In early 2018, The New York Times reported on a leak of close to 50 million Facebook users’ data—the most significant breach of data privacy at the company ever. According to a cache of documents, Facebook user data had been improperly disclosed to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting corporation which used […]
Tag: communication
SSMU’s legislative council passes motion on communication practices
The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) held their second legislative council meeting of the Fall 2020 semester on Sept. 24. With the online semester in full swing and COVID-19 safety measures continuing to affect in-person meetings, SSMU met via Zoom to debate and vote on the approval of five […]
McGill’s mixed communication regarding the S/U option was quick, but not careful
It’s a small disclaimer on every McGill course syllabus: “In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the university’s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change.” This year’s cohort of students finally fell prey to the mysterious “extraordinary circumstances” when on March 20, the McGill […]
McGill should communicate quickly but carefully about COVID-19
Over the course of the last week, the McGill community has been informed through a series of emails from the administration about how the university is addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 13, the Quebec government announced that all schools in the province would be closing for two weeks. Following […]
Dean Buddle talks Reddit, podcasting, and student outreach
Q&A with Professor Christopher Buddle
Make new friends and keep the old: How students stay in touch despite distance
University is an opportune time to make new friends—but sometimes, this comes at the expense of staying in touch with the old. Friendships naturally change over time, as distance and extracurriculars lead to new, and sometimes divergent, paths. It is already challenging for students to find time to catch up […]
The Village Effect: How face to face contact can make us healthier, happier, and smarter
On Nov. 24, McGill’s Department of Psychology hosted Canadian psychologist, journalist, and broadcaster Susan Pinker, who delivered this year’s Macnamara Lecture in McGill’s McIntyre Medical Building. Pinker spoke about her latest book, The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact can Make us Healthier, in which she underlines the importance of face-to-face social […]
SSMU President must step up, or step down
The current state of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) is disconcerting, to say the least: Executives and employees have resorted to publishing op-eds against each other, and five of the six remaining executives have formally expressed a position of non-confidence in President Muna Tojiboeva, due to a lack […]
Ask Ainsley: Should I break up with my partner for voting for Trump?
Dear Ainsley, My boyfriend voted for Trump, and I don’t support this. Should we break up? Sincerely, Perplexed about Politics (PAP) Dear PAP, As a pretty fierce liberal, upon reading your question my initial response was “absolutely.” I can’t count the amount of arguments I’ve gotten into with friends and […]
Bilingual infants take a unique path to speech development
Newborn babies have many monumental tasks before them, a key one being the acquisition of language. In our first few years, we must learn to recognize characteristic sounds, distinguish separate words, interpret more complex word combinations, and eventually assign meaning to what we hear. For infants raised in bilingual environments, […]