- Irked Magazine
IrkedMagazine.com is a
multimedia website that publishes all kinds of socially-conscious art relating to the emerging “culture ofdisability .”History
Irked was founded by
Sacha Vais in early May 2005.Judith Kovalski andPaul Aflalo came onboard very soon thereafter, and they launched a rough coming soon page by the end of that month. A few months later, they were approached by amedia studies professor atMcGill University (Anita Nowak ), who was interested in Irked, and on Friday,October 28 ,2005 , Professor Nowak’s class “went live” to the Irked website (her students were given an in-class Irked assignment to complete). That same month, Irked’s URL andmission statement were added toPsych Central , which is one of theInternet ’s largestpsychology sites. OnMay 1 ,2006 , "The Montreal Gazette " profiled Irked Magazine on the front page of its Arts & Life section, and the Irked website was flooded with hits and with submissions. The first issue of Irked Magazine was published onSeptember 12 ,2006 . OnNovember 30 ,2006 , Irked was featured in Halifax,Nova Scotia ’s popular newspaper "The Coast ". Irked’s second issue was published onFebruary 9 ,2007 and onFebruary 12 Irked was profiled in the official blog for theNational Film Board ’s Citizen Shift initiative. Irked released its third issue in June 2007.Present day
Irked’s main offices are in
Montreal ,Quebec and Halifax,Nova Scotia . The current editor isSacha Vais ; the current multimedia coordinator isPaul Aflalo ; the current in-housecounselor isJudith Kovalski .Irked also has a growing list of ongoing contributors. These include, but are not limited to:
*
David Roche — DavidRoche.com*
Joci Caven — Irked’s deaf music critic*
Stuart Baker-Brown — Onemansmountain.com*
Debbie RedWine — ReachingUpForAir.com*
Lewis Schofield — Thisislewis.net* Brian Segal — Irked staff writer
*
Mara McWilliams — MaraMcWilliams.com* Donna Williams — DonnaWilliams.net
*
Elyse Bruce — ElyseBruce.comTypical Content
Irked’s website does not follow the typical
e-magazine format. In addition toessays and articles, audiodocumentaries ,video clips , photo galleries,animations , songs/music videos , radiobroadcasts ,slideshows , poetry, and paintings, some of the sections on IrkedMagazine.com include:* Borrow a
Press Pass — a unique media experiment designed to provide passionate people with a chance to “playjournalist ” for a day.* Interv…you? — a constantly growing
database that aims to “match wannabe journalists with people who wanna be interviewed.”* Irked Street
Vendor Program — a print version of Irked Magazine that is available to anyone who wants to be a vendor, no strings attached. Vendors aren’t charged for their papers, and they get to keep100% of theprofits of their sales.* QuirkedForKids.com — an embryonic
spin-off website that will be run entirely by children.Themes
One of the cornerstones of the Irked website is the “Themes” section. Currently, there are 15 Themes, which are:
*
Wheelchairman of the Board *
The Attention Defistress *
Bard of the Benzodiazepines *
The UpDown Report *
Bum Deal *
Shoutout From The Cutting Edge *
Potanical Garden *
The Skinny on Fat *
The Wandering Agoraphobe *
Standard Insomniatic Fare *
Tumour Humour *
Lymphomaniac *
Bully me, uh? *
Slysdexia *
mePod External links
* [http://www.irkedmagazine.com Irked Magazine's official site]
* [http://www.quirkedforkids.com Quirked for Kids official site]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.