What’s That Noise?!

In Episode 7 we speak to Melissa Giles-Hardy, owner, President, and CEO of ORIGIN - a company that design, develops, and delivers technology experiences to drive employment while also protecting and promoting culture for Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island.

It's no surprise that Melissa is recipient of multiple awards, including the 2021 RBC Innovative Company of the Year award, the Indigenomics Top 10 Business's To Watch in Ca...

In Episode 6 we speak to Matthew Norris, Senior Policy Analyst at the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, and President of the Urban Native Youth Association. As a former candidate for Vancouver city council and a PhD student in UBC's Department of Political Science, Matthew has and continues to be exposed to numerous important intersecting Indigenous developments and issues. Between Matthew's grassroots community work and ...

In Episode 5 of One Feather Two Pens we speak with the award winning actor, director, producer, writer, and storyteller, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers. Member of the Kinai First Nation as well as Sámi from Norway, Elle-Máijá joins us to discuss her Rogers Audience Award winning documentary, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy. The powerful film is an intimate and reflexive portrait of her community and the impact of substance abus...

In our latest episode on One Feather, Two Pens we have the privilege and honor to chat with Mary Teegee and Matt Smiley, the Directors of For Love on Netflix. As an Indigenous woman and non-Indigenous man, Mary and Matt have worked closely together since before their powerful piece Highway of Tears. The two reflect on their journeys, learnings, and discoveries together, which leads to a fascinating and important set of realizations...

We are very excited to have Josh Nilson, Co-Founder of East Side Games, recent winner of the BC Tech Association's Person of the Year Award (and a Producer of one of Tommy's all time favourite games, Company of Heroes!), to talk about the value and importance of reconciliation through the inclusion of Indigenous peoples in the tech sector. 

Josh shares his fascinating professional journey, beginning in the world of culinary arts an...

In our second episode of this new special series, we are honoured to be joined by Chief Dr. Robert Joseph, OC, OBC. Dr. Joseph is a hereditary Chief of the Gwawaenuk First Nation, is Ambassador for Reconciliation Canada where he has guided the Canadian Federal government through their residential school response. Dr. Joseph is a survivor of St. Michael’s Residential School. 

Dr. Joseph guides Tommy, Al, and Lawrence through the imp...

Once upon a time on What's That Noise?! we asked: wouldn't it be wonderful to launch a special series with their new friend and former guest, Lawrence Lewis? That time has arrived! Al, Tommy, and Lawrence are so very pleased to present One Feather Two Pens, a special series that interviews Indigenous thought and technology leaders about functioning and co-existing with Indigenous peoples in this digital space.

We kick off the serie...

Before the pandemic, AI was growing in Canada. Throughout the pandemic, AI has exploded in Canada. Through working from home and online schooling to the abundance of location, health, medical, and interaction data around us at all times, the last half decade truly has witnessed institutions moving rapidly toward AI to make money, increase efficiency, trim fat, and perhaps even assist in finding new cures and vaccines. 

And as you m...

Hey friends! Hope your summer is swell! It sure has been for us - perhaps a bit too good? While it's been rather tough to find time to record together, we're really pumped to finish off the summer with two new episodes. Today's chat is with Tommy's dear friend, Fernando Leiva - an analytics developer at the Centre for Advanced Computing at Queen's University. Tommy and Fernando have worked together for the past 3+ years to investig...

More than ever people are questioning whether or not their job is the best fit. How many of us have found themselves in this position, particularly during the pandemic? How many of us have wondered what it takes to change ship, how much courage would be required to do so - and whether or not the grass is truly 'greener' on the other side? 

In this episode we hear from our beloved co-host Mr. Al Coombs about his professional journey...

Tommy and Al are excited to bring a fantastic piece filled with both confusion and clarity around a tremendously important subject: Indigenous Digital Identity. What's That Noise?! is honoured to speak with Lawrence Lewis, Founder and CEO of OneFeather: an Indigenous technology company that designs specialized software solutions for Indigenous peoples across Canada.

Lawrence joins us to talk about the messiness that is "Digital Ide...

Almost immediately after the #warinukraine began, the Western world told Ukrainians: "our borders are open". When a humanitarian crisis unfolds, such as the largest exodus of a population occurs since the end of world war two, it's logical that a country would open its borders to those in need, no? Not so fast. The world's borders - how they are made, how they are managed, and how they affect the lives and geographies around them -...

Fact: for the week of March 28, the top 20 global Google search trends do not include the #pandemic, the #warinUkraine, #residentialschools. Will Smith, Jada Smith, Chris Rock, and celebrity reactions dominated. Why? What happened to the rest of the world? Where did it go?

Is Western society seriously this obsessed with celebrity drama? Could it be the case that #theslap highlighted complex hidden social, mental health, and racial ...

Part 2 of our chat about neurotechnology delves a bit deeper... If people have fluid identities, can neurotech capture them? What does it mean to enhance a body and a mind that are constantly changing? What happens when people are uncomfortable, unconfident, and uncertain about who they are, what they are doing and where they are heading? Can neurotech help with this, or perhaps make it all more complicated? Tommy and Al are joi...

Our hearts are with Ukraine. The situation is incomprehensibly horrific. As the world watches, many of us feel helpless. There's a ton of confusion around what it means to be a passive observer. Even if you wanted to help, could you? What would that look like? Is there any way to support Ukrainians in their time of urgent need beyond memes, hashtags, and profile pictures of blue and yellow flags? Tommy and Al spent the last day sca...

What do you get when you combine "nervous system" with "technology"? Confusion, evidently! What is neurotech, exactly? Sure, it is technology that is attached to the body's neural activity... But what part of the body? Does it affect the body, and if so - how? Why even build this technology? Who builds, and for what reasons? And as ever, what are the social, ethical, and privacy implications of doing so? Soo many questions, and so ...

What is the connection between bedsheet-related incidents and the consumption of cheese? Hopefully none. That would be confusing, and weird. However! There might be a correlation between those unusually paired items! Correlations, correlations. Part two is about the wonderfully bizarre world of data correlations. Is it not correlations at the heart of AI and advertising, after all? That's certainly where this conversation is headed...

Today we chat Dr. Dillon Mahmoudi, Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland Baltimore County about his confusion with AI and advertising! Join Tommy, Al and Dillon in this first episode of a two-part series that explores the complexities of how targeted advertisements show up in your smartphone. Even with his background in computer science, Dillon is as confused as Tommy and Al about how automa...

Happy New Year, everyone! I am so grateful for two things!

First, we have a new co-host! It's truly my pleasure to introduce my dear friend, Al Coombs to you. Al is a seasoned radio broadcaster who hosted and co-hosted shows in London, Ontario for over a decade. He joins us at WTNCast as a freshly-minted public school teacher, too! His warmth and interview experience is truly invigorating. It's such a pleasure to have you join the ...