Dr. Aaron Goodman

BA (UBC), MJ (UBC), PhD (Concordia)
Aaron G JRNL
Surrey Office: 1055C

Aaron Goodman is a faculty member in the Journalism and Communication Studies department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, BC. He is a Communication Studies, multimedia journalist, photographer, and documentary maker. His work amplifies the voices and experiences of people affected by critical social issues, including the opioid crisis and human rights violations in Canada and internationally. His research involves participatory visual and multimedia methods and collaborative testimony production with vulnerable and marginalized communities.

His 2017 documentary, Duterte’s Hell, that he co-directed and filmed, won a World Press Award in the Digital Storytelling, Short Form category. It was nominated for a Grierson Award for Best Documentary Short, and was chosen as a Vimeo Staff Pick. The film was produced by Field of Vision, the visual film unit of The Intercept, and highlights the impacts of state-sponsored killings of thousands of alleged drug users and dealers, including dozens of children, in the Philippines.

Aaron’s other news, features, and documentaries have been broadcast by CBC Radio (Gabriel Award and Radio Television Digital News Association Award for Best Short Feature, National Broadcast, 2004) CNN, PBS Frontline/WORLD, Associated Press Television News, and Agence France Press Television. His writing has been published by the Toronto Star, Postmedia, Reuters, Alert Net, Inter Press News Service, and others.

Courses taught

  • COMM 1100 - Foundations of Communication Studies
  • COMM 1110 - Television and Society
  • JRNL 2370 – Podcasting and Audio Storytelling
  • COMM 3220 - Social Media, New Technology, and Society

Areas of Interest

Visual and multimedia research methods, collaborative testimony, photojournalism and documentary photography, interactive storytelling, video journalism and documentary filmmaking, social issues, human rights reporting, international journalism.

Scholarly Work

  • Goodman, A. (2019). Digital Storytelling With Heroin Users in Vancouver. International quarterly of community health education, 39(2), 75-89. DOI: 10.1177/0272684X18811187
  • Goodman, A. (2018). The Outcasts Project: Humanizing long-term heroin users through documentary photography and photo-elicitation. In Pickard, H., & Ahmed, S. H. The Routledge handbook of philosophy and science of addiction (pp. 415-430). Routledge. DOI: 10.1111/add.14701
  • Goodman, A. (2016). Outcasts: Exploring Documentary Photography and Photo-Elicitation with Longterm Heroin Users. Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, 44(3), 8-11. DOI: 10.1525/aft.2016.44.3.8