Nonverbal communication in cyberspace; Dr. Robin Mason (Open University): Computer conferencing in university studies
  • 2000: Dr. Derrick de Kerckhove (McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto); Connected intelligence and the emergence of the Internet