Summer Research Seminar
Critical Dialogues on AI and Digital Platforms in Media and Communication Studies
June 4, 2025, 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
SFU Vancouver Campus HCC 2200
- Overview
This special seminar aims to foster critical dialogues on the growing significance of AI and digital platforms as key research areas in Media and Communication Studies. Bringing together international scholars, alongside SFU faculty and students, the seminar explores how AI and digital platforms are reshaping everyday media practices and the field of Media and Communication Studies. Engaging with current debates and empirical case studies, the presenters will examine the roles of AI and digital platforms in cultural production, distribution, and consumption. The seminar will offer valuable insights for advancing theoretical and methodological approaches in media and communication research. The program features two research talks by Prof. Anthony Fung (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) and Prof. Kyong Yoon (UBC Okanagan), followed by a roundtable to encourage vibrant dialogues.
- Presenters
Anthony Y.H. Fung is Dean of Faculty of Social Science and Director of Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also Professor in the School of Art and Communication at Beijing Normal University. His research interests focus on digital platforms, popular culture, youth and cultural studies, cultural industries and policy. He is editor-in-chief of Global Media and China and co-editor of International Journal of Cultural Studies.
Kyong Yoon is a Professor of Cultural Studies and the Principal’s Research Chair in Trans-Pacific Digital Platform Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. His research areas include media audiences, transnational Korean culture, and migration. He is currently working on a book project that examines emerging forms of audiencehood in the digital platform era.
- Program
- 10:30-10:40 Welcome
- 10:40-11:20 Research Talk: AI and the Paradigm Crisis in Communication Studies
Anthony Fung (The Wei Lun Professor of Journalism and Communication and Dean of Social Science, Chinese University of Hong Kong) - 11:20-12:00 Research Talk: Media Audiences in the Digital Platform Era
Kyong Yoon (Principal’s Research Chair in Trans-Pacific Digital Platform Studies, University of British Columbia Okanagan) - 12:00-12:30 Roundtable: AI, Digital Platforms, & Graduate Studies in Communication
- Questions and answers on the research talks
- Discussions on challenges and directions in Communication Graduate
Moderator: Kyong Yoon
Participants: Anthony Fung and attendees
Sponsors:
- SFU School of Communication and Transnational Culture and Digital Technology Lab
- University of British Columbia Okanagan Principal’s Research Chair program