Researching for Change - 2003 workshops
Research as a tool for marginalized communities effecting change
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Room B110a, Student Union Building, UVic
12:30 - 2:00
Research is fundamentally about systematically gathering, analyzing, and communicating information in ways that make sense to the people you're trying to reach. This is a critical tool for activists both in terms of helping communities be well-informed and also influencing institutions and governments. When you have no money and no degree behind your name, how can you use research to effect change? How does this tie into overall activist strategizing and planning?
Presenter: Joshua Goldberg is a longtime activist with experience in prison justice, indigenous solidarity, peace, anti-poverty, and transgender movements.
On-line corporate research
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Room A170 (computer lab), Human & Social Development building, UVic
12:30 - 2:00
How can you track down a company’s social and environmental track record? How can you find out about a company’s shareholders, directors, and political dealings? What are the shady practices a corporation would rather no one knew about? This hands-on workshop addresses methodologies and major sources of information for researching Canadian corporations.
Presenter: Nedjo Rogers, currently the Learning Technologies Developer at the GroundWorks Learning Centre, will draw examples from his years of experience with the Environmental Mining Council of BC, an environmental watchdog focusing on the mining industry.
When the field research and politics collide: Sharing the experience of back to work research and the Campbell cuts
Thursday, October 2, 2003
Room B110b, Student Union Building, UVic
12:30 - 2:00
This is a presentation about doing focus group and policy research with women in BC and then having the cuts announced in the middle of the research (before the final report). Come expecting to cry and laugh and learn.
Presenter: Tanis Doe is a Metis woman with disabilities who works as a senior instructor in the School of Social Work and has 10 years of action research experience.
Solid backing
Wednesday, September 22, 2003
Room B110b, Student Union Building, UVic
11:30 – 1:30
For any campaign, on any issue, the most effective message has solid research behind it. If you research well enough, you can take your opposition off guard. Sometimes all it takes to win the public's trust and support is one shocking piece of information previously hidden from view.
Presenter: Edward May is part of the Borealis Consulting team, regional specialists in environmental consulting and resource market, chain-of-custody, and corporate research. This workshop will give a background on lesser known sources and techniques for researching any issue, company or commodity.
Expand your research/activist toolbelts
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Room B110b, Student Union Building, UVic
12:30 - 2:00
An online activism techniques workshop including the principles of online activism, online research leads and tips, launching listservs and e-newsletters, building a subscriber base, and what you won't find in a library database.
Presenter: Howard Breen is the principal of Chaya Communications Inc and has contracts with Ocean Blue Foundation and TravelJUST. His experience spans a twenty-plus yeare career as an environmental professional, which includes Marine Campaign Director with the Georgia Strait Alliance, British Columbia Environmental Network, Canadian Marine Environmental Protection Society, and the MarineLife Sanctuaries Society. Mr. Breen hosts a number of conservation listservs with hundreds of subscribers that carry important discussion about conserving and protecting the environment, as well as dispatches several broadcast-only e-newsletters.
Digging the dirt
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Room B110a, Student Union Building, UVic
12:30 - 2:00
Hundreds of records on topics such as BC government contracts, politicians' assets and campaign donations are available without charge to researchers, activists and other nosey parkers. Get an idea of some of the more useful ones and how to access them. As well, get a primer on using BC's powerful freedom of information law.
Presenter: Russ Francis is a reporter and political columnist for Monday Magazine, where he's won a number of journalism awards for investigative reporting and feature writing. As well, Francis freelances for the National Post, The Province, BC Business, and other publications.
Community-based interpretive research: The "RARE" experience
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Room B110a, Student Union Building, UVic
12:30 – 2:00
Historically, research has been seen as within the domain of academia. In recent years, however, academics have become interested in community-based research (doing research "with" the community). Yet the worlds of academia and community can be quite different. How are these two worlds brought together? Are community-based intepretive research projects led by academics "really" community-based? Or, how can they be?
Presenter: Dr. Kelli Stadjuhar, a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre on Aging, University of Victoria and a Research Associate with the Vancouver Island Health Authority, will address these questions and more by discussing her recent experience in conducting a large community-based interpretive research project focused on the context of injection drug use and HIV/AIDS in oru community using RARE (Rapid Assessment, Response, and Evaluation) research methodology.
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