Research

Professor Caidi’s work is situated in the context of information marginalization and the role that information resources, institutions, and technologies play in the everyday lives of vulnerable individuals and communities.

We examine marginalization through an information lens and pay particular attention to systemic issues as well as how individuals and communities negotiate their multiple and overlapping local and transnational information environments, and how these processes come to embody new kinds of knowledge.

We have researched information marginalization in the context of:

  • Global Migration: i.e., the dynamics around engagement and effective use of resources that cater to the ways of knowing of migrants and displaced persons. We examine the information and media practices of migrants/displaced people and the related dynamic processes of identity construction and transnational community building. We also pay attention to the interactions, policies and practices that support (or not) migrants’ labor market integration, social and economic inclusion and their sense of (un)belonging to Canadian society.
  • Language Communities in a Minority Context: i.e., marginality is examined through the lens of heritage language loss, (re)acquisition and maintenance — current research examines discoverability of multilingual content, and reading as belonging for young people as a means of accounting for their complex and intertwined identities.
  • Techno-Spiritual and Religious Practices: i.e., the emergent practices of people’s expressions of spiritual and religious identities online — recent research has examined the contemporary manifestations of the Muslim pilgrimage to Hajj (and associated digital rituals); as well as the socio-technical practices linked to the fasting of Ramadan during the COVID pandemic.
  • Diversity by Design and the Information Fields: i.e., the extent to which diverse communities make use of public, cultural, and memory institutions (such as libraries, archives, museums and galleries), as well as how these institutions’ values, tools, and practices  are altered in light of the changing demographic realities and the changing needs of the information professions.

Call to Students & Visiting Fellows: Join our Informing Marginality Lab.

RECENTLY-FUNDED IM LAB RESEARCH PROJECTS: (Scroll down the page for an overview of the projects).

Misinformation in Newcomers’ Digital Spaces during COVID-19 

In a post-COVID recovery strategy, as well as in preparing the stage for any future major health crisis, it is critical to understand better how misinformation spreads into newcomer communities, and the strategies to effectively deploy messaging in a range of platforms to inform and engage communities.

  • Academic Lead for a Public Health Agency of Canada-funded project on “Vaccination, Misinformation and Digital Media: Mobilizing Newcomer Information Practices for Effective COVID Communications” (2021-2023). [Lead Community Partner: Refugee613].
  • Collaborator, Toronto COVID-19 Action Initiative on “Toronto Emergency Device Accelerator” (Sub-project on user needs and access for language group communities) (2020-2021).

Media interventions:

Information for Social and Economic Inclusion: Labor Struggles of Immigrant Women in STEM

In cooperation with Saadia Muzaffar, co-founder TechGirls Canada. I also serve as the Academic Lead at TechGirls Canada.

Funding Sources: 1) The Department of Women And Gender Equality (WAGE); 2) MITACS Accelerate (Economic Resilience Research Fund); 3) the Institute of Gender + The Economy (GATE) at the Rotman School of Management.

Among university graduates in Canada aged 25 to 34, immigrant women are twice as likely to have a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) degree as Canadian-born women (23% versus 13%). Yet, immigrant women face some of the highest levels of labour market challenges in Canada across indicators, including: unemployment rate, wage gap, part-time employment, and low-income rate. We seek to document the complex gendered “work-finding” hurdles for immigrant women in STEM fields in order to begin examining the Loss on Investment (LOI) being absorbed by the Canadian economy due to this untapped talent.

Caidi_Muzaffar_GATE (Source: GATE Institute)

STEMfilm

STEM_Report

Reading as Belonging: Co-Designing with Francophone Youth in Ontario

(Research supported by the GLAM Incubator and the School of Cities)

This research project seeks to understand the connections between reading, identity, and community engagement for young people who are members of language minority context. Through a better understanding of their engagement with reading in their heritage language, we are inviting these youth to reimagine the future of library services – one that can better support and facilitate their intertwined and complex identities as members of linguistic, cultural and reading communities.  We study the reading practices of the youth using co-design and participatory methods to provide an opportunity for them to self-reflect and use their reading identities as a starting point for exploring the mechanisms that contribute to belongingness. While we focus on one of Canada’s official language community (French speakers outside of Quebec), we see this as a starting point for examining heritage language loss more generally, and study youth engagement with reading in other languages besides French.

  • Caidi, N., & Algarvio Alves, A. (2025). Reading the Audience: On Mobilizing Francophone Youth to Address Librarians. Public Library Quarterly, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2025.2520164
  • Carrier, H., Lachaîne, C., Gareau-Brennan, C., Shaughnessy, S., & Caidi, N. (2025). “Bibliodiversité : les collections en français en situation linguistique minoritaire au Canada.” in Bibliotheques et archives dans les communautes de langue officielle en situation minoritaire: Enjeux et devenir. Edited by A. Roy, L. Hotte, H. Carrier & L. Savoie. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press/Les Presses de l’Universite d’Ottawa. Pp. 49-78.
  • Caidi, N. (2023). Layers of Meaning: Co-Designing with Bilingual Youth to Unearth their Reading Practices. 86th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T 2023), October 16, 2023. London, UK. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10005500
  • Lachaîne C., Shaughnessy, S., Gareau-Brennan, C. Carrier, H., & Caidi, N. (2022). Les bibliothèques publiques des communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire: enjeux actuels sur le développement des collections en français. Partnership: Revue canadienne de la pratique et de la recherche en bibliothéconomie et sciences de l’information, 17(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.21083/partnership.v17i1.6841

Techno-Spiritual and Religious Practices

***Check our International Symposium on “Securitizing the Sacred: Pilgrims’ Trails Across Digital Landscapes” (August 22-24, 2024, Toronto). CFP was here.

This line of research examines the emergent practices of young people’s expressions of spiritual and religious identities online, specifically the contemporary manifestations of the pilgrimage to Hajj tradition, and the fasting of the holy month of Ramadan. We pay particular attention to how information in its multiple forms (textual, spiritual, corporeal, and others) has mediated and shaped the individual’s spiritual, physical, and informational journey.

img_3462 (Used with permission of creator).

Digital Diasporas & Their Information Experiences (Selected publications)

My research team and I have researched and documented an array of newcomer experiences, using a community-engaged approach. Below is a selected list of the publications/resources stemming from this collaborative work.

Diversity by Design and the Information Fields

This research seeks to expand on the meanings and values of diversity, with an eye toward reconceptualizing it as a powerful force for advancing and reshaping the information professions. Together with Dr. Keren Dali (Denver U.), we have examined the attractiveness of LIS careers to students and alumni stemming from diverse backgrounds, the diversity of LIS professions, and the significant disconnect that persists in how the goals of LIS education are seen by various stakeholders. Our 2017 article, ‘Diversity by Design’ was awarded the ALA’s 2018 David Cohen/EMIERT Multicultural Award. We organized an international symposium on Diversity by Design on Sep 13-14, 2017 (picture below). Along with a Special Issue of IJIDI on the topic, we also have a forthcoming book that examines these issues and their relevance for LIS education and practice today.

DbD_CS_SH_NC_KD_IO

Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Connections Grant (Canada 150). We also thank our funding partners: Ontario Trillium Foundation, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto City Archives, Ontario Library Association, Faculty of Information, Univ. of Toronto, the McLuhan Center for Culture and Technology at the Faculty of Information, Univ. of Toronto. (Photo: speakers charles c. smith and Samra Habib; with organizers Keren Dali, Nadia Caidi, and Ikem Opara).

DbD_Book

Dr. Caidi is a Faculty Affiliate with the School of Cities, with the GLAM Incubator at the University of Toronto, a member of the Data Sciences Institute, and a Faculty Affiliate with the Centre de Recherches en Education Franco-Ontarienne (CREFO).