Irked Magazine
IrkedMagazine.com is a multimedia website that publishes all kinds of socially conscious art relating to the emerging “culture of disability.”
History
Irked was founded by Sacha Vais in early May 2005. Judith Kovalski and Paul Aflalo came on board 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 a media studies professor at McGill 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 and mission statement were added to Psych Central, which is one of the Internet’s largest psychology sites. On May 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 on September 12, 2006. On November 30, 2006, Irked was featured in Halifax, Nova Scotia’s popular newspaper The Coast. Irked’s second issue was published on February 9, 2007 and on February 12 Irked was profiled in the official blog for the National Film Board’s Citizen Shift initiative. Irked released its third issue in June 2007, its fourth issue in December 2007, and its fifth issue in March 2008. Instead of several issues a year, Irked is now updated weekly.
