From June 2–5, scholars from across the country gathered at George Brown College’s waterfront campus in Toronto for the 2025 Canadian Communication Association (CCA) Conference. Held as part of Congress 2025, this year’s theme—Reframing Togetherness—invited participants to step beyond disciplinary silos and explore new ways of thinking and collaborating in an increasingly polarized world. In keeping with this spirit, CLCF members presented a range of thought-provoking work on experiential learning, creator cultures, policy, news media, and research-creation processes. In this post, we highlight the exciting and diverse research projects contributed by CLCF members at this year’s gathering.

🎙️ Caroline Klimek, MaryElizabeth Luka (CLCF co-lead), Claudia Sicondolfo, Aline Zara (CLCF Researcher), all at University of Toronto, Canada; Diane Davy, Executive Director, and Stephanie Draker, Program Manager, Work in Culturee, Toronto, Canada

Echoed by multiple presenters as “The best experience of my teaching career,” this roundtable offered a practical and inspiring look into experiential learning through a partnership in the arts and culture sector. Using a $75,000 partnership between UTSC’s Arts Management program and Work in Culture funded through the Business + Higher Education Roundtable grant  initiative as a case study, the presenters outlined how over 15 months, the collaboration engaged 54 sector leaders (out of 110 approached, several more of which expressed a desire to participate in future), seven faculty, and 600 students (468 of which filled in surveys) from four courses across all undergraduate years of study. Activities included webinars, on- and off- campus events, workshops, and adjudication panels. And it also included paying for staff time to develop and provide organizational support and logistics at Work in Culture. What stood out in the presentation was the careful balance achieved between academic and industry roles, with regular communication, clearly defined goals, and mutual respect for the skills and limitations each side faces, as well as relatively adequate financial support for the considerable work involved. The session also tackled issues such as limited ongoing resources, precarious labour, and pedagogical challenges, while emphasizing best practices to foster long-term industry collaboration and its immensely positive impact on students.

🎙️ Cate Alexander (CLCF Researcher), University of Toronto, Canada

Cate’s talk was a timely look at how digital content creators are reshaping what public history looks like online. Through interviews and immersive fieldwork, she unpacked the ways creators are navigating challenges related to visibility and moderation; as well as how platforms both enable and constrict access to historical content. Conducting media historiographies and digital ethnographies of two case studies—the sinking of the Titanic (1912) and the death of the Romanovs (1918)—Cate offered methodological reflections on the type of deep “hanging out on the internet” required for digital ethnography.

🎙️ Hadiya Roderique (CLCF Researcher), and Alicia Attfield, University of Toronto, Canada

Hadiya’s talk centered around her research into the use of “Discourses of Dominance”, discourses and narratives can carry coded but powerful messages about particular groups. These discourses act as a key social system reinforcing racism and stereotypes and holding immense power to shape public perceptions. For this study, we engaged in a content analysis of over 250 headlines in the Nathaniel Veltman case, a hate-motivated vehicular attack that resulted in the deaths of four members of the Muslim Afzaal family and serious injury to a fifth which drew national attention. While the discourse of denial was less prominent, a form of discourse we have called ambiguity/silence, where the substance and motivation of the attack are avoided, emerged to fill its place. This research demonstrates that while the types of discourses of dominance used have changed, Canadian media continues to engage in discourse that continues to marginalize, in the most salient part of reporting – the headlines.

Photos courtesy of ME Luka

🎙️ Aline Zara (CLCF Researcher), and Lauren Knight (CLCF Researcher), University of Toronto, Canada

Turning to research-creation methods, Aline and Lauren shared their evolving understanding of engaging these processes in academic research. In addition to broader reflections on temporalities and methodologies of research-creation, they offered vibrant insights into their personal “penpal processes”— a research-creation project of weekly email exchanges, beginning in January 2025. These emails mull over the concept of research-creation: shifting perspectives, aha moments, collaboration (like the project BEEP zine), frustrations, useful readings, messiness, and more. Part presentation, part performance, the doctoral candidates ended the talk with a live reading of their exchanges, which beautifully traced the impact of penpal processes as a method.