January 2025 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Book announcement: New digital feminist interventions - speaking up, talking back
by Giuliana Sorce 23 Jan '25

23 Jan '25

Dear AoIR community: We are happy to share the news about the publication of our new edited volume, dedicated to highlighting digital feminist activism across the globe. All the best, Tanja & Giuliana New Digital Feminist Interventions: Speaking Up, Talking Back London: Routledge (218 pp.) Edited by Giuliana Sorce and Tanja Thomas (University of Tübingen) https://www.routledge.com/New-Digital-Feminist-Interventions-Speaking-Up-Ta… https://www.routledge.com/New-Digital-Feminist-Interventions-Speaking-Up-Ta… Drawing on the influential work of bell hooks, this edited collection highlights social justice interventions by feminist/queer/decolonial actors, groups, and collectives who recover the digital as a space for activist organizing and campaigning. In presenting a variety of sociocultural issues, such as gender violence, queer discrimination, or migrant hostility, the book centers empowerment practices in their digital forms, showcasing interventions in Asia, Europe, and the Americas—thereby critically examining the conditions for marginalized voices to speak up, talk back, and be heard in digital publics. The chapters in this book are organized into four sections: The first section on Activist Practices zooms in on what activists do with digital media to speak up and talk back. The second section centers various Activist Formats, engaging with different types of digital media as spaces for intervention and resistance. The third section, Activist Experience, covers the costs of doing digital feminist work. The fourth section, Activist Scholarship, speaks to the politics of researching and publishing queer and feminist digital activism in our field. Table of Contents Foreword by Linda Steiner Introduction by Giuliana Sorce and Tanja Thomas *Section I: Activist Practices* 1. Narratives of Ethical Witnessing: The Politics of Feminist Anger in Digital Activism Sonia Núñez Puente 2. Resilience, Support, and Feminist Counterpublics in Online Debates of Gender-Based Violence in Latin America Ingrid Bachmann 3. Turkey’s Queer Digital Diaspora in Times of Multiple Crises Yener Bayramoğlu *Section II: Activist Formats* 4. Creating Solidarity in Decolonial Counterpublics: Digital Feminist Grassroots Journalism in Puerto Rico Cristina Mislán 5. Rights Feminism, Historiography, and Chinese Queer Women’s Digital Filmmaking in We Are Here Jia Tan *Section III: Activist Experiences* 6. Exploring the Dimensions and Limits of Digital Feminist Labor in Turkey Gülüm Şener 7. Unleashing Voices: How Uncensored Feminist Podcasts Broaden the Discourse on Gender Issues in Mainland China Luwei Rose Luqiu 8. Digital Feminism as Feminized Labor? Exploring the Intensity and Facets of Doing Feminism Online Christina Scharff *Section IV: Activist Scholarship* 9. Talking Back to Pandemic Narratives: Facebook Groups as Digital ‘Homeplaces’ for Queer Digital Acts of Resistance and Worldmaking Kristin Comeforo 10. Disruptions or Continuations? Feminist Approaches to Big Data/AI in Communication and Media Studies Stine Eckert, Alexandra Porter and Kalyani Chadha Editor biographies Giuliana Sorce (PhD, Penn State University) is a postdoctoral scholar in the Institute of Media Studies at the University Tübingen, Germany. She researches digital media and society with a specialization in activism and social movements. She is the editor of Global Perspectives on NGO Communication for Social Change (Routledge, 2022) and currently serves her second term as chair for the Communication and Democracy section of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA). Her research has appeared in journals such as Media and Communication, Convergence, Journalism Practice, or Environmental Communication. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3583-9573 Tanja Thomas (PhD, University of Tübingen) is full professor of media studies with a focus on transformations in media cultures at the University of Tübingen, Germany. She researches media and migration; memory culture in the media society; right-wing violence, racism and media, and protest from a feminist/cultural (media) studies perspective. Her projects on media, migration and memory have received multiple grants from German and international research foundations (Volkswagen Foundation, German Research Foundation, the German Israeli Foundation). She is co-editor of Media and Participation in Post-Migrant Societies (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022). Since 2013, she is co-editor of the interdisciplinary journal feministische studien. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7232-398X -- Dr. Giuliana Sorce University of Tübingen Institute of Media Studies Wilhelmstr. 50, 72074 Tübingen, Germany E giuliana.sorce(a)uni-tuebingen.de T +49 (0)7071-2976817 W https://uni-tuebingen.de/de/137551 <https://uni-tuebingen.de/fakultaeten/philosophische-fakultaet/fachbereiche/…> LATEST PUBLICATIONS *Sorce, G., & Thomas, T. (eds.) (2025). New digital feminist interventions: Speaking up, talking back. <https://www.routledge.com/New-Digital-Feminist-Interventions-Speaking-Up-Ta…> London: Routledge. *Sorce, G. (forthcoming). Digital and analog young people’s environmental activism: The hybrid action repertoire of Fridays for Future. In S. Akram & B. Bowman (eds.), The Routledge handbook of young people’s environmental activism. London: Routledge. *Thomas, T., & Sorce, G. (2024). Soziale (Un-)Gleichheit auf Social Media <https://www.bpb.de/themen/medien-journalismus/soziale-medien/547427/soziale…>. Gera: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. *Sorce, G. (2023). Stuck with the algorithm: Algorithmic consciousness and repertoire in Fridays for Future’s data contention <https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/6818?fbcl…>. Media and Communication, 11(3), 214-225. Section Chair: Communication & Democracy <https://ecrea.eu/Communication-and-Democracy> - European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) Affiliate: The Center for Information. Technology. and Public Life <https://citap.unc.edu/>(CITAP) - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Youth Digital Health and Online Platforms: Dialogue with Peers on Reddit book launch 4/02/2024
by Martyna Gliniecka 23 Jan '25

23 Jan '25

Hi all, The celebration of my book “Youth Digital Health and Online Platforms: Dialogue with Peers on Reddit” continues! Join me, Professor Philippa Collin and Professor Bob Hodge at my upcoming online book launch event on Tuesday, 4th of February from 9 am – 10 am (CET) / 7 pm-8 pm (AEDT) to discuss how my book came together and why is it important in contemporary discussions about young people online. A Q&A session will follow. “Youth Digital Health and Online Platforms: Dialogue with Peers on Reddit” focuses on young people’s use of the digital platform Reddit for health. The work is based on the digital ethnography of teenagers’ subreddits on Reddit. It utilises a theoretical framework of dialogism, a linguistic-based theory originated by an early 20th-century Russian philosopher, Mikhail Bakhtin. The book introduces a concept of ‘dialogical youth-led youth digital health discourse’ formed in the peer-led space of Reddit. This youth-led discourse celebrates equality and diversity amongst people, meanings, and opinions. It is constructed around three relational elements: socio-material affordances, creative practices, and a plurality of youth voices. Reddit’s pseudonymous, anti-authoritarian, and egalitarian nature supports the emergence of this youth-led discourse. The event is organised by the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University and CASE – Center for Social and Economic Research. Event registration link: https://events.humanitix.com/book-launch-qxjjt4dn Link to the book on Routledge website: https://www.routledge.com/Youth-Digital-Health-and-Online-Platforms-Dialogu… Looking forward to seeing you there! Best, Martyna Gliniecka | PhD Young and Resilient Research Centre M: +48 691 582 861 m.gliniecka(a)westernsydney.edu.au<mailto:m.gliniecka@westernsydney.edu.au> www.westernsydney.edu.au/young-and-resilient<https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/young-and-resilient>

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Deadline extension for submissions to Postcolonialism & Imperialism in and around Games anthology
by Postcolonialism & Imperialism & Games 23 Jan '25

23 Jan '25

*Submission deadline extension: February 14, 2025* Dear colleagues, We would like to share that the deadline for submitting an abstract to the anthology on Postcolonialism & Imperialism in and around Games has been extended to February 14th. You can find the original Call for Papers below: This anthology published by Palgrave-Macmillan looks to evaluate post- and decolonial questions in game studies and identify future research trajectories and underexplored areas pertaining to questions of colonialism and imperialism in and around games. We seek submissions that expand on these questions. The *Deadline for abstracts is: 14th of February 2025. *Abstract submissions (250-500 words) should be sent to postcolonialgamestudies(a)gmail.com *Background* The question of colonialism and its historical background radiation has not been relegated to the past. This is perhaps most noticeable today where a settler colony functioning as the beachhead for western imperial powers is conducting a genocide of the indigenous Palestinian people, while terrorizing and invading its neighbouring populations with extensive military and diplomatic support by Western governments despite massive public protests. The historical analogies to previous colonial occupations and conflicts are evident. Meanwhile, media rhetorics reminiscent of past European colonial empires (Trouillot 1995) are once again resurfacing with the depiction of the Other as misogynist terrorists and wealth-leeching refugees (Lean 2012), barbaric orcs (Shlapentokh 2013), and yellow peril (Tchen and Yeats 2014). The West’s descent into barbarism reflects Aimé Césaire’s *Discourses on Colonialism* (2000) where fascism at home and colonialism abroad are intertwined and explicated through how colonizers ‘decivilize’ themselves and “proceeds toward savagery” (ibid. 37-38). Concurrently, countries in the so-called Global South face further immiseration; military, economic, technological dependencies; and the unhindered challenges of disastrous climate change (Hickel et al., 2024). Modern games are no stranger to such dialectical movements, as they have reflected and reproduced 'the global color line' in their production, their consumption, and their textual representations (Dyer-Witheford and de Peuter 2021; Hammar et al. 2021; T. Mukherjee 2023; S. Mukherjee 2017; Murray 2017). Since the special issue on *Postcolonialist Perspectives in Games* (S. Mukherjee and Hammar 2018) and Souvik Mukherjee’s *Empire Plays Back *(2017), the issue of postcolonialism and its theoretical traditions have deepened and explored in games research such as technodependencies and platforms (T. Mukherjee 2023; Baeza-González 2021; Falcão, Marques, and Mussa 2020; Nieborg, Young, and Joseph 2020); race and orientalism (Fickle 2019; Patterson 2020; Patterson and Fickle 2024); anti-colonial board games (Mochocki 2023), race and play (Trammell 2023); the status of Northern indigenous culture in and around games (O. Laiti et al. 2021; O. K. Laiti and Harrer 2023); and Indian boardgames (Rizvi and Kar 2024) and their colonial avatars (S. Mukherjee 2025), just to name a few. Game makers have also expanded on issues of colonialism in games (inkle 2021; Nidal Nijm Games 2022), and move towards what LaPensee, Laiti & Longboat (2022) call ‘sovereign games’. While the problem for game studies remains that the primary centers of knowledge production reside in the Global North (Penix-Tadsen and Frasca 2019), we fully acknowledge the contributions in the spaces in and around games and their study by people across the world in bringing fundamental question of history and present-day (post)colonialism as seen in cases such as South America (Falcão, Marques, and Mussa 2020; King 2024), South East Asia (Jiwandono 2024; 2023) and Africa (Opoku-Agyemang 2015; Randle 2024; Amoah and Tawia 2024). Therefore, additional accounts if not critiques of the (mis)representation of Orientalist attitudes, race, delinking, hybridity, subalternity, Afro- and Indofuturism, notions of space and the fragmented postcolonial identities, dependency theory and unequal exchange, and evaluations of nationalisms in the Global South are consistently required. Indeed, commercial analogue and digital games would not exist in their current forms if not for the global division of the world between North and South. It is therefore imperative that games research inquire and identify aspects of postcolonialism and imperialism in and around games. We seek submissions that expand on the established research and/or provide new and underexplored topics pertaining to postcolonialism and imperialism in and around games. The *Deadline for abstracts is: 14th of February 2025. *Abstract submissions should be sent to postcolonialgamestudies(a)gmail.com Possible topics might include, but are not limited to: · Colonialism / Neocolonialism / Postcolonialism · The Other / Alterity · Delinking / decoloniality · Decolonization · Orientalism · Postcolonial praxis · Imperialism / global capitalism / political economy · Self-representation / voice / agency · Third-Worldism · Subalternity · Nationalisms in the Global South · Indigenous culture · Religion(s) / Language(s) / Nationalism(s) · Thirdspace · Unequal exchange and the game industry · Eurocentrism · Game studies & politics of knowledge · Ecology, colonialism, and game production · Game platforms and colonialism · Dependency theory and games · Fascism as colonialism turned inward: Reactionary politics and games Abstract submissions should comprise of: Abstract (250-500 words) Author information (short biographical statement of 200 words) Abstract submissions should be sent to postcolonialgamestudies(a)gmail.com. Abstract submissions will then undergo an editorial review process. Authors will be notified of the outcome as soon as reports are received. *Timeline* *Deadline for abstracts: 14th of February 2025* *Notification of accepted abstracts: End of February 2025 * *Deadline for full articles: 23rd of May 2025* Chapter submissions should comprise of Full-length article (5-8000 words) including references and a short bibliography. Author information (short biographical statement of 200 words) Best regards, Dr. Souvik Mukherjee, Department of English, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, Kolkata, India Dr. Emil Lundedal Hammar, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark. *Bibliography* Amoah, Lloyd G. Adu, and Eyram Tawia. 2024. “Africa and the Global Video Games Industry: Ties, Tensions, and Tomorrow.” In *Examining the Rapid Advance of Digital Technology in Africa*, 42–60. IGI Global. https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/africa-and-the-global-video-games-indust… . Baeza-González, Sebastián. 2021. “Video Games Development in the Periphery: Cultural Dependency?” *Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography* 103 (1): 39–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.2021.1894077. Césaire, Aimé. 2000. *Discourse on Colonialism*. New York: Monthly Review Press. Dyer-Witheford, Nick, and Greig de Peuter. 2021. “Postscript: Gaming While Empire Burns.” *Games and Culture* 16 (3): 371–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412020954998. Falcão, Thiago, Daniel Marques, and Ivan Mussa. 2020. “# BOYCOTTBLIZZARD: Capitalismo de Plataforma e a Colonização Do Jogo.” *Contracampo* 39 (2). https://www.academia.edu/download/96394515/pdf.pdf. Fickle, Tara. 2019. *The Race Card: From Gaming Technologies to Model Minorities*. New York: NYU Press. Hammar, Emil Lundedal, Lars de Wildt, Souvik Mukherjee, and Caroline Pelletier. 2021. “Politics of Production: Videogames 10 Years after Games of Empire.” *Games and Culture* 16 (3): 287–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412020954996. Hickel, Jason, Morena Hanbury Lemos, and Felix Barbour. 2024. “Unequal Exchange of Labour in the World Economy.” Nature Communications 15 (1): 6298. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49687-y. inkle. 2021. “Heaven’s Vault.” PC. United Kingdom. Jiwandono, Haryo Pambuko. 2023. “The White Peril. Colonial Expressions in Digital Games.” *Gamevironments*, no. 18, 38–74. ———. 2024. “Mobile Game Esports as an Indonesian National Identity.” In *Asian Histories and Heritages in Video Games*, 159–75. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003461319-10/mobile… . King, Edward. 2024. “Gaming Race in Brazil: Video Games and Algorithmic Racism.” *Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies* 33 (1): 149–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569325.2024.2307540. Laiti, Outi, Sabine Harrer, Satu Uusiautti, and Annakaisa Kultima. 2021. “Sustaining Intangible Heritage through Video Game Storytelling - the Case of the Sami Game Jam.” *International Journal of Heritage Studies* 27 (3): 296–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2020.1747103. Laiti, Outi Kaarina, and Sabine Harrer. 2023. ““A Tale of Two Paths": Approaching Difference in Game Research Collaboration through Gulahalan.” In *Race in Games and Game Studies Conference*. https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/publications/a-tale-of-two-paths-appr… . LaPensée, Elizabeth A, Outi Laiti, and Maize Longboat. 2022. “Towards Sovereign Games.” *Games and Culture* 17 (3): 328–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211029195. Lean, Nathan Chapman. 2012. *The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims*. Edited by John L. Esposito. Pluto Press London. Mochocki, Michal, ed. 2023. *Heritage, Memory and Identity in Postcolonial Board Games*. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003356318. Mukherjee, Souvik. 2017. *Videogames and Postcolonialism: Empire Plays Back*. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ———. 2025. *Indian Boardgames, Colonial Avatars: Transculturation, Colonialism and Boardgames*. Oldenbourg: De Gruyter. https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783110758627/html. Mukherjee, Souvik, and Emil Lundedal Hammar. 2018. “Introduction to the Special Issue on Postcolonial Perspectives in Game Studies.” *Open Library of Humanities*, Postcolonial Perspectives in Game Studies, . Mukherjee, Tathagata. 2023. “Videogame Distribution and Steam’s Imperialist Practices: Platform Coloniality in Game Distribution.” *Journal of Games Criticism* (blog). August 23, 2023. https://gamescriticism.org/2023/08/23/mukherjee-5-a/. Murray, Soraya. 2017. *On Video Games: The Visual Politics of Race, Gender and Space*. London New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. Nidal Nijm Games. 2022. “Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” PC. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1714420/Fursan_alAqsa_The_Knights_of_the… . Nieborg, David, Chris J. Young, and Daniel Joseph. 2020. “App Imperialism: The Political Economy of the Canadian App Store.” *Social Media + Society* 6 (2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120933293. Opoku-Agyemang, Kwabena. 2015. “Lost/Gained in Translation: Oware 3D, Ananse: The Origin and Questions of Hegemony.” *Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds* 7 (2): 155–68. https://doi.org/10.1386/jgvw.7.2.155_1. Patterson, Christopher B. 2020. *Open World Empire: Race, Erotics, and the Global Rise of Video Games*. New York: NYU Press. Patterson, Christopher B., and Tara Fickle, eds. 2024. *Made in Asia/America: Why Video Games Were Never (Really) about Us*. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478059264. Penix-Tadsen, Phillip, and Gonzalo Frasca, eds. 2019. *Video Games and the Global South*. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University. Randle, Oluwarotimi. 2024. “An Indigenized Framework for Game Design Curriculum for African Universities.” *Jurnal Bidang Pendidikan Dasar* 8 (1): 25–33. https://doi.org/10.21067/jbpd.v8i1.9316. Rizvi, Zahra, and Souvik Kar. 2024. “Curating a Boardgames Museum in India: The Case of the Gautam Sen Memorial Boardgames Museum; An Interview with Souvik Mukherjee and Amrita Sen.” *Press Start* 10 (2): 52–66. Shlapentokh, Dmitry. 2013. “Russians as Asiatics: Memory about the Present.” *European Review* 21 (1): 41–55. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1062798712000269. Tchen, John Kuo Wei, and Dylan Yeats. 2014. *Yellow Peril!: An Archive of Anti-Asian Fear*. Verso Books. Trammell, Aaron. 2023. *Repairing Play: A Black Phenomenology*. MIT Press. Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. 1995. *Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History*. Boston, Massachuetts: Beacon Press.

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REMINDER - Call for Abstracts - STS Italia Conference, Milan, June 2025 - deadline February 3, 2025
by Paolo Bory 22 Jan '25

22 Jan '25

Dear all, We kindly remind you of the Call for Abstracts for the upcoming 10th STS Italia Conference “Technoscience for Good: Designing, Caring and Reconfiguring” which will be held on 11-13 June 2025 at the Politecnico di Milano, Milan (Italy). Please note that the closing date for submission is February 3, 2025. This deadline will not be extended. You can find more information about the conference theme and the list of panels here<https://stsitalia.org/call-for-abstracts/#theme>. More information about scholarships can be found here<https://stsitalia.org/scholarship-programme/>. We invite you to submit an abstract to one of the 77 panels that have been selected by the Scientific Committee, featuring a wide range of engaging topics. Abstracts (max 500 words) can be submitted through the conference platform<https://stsitalia.org/submission-2025/>. Abstracts will be evaluated by the organizers of the Open Panels to which they have been submitted. News of acceptance is expected to be delivered by February 28. Please check the conference website for details about scheduled deadlines and registration fees as well as news about the conference program. The conference program already features an exciting set of international keynote speakers (e.g., Ruha Benjamin, Shannon Vallor) and plenaries, as well as a host of cultural, culinary, and festive events. Kind regards, Organizing Committee of the 10th STS Italia Conference

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UNC-G Professional Track Faculty Position - Information Science
by T. Zachary Frazier 21 Jan '25

21 Jan '25

Dear AIR-L I hope this message finds you well. I’m writing to share an exciting opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). While the original deadline for the position has passed, we are still actively reviewing applications and welcome new submissions. The position, Clinical Assistant Professor of Information of Library, & Research Sciences, is a teaching position working with our undergraduate program. You can find all the details about the role and the application process at the following link: https://spartantalent.uncg.edu/postings/30717 We encourage qualified candidates to apply as soon as possible, as we will continue our review process until the position is filled. If you know someone who might be interested, please feel free to share this opportunity with them. Thank you for helping us spread the word! Best regards, Dr. T. Zachary Frazier, Ph.D, MLIS BSIS Program Coordinator, Clinical Assistant Professor University of North Carolina at Greensboro tzfrazie(a)uncg.edu

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CFP 4S Open Panel: Reverberations in the Archive: Epistemic Justice and the Im/possibility of Being
by Zack Lischer-Katz 21 Jan '25

21 Jan '25

Dear Colleagues: We are soliciting abstracts for our panel at the upcoming 4S Annual Meeting in Seattle, Sept. 3-7. Full CFP below. Please consider submitting! *Reverberations in the Archive: Epistemic Justice and the Im/possibility of Being* 4S Annual Meeting :: September 3-7, 2025 :: Seattle, Washington, USA *Organizers*: Elliott Hauser1, Sarah Bratt2, Zack Lischer-Katz2 1University of Texas Austin, iSchool, 2University of Arizona College of Information Science *Call for Proposals: *We invite scholars to *submit a 250 word abstract* of current, recent, or works in progress relating to the material practices of knowing and being in the archives and their implications for epistemic justice to the *4S platform <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.4sonl…>.* We welcome reflections upon how archives, archival silences, archival practices, and/or archivally-mediated identities reveal the interconnection between ways of knowing and ways of being in sites and communities of interest. *Due: *Jan 31, 2025. *Summary: *Archives, as institutions, provide the symbolic and sociotechnical infrastructure for the selection, storage, description, and retrieval of records. But archival ingest has traditionally only supported particular Western forms of knowledge (records, texts, audio recordings, moving images, etc.) to the detriment of other knowledge systems and ways of being. We invite scholars to present completed or in-progress work on any of the following or related topics: - Racial equity and justice - Queer & gender archives - Indigenous data sovereignty - Scientific data - Religious/spiritual - Anomalous phenomena - Government & official - Restorative interventions Accepted panelists will be invited to contribute materials to a 4S workshop. Workshop participants will conduct comparative analyses of their selected artifacts and will be invited to contribute to a collaboratively authored whitepaper after the conference. Submit HERE: https://www.4sonline.org/call_for_submissions_seattle.php --- Zack Lischer-Katz, PhD Assistant Professor, Digital Curation & Preservation Director of Graduate Studies Co-Director, co/lab: Critical Archives & Curation Collaborative College of Information Science, University of Arizona

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Call for abstracts "Disentangling AI and Health/Healthcare: imaginaries, narratives, values"
by Locatelli Elisabetta (elisabetta.locatelli) 21 Jan '25

21 Jan '25

Dear all, apologies for cross-posting. If you are interested in health and AI, narratives and imaginaries please consider to submit your paper to the panel "Disentangling AI and Health/Healthcare: imaginaries, narratives, values" of which I'm convenor within the 10th STS Italia Conference “Technoscience for Good: Designing, Caring and Reconfiguring” (Politecnico di Milano, 11-13 June 2025 in Milan (Italy). Deadline: 3rd February. Health and healthcare are among the fields with the most promising and innovative applications of AI technologies, for example for accelerating diagnoses; identifying rare diseases; interpreting diagnostic images; improving communication (i.e. if added in devices for disabled people or for dissemination purposes). Besides the hype and the enthusiasm, a deep understanding is needed to unfold the hidden values and risks of AI for health and healthcare. Relevant issues include how fundamental concepts are conceived (such as health, healthcare, care, person, life, death, illness, efficiency); who should lead AI innovation; who is in charge to define boundaries and limits regarding the use of data (i.e. data collection and storage, avoiding biases, AI training). Beside the study of the technology per se, previous STS research demonstrated the importance of imaginaries and visions in shaping technology outcomes. Decoding such imaginaries would be helpful to better understand the issues above sketched out and direct the AI development for health and healthcare towards the common good. Despite the number of investigations on AI imaginaries, the association between AI and health/healthcare is still underinvestigated, as Hoff highlights in his analysis of how governments construe sociotechnical imaginaries of AI and healthcare services. Beside governments, several other actors contribute to build this imaginary, such as innovators, companies, news media, institutional documents, popular discourses. The panel proposes, thus, to put together different perspectives on the intersection between health/healthcare and AI, to investigate its technological, cultural, and sociological underpinnings, bias, and risks. Submissions of theoretical or empirical research regarding, but not limited to, the following topics are welcome: • National and/or international imaginaries on AI and health/healthcare; • Media (news media, social media…) imaginaries of AI and health/healthcare; • Imaginaries of AI and health/healthcare from governments, public institutions, physicians, healthcare professionals, scientists, patients, patient’s organizations, common citizens, etc.; • AI for health/healthcare communication; • STS analysis of design and implementation of AI for health/healthcare. Here are more information about the submission process and the conference https://stsitalia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/59.Disentangling-AI-and-He… Please feel free to contact me if you need any further information Kind regards Elisabetta Locatelli, Ph.D. elisabetta.locatelli(a)unicatt.it<mailto:elisabetta.locatelli@unicatt.it> Latest publications: Locatelli, E. (2023). “New Trends in Health Communication: Entanglements between Social Media, TV Series, Psychology, and Mental Health.” In Investigating Medical Drama TV Series: Approaches and Perspectives. 14th Media Mutations International Conference, edited by Stefania Antonioni and Marta Rocchi, 1st ed. Media Mutations Publishing. https://doi.org/10.21428/93b7ef64.4b0fa03f; Locatelli, E., Lovari, A., Righetti, N. (2024). "When Public Health Communication Intertwines with Social Media Logic. A Focus on the Early Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy", Comunicazioni Sociali, https://dx.doi.org/10.26350/001200_000198. [http://static.unicatt.it/ext-portale/5xmille_firma_mail_2023.jpg] <https://www.unicatt.it/uc/5xmille>

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PhD Summer School at the Center for Digital Narrative
by Jill Walker Rettberg 21 Jan '25

21 Jan '25

The Center for Digital Narrative<http://uib.no/cdn> invites PhD students who are writing a dissertation on digital narratives to participate in a five-day PhD summer school at the University of Bergen from 10-14 June 2025. Keynotes by Maria Mäkelä<https://www.tuni.fi/en/people/maria-makela> (Finland), Yudhanjaya Wijeratne<https://yudhanjaya.com/> (Sri Lanka), Alexandra Saemmer<https://dtc-wsuv.org/elit/elo2012/elo2012/Saemmer.html>(France), and Fox Harrell<https://foxharrell.com/> (USA). Workshops on methods (critical and creative) by Nick Montfort, Gabriele de Seta, Lin Prøitz, Scott Rettberg, Jason Nelson, Alinta Krauth, Caitlin Fisher, Mark Amerika, Jill Walker Rettberg Application deadline: 30 January. For more details and the application form please see https://www.uib.no/en/cdn/174423/cdn-digital-narrative-phd-summer-school No tuition, lunches are included. Two travel stipends are available for participants from the Global South. Jill Jill Walker Rettberg Professor, Co-Director Center for Digital Narrative<http://uib.no/en/cdn> Leader of AI STORIES<https://www.uib.no/en/cdn/169806/erc-wants-see-what-shapes-stories-ai-tells…> (ERC-AdG; 2024-2029) and Machine Vision in Everyday Life<https://www.uib.no/en/machinevision/> (ERC-CoG; 2018-2024) University of Bergen https://www.uib.no/en/persons/Jill.Walker.Rettberg

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CfP 4S Open Panel - Data Loss Reverberations: Exploring Disappearance, Destruction and Dispossession in Digital Societies
by Katie MacKinnon 21 Jan '25

21 Jan '25

Dear all, We are organising an open panel for 4S 2025, Sept. 3-7, Seattle, WA. on *DATA LOSS. *More information about the conference and the submission link can be found here: https://www.4sonline.org/call_for_submissions_seattle.php. Abstracts are due Jan 31. Below is the call with more detail about the theme and scope. Please get in touch with any questions! -Katie *Data Loss Reverberations: Exploring Disappearance, Destruction and Dispossession in Digital Societies* This panel explores data loss as a fundamental rather than anomalous feature of digital infrastructures and datafication processes. While digital societies are often associated with data accumulation, we examine how various forms of loss - from disappearance and destruction to dispossession - shape socio-technical systems and generate new political formations. We seek papers investigating data loss in knowledge and memory infrastructures, including memory institutions, bureaucratic systems, and community archives. Topics of interest include: - Data disappearance in digital archives - Data destruction as acts of violence or care - Community impacts of platform closures and content moderation - Critical perspectives on data/software lifecycles - Memory technologies as inherently amnesic systems - Theoretical frameworks for understanding data loss - Methodological approaches to studying loss - Politics of loss in relation to memory and justice While STS scholarship has developed frameworks for studying knowledge infrastructures - from cybernetic imaginaries to big data environments - research has primarily focused on data accumulation and persistence. Through concepts like data friction and information infrastructures, scholars have illuminated conditions enabling data flows. This panel extends this work by examining loss and erasure as constitutive forces in digital systems. We especially welcome submissions from early career researchers and scholars examining how data loss intersects with gender, sexuality, racialization, coloniality, and class. We are particularly interested in work that critically engages with these dimensions of power and inequality in digital infrastructures. We encourage submissions exploring how data loss reverberates across: - Time (historical erasures echoing in the present) - Scale (small infrastructural losses with cascading effects) - Space (loss rippling across institutional/national boundaries) - Experience (from technical infrastructures to social practices) The panel aims to develop new frameworks for understanding how data loss shapes knowledge infrastructures and influences questions of memory, accountability, and justice. Keywords: Information, Computing and Media Technology, Data and Quantification, Feminist STS Organizers: Nanna Bonde Thylstrup, University of Copenhagen (nannab(a)hum.ku.dk) Katie MacKinnon, University of Copenhagen (kam(a)hum.ku.dk) Amelia Acker, University of Texas at Austin Louis Ravn, University of Amsterdam Frederik Schade, University of Copenhagen Esmée Colbourne, University of Copenhagen

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WEBCAST JAN 22 – Manthan: A Stakeholder discussion on the Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025
by Joly MacFie 21 Jan '25

21 Jan '25

The consistent manner in which CCAOI fosters multistakeholder responses to specific Indian government policy initiatives is a marvel, and, apart from its immediate utility, serves as a worthy model for any region. ISOC LIVE will not be simulcasting this one, as it is at the same time as the Ethiopia IDC goes into Day 2 breakouts, but I will look to record, trim, transcribe and archive. Here's a handy 'add to calendar' link https://calndr.link/event/LfylzcapzW On Wednesday January 22, 2025, at 4pm-6pm IST (10:30-12:30 UTC) CCAOI and Grade Ace hosts an online interactive stakeholder discussion 'Manthan: A Stakeholder discussion on the Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025'. The Ministry of Electron… Read on blog <https://isoc.live/18756/> or Reader <https://public-api.wordpress.com/bar/?stat=groovemails-events&bin=wpcom_ema…> <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=6256064cf70fcebe945afc7a…>On *Wednesday January 22, 2025*, at *4pm-6pm IST* (10:30-12:30 UTC) *CCAOI <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=6e144803ff2b1d2d0842e665…>* and *Grade Ace <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=6af81bff5e3e0b5de9febf52…>* hosts an online interactive stakeholder discussion '*Manthan: A Stakeholder discussion on the Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=f34960d6412d954e57aa7caa…>*'. The *Ministry of Electronics and IT <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=aede51db28f99be52e9d01ef…>* (MeitY) has released the *Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=6d8edd1e9d9b1ca8a27113e0…>* (Rules) for consultation till 18 February. This discussion aims to make the provisions of the Rules more understandable and relatable to a wider audience and provoke thoughts about the governance framework India needs and to encourage stakeholder(s) to make submissions. *SPEAKERS* *Dr Vishal Gandhi* - Founder & CEO BIORx Venture Advisors *G. V. Anand Bhushan* - Founder, Bhushan Rajaram, Advocates & Consultants *Jhalak Kakkar* - Executive Director, CCG NLU Delhi *Meghna De* - Associate Counsel, Gameskraft *Uthara Ganesh* - Head Public Policy, Snap.Inc *Gowree Gokhale* - Independent legal counsel and advisor *Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy* - Country Manager India, BSA *MODERATOR / HOST* *Amrita Choudhury*, CCAOI *LIVESTREAM https://youtu.be/HWzhicg3FhY <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=91bd3383d77b65edb7c8c66c…>* *PARTICIPATE VIA ZOOM https://bit.ly/428QIIA <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=f34960d6412d954e57aa7caa…>* *REAL TIME TEXT* (See *ISOC LIVE <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=ec4629577797a9275a191edb…>* ) *TWITTER #DPDPrules <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=7f7e73de1703f4aa636d95c4…> #DPDP #dataprotection @AmritaChoudhury @GradeAce @ISOCapac* *ARCHIVE* *https://archive.org/details/ccaoi-dpdp* <https://archive.org/details/ccaoi-dpdp> *** ISOC.LIVE is a free webcasting support service for the Internet Society Community* * ISOC LIVE is currently unfunded - if you would like to become a monthly sponsor - contact support(a)isoc.live *** -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +12185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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