Ontario Today with Tara Milbrandt on Digital Cameras

Cameras are everywhere. Surveillance cameras can be found in almost every building. They are hidden in bank machines and taxi cabs. Not to mention the millions people walking around with cell phones that have cameras built right in. The digital camera has changed our world. Think of the amateur video of Robert Dziekanski being tasered by RCMP at the Vancouver airport. Would there have been an inquiry without those images? Michael Phelps fell from grace after being captured on cam smoking marijuana. Our own images are being captured every day. And often we are not even aware of it. Cameras are clicking everywhere and the pictures can move from Prague to Toronto in an instant. My guest today is Tara Milbrandt. She is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta. She is leading a discussion today on this very topic at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Carleton University. (listen)

Ian Reilly discusses satirical news and its effects.

Host Rita Celli sits down with doctoral student Ian Reilly of the University of Guelph to discuss satirical news and its effect on news consumption and civic participation. Callers weigh in on what Reilly terms 'fake news' and whether it promotes cynicism and skepticism or stimulates a greater desire for news. (listen)

Judy Rebick regarding changes that citizen journalism have brought to mainstream media.

The sheer number of ways that information is shared today is dizzying. Television, radio, newsprint are the old stalwarts. But the internet with its blogs, discussion boards and interactive social networks is turning how, where and when we get information, on its head. Judy Rebick is one of this country's best known journalists and social activists. She is also one of the co-founders of rabble.ca. The CBC's Rita Celli sat down with Judy Rebick to discuss how citizen journalism is changing the information landscape (listen)

Interview with Devon Lougheed.

Making comments about someone's race, religion or even social status is normally frowned upon. But for some reason, when told as a joke, we often laugh. Why is that? The CBC's Rita Celli had a discussion about that very question with Devon Lougheed. He's currently completing a PHD in Political Science at the University of British Columbia and is studying the real value of jokes. (listen)

Katrina Eldridge on Grandparents Raising Kids.

Not long after moving the futon out of the basement or turning a bedroom into an office, older parents are once again fingerpainting and picking peas up under the kitchen table. Weekend visits with grandchildren are turning into longterm stays for many people who have already raised their own children. More and more grandparents are becoming parents to their grandkids. What's behind this trend and how's it affecting grandma and grandpa? The CBC's Rita Celli spoke with social worker Katrina Eldridge to find out. (listen)