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

Three PhD Positions in AI, Digital Culture and Deep Learning
by Tobias Blanke 17 Mar '26

17 Mar '26

Dear all. The new European Research Council-funded Advanced Grant ‘Deep Culture - Living with Difference in the Age of Deep Learning’ invites applications for three fully-funded PhD positions in Amsterdam. Collaborating with two PostDocs, the aim is to realise an ambitious interdisciplinary research agenda on deep learning and culture. Deep learning technologies like ChatGPT have generated a lot of excitement about our new relations with AI but have also provoked much public anxiety. The project coins ‘deep culture’ to describe the global cultural transformations brought about by deep learning, and how culture is key to deep learning. The project will first explore the relations between deep learning and historical-cultural concepts and practices. Secondly, it will work with deep-learning methods to address their limitations for critical analysis. Finally, it aims to foster public understanding of deep learning’s global relations to culture. We are looking for three talented, ambitious PhD candidates who can combine independent research with team collaboration. You will have the opportunity to explore exciting questions of contemporary digital culture and deep learning and contribute to shaping debates about our relations with AI technologies. For further details and a link to apply, please visit: https://vacatures.uva.nl/UvA/job/Three-PhD-Positions-in-AI%2C-Digital-Cultu… All best, Tobias

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CFP: #SSN2026 - Surveillance & Society Conference
by Bryce Newell 15 Jan '26

15 Jan '26

Dear AoIR colleagues, On behalf of the Surveillance Studies Network (SSN) and local organizing committee for #SSN2026, we are happy to share the call for participation in the 2026 Surveillance Studies Network / Surveillance & Society Conference, to be held in Lille, France. Planetary Surveillance The 11th Biennial Surveillance Studies Network / Surveillance & Society Conference #SSN2026 | 9-12 June 2026 | Lille, France Hosted by Université Catholique de Lille, ETHICS, and ISTC https://surveillance-studies.net/conference/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://surveillance-studies.net/conference/__;…> | http://ssn2026.sciencesconf.org<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://ssn2026.sciencesconf.org__;!!C5qS4YX3!G7…> Call for Papers and Participation The condition of our world is increasingly framed through planetary metrics: temperature rise, biodiversity loss, financial instability, migration flows. Surveillance underpins these metrics, producing ways of seeing and managing the planet. We are promised a new era of planetary knowledge by using surveillance systems that can map, predict, and manage the risks of a fragile world. But these very systems also fragment, exclude, and reproduce old asymmetries. Planetary governance is shaped by historically entrenched inequalities, exclusions, and power. Surveillance is presented as the key to planetary survival, yet it often accelerates insecurity and injustice. #SSN2026 invites us to grapple with what it means to think of surveillance at the scale of the planet: from micro habitats to global ecosystems and processes. Infrastructures of sensing, monitoring, control and computation now extend across scales: from satellites orbiting the Earth to predictive algorithms embedded in the most intimate aspects of everyday life. Surveillance technologies now claim planetary reach: global infrastructures, algorithmic systems trained on worldwide data, and satellites and networks that promise to know, predict, and govern different forms of life on Earth. Surveillance is a driver and a product of this planetary turn, as states, citizens and more-than-human others grapple with social and environmental change and crisis, and plan for the possibility of hostile and stable futures. >From predictive policing to climate modeling, from espionage to artificial intelligence, surveillance is the connective tissue of our planetary intelligence. Surveillance lies at the heart of these transformations. It both enables and depends on new forms of planetary intelligence — whether through data extraction on a global scale, the training of artificial intelligence systems on the traces of human activity, or the monitoring of ecosystems, climate, crime, migration, and conflict through planetary infrastructures, some of which are located on and above the earth. Surveillance appears, spreads, and intensifies not only in the name of security but also in the name of planetary management: climate monitoring, global health, financial stability, digital platforms, or border regimes. Yet planetary intelligence also generates new possibilities for critique, resistance, and reimagining collective futures. It may also be harnessed for the production of ecosocial goods. This planetary turn raises important questions: * Which forms of life are rendered visible, measurable, and governable, and which remain invisible or deliberately obscured? * What diverse role is surveillance playing in environmental mapping and governance? * How do geopolitical rivalries, colonial legacies, and global inequalities shape the emergence of planetary surveillance infrastructures? * What methods of resistance to authoritarian planetary surveillance exist? How can these methods be developed? * What are some of the relationships between nature and surveillance? SSN 2026 seeks to engage with these entanglements of surveillance and planetary processes and governance We invite proposals for papers, panels, doctoral colloquium participation, artistic and activist interventions, and other contributions on all aspects of surveillance in and across the planetary condition. Venue, Accessibility & Streaming The main Conference will take place over 3 full days from 10-12 June 2026, at the Université Catholique de Lille, France, with a pre-conference doctoral colloquium occurring on 9 June. All in-person sessions from the main conference will be streamed online, and there will also be a dedicated online track with remote presentations for presenters who cannot attend in-person (this will be limited, prioritizing virtual options for individuals from Majority World nations, people with disability requirements or (child) care responsibilities, and/or others without adequate funding to attend the conference in person). Some travel support will be available to a limited number of presenters upon application. Keynote Speakers and Special Sessions Several keynote sessions are under development and will be advertised as they are finalized. Doctoral Colloquium There will be an in-person colloquium for doctoral students on 9 June. Interested doctoral colloquium participants should indicate their interest in attending by submitting an expression of interest via the regular conference proposal submission portal. Applying for the colloquium will require applicants to submit a short expression of interest of up to 300 words that addresses the applicant’s professional background (e.g., their PhD program and research areas) and what they would hope to learn, do, or accomplish as part of the colloquium – and we invite creative proposals that think outside the box! Applicants are welcome to connect their interests to the conference theme, but there is no expectation or requirement to do so. Submissions (deadline: 10 January 2026, AoE) Please submit your paper, panel, or other abstract (including Doctoral Colloquium applications), via: http://ssn2026.sciencesconf.org<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://ssn2026.sciencesconf.org__;!!C5qS4YX3!G7…> (opening soon!). Presenters are limited to one first-author/primary presenter role but may be co-authors on multiple submissions. Submission Types: * Papers/presentations (including artistic interventions) (up to 300-word abstracts) * Panels (300-word abstract + additional text to identify proposed participants) * Doctoral Colloquium applications (statements of interest of 300 words) We look forward to receiving your proposals and to welcoming you to Lille!

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Call for applications: Emerging Scholars Program at the Milton Wolf Seminar in Vienna, Austria. April 8-10.
by Smith, Briar R. 13 Jan '26

13 Jan '26

Apologies for cross posting: Applications are now open for the emerging scholars program<https://www.asc.upenn.edu/research/centers/milton-wolf-seminar-on-media-and…> at our annual Milton Wolf Seminar in Vienna, April 8-10, 2025. This year's theme is Ouroboros: The Infinite Loop of Media, Democracy, and Diplomacy, and you can take a look at the 2025 agenda and panel descriptions here<https://www.asc.upenn.edu/research/centers/milton-wolf-seminar-on-media-and…>. As panel composition is still being finalized, please have a look at last year's full program<https://www.asc.upenn.edu/research/centers/milton-wolf-seminar-media-and-di…> for the impressive mix of contributors to the seminar. Each year, 10-12 early career researchers join a mix of senior scholars, journalists, think tank folks, government representatives, and activists for a two-day seminar, and have a chance to present their research while contributing to the seminar through the ample time we reserve for discussion. We also have a fun social program in the evening. Airfare and transportation and lodging and meals are covered. Please visit the website for eligibility information and how to apply<https://www.asc.upenn.edu/research/centers/milton-wolf-seminar-on-media-and…>. Deadline is 2/14. Briar Smith Associate Director Media, Inequality & Change Center (MIC) 215-520-0773 (m) 215-573-9218 (o) www.miccenter.org<http://www.miccenter.org>

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DIGITOX seminar Jan 22: Disconnection through media, apps and tech (and Feb 25: Disconnection and the brain)
by Trine Syvertsen 05 Jan '26

05 Jan '26

Welcome to the international seminar series on connection and disconnection. We continue our seminars in 2025. Details here https://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/research/projects/digital-disconnection/e… NB: Seminars run on Norway time (CET) and are scheduled in different time slots. Contact me for a Zoom link or join the DIGITOX mailing list (below) where the links are published. Upcoming seminars: Jan 22, 2025, 1400-1500 on disconnection through media, apps and tech with Veysel Bozan and Yukun You Feb. 25, 2025 1000 -1100 on disconnection and the brain with Alex Beattie and autors of Detoxing the brain<https://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1896952&dswid=-…> (Ingrid Forsler, Carina Guyard, and Linus Andersson) MORE SEMINARS WILL BE SCHEDULED FOR THE SPRING Best regards, Trine ------ We run two mailing lists, join DIGITOX list for these seminars. DIGITOX MAILING LIST: digitox-info: info from Digitox about our seminar series. To join, write an email to sympa(a)media.uio.no and write subscribe digitox-info in the subject field. To unsubscribe: Write an email to sympa(a)media.uio.no and write unsubscribe digitox-info in the subject field (or let me know that you want to be taken off the list). DISCONNECTION-LIST (general list) disconnection-research: to post information about research, publications, events etc. All members can post. To join: write to sympa(a)media.uio.no and write subscribe disconnection-research in the subject field. DO YOU HAVE A NEW PUBLICATION? OR A CFP? NOTIFY PEOPLE USING THE DISCONNECTION LIST; ALL MEMBERS CAN POST ON THIS LIST ------------------------------------------------------- Trine Syvertsen, professor, IMK, UiO Project: Intrusive media, ambivalent users and digital detox (NFR) Author of Digital detox: The politics of disconnecting (Emerald 2020) New book: The Digital Backlash and the Paradoxes of Disconnection (open access, Nordicom, 2024)

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'Digital Storytelling: An Introduction' Book Publication Announcement
by Leah Henrickson 25 Nov '25

25 Nov '25

Just dropping in to let you all know that my latest book is now out (in the UK - Americans and e-book readers will need to wait until November)! 🎉 Digital Storytelling: An Introduction is my effort to historicise and expand the field. It's a textbook that teachers can build upon for their own digital storytelling and media courses, but it's also a reflection on the world's chaos and the meanings we make from it. Professor Hanna Meretoja has called the book 'a lucid guide to what is at stake when we engage in and with digital storytelling. It offers valuable critical tools, and its historically informed and intellectually rigorous yet accessible approach is much needed.' Professor Jay David Bolter has said that the book 'brings to bear a wide range of work from media studies to the cognitive and social sciences to develop [a] framework for creative expression in the medium of the digital. This concise and readable text is sure to be an indispensable resource for beginning and advanced students as well as creative practitioners.' Whether you're a student, teacher, researcher, or lifelong learner, I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. For more information about the book, and to order a copy (exam copies available), please visit https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=digital-storytelling-an-in…. ______________________________ Dr Leah Henrickson (she/her) Lecturer in Digital Media and Cultures School of Communication and Arts University of Queensland | St Lucia QLD 4072 | Australia Room 302 | Joyce Ackroyd (37) +61 (0)7 334 68255

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now available for pre-order / Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook
by Lori Emerson 21 Nov '25

21 Nov '25

Dear all, At long last, my beloved book, Other Networks:A Radical Technology Sourcebook, is officially available from Anthology Editions for pre-order here<https://shop.mexicansummer.com/merch/495898-lori-emerson-other-networks-a-r…>! Sadly, despite publishing many beautifully designed art books, the publisher won’t be around for much longer which means there are only 1000 copies available of Other Networks. If you think you’d like a copy, consider pre-ordering as soon as you can manage it. With deep gratitude to my editor Mark Iosifescu<https://iosifescu.biz/>, book cover designer Robert Beatty<https://robertbeattyart.com/>, and interior book designer Ella Gold<https://ellagold.com/>, Other Networks catalogs 80+ networks that preceded or existed outside of the internet. It is also an educational project that comes out of my belief that we are all capable both of understanding networks from the past and of building alternative networks for the future; a love letter to experimental art and technology; and a liberatory guide for escaping the corporate present. The design brilliantly both recalls the long history of telecommunications networks (exemplified by late 19th century/early 20th century telegraph and telephone manuals) and rewrites that same history to now have a more global perspective and to include more women; Black, Indigenous, and People of Color; and artist experiments with/on these pre-internet networks. Below is the table of contents. I have also posted on my blog excerpts from or expanded versions of entries on microbroadcasting<https://loriemerson.net/2024/09/21/the-history-of-microbroadcasting-and-how…>, barbed wire fence phones<https://loriemerson.net/2024/08/31/a-brief-history-of-barbed-wire-fence-tel…>, and imaginary networks<https://loriemerson.net/2025/01/04/brief-notes-toward-activating-the-potent…>. Sincerely, Lori (Emerson) **** Chronological List of Networks<https://loriemerson.net/2024/03/15/chronological-list-of-networks-in-other-…> Chronological List of Network Experiments<https://loriemerson.net/2024/03/15/chronological-list-of-network-experiment…> Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction Wireless Networks: Sound Networks [1] Drums [2] Whistling Air Networks [3] Fire or Smoke Signals [4] Pneumatic Tubes [5] Skywriting Water Networks [6] Hydraulic Semaphore Optical Networks [7] Flag Signaling [8] Optical Telegraph [9] Infrared Communication [10] Signal Lamp [11] Heliograph [12] Photophone [13] Ultraviolet Communication [14] Laser Communication [15] Visible Light Communication Radio Networks [16] Amateur Radio [16.1] Radiotelegraphy [16.2] Radioteletype [16.3] Amateur Television [16.4] Hellschreiber [16.5] Earth-Moon-Earth Communication [16.6] Amateur Radio Satellite [16.7] Amateur Packet Radio [17] Radio Broadcast [18] Pirate Radio [19] Radiofax [20] Two-Way Radio [21] Pager [22] Meteor Burst Communication [23] Slow Scan Television [24] Project West Ford [25] Pirate Television [26] Packet Radio Network [27] Microbroadcast [28] Software Defined Radio [29] Wi-Fi [30] Bluetooth Microwave Networks [31] Microwave Radio-Relay [32] Communications Satellite Wired Networks: Electrical Wire Networks [33] Electrical telegraph [33.1] Electrical Printing Telegraph [33.2] Image Telegraph [33.3] Fire Alarm Telegraph [33.4] Pantelegraph [33.5] Telephonic Telegraph [34] Telephone [35] Wired Radio [36] Telautograph [37] Telefacsimile [38] Videophone [39] Telex Barbed Wire Networks [40] Barbed Wire Telegraph [41] Fence Phones Hybrid Networks: [42] Library [43] Book [44] Postal System [44.1] Pigeon Post [44.2] Projectile Post [44.3] Balloon Mail [44.4] Pony Express [44.5] Airgraph and V-Mail [44.6] Email Letter [45] Sneakernet [46] Radio Broadcast Network [47] Broadcast Television [48] Cable Television [48.1] NABU [49] Cellular Network [50] Time-Sharing Network [51] Teletext [52] Videotex Imaginary Networks: [53] Necromancy [54] Pasilalinic-Sympathetic Compass [55] Telephonoscope [56] Telepathy [57] Ley Lines [58] Mundaneum [59] World Brain [60] Memex [61] Faster-Than-Light Communication Networks [62] Project Xanadu [63] Metaverse [64] The Clacks [65] Pandoran Neural Network [66] Cosmic Internet -- “I use technology in order to hate it properly.” — Nam June Paik Lori Emerson | KF0LCB | she/her/they/them Associate Professor | Associate Chair Graduate Studies | Director, Media Archaeology Lab Media Studies Department | University Colorado Boulder Traditional territories of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute Nations Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook<https://shop.mexicansummer.com/merch/495898-lori-emerson-other-networks-a-r…> Mastodon<https://post.lurk.org/@loriemerson> | Bluesky<https://bsky.app/profile/loriemerson.net> | loriemerson.net<http://loriemerson.net/> | mediaarchaeologylab.com<http://mediaarchaeologylab.com/>

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CfP: Special Issue “Celebrating 60 Years of ELIZA? Critical Pasts and Futures of AI”
by Christian Strippel 10 Nov '25

10 Nov '25

Dear colleagues, On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of ELIZA, the chatbot introduced to the public by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966, Magnus Rust <https://medienwissenschaft.philhist.unibas.ch/en/persons/rust-magnus/> (University of Basel) and I are editing a Special Issue for publication in the Weizenbaum Journal of the Digital Society (WJDS) next year. With this Special Issue, we aim to bring together interdisciplinary perspectives that examine ELIZA’s historical, technical, and societal significance, while reflecting on its legacy for current and future developments in AI. You can find all the information about this Special Issue in the Call for Papers: https://ojs.weizenbaum-institut.de/index.php/wjds/announcement/view/8 We would highly appreciate it if you would consider submitting suitable work and/or forwarding the Call for Papers to interested colleagues. Thank you very much! Best regards, Christian (Strippel) -- Abstract Sixty years ago, Joseph Weizenbaum introduced ELIZA, one of the first computer chat programs, which became a landmark in the early history of Artificial Intelligence. Although ELIZA relied only on simple keyword detection and predefined response templates, it sparked the so-called “ELIZA effect,” enabled the first automated chatbot exchanges on the ARPANET, and is still regarded as a precursor to today’s systems such as ChatGPT. At the same time, ELIZA marked the beginning of Weizenbaum’s critical engagement with AI research and its societal implications. On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, this Special Issue seeks to explore the historical, technical, and societal significance of ELIZA from an interdisciplinary perspective. It aims to relate this legacy to current developments in generative AI and robotics, and to ask what—if anything—there is to celebrate six decades after ELIZA. Individual submissions to the special issue could cover, but are not limited to, the following topics: Automating of Psychotherapy. How have psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists actually used computers and text-based programs in their work over the past few decades? What imaginaries are mobilized and produced in these applications? Authoring AI. What genealogies follow ELIZA, not as a psychotherapist, but as an author and co-pilot in the writing of all kinds of texts? What successes and failures have been celebrated in this history of human-machine interaction? Commercializing AI. How were “expert systems” and other commercial AI tools received by the industry? What changes did they bring it for employees and workers? What does AI mean for the future of work in factories and offices? Anthropomorphizing of AI. What does the humanization of chatbots and other computer programs mean for our perception of AI? How does it shape our expectations of such technologies? How does it affect our image of humans? Mythologization of AI. How have AI myths developed since the 1950s? Why are dystopian accounts of AI so particularly successful? Why do we listen to the developers of AI when it comes to critically assessing the technologies they have helped build? Gendering of AI. How has the gendering of AI, robots, and chatbots evolved since ELIZA? What can we learn about our society from it? What impact does it have on the use and social consequences of such technologies? Key Dates Abstract submission deadline: November 17, 2025 Invitation of full papers: December 1, 2025 Full Paper submission deadline: April 6, 2026 Notification of acceptance and reviews available: July 6, 2026 Paper revision deadline: October 5, 2026 Issue release: November–December 2026 For inquiries about the special issue, please contact the guest editors (christian.strippel(a)weizenbaum-institut.de <mailto:christian.strippel@weizenbaum-institut.de>, magnus.rust(a)unibas.ch <mailto:magnus.rust@unibas.ch>). -- Weizenbaum Institute, Berlin (Germany) Group Lead "Weizenbaum Panel" and "MethodsLab" https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/en/portrait/p/christian-strippel/ https://panel.weizenbaum-institut.de/en/ https://methodslab.weizenbaum-institut.de/ Recent Publications: – Ethics of Data Work: Principles for Academic Data Work Requesters <https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/media/Publikationen/Weizenbaum_Discussio…> – Weizenbaum Report 2025: Political Participation in Germany <https://doi.org/10.34669/wi.wr/6.1> – Data, archives, and tools: Introducing new publication formats on infrastructures and resources <https://doi.org/10.1007/s11616-023-00806-7> – “The Boundaries are Blurry…”: How Comment Moderators in Germany See and Respond to Hate Comments <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2021.2017793> – From Insult to Hate Speech: Mapping Offensive Language in German User Comments on Immigration <https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/3399>

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CFP: 21st International Conference on Persuasive Technology #Persuasive2026
by Nili Steinfeld 06 Nov '25

06 Nov '25

****** Join us in Hakodate, Japan for the 21st International Conference on Persuasive Technology ****** === The 21st International Conference on Persuasive Technology (Persuasive2026) will be held *from March 11 to 13, 2026, in Hakodate, Japan.* Persuasive Technology is an interdisciplinary field that investigates how interactive systems can influence human attitudes and behaviors through persuasion and social influence—without coercion. Since its inception in 2006, the conference has served as a global forum for researchers, practitioners, and designers interested in behavior change, digital intervention, and human-centered technologies. In 2026, the conference will be held in the scenic city of Hakodate, renowned for its blend of history, nature, and innovation. The venue, Future University Hakodate, offers a creative atmosphere that supports interdisciplinary dialogue and collaborative thinking. This year, Persuasive2026 will be co-located with the 8th International Conference on Activity and Behavior Computing (ABC2026), providing opportunities to connect with related communities and expand the scope of discussions. We look forward to welcoming you to an engaging and memorable event in northern Japan *The scope of the conference* includes, but is not limited to, the following topics: • Persuasive systems design • Behavior change support systems • Interaction with persuasive systems, interfaces, and visualizations • Interactive agents and (generative) AI for persuasion • Tailored and personalized persuasion • Gamification • Evaluation and validation methodologies • Smart environments, IoT, and contextual persuasion • Digital marketing, eCommerce, and smart cities • Motivation, cognition, perception • Application domains: health, safety, sustainability, education, work • Ethical considerations, privacy, and trust • Counter-persuasion, resilience, and social media influence *Keynote Speakers* Catherine Pelachaud (CNRS / Sorbonne University): Socially Interactive Agents as Support for Behavior Change Hiroshi Ishiguro (Osaka University / ATR): Avatar and the Future Society *Submission Deadlines* Workshop & Tutorial Proposals: October 15, 2025 Full/Short Papers: November 7, 2025 Late Breaking Results (LBR): January 11, 2026 Posters / Demos / Doctoral Consortium: January 11, 2026 Find us on: • Website: https://2026.persuasivetech.org • LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/persuasive-2026 • Twitter Account: https://x.com/Persuasive_conf *Kind Regards, * *Dr. Nili Steinfeld* Senior Lecturer, School of Communications, Ariel University Visiting Scholar, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Cyprus University of Technology

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Post: Join the Transcultural Digital Intimacies Research Network (TransDI)!
by Liang Ge 31 Oct '25

31 Oct '25

Dear Colleagues, It will be much appreciated if you could help me to post the call for new members for our TransDI research network via Air-L! Hi folks! Our Transcultural Digital Intimacies Research Network (TransDI) is now calling for new members! Feel free to fill in the form and join us via the link below. 🌏 Join the Transcultural Digital Intimacies Research Network (TransDI)! How is intimacy changing in our hyper-connected world? From AI companions and digital platforms to gaming and embodied technologies, digital media are reshaping how we connect, care, and desire across cultures. The Transcultural Digital Intimacies Research Network (TransDI) critically explores how technologies blur boundaries between online/offline lives and human/non-human connections. We bring together global researchers to examine the shifting landscapes of connection, affect, and sociality in digital cultures. Now chaired by Liang Ge (Lecturer in Sociology, University of Manchester) and Tingting Hu (Assistant Professor in Media and Communications, University of Liverpool), TransDI is expanding its community of scholars, artists, and practitioners interested in digital intimacies, transcultural communication, and mediated relationships. 💌 Join and Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on upcoming events, collaborations, and opportunities: 👉 https://www.liangge.blog/transdi-subscription Let’s explore together how intimacy, technology, and culture intersect in today’s digital world. Sincere thanks and best wishes, Liang Dr Liang Ge (they/them), PhD, FHEA Lecturer in Sociology 3.054, Arthur Lewis Building, University of Manchester, M13 9PL Chair, Transcultural Digital Intimacies Network (TransDI)<https://bsky.app/profile/transdi.bsky.social> Honorary Research Fellow, Social research Institute, University College London Executive Member, Race Equality Network (REN) Email: liang.ge(a)manchester.ac.uk<mailto:liang.ge@manchester.ac.uk> Tel: +44 0161 306 2816 Web: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/liang-ge Blog: https://www.liangge.blog Office Hour: Mondays 14.30-16.30 for SEM 1 2025/26<https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/fd73a2555d074f23a8f775bba8380232…> Liang Ge - Google Scholar<https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&pli=1&user=wq4A_RUAAAAJ> Plz Check My New Publications here: Ge, L. (2027). The Grammar of Ambivalences: Subjects, Desires and Affects in the Digital Production and Consumption of Boys’ Love. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Ge, L. (2025). Ambivalent desiring subjects: young women, agency and post-(socialist-)feminist sensibilities in China. Feminist Theory, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/14647001251334949 Ge, L., Luther, J. D., & Li, E. C.-Y. (2025). Editorial introduction: Queer Asia as Method. Media, Culture & Society, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437251351143 Ge, L., & Hu, T. (2025). Gamifying intimacy: AI-driven affective engagement and human-virtual human relationships. Media, Culture & Society, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437251337239 Hu, T., & Ge, L. (2025). Datafication of Digital Intimacy: The Dual Logic of Empowerment and Commodification. Games and Culture, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120251358522 Ge, L. (2025). Feminization of labor: Over-representation, invisibility and vulnerability of women workers in the digital audio drama industry. Convergence, Online First. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13548565251325531 Ge, L. (2025). The Haitang Incident 2024 and the ugliness of danmei culture/industry. European Journal of Cultural Studies, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494251326775 Yang, Z., Liu, L. and Ge, L. (2025) ‘Claiming queerness on Weibo: Public interaction discourse towards Chinese queer women athletes and their chugui’, Women’s Studies International Forum, 110, p. 103082. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103082. Ge, L. (2024). Ambivalent affective labor: The datafication of qing and danmei writers in the cultural industry. European Journal of Cultural Studies, Online First.https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13675494241270468 My working hours might not be yours – please don’t feel obliged to respond outside your usual working time.

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War in the Smartphone Age, book talk and discussion with Matthew Ford, December 3rd, 3-5pm
by Patrick Smith 31 Oct '25

31 Oct '25

Dear colleagues, With apologies for cross-posting. The Emergent Nonfiction Lab (part of the Counter Evidentiary Futures project) at the University of Salford welcomes Matthew Ford (Associate Professor, Department of War Studies, Swedish Defence University) for this online talk on his new book *War in the Smartphone Age: Conflict, Connectivity and the Crises at Our Fingertips*, with respondent Miglė Bareikytė (Assistant Professor of Digital Studies, European University Viadrina). You can register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/war-in-the-smartphone-age-book-talk-and-disc… Thanks to smartphones, war is everywhere, all the time. Anyone can view, analyse and comment on photos, videos or other warzone media. Where did this technology come from? And what does it mean for the future of war? This book explains why you see what you do on your phone, and how these devices shape our knowledge, conduct and representation of war in the 2020s. It shows why smartphones are indispensable in peace and wartime: every device is a potential weapon, lines blur between war and daily life, and conflict becomes a shared digital experience. Social media platforms displace state-controlled narratives, amplifying violence and shaping war’s legitimacy. Apps democratise conflict, enabling anyone to identify and attack perceived enemies. As the Ukraine war has shown, this new reality involves complex, unevenly distributed infrastructures, merging civilian communication with military targeting. With war accelerating beyond our comprehension, militaries have raced to benefit from and adapt to the smartphone age. Matthew Ford explores critical questions about today’s hyper-connected battlefield. Matthew Ford is an academic focusing on war and the data-saturated battlefields of the 21st century. His previous book - Radical War (Hurst & Co, London and Oxford University Press, New York 2022) - with Professor Andrew Hoskins from Edinburgh University traces war’s data trajectories, from the epicentres of battle out to distant parts of the world, into history, memory and as it is memed into the platforms that mediate digital culture. Matthew's first book, 'Weapon of Choice - Small Arms and the Culture of Military Innovation', is an analysis of military innovation and culture and was published by Hurst & Co, London and Oxford University Press, New York in 2017. Matthew is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (UK); an Associate of the IWM Institute; a senior non-resident fellow at the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida; an Honorary Historical Consultant to the Royal Armouries (UK); a former visiting scholar at the Defense Analysis Department at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA; a former West Point fellow; and the founding Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal for Military History. Miglė Bareikytė holds the Chair of Digital Studies at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), where she is a dual member of the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences and the European New School of Digital Studies (ENS). She has been researching digitalisation for many years, with a special focus on Central and Eastern Europe. Since 2022, she has been leading the CRC 1187 project “War Sensing”, which involves investigating civilian media and data practices, digital war witnessing on Telegram messenger, and AI imaginaries during Russia’s war against Ukraine in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Siegen, the Center for Urban History in Lviv, the University of Bern, and beyond. In addition, Bareikytė’s research extends to the study of historical and contemporary disinformation practices and conflicts in platform economies. Best, Patrick Dr. Patrick Brian Smith Assistant Professor and University Fellow School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology University of Salford patrickbriansmith.com

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