Waterloo Library Journal Publishing Service (University of Waterloo, Canada)
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2023 research outputs found
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Awards
No full text2025 Award Winners:
ACMLA Honours: Sherri Sunstrum
Cathy Moulder Paper Award: Larry Laliberté
Student Paper Award: Jay Maudsle
The Inverted Okun\u27s Law: Evidence from France
No full textThis study considers the nonlinear relationship between GDP growth and unemployment in France (1975–2024) using a logistic smooth transition regression (LSTR) model. Findings reveal a threshold unemployment rate of 7.93%, above which the traditional Okun’s law holds (GDP growth reduces unemployment). Below this threshold, an inverted Okun’s law emerges, where economic growth coincides with rising unemployment. This is explained by technological advancements, skill mismatches, and delayed employment adjustments. The results indicate that macroeconomic policies based on linear assumptions are limited in their capacity to address unemployment challenges effectively. Recognizing these nonlinear dynamics is crucial for designing effective labor market policies that account for asymmetries in economic fluctuations
Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers in Digital Inclusion Planning, North Carolina, 2023-2024
No full textDigital exclusion is a challenge in rural North Carolina (NC), USA, where agriculture is the leading industry. Agricultural workers such as migrant and seasonal farmworkers (hereafter “farmworkers”) are disproportionately impacted by digital exclusion. As part of an effort to address digital exclusion, funders and state agencies in NC have promoted the development of county and regional plans for digital inclusion. From July 2023 to July 2024, we identified a total of 30 digital inclusion plans that covered 50 of NC’s 100 counties. To assess inclusion of farmworkers, we used a quantitative content analysis approach with two independent coders. No digital inclusion plans included farmworkers in their needs assessments or goals. Just 7% of digital inclusion plans included farmworker organizations in their planning and development, 13% of plans noted agriculture as a topic of interest in their needs assessments, and 40% noted agricultural technologies as a topic of interest. None included short or long-term goals related to agriculture. The general invisibility of farmworkers in plans contrasts with greater attention given to agriculture-related technologies. Additional attention must be given to ensure farmworkers are involved in future digital inclusion efforts
3. Tripartite Nightmares and Feminist Dreams: Glorifying the Grotesque
No full textWith the proliferation of what we call “cultural noise” in the age of the internet, it can be daunting for feminists (and, indeed, anyone) to avoid the persistent pull of neoliberal individualism. The capitalist, white supremacist, patriarchal tripartite state (bell hooks 2018) strips us of our power by attributing negative moral value to those that they deem a threat to systems of oppression; they label us “the grotesque”. Given this background, this paper asks: How can we begin to deconstruct these social norms without first learning to identify how the grotesque operates? Like Mikhail Bakhtin argues, the grotesque is not solely located in the body, but rather, defined as anything that has been deemed “gross” by social powers. In this paper, we plot out potential strategies for feminist reclamation of the grotesque, pulling on the works of adrienne maree brown, bell hooks, Sara Ahmed, and more. Through a dialogic intersectional approach, we explore a variety of topics: drag, filmmaking, butch/femme lesbian dynamics, the queer and disabled villain, stand-up comedy, physical and digital protest, and religion. This paper aims to explore how feminists have reclaimed the grotesque and what needs to continue being done in the future. Alongside the paper, there is also a digitized version of a zine, which works to represent this discussion through material creation. We ultimately argue that to imagine a feminist future involves turning the nightmares of the tripartite state and turning them into dreams of reclamation and redefinition.  
2. Middle Eastern Intersectionality : A Meta-Analysis on Scholarly Work about Women’s Issues in the Middle East
No full textThough much has been written about women in the Middle East, literature on feminism seldom applies an intersectional perspective. In this paper, I assess how scholars address women’s issues in the Middle East. A deeper study of the scholarly work on women provides a fruitful starting point for theory. Building on two main concepts of “intersectionality”(Crenshaw 1989) and “matrix of domination” (Collins 2002), I conducted a content analysis on 170 papers and books about women and gender in seventeen countries of the Middle East. My results indicate that in almost all of the countries’ scholarly work, there is an emphasis on patriarchy, religion, and state/government. These findings highlight crucial axes of Middle Eastern intersectionality for feminist studies in the region
4. Queer Snapshots: 3 Poems
No full textThe events and experiences of the past will always impact the way we imagine a future, and when it comes to the allowance of queer perspectives, there is tendency to view the past as a place of confinement, rigidity, limitation, and pain, the present as a place of action, strength, and resistance, and the future as a place of openness, possibility, and triumph. In truth, confinement, rigidity, limitation, pain, action, strength, resistance, openness, possibility, and triumph have been the cornerstones of queer reality at every stage and every age. "Queer Snapshots" is a series of three poems that not only challenges the format and subject matter of poetry, but queers the notion of past, present, and future. The content of each poem will question the notions of the age it represents, but the form will be true to the stereotypes of each era. In the poem of the past, the form will be strict in rhythm, metre, and rhyme. The form of the poem of the present will be experimental and active, while the poem of the future will have an open and free-flowing form. Though one poem will broadly represent the past, one the present, and one the future, each will contain an interweaving of speculation, positive and negative realities, hope, and the beauty that has always been, and always will be, the queer perspective
1. Introduction: Feminist Futurities in Practice: Mapping Bodies, Spaces, and Possibilities
No full textExploring Digital Inclusion: Addressing Homelessness Through Equitable Design on TikTok
No full textThis study examines the digital experiences of individuals experiencing homelessness on TikTok, focusing on their usage patterns, challenges, and opportunities for social connection. Through a review of literature and analysis of TikTok content, the study examines how individuals experiencing homelessness use social media, the challenges they encounter, and the potential benefits and risks associated with online engagement. Despite challenges such as network access, device quality, and privacy concerns, homeless individuals navigate digital spaces to share personal stories, seek support, and participate in online communities. The study identifies themes related to digital divide perceptions, survival infrastructuring, social capital building, and health information seeking behaviours among homeless populations on TikTok. Based on these insights, the study proposes platform-level and user-level recommendations to improve the digital experiences of homeless individuals on TikTok, focusing on bandwidth-sensitive design, enhanced privacy controls, and security toolkits. These recommendations aim to promote digital inclusion and support for vulnerable populations in the digital age, contributing to ongoing discussions about equity and social support online
ICT Use, Collective Agency and Community Transformation in Rural Bangladesh
No full textThis paper presents a collectivist or communally-oriented interpretation of the Capability Approach (CA), within an Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) project targeted at rural communities. The paper examines how rural women in Bangladesh appropriated smartphones introduced through a digital inclusion initiative. Informed by Kleine’s Choice Framework, the study explores how agency interacts with assets and structures to shape strategic life choices. In this case, the focus is on and how these engagements show expressions of collective agency within restrictive socio-cultural environments.
Findings demonstrate that while women used smartphones to access information and services, the more significant outcomes emerged through relational and collective practices. A communally-oriented perspective provides valuable insights into an ICT project\u27s design and implementation process. It highlights the importance of recognising the community members as active participants oriented to communal, rather than solely individualistic, outcomes. This article contributes to the literature on ICT4D and Community Informatics by highlighting the need for community-centric engagement and a contextually sensitive approach in designing and implementing ICT projects in rural communities
An innovative approach to enhancing strength and ductility in cold spray 3D printing through engineered heterogeneous laminate microstructures
No full textAchieving an ideal balance of strength and ductility in 3D-printed low-pressure cold spray materials is highly desirable yet remains a significant challenge. This paper introduces a dual heterogeneous laminated Cu/CuCrZr composite structure, characterized by varying properties between a soft and hard domains, manufactured through low-pressure cold spray followed by heat-treatment. The tailored heterogeneous Cu/CuCrZr microstructure features alternating coarse and fine grains, resulting in a hetero-deformation-induced hardening, caused by the mechanical incompatibility between the coarse grain Cu and fine grain CuCrZr layers, leading to an improvement of work hardening and increase of ductility. This performance is largely attributed to the well-bonded particles and hetero-deformation-induced (HDI) strengthening during plastic deformation. The strengthening effect is due to the accumulation of a substantial number of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) at the heterogeneous interface, which enhances work-hardening and simultaneously boosts both the strength and ductility of the layered structure. The engineered laminate showed 205% and 115% improvement in strength and ductility compared to Cu and 10% and 28% improvement when compared to CuCrZr