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

Extended call for chapters: Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the age of social media
by Dr. Chiluwa 13 Mar '25

13 Mar '25

Sequel to our book project on the discursive construction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (CUP) earlier advertised, we now ask for *Two to Three* more chapters on the broad topic: *The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in the Age of Social Media* (under consideration by Wiley-Blackwell). We specifically ask for chapters on: - Disinformation, deepfakes, and AI-generated images in the Israeli-Hamas Wars - Algorithmic bias in social media platforms—how algorithms magnify divisive/misleading information - Hashtag activism in the construction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Quantitative/qualitative discourse (or content) analysis is required. Kindly send your abstract before *March 28, 2025* Full Chapter: *May 31, 2025* (might be extended) to: *Innocent Chiluwa* Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK ichiluwa(a)gmail.com / ic3000(a)hw.ac.uk -- Professor in Language, Media & Communication Studies Publications: Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iXHpEcUAAAAJ&hl=en Website: https://ichiluwa.com

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University of Manchester is hiring a senior colleague as Professor of Urban Development
by Michelle Gardner 13 Mar '25

13 Mar '25

Dear all, The University of Manchester seeks to appoint a senior colleague as Professor of Urban Development or Professor of Practice in Urban Development on a permanent contract within the Global Development Institute (GDI). We envisage that the role can be undertaken by either (a) a senior academic with extensive experience of working with policy actors and practitioners on urban development, who would be appointed as a Professor of Urban Development or (b) someone with extensive operational experience in urban development policy and practice who has a strong research profile and grasp of current debates in the field; this includes candidates who have worked for non-governmental organisations, international aid agencies, and research-based civil society organisations. This second type of candidate would be appointed as Professor of Practice in Urban Development. Professors of Practice at the University of Manchester are usually senior practitioners who can add significant value to a range of research and teaching activities. There is only one position available. The new appointee will take up the leadership of the major African Cities Research Consortium<http://african-cities.org/>, which is funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). This means that candidates must demonstrate strategic leadership experience at a senior level. Additional information available here: https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=31734 Please share with your networks.

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New Issue (23.1) of Orbis Linguarum (Ezikov svyat)
by Bilyana Todorova 13 Mar '25

13 Mar '25

Dear Colleagues, The new issue (23.1) of the free-access and free-of-charge academic journal Ezikov svyat - Orbis Linguarum (ISSN 1312-0484 / eISSN 2603-4026) is out. It contains 20 manuscripts from the field of linguistics, literary studies, media studies, and cultural studies in English (11), Bulgarian (7), Ukrainian (1), and French (1). You may read the texts here: https://ezikovsvyat.swu.bg/index.php/en/current-issue All the best, Bilyana Assoc. Prof. Bilyana Todorova, PhD Department of Bulgarian language, South-West University, Bulgaria https://iowdictionary.org/ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bilyana-Todorova http://ais.swu.bg/profile/bilyanatodorova

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CfP (EN & FR): Untangling the knots between disinformation and inequalities
by Nadia Tjahja 13 Mar '25

13 Mar '25

Dear all, A whole area of media and communication research investigates how different inequalities shape, and are shaped by, the production, the circulation, the reception and the effects of news and other kinds of information (e.g. Le Cam et al., 2023; Skarsbø Lindtner et al., 2024). This bilingual (English and French) special issue in Recherches en communication aims to develop such lines of enquiry within the field of disinformation research. Inequalities are only partially or marginally addressed in academic research and public discourse on disinformation (Kuo & Marwick, 2021; Nieminen, 2024). This special issue aims to deepen our understanding of the multiple intersections between disinformation and inequalities. This special issue is an initiative of EDMO BELUX 2.0, a multidisciplinary hub that brings together academics, fact-checkers, disinformation analysts, and media literacy organizations to monitor, analyze and contribute to the mitigation of disinformation in Belgium and Luxembourg (https://belux.edmo.eu) EDMO BELUX 2.0 is one of the 14 national or regional hubs being coordinated by EDMO.eu, the European Digital Media Observatory (https://edmo.eu<https://edmo.eu/>). Proposals may be submitted in English or French. We particularly encourage proposals that take Belgium and/or Luxembourg as fields of study but any proposal in line with the issue’s topic is welcome, regardless of the geographical scope. Proposals may be programmatic, theoretical, methodological or empirical, and may be rooted in any of the approaches and methodologies in media and communication research. Proposals are invited to follow one or more of the three research avenues outlined: disinformation as a source of inequalities, disinformation as an outcome of inequalities, and inequalities in the mitigation of disinformation. More information is available here: https://ojs.uclouvain.be/index.php/rec/announcement/view/1233 Interested authors are invited to submit an abstract of 750 words all-inclusive by 6 April 2025. Kind regards, Ms Nadia Tjahja Vrije Universiteit Brussel | Brussels School of Governance | Adjunct Professor & Researcher https://brussels-school.be/research/digitalisation-democracy-and-innovation United Nations University – CRIS | Co-Coordinator of the Digital Governance Cluster www.cris.unu.edu<http://www.cris.unu.edu/> YOUthDIG Coordinator, European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG)<https://www.eurodig.org/> European Regional Editor, Policy & Internet Journal (P&I<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19442866>)

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CFP Reminder: Murmurations in Avian Technoscience
by maya livio 12 Mar '25

12 Mar '25

CALL FOR PAPERS Murmurations in Avian Technoscience A Special Section of Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience GUEST EDITORS: Maya Livio (American University) Pamela Perrimon (University of Southern California) Hamsini Sridharan (University of Southern California) DEADLINE: March 31, 2025 https://catalystjournal.org/index.php/catalyst/announcement/view/976 Birds have long been subjected to technological collection from shotguns to mist nets, cameras to algorithms. They have also been made into tools of data gathering themselves, as canary sensors in coal mines, pigeon messengers, and aerial photographers. Ornithology, one of the oldest organized scientific disciplines, centers on bird data that extends from specimen bodies to digital repositories. Across these sites of bird/technology encounter, power is surfaced—to identify, to count, to kill, to conserve—raising questions around classification, control, and the logics of capture. Nonhuman animals such as birds have offered invaluable perspectives to feminist STS scholarship. As early as the nineteenth century, feminist and more-than-human concerns have been brought into dialogue regarding the treatment of women and nonhuman animals by science (Adams and Donovan 1995, 34-35). More recently, feminist STS scholars such as Lynda Birke have emphasized the stakes for separating the study of human and more-than-human animals as leading to “a fragmented knowledge” that limits understandings of concepts like gender (Birke 2010, 341). “Feminist politics,” Birke calls to action, “stands to gain by a more sustained examination of concepts of species—how we use them, what purposes they serve, how they are sustained by material practices” (Birke 2010, 346). Similarly, Yuka Suzuki demonstrates the urgency of more-than-human study for addressing racialized oppression, reminding us that the maintenance of the human-animal boundary “render[s] certain groups of humans more beastly and other types of animals more human” (Suzuki 2017, 109). Nonhuman beings like birds therefore direct our attention to the processes, technologies, and injustices of categorization (of race, of gender, of species, etc.), as well as to the relational webs that bind human and nonhuman together. Jody Berland observes that “of all species, birds are the most common mediators between people and wildlife” (2019, 178). It is not surprising, then, that birds in particular are present in recent STS explorations in what could be called “avian technoscience.” Etienne Benson (2017), for example, examines the historical community science practices of bird banding, while Frédéric Keck (2020) maps the circulation of flu viruses in cross-species interactions between humans and birds. Feminist avian technoscience, more specifically, has engaged with the questions surfaced by birds around areas such as knowledge hierarchies, care, and materiality. Vinciane Despret, reflecting on her nighttime encounter with a blackbird, considers how scientific accounts of the avian may open or foreclose birdy possibilities: “There are explanations which end up multiplying worlds and celebrating the emergence of an infinite number of modes of existence,” she writes, “and others which seek to impose order, bringing them back to a few basic principles” (2021, 6). Selen Eren and Anne Beaulieu (2023), meanwhile, draw attention to the “intermittent care” between researchers and black-tailed godwits, examining how ecologists oscillate between caring for individual bird welfare and caring for the species as a whole through data collection. And following a tissue sample taken from a bird carcass on its journey through a natural history museum, Adrian Van Allen (2020) examines how the material practices of preserving birds as specimens and data sustain dominant standardizations of nature. Linking this work back to human-centered feminist thought, Maya Livio (2023) brings a queer ecological lens to the study of avian data. Noting the male and heterosexual biases in scientific and cultural bird datasets—where female, intersex, and queer birds are largely absent or misclassified—Livio highlights the power of avian science to naturalize normative assumptions of sex and sexuality for all species, including humans. Nicholas Mirzoeff (2022) unpacks ornithology as “a white way of seeing,” (123) reflecting on the racist and settler colonial histories of birding and its technologies of capture in the wake of the 2020 Central Park birdwatching incident. And Sunaura Taylor (2017) calls attention to the disabling effects of the technologies of forced egg production on the bodies of battery hens. She argues that by refusing to acknowledge disability in nonhuman animals, humans sustain the human/nonhuman divide at the expense of recognition of mutually resonant vulnerabilities that could lead to collective liberation. Taylor asks, “if humans can share this sort of vulnerability with nonhuman animals, what else might we share?” (31). This question only becomes more salient in the face of escalating environmental crises. In this special issue, we call for a motley flock of research and practice-based approaches to the avian-machine interface. We invite birders, that is, those who notice avian relations, to explore how birds enter, become, confound, or mutate technology (expansively defined). We seek to engage in how the stuff of birds—their beaks, bones, and feathers—is datafied, mechanized, and digitized. We are also interested in constellations in flight that reflect on avian boundaries and breakdowns as they intersect gendered, queer, crip, raced, classed, and anticolonial questions, highlighting what may otherwise go unremarked when birds become a passive thing to ‘think with.’ Submissions might include engagement with avian technoscience as it relates to: - Birds becoming technology (e.g. data, models, maps, sensors, sentinels, as well as Indigenous and non-Western approaches to technology) and how, for example, these may reinforce or challenge dominant modes of knowledge production - Technology becoming avian (e.g. biomimicry, or the use of bird bodies and behaviors as technological reference points) as, for instance, instrumentalized for military tech development - Technologies of ornithological study (e.g. bird banding/ringing, radar, passive acoustic monitoring, 3D scanning, machine learning) and, for example, their relationship to the colonial logics of capture - Technologies of managing avian life and death (e.g. technologies for conservation, de-extinction, bird breeding, reproduction, and response to avian zoonoses) and how, for instance, they instantiate control of sex, gender, and sexuality - Contact zones between birds and technological infrastructures (e.g. interactions between birds and cell towers, energy infrastructures, etc.) as related to environmental and multispecies justice concerns, for example - The link between birds and technologies of surveillance (e.g. drones, birdfeeder cams, and nest cams) and, for instance, what they surface about racialized hypervisibility and invisibility - Bird taxonomy and classification technologies, and, for example, how they reinforce hegemonic categorization - Community science platforms and other collective modes of bird tracking, including, for instance, their exclusions of marginalized peoples and the consequences of those exclusions for birds - And creative approaches to imaging, sounding, or sensemaking of birds through media and computation technologies relating to any of the above We welcome diverse submission formats including writing (scholarly, creative, interviews, reviews, and more); creative research/research-creation; visual, moving image, and sonic artworks; media rich essays; and other innovative approaches. Interdisciplinary research is particularly encouraged. To be considered for inclusion in this themed section, please send an abstract or proposal (300-500 words) and a short bio (max 250 words) to Maya Livio (livio(a)american.edu) Pamela Perrimon (perrimon(a)usc.edu) and Hamsini Sridharan (hamsinis(a)usc.edu) with “Murmurations” in the subject line by March 31, 2025. Full papers and projects should adhere to the Catalyst author guidelines <https://catalystjournal.org/index.php/catalyst/style-guidelines>. Selected papers and projects will be invited to submit fully developed submissions. -- *Maya Livio, PhD* Assistant Professor of Climate, Environmental Justice, Media & Communication *| *American University

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Fwd: Join Us for Two Critical Discussions on Social Media, Law, and Policy
by Leticia Bode 12 Mar '25

12 Mar '25

Hi all, Below see two events next week (both hybrid) by KGI (Knight-Georgetown Institute) - one on product liability claims against digital platforms, and the second about the changing social media landscape. They both have a superstar lineup, hope you can join us! See below for more information and to register. ~Leticia (KGI research director) ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Knight-Georgetown Institute < kgi-admin.georgetown.edu(a)1a119c.clients.bmsend.com> Date: Wed, Mar 5, 2025 at 2:11 PM Subject: Join Us for Two Critical Discussions on Social Media, Law, and Policy To: Leticia Bode <lb871(a)georgetown.edu> Dear colleague, The landscape of social media is rapidly changing, with new legal challenges and shifting platform dynamics shaping the way we engage online. Join us for two timely discussions hosted by the Knight-Georgetown Institute (KGI) <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=12354925&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>, where leading experts will explore platform accountability, emerging litigation, and our evolving digital ecosystem*.* Event #1: The Rise of Consumer Protection and Product Liability Claims Against Digital Platforms 📅 March 18, 2025 | ⏰ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM 📍 500 1st St NW, Washington, DC & Online *Organized by KGI and Georgetown's Institute for Technology Law & Policy* REGISTER HERE <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=123559C3&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…> In recent years, courts have increasingly considered digital platform liability, allowing several consumer protection and product liability claims against social media companies to proceed. This panel will explore how courts are considering claims related to platform design elements—including recommender systems, extended use designs, and privacy defaults—and what the future of litigation may hold. Moderator: Peter Chapman <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=1235514B&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>, KGI Speakers: - Meetali Jain <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=1235514C&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>, Tech Justice Law Project - Meg Leta Jones <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=1235514D&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>, Georgetown Communication, Culture, & Technology program - Matthew Lawrence <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=1235514E&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>, Emory Law <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=1235514F&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…> - S. Bryn Austin <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=1235514F&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Event #2: Reckoning with the Evolving Social Media Landscape 📅 March 19, 2025 | ⏰ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM 📍 Leavey Center Program Room, 1560 Tondorf Rd NW, Washington, DC & Online *Organized by KGI* REGISTER HERE <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=12353A39&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…> >From TikTok’s explosive growth to Bluesky’s rise and Twitter’s transformation, the past five years have fundamentally changed the social media ecosystem. Once dominated by large platforms, digital spaces are now smaller, more segmented, and politically aligned. What does this mean for users, policymakers, and opportunities for governance? How will technology and regulation adapt to an increasingly divided digital world? Moderator: Zander Arnao <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=1235529F&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>, KGI Speakers: - Renée DiResta <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=123552A0&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>, Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy - Samantha Lai <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=123552A1&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - Prithvi Iyer <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=123552A2&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>, Tech Policy Press Don’t miss these essential conversations on how legal and technological shifts are shaping the future of digital platforms. *🔗 **Register now* <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=12354925&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…>* and be part of the discussion!* Sincerely, KGI <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=1235396E&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…> kgi.georgetown.edu <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=1235396E&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…> <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=1235396F&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…> <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=12353970&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…> <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=12353971&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…> <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=12353972&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…> Not yet subscribed to our emails? Subscribe here <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/l?u=12353973&e=197EC90&c=1A119C&&t=0&l=12…> . Questions? Email us <knightgeorgetown(a)georgetown.edu>. View this email in your browser <https://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/v?e=197EC90&c=1A119C&t=0&l=1244ADA58&emai…> 500 1st St NW, Washington, DC, 20001 [image: Unsubscribe from all mailings] Unsubscribe <http://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/su?e=197EC90&c=1A119C&t=0&l=1244ADA58&emai…> | Manage Subscription <http://clt1708444.benchurl.com/c/s?e=197EC90&c=1A119C&t=0&l=1244ADA58&email…> <https://www.benchmarkemail.com?p=500289>

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Survey on Vetted Researcher Data Access
by Kirsty Park 12 Mar '25

12 Mar '25

Dear AoIR community, I'm a former academic and past AoIR member, now working on researcher data access under the Digital Services Act (DSA) as part of Coimisiún na Meán, the Digital Services Coordinator for Ireland. Under Article 40 of the DSA, researchers will be able to access non-public data from Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) to study systemic risks in the EU, pending the publication of a Delegated Act from the European Commission. Coimisiún na Meán is responsible for awarding vetted researcher status and facilitating data access requests for VLOPs and VLOSEs established in Ireland. We are working with Digital Services Coordinators across the EU as well as the European Commission to ensure a harmonised and effective process. To support this, we are conducting a survey to understand researchers’ needs, readiness, and any barriers you may face when applying for vetted researcher access. Your input will help shape the design and resourcing of the vetted researcher processes, ensuring they are fit for purpose. Aggregated results will be shared publicly in the coming months as a resource for all stakeholders working in this area. The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete, and you can opt in to receive updates on our data access work. The survey closes on Wednesday, 26 March. If you work with any kind of platform data or are interested in applying for vetted researcher access, we would greatly appreciate your insights. Please also consider sharing this survey within your networks to help us reach as many researchers as possible. More information and survey link: Vetted Researcher Data Access - Coimisiún na Meán <https://www.cnam.ie/industry-and-professionals/online-safety-framework/cert…> Thanks for your time and support. Kirsty Park

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Call for Papers: Influencers and Gender Politics in South East Asia symposium, due 31 March 2025.
by Annisa Beta 12 Mar '25

12 Mar '25

Call for Papers: Influencers and Gender Politics in South East Asia symposium, Friday, 9 May 2025 (Online). Applications now open, closing 31 March 2025. Organised by Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (Curtin University) and Asian Cultural Research Hub (University of Melbourne). Convenors: Dr Annisa R. Beta (University of Melbourne), Dr Hao Zheng (Curtin University), Prof Crystal Abidin (Curtin University). For more details, click here<https://ierlab.com/gender-politics/> This symposium and the resulting edited volume aim to critically examine the relationship between influencers and gender politics in South East Asia. With a particular focus on South East Asia, the symposium aims to encompass studies and discussions based in or related to eleven countries—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam—as well as the diverse migrants and diasporas in and from South East Asia, such as generations of Chinese migrants in Singapore and Malaysia and the growing population of digital nomads in Thailand and Indonesia. We welcome submissions from scholars, including graduate researchers and early-career researchers, who focus on influencers associated with, residing in, or otherwise closely connected to South East Asia. We encourage interdisciplinary work and collaborative research produced with non- academic partners. We welcome theoretical and empirical contributions on (but not limited to) the topics listed below: * Influencer-led or centred activism and advocacy related to gender politics, for e.g. #MeToo, Women Also Know Stuff, Movember * Commercialisation of gender politics among influencers, for e.g. how-to manuals for tradwives, influencer-produced courses on various parenting tips * Audience responses to and engagement with influencer’s gender discourses, for e.g. fandoms or anti-fandoms * Gendered aesthetics of influencer cultures, for e.g. storytelling, self-branding, and the spectacle of empowerment * Intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, class, religion and ability discussed, represented, speculated and demonstrated by influencers, for e.g. Muslim feminist influencers in rural areas * Localised influencer cultures and gender politics, for e.g. navigating socio-cultural and political contexts in relation to geographical locations and origins * Roles of influencers and influencer cultures in shaping gender discourses, for e.g. digital activism, online debates on gender inequality, rhetorics of male supremacy, the promotion of conventional femininity Submission Guidelines We invite submissions of extended abstracts (800-1,000 words, excluding bibliography) addressing the symposium theme. You may use any citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago, or others) you prefer, as long as it is consistent. Please also provide a bibliography. Your bibliography is not included in the extended abstract word count limit. We suggest the extended abstract to include: * a brief discussion of the context of your research and how it addresses existing research literature or practices; * the research question(s) or issue(s) to be discussed; * the key argument/main finding and a brief explanation why it is important, relevant, and interesting; * the methodological approach and/or the methods/techniques used for the research; * a short discussion of data or research materials and analysis; and * a discussion of the (preliminary) findings. The symposium conveners are currently pitching an edited volume to a leading publisher as an output of the symposium. Shortlisted presenters are expected to submit a full chapter (4-5,000 words) draft by 2 June 2025 (three weeks after the symposium) for inclusion in the volume. As such, please ensure that you submit to the symposium only if the work is original and previously unpublished, and if you are willing to be considered for the edited volume. Submit your application, including the extended abstract, via the Google Form<https://forms.gle/o62pm6RFnHS7M3BZ7> by 5pm (AEDT), 31 March 2025. Important dates: * Extended abstract submission deadline: 5pm (AEDT), 31 March 2025 * Notification of acceptance: 14 April 2025 * Symposium date: 9 May 2025 (Online) * Full chapter submission deadline: 2 June 2025 * Anticipated edited volume publication: 2026 Contact: If you have any enquiries regarding your submission, please email both Annisa R. Beta (annisa.beta [at] unimelb.edu.au) and Hao Zheng (hao.zheng [at] curtin.edu.au). Best, Annisa Annisa R. Beta | she/her/dia ARC DECRA Fellow & Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies<https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/854717-annisa-beta> School of Culture and Communication | Faculty of Arts The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 Australia annisa.beta(a)unimelb.edu.au<mailto:annisa.beta@unimelb.edu.au> I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which I work, and pay my respects to the Elders, past and present.

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Social Media and Society Speakers and Registration
by Joyojeet Pal 11 Mar '25

11 Mar '25

We are excited to invite you to the *Social Media & Society in India Symposium (SMSI 2025)* taking place on April 4-5, 2025 at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Even if you do not do work in India, take a look at the exciting list of topics, some of which speak to how social media is impacting society everywhere around the world, and it's free to view online! The conference is running in its 5th iteration and has in the past featured an unique blend of speakers, who are typically practitioners and professionals.This year's symposium brings together leading journalists, digital activists, researchers, and media professionals to explore the evolving role of social media in democracy, activism, business, and representation in India. *What to Expect* - *Panels & Talks* - The symposium will comprise of 5 sessions over two days, featuring lightning talks and moderated discussions. Day 1 (April 4) of the symposium will feature panels related to the theme of Citizenship and Democracy and Day 2 (April 5) will feature panels centred around the Social and Economic Aspects of social media platforms. - *Student Research Session* - Day 2 will also feature a session with poster presentations by student researchers on various aspects of Social Media and Society - *1:1 Office Hours and Interactions * - A chance to set up 10 minute zoom appointments with your favourite speakers at the conference - *AI & Social Media Workshop* – Day 2 will feature a workshop on “Integrating state-of-the-art AI tools in Social Media work” led by Dr. Kiran Garimella 📌 View Program Schedule & Speakers <https://joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu/program.html> *Register Now* 🔗 The conference is open for registration for both in-person and online attendees: Sign Up Here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe46Yskja8W9ZioyB0tACF4WzqriHp9LPI…> 🌐 Symposium Website <https://joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu/influencers.htm> We look forward to thought-provoking discussions and meaningful exchanges. Hope to see you in Ann Arbor! Best, Joyojeet Pal Associate Professor University of Michigan

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CFP: HICSS 59 mini-track on Digital and Social Media: Culture, Identity and Inclusion
by Filippo Trevisan 11 Mar '25

11 Mar '25

We’re delighted to announce the 10th anniversary of our HICSS mini-track on Culture, Identity and Inclusion, part of the conference track on Digital and Social Media. Our mini-track welcomes research on the intersection of digital media, different inequalities, including but not limited to work that focuses on race, culture, gender, identity, and disability, recognizing that these often intersect with one another. These issues are especially salient at a time of cultural and political backlash that threatens more inclusive technological futures. Our mini-track has a history of welcoming research from multiple fields, especially interdisciplinary work. You can read more about the mini-track here: https://hicss.hawaii.edu/tracks-59/digital-and-social-media/#culture-identi… The submission system will open on April 15 and the deadline to submit papers is June 15: https://hicss.hawaii.edu/authors/ The conference will be held on Maui on 6-9 January 2026. If you have questions about submitting your paper or would like to serve as a reviewer, please reach out to one of us: Nanette Levinson: nlevins(a)american.edu<mailto:nlevins@american.edu> Derrick Cogburn: dcogburn(a)american.edu<mailto:dcogburn@american.edu> Filippo Trevisan: trevisan(a)american.edu<mailto:trevisan@american.edu>

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