about
PROFESSIONAL BIO
Kane X. Faucher teaches courses in media, social networking, and propaganda at Western University. He has published several academic and general interest articles, fiction, poems, book reviews, and novels. He is an editorial board member of Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture, Contention: The Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Protest, and co-editor of Semiotic Review (formerly The Semiotic Review of Books). He has also worked on two municipal strategic plans as a team member consultant of Irwin & Associates (Middlesex County, Grey Highlands cultural prosperity plan). He is also currently a member-at-large on the Board of Directors for the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association, co-Chair of the Committee for Contract Faculty, and inaugural Chair of the Limited Duties Affairs Committee. In addition, he is also a staff book reviewer for Western News and a member of the London-West NDP.
His current research enterprise involves measuring aggression on SNSs and comment culture, digital discontent, semiotics of the web, network neoliberalization, metastasis/metastability of information, digital literacy, and the Codex Seraphinianus. His most recent books are The Infinite Library, the second volume in the trilogy (The Infinite Atrocity), ZOMG!: A Social Media Novel, and forthcoming in May the last of the trilogy, The Infinite Grey. At present, he is preparing a monograph on metastasis and metastability to settle the question of the ontology of information (under contract with Sense Publishers, Rotterdam). A concurrent book is being written on "datapolitik" which will attempt to shift the ground away from class division to one of data-based division, making extensive use of Debord. More details on his academic work, literary record, awards, education, current research projects, consultancy work, etc., can be accessed using the verb navigation bar above.
PERSONAL BIO
I have a passion for the arts, the rights of labour, education, the environment, animal rights, and poverty alleviation. I am personally, politically, and professionally motivated in all of these areas of concern. I consider myself a responsible and compassionate citizen with a stoic and somewhat pragmatic outlook on life. I confess to being a politics junkie and a policy geek, but I refrain - as much as possible - from making direct comments on or against politicians.
My Eco Life (link)
My Cats (link)
QUICK BITS:
Social Media: not really, or at least fairly marginally. I have my reservations about the behavior-shaping aspect of algorithms on corporately controlled "social" networking sites. I also do not believe that every video, photograph, news item, or random banter really needs my opinion. I also wonder if the desire to accumulate thumbs / likes and feedback is really a means of shifting the game of capitalist accumulation to the virtual "social" world. Besides, what is Twitter but a billion people competing to make the best fortune cookie?
Scented products: absolutely not. I know someone with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, and there is so little research being done to investigate connections between a largely unregulated scent and fragrance industry and allergic reactions.
Literacy for youth: absolutely. A generation that cannot spell or does not know history is beginning a life journey without provisions. Reading and writing are foundational in effective communication - perhaps more important now than ever. I extend the term "literacy" to forms of digital literacy as well given the importance of teaching the young not only HOW to use the tools effectively, but in being critical as to WHAT they mean.
Environmental sustainability: you bet. It just makes sense to take care of our lakes, rivers, trees, and the incredible diversity of life. It is not only where we live, work, love, and play, but it is the legacy our descendants inherit. Despite the bellicose rhetoric of the day that paints all environmentally-minded people as radical, foreign lobby-funded extremists, I am none of those things.
Social programs for the elderly, chronically ill, and the poor: 100%. We as a people are only as strong as the equal opportunities afforded our most vulnerable and marginalized. Laws of the economic jungle are callous instruments of division and disparity. We need to ensure opportunity and dignity for us all. Strong compassion and political will is required to empower those who lack the tools, skills, and opportunities to do so.
Labour movements and unions: entirely in solidarity. The unions who have historically given us so much are all that stand between fair and secure working conditions and disastrous exploitation. Fairness is something we must always negotiate, and collective bargaining is the tool for developing the means for working families to ensure that they can live good and productive lives.
Kane X. Faucher teaches courses in media, social networking, and propaganda at Western University. He has published several academic and general interest articles, fiction, poems, book reviews, and novels. He is an editorial board member of Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture, Contention: The Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Protest, and co-editor of Semiotic Review (formerly The Semiotic Review of Books). He has also worked on two municipal strategic plans as a team member consultant of Irwin & Associates (Middlesex County, Grey Highlands cultural prosperity plan). He is also currently a member-at-large on the Board of Directors for the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association, co-Chair of the Committee for Contract Faculty, and inaugural Chair of the Limited Duties Affairs Committee. In addition, he is also a staff book reviewer for Western News and a member of the London-West NDP.
His current research enterprise involves measuring aggression on SNSs and comment culture, digital discontent, semiotics of the web, network neoliberalization, metastasis/metastability of information, digital literacy, and the Codex Seraphinianus. His most recent books are The Infinite Library, the second volume in the trilogy (The Infinite Atrocity), ZOMG!: A Social Media Novel, and forthcoming in May the last of the trilogy, The Infinite Grey. At present, he is preparing a monograph on metastasis and metastability to settle the question of the ontology of information (under contract with Sense Publishers, Rotterdam). A concurrent book is being written on "datapolitik" which will attempt to shift the ground away from class division to one of data-based division, making extensive use of Debord. More details on his academic work, literary record, awards, education, current research projects, consultancy work, etc., can be accessed using the verb navigation bar above.
PERSONAL BIO
I have a passion for the arts, the rights of labour, education, the environment, animal rights, and poverty alleviation. I am personally, politically, and professionally motivated in all of these areas of concern. I consider myself a responsible and compassionate citizen with a stoic and somewhat pragmatic outlook on life. I confess to being a politics junkie and a policy geek, but I refrain - as much as possible - from making direct comments on or against politicians.
My Eco Life (link)
My Cats (link)
QUICK BITS:
Social Media: not really, or at least fairly marginally. I have my reservations about the behavior-shaping aspect of algorithms on corporately controlled "social" networking sites. I also do not believe that every video, photograph, news item, or random banter really needs my opinion. I also wonder if the desire to accumulate thumbs / likes and feedback is really a means of shifting the game of capitalist accumulation to the virtual "social" world. Besides, what is Twitter but a billion people competing to make the best fortune cookie?
Scented products: absolutely not. I know someone with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, and there is so little research being done to investigate connections between a largely unregulated scent and fragrance industry and allergic reactions.
Literacy for youth: absolutely. A generation that cannot spell or does not know history is beginning a life journey without provisions. Reading and writing are foundational in effective communication - perhaps more important now than ever. I extend the term "literacy" to forms of digital literacy as well given the importance of teaching the young not only HOW to use the tools effectively, but in being critical as to WHAT they mean.
Environmental sustainability: you bet. It just makes sense to take care of our lakes, rivers, trees, and the incredible diversity of life. It is not only where we live, work, love, and play, but it is the legacy our descendants inherit. Despite the bellicose rhetoric of the day that paints all environmentally-minded people as radical, foreign lobby-funded extremists, I am none of those things.
Social programs for the elderly, chronically ill, and the poor: 100%. We as a people are only as strong as the equal opportunities afforded our most vulnerable and marginalized. Laws of the economic jungle are callous instruments of division and disparity. We need to ensure opportunity and dignity for us all. Strong compassion and political will is required to empower those who lack the tools, skills, and opportunities to do so.
Labour movements and unions: entirely in solidarity. The unions who have historically given us so much are all that stand between fair and secure working conditions and disastrous exploitation. Fairness is something we must always negotiate, and collective bargaining is the tool for developing the means for working families to ensure that they can live good and productive lives.
