From data to arms — reframing information design pedagogy

“Information is the oxygen of the modern age.” — Ronald Reagan

Last semester, while pursuing my doctorate, I worked as a general assignment (GA) instructor for a course on critical design and the dynamics of social media. It brought me full circle.

I grew up immersed in the writings of Marshall McLuhan, the iconic Canadian media theorist whose idea that “the medium is the message” shaped much of my early understanding of the humanities — and of media’s shifting influence in our lives. Like many of my generation, I eventually found myself working in tech. It was the era of the dot-com boom, and there were few other paths that seemed as viable or as urgent. Hindsight now brings clarity.

Over time, my career evolved toward design research and computational rhetoric, with a particular focus on how artificial intelligence is reshaping the architecture of our information systems. But it was that GA role, standing in front of students and working through the complexities of social media and design, that clarified something for me: information does not simply inform — it infiltrates.

It permeates our thinking, particularly in the charged contexts of media sovereignty, political manipulation, and the…