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

WEBCAST 27 FEB – ISOC Switzerland Public Policy Sessions 2025
by Joly MacFie 27 Feb '25

27 Feb '25

As is the practice of several ISOC Chapters, ISOC Switzerland hold a policy forum as a warm up to their AGM. This year's topics are a renewed effort to introduce digital id in the country, and a regional push to bolster open tech. The digital identity (e-ID) allows Swiss citizens and people with a Swiss residence permit to prove their identity online. The federal government plans to start issuing the e-ID in a wallet app called ‹SWIYU› from 2026. The trust infrastructure also allows other authorities and private individuals to issue electronic credentials. https://www.eid.admin.ch/en The NGI0 Commons Fund, aka the NGI Zero Commons Fund, is an initiative from The European Commission's Next generation Initiative (NGI) to award over €21.6 million in grants for the development of open digital technologies. https://ngi.eu/ngi-zero-eu-investment/ ADD TO CALENDAR https://calndr.link/event/bLZDBARSrx On Thursday, 27 February, 2025 at 15:15-18:00 CET (14:15-17:00 UTC) the Internet Society Switzerland Chapter (ISOC CH) hosts a public event ‘Public Policy Sessions 2025‘ at the Switzerland Innovation Park in Biel/Bienne. PROGRAMME https://www.isoc.c… Read on blog <https://isoc.live/18882/> or Reader <https://public-api.wordpress.com/bar/?stat=groovemails-events&bin=wpcom_ema…> [image: isoc live] <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=c1b4d8bd824832093dae3a11…>On *Thursday, 27 February, 2025* at *15:15-18:00 CET* (14:15-17:00 UTC) the *Internet Society Switzerland Chapter <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=54570926b26c837c36f852a9…> *(ISOC CH) hosts a public event ‘*Public Policy Sessions 2025 <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=fc2ceded9ac43510dcd3f63c…>*‘ at the Switzerland Innovation Park in Biel/Bienne. PROGRAMME https://www.isoc.ch/events/public-policy-session-2025/ <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=fc2ceded9ac43510dcd3f63c…> (All times CET = UTC+1) *15:15 Official Welcome* *Bernie Höneisen* - ISOC-CH *15:25 Introduction to ISOC / ISOC-CH* *Markus Kummer* - ISOC-CH *15:45 Digital Identity (e-ID) in Switzerland* *Dr. Rolf Rauschenbach*, Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) *Dr. Roman Zoun*, Digital Identity and Data Sovereignty Association (DIDAS) *Prof. Dr. Christian Grothoff*, Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) Moderator: *Serena Tinari* *17:30 NGI0 Commons Fund* *Panayotis Antoniadis* - ISOC-CH *LIVESTREAM https://youtu.be/aX2epHXqfxI <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=386ddfd5364e5e5fb76f829d…>* *REAL TIME TEXT* (See *ISOC.LIVE <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=c1b4d8bd824832093dae3a11…>* ) *TWITTER* #PublicPolicy *@ISOCSwitzerland <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=2565d0ccd815f849a97820b9…>* @BielBienne_off #digitalidentity | *MASTODON <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=b8e6ab2aefb1ce63a8272c51…>* | *BLUESKY <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=ae1abae65e64406729f0fa61…>* | *INSTA <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=2ac6970f68baed0e4adc785b…>* *SIMULCASTS* *https://twitter.com/ISOC_Live <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=810c059107947392407f60dd…>* *https://www.twitch.tv/isoclive <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=67805f9482a415324488b232…>* *https://www.facebook.com/liveisoc/ <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=44684398f08e9df6242775d0…> *(AI Captions) *ARCHIVE https://archive.org/details/isoc-ch-public-policy2025 <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=240f1874ec66b30bb14d9071…> *(when available) *** 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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PhD on Interfaces of Intelligence: How Generative AI Reshapes Knowledge, Media, and Interpretation
by Alex Gekker 26 Feb '25

26 Feb '25

Dear Colleagues, We are recruiting a PhD for a joint project of Erik Borra, Bernhard Rieder and me at the Media Studies department, University of Amsterdam. More details below, but the TL;DR is: The deadline for submission is *March 23rd*, the position will start in October, and one applies with a research proposal of 800-1000 words (excluding references) that describes your topic and the main conceptual lens that would inform your project. More information and submission here: https://werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies/phd-on-interfaces-of-intelligence-how… _PhD Position: How AI is Reshaping Knowledge Production_ Models (LLMs) and other generative AI systems integrate into everyday practices. Society is transitioning from an information retrieval paradigm, where search engines provide specific sources relevant to specific queries, to an interrogation and interpretation paradigm, in which knowledge is embedded within AI models through extensive, often opaque training processes and configurations. AI is also increasingly integrated into agentic systems - designed for specific contexts, goals, and degrees of autonomy - reconfiguring how knowledge is produced, validated, and operationalized across domains such as journalism, research, and education. This shift raises critical questions about authority, transparency, and the evolving role of human expertise in AI-mediated workflows. To critically assess and learn from such shifts, our project takes a two-pronged approach: first, we examine how research methods are embedded within AI tools, adopting a digital methods perspective to explore their affordances and limitations. Second, we analyze how AI-driven software changes interfaces, influencing how users access and interact with knowledge. Both approaches aim to understand how knowledge is constructed, accessed, and made usable - both in digital research and everyday digital interactions. _This is what you will be doing_ As a PhD in the project, you will pursue your own research agenda that intersects with that of the PIs, and falls under one of the following broad categories: - Epistemic shifts in generative AI – How does GenAI reshape processes of knowledge validation, credibility, and facticity? How do these models affect established knowledge gatekeepers institutions? How do different modes and modalities of GenAI shape its contexts of use? - Workflow transformations in generative AI – How does GenAI reshape professional routines and decision-making in knowledge-intensive domains? How do AI-driven agentic systems, designed with specific contexts, capabilities, and goals, redefine collaboration and expertise? How do they integrate into and redefine existing software interfaces? Your tasks and responsibilities: - submission of a PhD thesis within the period of appointment; - participating in meetings of the project research group and developing a shared database; - publishing one single-authored, peer reviewed article; - presenting intermediate research results at workshops and conferences; - organising knowledge dissemination activities; - participation in the Research School and Faculty of Humanities PhD training programmes. - (co-)teaching courses at BA-level in the second and third year of the appointment (maximum 0,2 fte per year). _This is what we ask of you_ Candidates need to have the following qualifications: - a completed Master's degree in media and communication studies, critical artificial intelligence, science and technology studies. You may apply if you have not yet completed your Master's degree only if you provide a signed letter from your supervisor stating that you will graduate before 1 September 2025; - excellent research skills demonstrated by an outstanding Master's thesis and a demonstrable capacity to develop a track record of publishing in high-ranking journals and/or with leading presses; - a strong cooperative attitude and willingness to engage in collaborative research; - enthusiasm for communicating academic research to non-academic audiences; - good command of English We are looking for a PhD candidate who can critically engage with generative AI while also exploring its practical applications. The ideal candidate is neither solely focused on critiquing AI from a distance nor unreflectively applying it without questioning its implications. Instead, we seek someone who combines critical analysis with hands-on exploration—someone who can interrogate the epistemic, social, and technical dimensions of AI while also experimenting with its affordances in digital research methods and interface studies. Please note that if you already hold a doctorate/PhD or are working towards obtaining a similar degree elsewhere, you will not be admitted to a doctoral programme at the UvA. The candidate should be comfortable working across disciplines, bridging media and communication studies, critical artificial intelligence, and science and technology studies. The candidate should have an analytical yet open-minded approach, willing to engage with both the strengths and limitations of AI in knowledge production, dissemination, and professional workflows. Strong expository writing skills are essential, both for effectively commanding large language models and for producing clear, rigorous academic output. Prior experience with digital methods, such as data scraping and visualization, as well as a working knowledge of foundation models (understanding of their training processes and/or prompting), is highly desirable. While not mandatory, basic proficiency in programming in Python for digital analysis would be a plus. _This is what we offer you_ - A salary of between €2.901 - €3.707 p.m; additional social benefits (more information available here: https://werkenbij.uva.nl/en/about-working-at-the-UvA) - PhD candidates receive a tuition fee waiver; - PhD candidates have free access to courses offered by the Graduate School of Humanities and the Dutch National Research Schools; - excellent possibilities for further professional development and education; - an inspiring academic and international work environment in the heart of Amsterdam; - an enthusiastic and professional academic team. Kind regards, Alex. Alex Gekker, PhD. Assistant Professor in Digital Research Methods, Media Studies, University of Amsterdam. Profile and publications <https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6042-2086> // a.gekker(a)uva.nl // tw: @AlexGekker <http://twitter.com/alexgekker> // mastodon @gekker@aoir.social <https://aoir.social/@gekker> Recent works include a deep dive into moving Israel “into the cloud” <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2024.2343816>, a breakdown of QAnon as participatory play <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051231157300>, an analysis of “gamified” stock trading <https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jgvw_00062_1>, and a post-mortem of Google Maps’ Covid-19 Layer <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20501579221143325>

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WEBCAST FEB 26 – International Cybersecurity Norms in the UN and Beyond
by Joly MacFie 26 Feb '25

26 Feb '25

Under way. Eli Noam is at a conference and thus wasn't available to do the intro. REAL TIME TEXT https://bit.ly/4gY9p5C On Wednesday February 26, 2025, at 11:00-12:30 EST (16:00-17:30 UTC), the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, as part of its Global Digital Governance series, presents a webinar 'International Cybersecurity Norms in the UN and Beyond'. The United N… Read on blog <https://isoc.live/18935/> or Reader <https://public-api.wordpress.com/bar/?stat=groovemails-events&bin=wpcom_ema…> [image: ISOC.LIVE] <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=cec7f1dc4d53cbe3b1b203b5…>On *Wednesday February 26, 2025*, at *11:00-12:30 EST* (16:00-17:30 UTC), the C*olumbia Institute for Tele-Information <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=bfeff37f0378476cbf86cac1…>*, as part of its *Global Digital Governance series <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=32388393fcb22be72427a9b1…>*, presents a webinar '*International Cybersecurity Norms in the UN and Beyond <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=a5e21875cfb803274f3ac1e9…>* '. The *United Nations' Open-Ended Working Group on Information and Communication Technologies <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=385f55f93ba3fa668c47fa96…>* (OEWG) is meeting February 17–21 in New York. The OEWG is mandated from 2021 to 2025 to promote dialogue and the development of norms of responsible state behavior regarding interstate cybersecurity and cyberconflict. The meeting could be marred by long-standing controversies over the design of new norms and obligations, the application of international law, confidence building measures, the participation of stakeholders in intergovernmental cybersecurity discussions, and the design of the new permanent UN forum for these issues to be launched next year. In addition, there are divisions on a Russian proposal to negotiate a legally binding UN Cybersecurity Convention in the wake of the recently adopted and problematic *Cybercrime Convention <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=2a289f969f29d2655586f863…>* . The current OEWG is part of a matrix of processes that have been struggling to build consensus on the international rules of the game for cybersecurity. This includes a previous OEWG that ran from 2019 to 2021, six UN Groups of Governmental Experts convened between 2004 to 2021, and other multilateral discussions. In parallel, multistakeholder collaborations and the private sector have advanced a number of proposals for international norms and regimes. *The purpose of this webinar is to step back from the details of these individual processes and take stock of the big picture state of play in international cybersecurity negotiations.* What are the key battle lines between states and their respective coalitions, and what has and has not been achieved in consequence? Has multistakeholder participation in the UN and nongovernmental initiatives influenced the governance landscape? How consequential can multilateral frameworks be in shaping the behavior of states, in particular the major powers? A panel of leading experts on cybersecurity norms and the UN negotiations will lead off the discussion, and then the rest of the session will be devoted to open conversation among all interested attendees. The session will be simulcast live by ISOC LIVE <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=ba433d18e4e8c364ccaace85…> . *INTRODUCTION* *Eli Noam*, Director, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, Columbia Business School. *PANEL* *Alexander Klimburg* (Austria) *Sheetal Kumar* (UK) *Christopher Painter* (USA) *DISCUSSANT* *Janis Karklins* (Latvia) *MODERATOR* *William J. Drake*, Director of International Studies, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information *LIVESTREAM https://youtu.be/WR7b5i-Ccz8 <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=40bbd199fb4715628101bbce…>* *PARTICIPATE VIA ZOOM https://bit.ly/43wcpmX <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=a5e21875cfb803274f3ac1e9…>* *REAL TIME TEXT (See ISOC.LIVE <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=cec7f1dc4d53cbe3b1b203b5…>)* *TWITTER #OEWG <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=6515ce626d3976a72f95340a…> #cybernorms @wjdrake @Elinoam @Columbia_Biz | MASTODON <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=133f188dffcb672380b75875…> | BLUESKY <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=ab0571e7444b3d1ec7a616c6…> | INSTA <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=0200aa9d5b15b15e80f555c8…>* *SIMULCASTS* *https://www.twitter.com/ISOC_Live/ <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=6356e1c1ae8f1a149b5cd7b6…>* *https://www.twitch.tv/isoclive <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=e62bf9c021df07287b3a538e…>* *https://www.facebook.com/liveisoc/ <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=33fa8ac7407734aeda7f3b8c…> * *ARCHIVE* *https://archive.org/details/citi-cybersecuritynorms <http://isoc.live?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=4414c93af1a335dc15487816…>* *** 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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[CfP] xAI25 Conference Special Track: Explainable and Interactive Hybrid Decision Making (July 9-11 2025, Istanbul, Turkey)
by Chiara Natali 26 Feb '25

26 Feb '25

[apologies for cross posting] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The 3rd World Conference on eXplainable Artificial Intelligence 09-11 July, 2025 - Istanbul, Turkey https://xaiworldconference.com/2025/ Call for Papers for Special Track on Explainable and Interactive Hybrid Decision Making: https://xaiworldconference.com/2025/explainable-and-interactive-hybrid-deci… ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This special track explores human-AI interaction in explainable AI (XAI) by integrating traditional XAI techniques with external knowledge sources. It focuses on hybrid human-AI decision-making, leveraging human expertise—intuition, ethics, and context—with AI’s data processing and predictive capabilities. The track emphasizes systems that provide accurate predictions and contextually meaningful explanations tailored to diverse users. These systems combine structured knowledge bases for consistency, unstructured data for adaptability, and multidisciplinary approaches for user-centric design. Addressing challenges in data integration, context awareness, and explanation personalization, the track highlights how explainable hybrid systems enhance decision quality, foster trust, and ensure ethical accountability. Submissions should present innovative methods that explain both “how” decisions are made and “why” they matter, promoting transparent and collaborative human-AI interaction. Topics of Interest • Frameworks and techniques for human-AI interaction and hybrid systems, including counterfactual reasoning and example-based explanations. • Explaining complex decision chains in Human-xAI hybrid systems (e.g., behavioural and psychometric analysis of users) • Knowledge-injected explanations (e.g., domain-specific and actionable explanations through ontologies) • Strategies for increasing user trust (e.g., confidence interval visualizations, uncertainty heatmaps) • Case studies, applications and challenges for Explainable hybrid systems in critical sectors • Post-hoc eXplanation techniques for Learning-to-Defer systems • Interpretable models for Learning-to-Defer approaches to build Human-AI teams • Explainable Learning-to-Reject and selective classification • Formal methods for verifiable hybrid decision systems (e.g., symbolic reasoning, and decision boundary visualizations) • Bias mitigation in hybrid decision systems (e.g., counterfactual fairness analysis, fairness-aware optimization of explanations) • Explainable Active Learning (e.g., feedback-driven iterative refinement of decision boundaries) • eXplainability-based Interactive Learning Algorithms (e.g., interactive counterfactual scenarios). • Novel methods for Causal Evaluation of Explanation Effects in human-AI interaction • Explanations for Continual Learning settings with Human-in-the-loop • Uncertainty-Aware Explanation methods and Uncertainty Quantification (including novel visualization techniques) • Customizable, Interactive and Adaptive User-driven eXplanations • Cognitive and Behavioural Foundations of eXplainable AI • Empirical user studies on eXplanations for human-AI collaboration (e.g., trust assessments, cognitive load analysis) • Evaluation metrics for explainability in hybrid decision-making (e.g., understandability scores, usability, evaluating automation bias) • Ethical, legal, societal implications of eXplainable hybrid decision-making (e.g., novel Algorithmic Impact Assessment strategies) Submission Guidelines Submitted manuscripts must be novel and not substantially duplicate existing work. Manuscripts must be written using Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) in the format provided here. Latex and word files are admitted; however, the former is preferred. All submissions and reviews will be handled electronically. The conference has a no dual submission policy, so submitted manuscripts must not be currently under review at another publication venue. Works can be submitted here Important Dates Article upload deadline on submission platform (easy-chair)*: February, 28, 2025 Paper bidding for reviewers March 1-3, 2025 Notification of acceptance*: March, 19, 025 Registration (payment) and camera-ready* (upload to easy-chair): March, 26, 2025

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Visual Cultures Spring Term Public Programme: 'Race and/as Technology, ' February 27th-March 27th
by Scott Wark 26 Feb '25

26 Feb '25

*Visual Cultures Spring Public Programme: Race and/as Technology* You are cordially invited to attend Goldsmiths’ Department of Visual Cultures’ Spring Term Public Programme, a series of lectures organised around the theme ‘Race and/as Technology.’ All lectures are free and open to all, with no need to register, and take place *Thursdays, 5pm – 7pm, Professor Stuart Hall Building, Room LG01, Goldsmiths, University of London*. The series has been running for 4 weeks, with prior events including a screening of *Geomancer *by Lawrence Lek (2017) and lectures by Scott Wark (Goldsmiths), Aleena Chia (Goldsmiths), and Brett Zehner (Exeter). It continues Thursdays from *February 27th – March 27th with *lectures by Eunsong Kim (Northeastern; online), Ramon Amaro (Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam); Beryl Pong (Cambridge), Derica Shields (writer and editor), and Maya Indira Ganesh (Cambridge) and Thao Phan (Australian National University). Please see below for a description of the series’ rationale and abstracts for upcoming lectures. For more information, please get in touch with the series organiser, *Scott Wark* (s.wark(a)gold.ac.uk) *Series Overview* In 2013, the media theorist Wendy H. K Chung published an essay entitled ‘Race and/as Technology, or, How to do Things with Race.’ The premise of this provocative essay was to (re)conceptualise race as something that is external to racialized subjects; something, as she puts it, that is *done* to subjects and something that they can *do*. Using Chun’s proposition as a guiding thread, Visual Cultures’ Spring 2025 Public Programme interrogates the intersections, conflicts, confluences and divergences of race and technology when these two terms are thought *and/as*. How are the impacts of technical ‘innovation’ and ‘disruption’ unequally experienced by racialized subjects? What new geographies of racialized inclusion/exclusion are drawn by such technologies? Do digital technologies offer opportunities for liberation from racial oppression, or increase racialised discrimination? How does race intersect with modes of capital accumulation aided by technological ‘progress? And finally – to push this logic to its limit – what happens to ‘race’ itself, as experience but also as concept, as identity markers such as race are increasingly dissolved into data and subject to AI techniques? *February 27th, 2025: *Found / Property: Museums, Race and the Making of Labor Divisions, Eunsong Kim [online] This talk will be informed by *The Politics of Collecting: Race & the Aestheticization of Property* (Duke University Press 2024). This book materializes the histories of immaterialism by examining the rise of US museums, avant-garde forms, digitization, and neoliberal aesthetics, to consider how race and property become foundational to modern artistic institutions. *Eunsong Kim* is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Northeastern University. Her practice spans: poetics, literary studies, and translation. She is the author of *gospel of regicide*, published by Noemi Press in 2017, and with Sung Gi Kim she translated Kim Eon Hee’s poetic text *Have You Been Feeling Blue These Days?* published in 2019. Her monograph, *The Politics of Collecting: Race & the Aestheticization of Property* (Duke University Press 2024) materializes the histories of immaterialism by examining the rise of US museums, avant-garde forms, digitization, and neoliberal aesthetics, to consider how race and property become foundational to modern artistic institutions. She is the recipient of the Ford Foundation Fellowship, a grant from the Andy Warhol Art Writers Program, and Yale’s Poynter Fellowship. In 2021 she co-founded offshoot, an arts space for transnational activist conversations. *March 6th, 2025: *The ascent, the exploration, and a more general mythology on techno-elitism and engineering, Ramon Amaro This talk ends by considering notions of the contemporary human condition, or more so what to do with and about the fanatic discipline of technical engineering, at the hands of which we find ourselves stuck within the problem of a techno-humanist society led by Silicon elites, and the general misunderstanding of the role of technique within the current neotenic development of the human species. That is to say, my exploration emerges out of the urgency to place a new frame of meaning onto the exchange between solutionism, engineering, and environment, as presently situated within a world given to us as phenomena to experience rather than dominate. I argue that an awareness of this mode of existence must be thought through at the level of the vital in understanding the association between the technical milieu and practices of socio-technical manipulation and control. Here, I question how technicism plays a central role in culture-specific individual psychic and collective realities, and how these realities seek to compensate for the alienating results of techno-social being. Our discussion, nonetheless, begins with the story of a prince, a slave ship, and a Portuguese book seller before moving through a historical view of the engineer as ceremonial being and catalyst of new world orders. *Dr. Ramon Amaro* is Senior Researcher for Digital Culture and Lead Curator at -1 <https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnieuweins…>, an experimental testing ground for new tools, methods and public uses of digital culture at Nieuwe Instituut, the national museum and institute for architecture, design and digital culture in The Netherlands. His writings, research and artistic practice emerge at the intersections of Black Study, digital culture, psychosocial study, and the critique of computational reason. Ramon holds a BSe in Mechanical Engineering, an MA in Sociology and a PhD in Philosophy of Technology. Before joining Nieuwe Instituut, Ramon worked as Lecturer in Art and Visual Cultures of the Global South at UCL , Lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, Engineering Program Manager at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Quality Design Engineer at General Motors Corporation. His recent book, *The Black Technical Object: On Machine Learning and the Aspiration of Black Being* contemplates the abstruse nature of programming and mathematics, and the deep incursion of racial hierarchy, to inspire alternative approaches to contemporary algorithmic practice. *March 13th, 2025: *Volumetric Mediations: Atmospheres of Crisis and Unbelonging in Humanitarian Drone Documentaries, Beryl Pong This talk takes as its starting point the argument made during the first wave of critical drone studies, which primarily focused on drone warfare, that the drone is a ‘technology of racial distinction’ (Allinson, 2015). In this context, drones have been conceived of as atmospheric technologies that engage in ‘racialization from above’ (Feldman, 2011): that target the minoritized while rendering the Westphalian border fluid and contingent, engaging in ‘ordering without bordering’ (Agius, 2017). In this talk, I will extend and re-consider this argument for the realm of forced migration. Focusing on the use of drones at the borders, variously conceived, where migrants are delayed, contained, or rendered immobile, I ask how ‘civilian’ drone culture in the form of humanitarian drone documentaries makes visible the nexus of race, border, and atmosphere in new ways. In particular, I will explore how drone documentaries about forced migration involve ‘volumetric’ mediations that engage with three-dimensional space with complex heights and depths (Jackman and Squire, 2021). In doing so, they create spaces of vexed encounter and relationality between the seer and the seen, to present different atmospheres of migration: as crisis, from above, and as unbelonging, from below. *Beryl Pong* is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge, where she directs the Centre for Drones and Culture. She is the author of *British Literature and Culture in Second World Wartime: For the Duration* (Oxford University Press, 2020), and the co-editor of *Drone Aesthetics: War, Culture, Ecology* (Open Humanities Press, 2024). Her writing on drones and culture have appeared or are forthcoming in *Big Data & Society*, *Collateral*,* Cultural Politics, Journal of War and Culture*, and elsewhere. Her immersive installation about drone warfare, *Beware Blue Skies*, is showing at the Imperial War Museum, London until March 2025. *March 20th, 2025: *Derica Shields [title TBC] *March 27th, 2025: *Who's Represented/What's Unrepresentable: Two Lectures on AI and Race, by Maya Indira Ganesh and by Thao Phan (presenting a talk co-authored with Fabian Offert) *Maya Indira Ganesh: ‘I became a Woman of Colour in 2013’: De-centering Whiteness for Savarna-ness in thinking about technology and power.* This is a short and early conversation about re-configuring studies of AI and bias away from a positionality that centres Whiteness chiefly because it obscures the axes of power and discrimination that matter in the lived realities of the global majority. Indian Dalit, Bahujan, and Adivasi (DBA) scholars have already developed a body of work showing the intersections of caste power, discrimination, and technology. As their work, and that of new Dalit intellectuals argue, caste is not just another demographic marker to be ticked off in a bias mitigation toolkit. This is partly to do with how caste privilege and hierarchies present and are experienced. But a more compelling reason is that we are still in need of radical and speculative approaches that might flip the script by drawing attention to Savarna privilege and how power works rather than how oppression is experienced. *Thao Phan and Fabian offert: Are some things (still) unrepresentable?* “Are some things unrepresentable?” asks a 2011 essay by Alexander Galloway. It responds to a similarly titled, earlier text by the philosopher Jacques Ranciére examining the impossibility of representing political violence, with the Shoa as its anchor point. How, or how much political violence, asks Ranciére, can be represented? What visual modes, asks Galloway, can be used to represent the unrepresentable? In this talk, we examine two contemporary artistic projects that deal with this problem of representation in the age of artificial intelligence. Exhibit.ai, the first project, was conceived by the prominent Australian law firm Maurice Blackburn and focuses on the experiences of asylum seekers incarcerated in one of Australia’s infamous “offshore processing centers.” It attempts to bring ‘justice through synthesis’, to mitigate forms of political erasure by generating an artificial record using AI imagery. Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Power and Technology, 1500-2025, the second project, is a “large-scale research visualization exploring the historical and political dependence of AI on systems of exploitation in the form of a room-sized flow chart. On the surface, the two projects could not be more unlike: the first using AI image generators to create photorealistic depictions of political violence as a form of nonhuman witnessing (Richardson), the second using more-or-less traditional forms of data visualization and information aesthetics to render visible the socio-technical ‘underbelly’ of artificial intelligence. And yet, as we argue, both projects construct a highly questionable representational politics of artificial intelligence, where a tool which itself is unrepresentable for technical reasons becomes an engine of ethical and political representation. While images are today said to be “operational”, meaning that they no longer function as primarily indexical objects, AI images (arguably the most operational image) are now asked to do the representational (and profoundly political) work of exposing regimes of power, exploitation, and violence. *Maya Indira Ganesh *is Associate Director (Research Culture and Partnerships), co-director of the Narratives and Justice Program, <https://www.lcfi.ac.uk/research/programme/ai-narratives-and-justice> and a Senior Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge. From October 2021- July 2024 she was an assistant teaching professor co-directing the MSt in AI Ethics and Society <https://www.lcfi.ac.uk/education/mst/> at the university. Maya has degrees in Psychology, Media and Cultural Studies, and a DPhil in Cultural Studies. Her doctoral work took the case of the ‘ethics of autonomous driving’ to study the implications of ethical decision-making and governance by algorithmic/AI technologies for human social relations. Her monograph based on this thesis, *Auto-Correct: The Fantasies and Failures of AI, Ethics, and the Driverless Ca*r, will be available on March 10, 2025 and can be pre-ordered here <https://artezpress.artez.nl/books/auto-correct/>. Maya’s most recent project, with Louise Hickman and others, is AI in the Street <https://www.careful.industries/ai-in-the-street/overview>, a project about AI in public and AI’s marginalised and expert publics. *Thao Phan* is a feminist science and technology studies (STS) researcher who specialises in the study of gender and race in algorithmic culture. She is a Lecturer in Sociology (STS) at the Research School for Social Sciences at the Australian National University (ANU). Thao has published on topics including whiteness and the aesthetics of AI, big-data-driven techniques of racial classification, and the commercial capture of AI ethics research. She is the co-editor of the volumes An Anthropogenic Table of Elements (University of Toronto Press) and Economies of Virtue: The Circulation of 'Ethics' in AI (Institute of Network Cultures), and her writing appears in journals such as Big Data & Society, Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technosocience, Science as Culture, and Cultural Studies. She is a member of the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for the History and Philosophy of Science and is the co-founder of AusSTS—Australia’s largest network of STS scholars.

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VIDEO – Community Networks Mapping in Asia and the Pacific – Adrian Wan
by Joly MacFie 25 Feb '25

25 Feb '25

Happening at the same time this year as APRICOT, but half a continent away, the APFSD is a big deal, organized by the UN, and with many regulators in attendance, It's a prime perennial venue to push for better policies fostering community connectivity initiatives, thus ISOC's Adrian Wan steps up to the plate, backed by plenty of data. [image: ISOC LIVE] <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=9ca063d7a5f6b0c072ac7d4…> On *24 February, 2025, Adrian Wan <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=85b02662eb3dace7bd5068c…>*, Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager, Internet Society gave remarks '*Community Networks Mapping in Asia and the Pacific*' at the '*Empowering Communities: Connectivity Initiatives for Sustainable Development in the Asia-Pacific <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=51392eb02f67aba0142f301…>*' session, an associated event at the *12th Asia-Pacific Forum for Sustainable Development* <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=b6b83b5537b66e24ae58727…> in-Bangkok, Thailand. Adrian took the opportunity to present the results of a *joint APC/ISEA/ISOC study on Community-Centered Connectivity Initiatives <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=56568ab83fb9bc5aa5175a3…> *(CCCIs) in the region. *YOUTUBE <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=83bab5182aa77fc7ac4dfc9…> | TRANSCRIPT <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=45ec013a28cf078a0b9ddf9…> | SUMMARY <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=0307e8e0572834e7974b2f9…> | ARCHIVE <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=95bac0204971dcf8f8b07bb…>* *TWITTER #CommunityNetworks #AsiaPacific #CCCIs <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=5ff26a3fb2d7f76177cac78…> #APFSD #SDGs @adrianwan @SocEnt_Asia @ISOCapac @APC_News @UNESCAP @InternetSociety | MASTODON <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=4e23442b568840df9dd5397…> | BLUESKY <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=e98712e9ee74c1346984f4e…> | INSTA <http://isoc.live/?action=user_content_redirect&uuid=17220ce35040cf50a52ed52…>* *** 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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⭐ Announcing my new book - Trans Technologies! 🏳️‍⚧️ 📱 💻 🕹️ 🏳️‍⚧️ ⭐
by Oliver Haimson 25 Feb '25

25 Feb '25

Hello AoIR community, I’m excited to share that my new book *Trans Technologies* is officially published today! Use discount code PUBDAY30 at the MIT Press Bookstore <https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9780262551861> for 30% off today only. This book draws from over 100 interviews with creators of trans technology to show how technology creates new possibilities for transgender people, and how trans experiences, in turn, create new possibilities for technology. It’s the culmination of years of research, and I couldn’t be more excited to finally share it with the world. You can order it now (with the discount!), and it’s also available free open-access online. Plus, half of all author royalties will be donated to trans BIPOC organizations. I have a bunch of upcoming book events in March, April, and beyond, all listed on my website <https://oliverhaimson.com/>. The book launch event is on March 12 in Ann Arbor and on Zoom, and everyone is welcome to join <https://www.si.umich.edu/about-umsi/events/trans-technologies-book-launch-e…> ! Thank you so much for your support! Oliver *praise for Trans Technologies:* "In this celebration of creativity, Haimson explores how marginalized communities develop technologies of mutual support and joyous affirmation." - Sandy Stone, founder of transgender studies, author of *The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age* "A powerful and accessible analysis of trans media production through a vulnerable ethic of care. Haimson beautifully shows how trans people navigate troubled layers of accessing, creating, making, and archiving digital worlds, platforms, and technical infrastructures." - Kishonna Gray, author of *Intersectional Tech: Black Users in Digital Gaming*, Professor of Racial Justice and Technology at University of Michigan "In this fascinating and timely book, Haimson sheds light on the untold stories of trans tech creators, challenging our understanding of what technology can—and should—be. Trans Technologies is an essential read for anyone committed to building a more inclusive and just tech future. - Taylor Lorenz, bestselling author of *Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet* "Expertly written and with a deep commitment to trans care, Dr. Haimson's immersive book presents an incredible survey of what trans technologies are and how trans people are experts at making and remaking worlds that work for us. An absolute must-read for anyone that cares about technology and trans liberation." - Alex Hanna, coauthor of *The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want* -- Oliver Haimson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor University of Michigan | School of Information oliverhaimson.com

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CfP // 12th Int. Conference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2025)
by Aal, Konstantin 25 Feb '25

25 Feb '25

*** apologies for cross-posting *** The 12th International Conference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2025), to be held at the University of Siegen, Germany from July 26-30, 2025, cordially invites you to submit research papers, case studies, workshop proposals, posters, demos, panels/symposia, community events and doctoral research plans for potential presentation or facilitation at the conference! The biennial International Conference on Communities & Technologies (C&T) is the premier international forum for stimulating debate and disseminating research on the complex connections between communities – in their multiple forms – and information and communication technologies. C&T is brought to you by EUSSET, the European Society for Socially Embedded Systems, who also brings you ECSCW. We welcome researchers, designers, educators, industry, practitioners, and students from the many disciplines and perspectives bearing on the interaction between community and technology. The theme of C&T 2025 is “Approaching the Future, Embracing the Past” Papers and proposals are accepted from a variety of relevant perspectives including technology, philosophy, social sciences, policy, design, business, activism, health-care, industry, art, the humanities, and so on. Examples of relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the following: * Diverse communities and their relationships to technology; urban and rural, migrants, refugees, indigenous peoples, LGBTQ, activists and social movements, low-income communities, alt-right and hate groups; the developing world and non-Western societies; professional communities, communities of practice, research communities; * Bottom-up movements, grassroots developments, civic activism, community engagement, participatory publics, communities and innovation; ethics, power and social justice issues; perspectives on the spread of technology and its impact on different societies; Learning from historical grassroots movements to democratize access to technology and knowledge. * Classical Design Principles in Modern Technology: Applying traditional design methodologies to enhance user experience and accessibility in digital products. Resilient Systems and Adaptive Strategies: Learning from historical technological failures to build resilient and adaptable future systems. * Crowdfunding, collective and civic intelligence, community learning, early warning systems, collective awareness, collaborative awareness platforms; social cognition; community emotion; happiness; historical memory; * Community owned and operated technology, peer production and the commons, DIY and maker communities (makerspaces, fablabs, crafters); community agriculture; How indigenous and local knowledge can contribute to contemporary technological innovations. * Civic problem-solving, communities in relation to urgent and complex challenges to the health of the planet and the people that inhabit it; collaborative systems; partnering with education; government, civil society, and movements; resilience and rebuilding in the face of technological or societal disruption; * Support of community processes: sensemaking, online deliberation; issue, argumentation and discussion mapping; community ideation and idea management systems; collective decision-making; group memory; participatory sensory networks; * The future of communities and technology; simulations, utopian or dystopian design; durable relationships and long-range goals; and * Development and support of the Communities & Technologies community; social and technological critique; effectiveness and other measures. * Exploring the role of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality in enhancing learning, collaboration, and community experiences across various domains. * Investigating how technology supports healthcare accessibility, rehabilitation, and improved quality of life for individuals with diverse needs. * Examining the impact of robotics in society, from automation and smart systems to ethical considerations and human-centered applications. * Understanding how humans and robots collaborate, communicate, and coexist in workplaces, homes, and public spaces. * Analyzing how collaborative technologies and learning frameworks drive innovation, skill development, and knowledge-sharing in industrial settings. Deadlines * Papers (full and short) * March 14, 2025 (23:59 AoE), paper submissions due * Workshops * May 09, 2025 (23:59 AoE), workshop proposals due * Case studies * May 09, 2025 (23:59 AoE), case studies due * Doctoral colloquium * April 25, 2025 (23:59 AoE), Doctoral Colloquium applications due * Posters/demos * May 09, 2025 (23:59 AoE), posters/demos due * Community Events * May 09, 2025 (23:59 AoE), posters/demos due * EUSSET Grant for student and community organizations to attend C&T 2025 * May 30, 2025 (23:59 AoE), applications due * Student Volunteers * April 25, 2025, applications due * Early-Bird Registration * June 15, 2025, early-bird registration ends For further details, see https://comtech.community/ General Chairs Konstantin Aal, University of Siegen David Unbehaun, Clausthal University of Technology -- Dr. Konstantin Aal PostDoc and Team Leader “Community and Activism” pronouns: he/him/his I support flexible work arrangements and do not expect you to reply outside your agreed working hours. Information Systems and New Media SFB 1187 "Medien der Kooperation" University of Siegen Kohlbettstr. 15, 57072 Siegen Raum. US-E-102 Tel. +49 (0)271 / 740 3383 Mob. +49 (0)176 / 30 780 007 http://www.uni-siegen.de/fb5/wirtschaftsinformatik/index.html.en?lang=en https://scholar.kosta.phd

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Special Issue Published: TikTok-Music-Cultures in Musicologica Austriaca
by Juan Bermudez 25 Feb '25

25 Feb '25

Dear colleagues, (Apologies for cross-posting!) I am delighted to announce that the special issue I edited, TikTok-Music-Cultures: Perspectives on the Study of Musicking Practices On & Through TikTok, has been published in Musicologica Austriaca – Journal for Austrian Music Studies (MusAu). Full Issue: https://musau.publia.org/musau/issue/view/2 Table of Contents * Introduction: TikTok-Music-Cultures – Juan Bermúdez (https://musau.publia.org/musau/issue/view/2/1) * Ethnographing TikTok—Toward an E3thnomusicological Approach to a Multimedia Musicking – Juan Bermúdez (https://musau.publia.org/musau/article/view/16/4) * #TikTokActivism: Music and Sounds in Political Content – Tessa Balser-Schuhmann, Nicole Kiruka (https://musau.publia.org/musau/article/view/18/5) * Political Performances: TikTok’s Sonic Influence on Affective Activist Expression – Emma C. Schrott (https://musau.publia.org/musau/article/view/20/6) * Rap al Caudillo Trend: TikTok’s Queer Subversion of Spanish National Imagery – Paula Aguilera Martínez (https://musau.publia.org/musau/article/view/22/7) * Old Clichés or a Transforming Community? Early Music Interpreters on TikTok: Identity and Communication Strategies – David Merlin (https://musau.publia.org/musau/article/view/19/8) * “Fly Me to the Moon”: Jazz on TikTok – Benjamin Burkhart (https://musau.publia.org/musau/article/view/17/9) * Similarities and Divergences between Music Production and TikTok in the Memes Era – Mattia Zanotti (https://musau.publia.org/musau/article/view/21/10) Have fun reading it! Best wishes, Juan Bermúdez ——————————————— Dr. Juan Bermúdez He / him / his Senior Scientist Institut für Ethnomusikologie Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz Academia<https://kug.academia.edu/JuanBerm%C3%BAdez> / ResearchGate<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Juan-Bermudez-7> Recently published: J. Bermúdez (2025). Musicking TikTok: A Musical Ethnography from a Glocal Austrian Context<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385255930_Musicking_TikTok_A_Music…> (=New Approaches to Sound, Music, and Media 15). New York: Bloomsbury. J. Bermúdez (Ed.) (2025). "TikTok-Music-Cultures. Perspectives on the Study of Musicking Practices On & Through TikTok<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389194585_TikTok-Music-Cultures_Pe…>," Special Issue, Musicologica Austriaca - Journal for Austrian Music Studies. J. Bermúdez (2025). "Ethnographing TikTok: Toward an E3thnomusicological Approach to a Multimedia Musicking<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389186853_Ethnographing_TikTok_Tow…>,” Musicologica Austriaca - Journal for Austrian Music Studies, 8-32. J. Bermúdez (2023). "Performing Beyond the Platform – Experiencing Musicking On and Through YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373879386_Performing_Beyond_the_Pl…>,“ In Remediating Sound: Repeatable Culture, YouTube and Music. Ed. by Holly Rogers, Joana Freitas and João Francisco Porfirio. London: Bloomsbury, 187–202.

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CFP: NMWP Unconference Deadline EXTENDED 15 March
by Lyle Skains 25 Feb '25

25 Feb '25

New Media Writing Prize Unconference ________________________________ 13-14 May 2025 – 100% Virtual (Zoom) You are cordially invited to contribute to our third annual New Media Writing Prize Unconference. This two-day creative and critical participant-directed Unconference is hosted by Bournemouth University<http://bournemouth.ac.uk> (UK) in partnership with the Electronic Literature Organization<https://eliterature.org/> and the British Library<https://www.bl.uk>. The Unconference will culminate in the awards evening for the New Media Writing Prize on 14 May 2025. Please see https://newmediawritingprize.co.uk/unconference/ for the full call for proposals and a link to submit your proposal. Deadline: 25 February EXTENDED to 15 March 2025 Unconference Theme: Collaboration This year’s theme explores the intersections of digital collaboration, inclusivity, and creative innovation. How can we work together across disciplines and geographies to shape the future of digital media? We encourage proposals that address these questions through practical, hands-on activities and engaging discussions. We encourage submissions that align with the collaborative, hands-on spirit of the Unconference. We are particularly interested in proposals for activities that emphasize participation, creativity, and discussion. Examples of activities include: * Live Co-Creation: Collaborative storytelling, netprovs, or group design challenges. * Hack-a-Thon / Write-a-Thon: Thematic challenges that result in co-created outputs. * Peer-Led Clinics: Hands-on sessions using accessible tools like Twine, GitHub, or creative software. * Creative Networking Sessions: Innovative ways to connect participants (e.g., collaboration speed-dating). * Dialogues in Digital Practice: Lightning talks based in a panel’s research or practice followed by facilitated discussion and creative responses. * Thematic Breakouts: Discussions or activities exploring subthemes like accessibility or sustainability. * Quickfire Interludes: Quick creative exercises (e.g., collaborative poems, brainstorming). Researchers could also use these for data collection — try things out on us! * …and anything else you can think of! Please note we’ll be limiting single-presenter presentations to 7 minutes or less. This includes artists’ talks. Proposal submission deadline: 25 February EXTENDED to 15 March 2025, Midnight UTC. Please see https://newmediawritingprize.co.uk/unconference/ for the full call for proposals and a link to submit your proposal. ________________________________ BU is a Disability Confident Employer and has signed up to the Mindful Employer charter. Information about the accessibility of University buildings can be found on the BU AccessAble webpages. This email is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential information. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this email, which must not be copied, distributed or disclosed to any other person. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Bournemouth University or its subsidiary companies. Nor can any contract be formed on behalf of the University or its subsidiary companies via email.

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