Interesting Canadians we met this month

Today we’re talking with Robin Mansell, Professor Emerita of New Media and the Internet in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. We’re honoured that she’s inaugurating our new column, Interesting Canadians I met this month, but by any measure, Robin might be one of the most interesting Canadians we’ve ever met!

In a quiet and modestly unassuming way, Robin has become a world-leading figure in digital communications. With more than 250 publications to her credit (and a 48-page CV to document it all!) and more than 40 PhD students flourishing under her supervision over the years, she is a significant thought leader and advisor as we grapple with the social and economic impacts of communications technologies including the Internet. Amongst her publication credits are some twenty books and, unbelievably, a seminal work in the field, The International Encyclopaedia of Digital Communication and Society.

She received the Simon Fraser University Outstanding Alumni award last year in recognition of her global influence with industry, government and international NGOs and her research into how technologies create power imbalances in society alongside benefits. In accepting the award, she was typically modest, referring to her work in examining injustice – “it’s unforgiveable how large groups have been damaged or excluded because they have limited or no access to the internet” she said.

Robin, thanks for talking with us. When you received the SFU Outstanding Alumni award in 2021, they wrote, “Robin Mansell’s decision to go to university instead of into her father’s business as a secretary came as a surprise to her and her family. Mansell would go on to become the first woman to receive a doctorate degree in Communication Studies at SFU, and a world-renowned researcher and professor at the London School of Economics, where she teaches today.”  

Tell us more about your academic path, and that pivotal decision you made in 1970s Vancouver. What it was like for a woman who, it turns out, was blazing a trail not only in your family but also at SFU?

My family accepted that I would do an undergraduate degree but were not expecting more. I started at UBC, ending my BA at the University of Manitoba – a winding road. I didn’t know what I wanted to do so I took a big mix of courses - a way of avoiding what I didn’t want to do after going for secretarial training after high school. There were stints between my degrees working for CIBC and TD banks – in the mid-70s this saw me join an all-male audit team as a management trainee. I’m ashamed to say that rather than fight for recognition of my rightful place on the team, I exited. Jobs here and there followed until I was enticed to do a PhD by a professor who offered me a paid research job. And then I won a SSHRC and started to find my feet. I wanted to know how people communicate across space and time. How did this work historically? What happens when media and communication technologies change? Do our current technologies make mutual understanding, care, and respect for others too difficult? If yes, what should be done about it?

In the late 70s and early 80s women were in my master’s and PhD cohorts, but I suppose few wanted to learn about technology innovation, its economics, politics and social challenges, all at the same time! Some women received their PhDs at SFU with a focus on media or communications before me. I was only first to get an SFU degree named a PhD in Communication! Being first really was a fluke!

You have spoken elsewhere about a professor who said your problem was “too much fire in your belly,” maybe meaning too much passion for your work, if that’s possible?  I would assume that passion existed long before he remarked upon it. Tell us a bit more about how that passion was ignited, such that you’ve spent your entire career guided by a desire to address inequality.

This professor had one foot in the academic world and the other in the Ottawa policy world. One view is that academics should stick to their research, letting others use their results to inform policy or business as they see fit. His view was that a key purpose of academic research is to see how to change in the world. This means being clear about what research means in application to issues like how to regulate digital technologies. It also means being careful not to overstate results to favour a particular position or at least to be clear about uncertainties. As a PhD student I was prone to claiming too much from my research. I’ve learned, I hope. I still believe strongly in the contributions of academic research to evidence-based policy and practice - treading a fine line between the ivory tower and advocacy.

An example. It’s often claimed that when new digital technologies (machine learning systems, artificial intelligence, broadband networks) come along, they will benefit everyone. Guardrails might be needed, but we should wait to see what happens before putting them in place. Some say regulating big tech companies will slow innovation and weaken the prospect of leading in the global race to digital market supremacy. I insist that research must also focus on how new digital technologies generate social, cultural, and political inequalities or reinforce existing ones. Big funding goes to showcasing digital tech success stories. Much less goes to research on the problems. A persistent theme in my work is the study of the harms of tech innovation. I aim to provoke informed debate about what to do about them.

In short, while welcoming benefits of our digitised world, my research emphasises what gives rise to inequalities and exclusions. Why? I enjoyed many privileges because of my adoption and things did not go so well for another person in the family. I think that sensitised me to the struggles of others who are far less fortunate than I was.

Your most recent publication was in the field of platform economics, co-written with your husband the economist Edward Steinmueller. Two questions! What’s it like doing an academic collaboration with your partner, and what should a lay person know about platform economics?

We don’t collaborate on writing projects all the much. We write differently. We work it out! Our book is about what economic analysis tells us about why big tech companies become so powerful. We explain that various traditions in economic analysis do not provide homogenous answers to what should be done to curb these companies’ market power, about how digital content (hate speech, disinformation) should be regulated, or about what should be done about the algorithms influencing who people trust. We set out alternative models, discussing whether they would better protect our privacy and freedom of expression rights. At the end of the book, we find there is scope for alternative ways of providing the digital services we depend upon but putting effective regulation in place to shape how companies like Facebook/Meta, Google or big Chinese platform companies behave is a difficult politically charged process. What should the layperson know? Digital tech innovation and digital markets are not the sole drivers of change in our digitised world.

You’ve made a life-changing impact not only on the PhDs you have supervised Robin, but also on the PhDs who have been supported through your work as Chair of the Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund. From that wealth of experience, what advice would you share about the PhD journey for some of our younger scholars?

The choice to do a PhD is best driven by curiosity and a love of learning and writing. Our Fund, thanks to Maple Leaf Trust’s fundraising and our entirely voluntary charity, provides £5,000 scholarships to around 14 Canadian postgraduate students studying in the UK annually, after they have completed their first year. It’s not easy for students with rising foreign student fees, disturbances like Covid-19, and now the cost-of-living crisis. Some of our scholarship students are self-funding, some win larger scholarships, but none of them has an easy time. My advice? Always seek advice from peers and mentors. Explore the UK and find ways in which you can make a difference. Our scholarship recipients go way beyond the call of duty, volunteering in an immense variety of ways, despite the demands of their field or lab work or performance and teaching. Guard against various kinds of discrimination. Know that whether your expertise is in science, engineering, the humanities, the social sciences, or the performing arts, all of which our scholarships support, your PhD accomplishment will be remarkable. It will position you as a leader whom others can follow and value.

One last question Robin, reluctantly. You have an excellent work life balance. You’ve been pictured in kayaks, on bicycles, hiking, playing banjo, doing photography. What’s your favourite Canadian hiking destination?

Well, I’m not sure that is so, or put differently, that is probably not what my colleagues would say! My favourite? Can’t decide between Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland or Bugaboo Provincial Park in BC!