January 2026 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Craig Mundie and Tom Friedman on global AI governance - "Make a wiki"
by Joly MacFie 22 Jan '26

22 Jan '26

"So we're just collectively going to build one mechanism. And people feed in all the collective set of rules in a well-defined process, right? And basically it, you think of this as essentially a wrapper around an existing AI. So it sees the inputs and it sees the attempted outputs, and then it makes a decision as to whether it's going to permit that output. If it does, it signs it. If it doesn't, it doesn't, right? And then the world moves along. The rules are just basically, the way I think of this in very simplistic terms, is what you want to have is a giant curated wiki. And for each societal element who has basically, is a participating, call it country for starters, the country figures out for that thing who their proxies are to take their rule sets and put them in on their page of the wiki—says US rules, China rules, India rules, Europe rules, or French rules, or whatever they're right. And they don't have to negotiate with anybody, they just put them in. And all they expect is that when an AI is operating essentially in the virtual sovereign environment of that country, it applies their rules in that context. And so you've chunked this thing out into a bunch of separate activities, each engineered for purpose and then you essentially compose a system out of them." https://www.patreon.com/posts/148797684/ -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +12185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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AIces 2026 – International School on the Cognitive, Ethical & Societal Dimensions of AI
by David Silva - IRDTA 22 Jan '26

22 Jan '26

📍 Porto–Maia, Portugal | 🗓 March 30 – April 2, 2026 | 🌍 On-site & fully online AIces 2026 is a global, interdisciplinary research training school addressing AI cognition, ethics, and societal impact. The program features 10 advanced courses, 2 keynote lectures, and participant symposia, delivered by leading scholars and industry researchers from institutions such as CMU, Johns Hopkins, NVIDIA Research, KTH, Delft, and more. Topics include: Trustworthy & responsible AI Cognitive architectures and neuroscience-inspired AI Large language models and symbolic processing Algorithmic fairness, governance, and social justice AI, human values, democracy, and the future of work Who should attend: graduate students, researchers, and practitioners from AI, cognitive science, philosophy, ethics, social sciences, and policy. ✔ Full online participation available ✔ Lectures recorded (45-day access) ✔ Certificate of participation 🔗 Website & registration: https://aices.irdta.eu/2026/ ⏳ Early registration deadline: February 3, 2026

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CFP: The Landscape of Generative AI in Australia (MIA; Abstracts due 27 Feb)
by Tama Leaver 22 Jan '26

22 Jan '26

Call for Papers: The Landscape of Generative AI in Australia: A Critical Look Forward Media International Australia Generative AI first entered widespread public awareness with the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022. Since then, Large Language Models and GenAI more broadly have irreversibly changed the technology and media landscape, as these tools drive the creation of impressive novel outputs of text, images and video. After an initial flurry of excitement where GenAI and LLM’s were posited as the solution for everything from skilled labour shortages to environmental catastrophe, or conversely, the end of traditional education and learning, the very real limitations of GenAI have become apparent. ‘Testing’ and interrogating the place of these systems quickly revealed to many that while these are sophisticated tools that recombine elements using statistical likelihoods, their ‘intelligence’ owes to elegant mathematical engines rather than any kind of human-like ‘sentience.’ In order to justify the enormous investments in GenAI made by Silicon Valley, these tools have become widely embedded and integrated into everything from smartphones to social media and messaging, as well as the most widely used computer software applications. This increasing ubiquity has meant that GenAI and its effects have been felt across all industries and demographics, and as they continue to evolve, their place in contemporary media and communication require urgent attention. This proposed Feature Topic invites scholars working on the issues emerging alongside the widespread integration of Generative AI within an Australian context to contribute their work to our guest-edited feature topic in the journal Media International Australia (Sage). This thematically coherent collection will be published in the February 2027 issue of the journal. We invite researchers to explore perspectives such as: - The positioning of GenAI as sentient; - The drivers and beneficiaries of this manufactured hype; - The bias inherent in GenAI systems and the implications of this; - Data privacy and ownership; - Indigenous data sovereignty; - Copyright and creativity concerns; - The growing understanding of the environmental impacts of running GenAI and the data centres that supply GenAI; and, - The growing role of chatbots and chat companions. We also invite scholars whose research engages with any other issues emerging alongside the proliferation of GenAI in an Australian media context to submit a proposal to the feature issue. We also particularly invite scholars working in the area of Indigenous data sovereignty and GenAI, to submit an abstract for this special issue. *Guest Editors* Tama Leaver (Curtin University) and Suzanne Srdarov (Curtin University) *Information about submission* Please send through your proposal as one PDF file to Suzanne.srdarov(a)curtin.edu.au by* Friday 27th February 2026*. Proposals should include an abstract of 500-750 words (not including references) and the authors’ short bios. Authors of accepted proposals are expected to develop and submit their original article, for double-anonymized review, in accordance with the journal’s peer-reviewed procedure, by the deadline stated. Guidelines for manuscripts can be found on the MIA webpage <https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/MIA>: https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/MIA *Key Dates* - Abstract submission deadline:* Friday 27th February 2026* - Notification of accepted abstracts: *Monday 16th March 2026* - Full manuscript deadline: *Friday 29th May 2026* - All final revisions deadline: *Tuesday 1st September 2026* *Publication: Issue 202, Q1 February 2027* -- Professor Tama Leaver (he/him) Professor of Internet Studies School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry (MCASI) Faculty of Humanities Curtin University GPO Box U1987 Perth WA Australia 6845 Ph: (+61 8) 9266 1258 Email: t.leaver(a)curtin.edu.au Web: www.tamaleaver.net

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DigiLabour Book Talks
by Rafael Do Nascimento Grohmann 21 Jan '26

21 Jan '26

Hi AoIR, I would like to invite you to join us in a series of book talks (online and in-person) we are co-organizing in the next few weeks. ---- January 23, 7pm, In-person, College Street United Church, 452 College St, Toronto Book Talk: Cybernetic Circulation Complex: Big Tech and Planetary Crisis<https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3109-cybernetic-circulation-compl…> with Alessandra Mularoni and Nick Dyer-Witheford Description Big Tech firms dominate the global economy. But what value do they actually produce? In Cybernetic Circulation Complex: Big Tech and Planetary Crisis (Verso, 2024), Alessandra Mularoni and Nick Dyer-Witheford argue that the role of firms like Amazon and Google, Palantir and Uber, is in the speeding up and automation of the circulation of commodities. Big Tech aims to subject everything from advertising and shopping, to logistics and financial services to the level of control and predictability that capital has secured in industrial production. But there is a way out of the multiple crises that Big Tech has helped precipitate. If we are to break their grip on the global economy then it’ll take more than just antitrust legislation or reducing individual time online. What is required instead is a new, ambitious and comprehensive program of democratic collective planning that can move us beyond capitalism and benefit life on earth over profit. “Techno-feudalism is obsolete. The future is digital degrowth. This book proves it.” – Kohei Saito, author of Slow Down The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is honoured to host the authors of the book for the Toronto launch of this exciting new book! All are welcome to join us for this timely discussion as we grapple with how to challenge the Big Tech firms that are quickly cementing their control over international commerce and policy. We would like to acknowledge the vital support of the Jackman Humanities Institute and the Digital Labour Working Group at the University of Toronto. Please stick around after the evening’s program for complimentary refreshments and to continue the discussion. A number of books will be available at a special discounted price! Register here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/panitchschool/1976270 ---- January 27, 10am, Online, DigiLabour YouTube channel Book talk: <https://www.ucpress.edu/books/silicon-elsewhere/paper> Silicon Elsewhere: Nairobi, Global China, and the Promise of Techno-Capital<https://www.ucpress.edu/books/silicon-elsewhere/paper> with Andrea Pollio Discussants: Julie Yujie Chen and Rafael Grohmann Description Heralded as Africa's "Silicon Savannah"—a cradle of innovation—Nairobi has become a technology and innovation capital for Kenya and for the continent at large. With a national strategy that has prioritized digital technology for the last two decades, many Chinese digital champions, smaller startups, and investors have since chosen Nairobi as their African landing pad. Mapping the interface between Nairobi's innovation scene and China's digital presence there, Silicon Elsewhere tells a unique story of ingenuity and adaptation, failure and speculation, and hopefulness and pragmatism. Andrea Pollio's ethnography draws on interviews with cautious venture capitalists, renegade entrepreneurs, dedicated bureaucrats, and ambitious data scientists to explore the competing meanings of contemporary techno-capital. Moving between leafy coworking spaces and the temperature-controlled rooms of brand-new data centers, Pollio locates Nairobi among the experimental capitals, not peripheries, of technological change in the early twenty-first century Join us here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wkm6eWTj2c ---- February 5, 9am, Online, DigiLabour YouTube channel Book Talk: The Social Codes of Tech Workers: Class Identity in Digital Capitalism<https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262553537/the-social-codes-of-tech-workers/> with Robert Dorschel Discussants: Helena Wright and Kenzo Seto Description Digital technologies shape nearly every aspect of our lives. Yet little attention has been paid to the tech workers who design and program these technologies. Instead, the spotlight often falls on two extremes: the elite class of tech entrepreneurs and the precarious digital proletariat of gig and crowd workers. This narrow focus has left a critical gap in understanding the middle-class professionals operating behind the scenes of digital capitalism. Drawing on over 50 original interviews and discourse analytical research conducted in the US and Germany, The Social Codes of Tech Workers takes readers deep into their hearts and minds. Robert Dorschel demonstrates how tech workers’ subjectivity is structured by a return of social critique, hybrid professional roles, and distinctive lifestyles. The book identifies tech workers as a contradictory class formation, oscillating between a spirit of emancipation and yet another spirit of capitalism. This work will appeal to scholars across disciplines concerned with digital labor, identity, and class, as well as to the broader public interested in the culture of the tech industry and the evolving future of work. Join us here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5j_bpnzKIQ ---- February 5, 7pm, In-person, College Street United Church, 452 College St Book talk: Organizing Amazon: Building Worker Power Under Conditions of Fragmentation, Precarity and Regimentation<https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/professional-business/organizing-amazon> <https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/professional-business/organizing-amazon> with Tom Vickers, and a delegation of international Amazon worker-organizers Description Amazon workers in Coventry, England have won breakthrough wage gains through years of strikes and organizing at the global giant. Now, a new book documents these achievements, and the militant, grassroots methods the workers and their GMB union employed to build worker power. Organizing Amazon: Building Worker Power Under Conditions of Fragmentation, Precarity and Regimentation offers a rich case study of the factors contributing to the union’s successes and setbacks. It provides a practical organizing model applicable beyond Amazon, offering strategies to engage the workforce, sustain support and develop leadership. We are incredibly honoured to host the author of the book Tom Vickers, and longtime labour activist Jonathan Rosenblum, as well as two workers from the Coventry facility for the first stop on their North American organizing tour. The evening will feature a discussion of the lessons to be learned from the campaign in Coventry and what strategies will be needed for the Canadian labour movement to begin challenging the Amazon behemoth. We would like to thank our friends at the Digital Labour Working Group at the University of Toronto for their support of this event. Please stick around after the evening’s program for complimentary refreshments and to continue the discussion. Register here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/panitchschool/1899722 ---- February 12, 7pm, In-person, Friends House, 60 Lowther Ave Book talk: Notes Toward a Digital Workers Inquiry<https://www.commonnotions.org/buy/notes-toward-a-digital-workers-inquiry> with The Capacitor Collective. The Capacitor Collective is a research collective dedicated to digital worker inquiry rooted in labor organizing within and against digital capitalism. The collective includes: Enda Brophy, Julie Chen, Alessandro Delfanti, Brian Dolber, Lilly Irani, and Tamara Kneese. Description Join us as we celebrate the launch of Notes Toward a Digital Workers Inquiry, a brand new book full of first-hand accounts from the tech sector’s resurgent labor movement as artificial intelligence gains ground in every facet of our lives. As tech billionaires align with Trump, they are also launching a renewed assault on labor through artificial intelligence and alienating tactics. But for now, it still takes workers to make fortunes for the bosses, and collective action is again on the rise. Previously thought to be “unorganizable,” these workers are part of a North American movement that is reaffirming faith in collective revolutionary action through new methods of organizing, new ways of association, and a new synthesis of traditional labor activities with original research. To capture this growing class consciousness, the Capacitor Collective has conducted ten illuminating interviews with platform workers and organizers whose efforts align traditional motives with new tactics in a text that shakes up the worker inquiry tradition and imagines new ways to produce knowledge with and for the movement. All are welcome to hear directly from the contributors to the book about the findings of this important work and to discuss what lessons can be taken forward by activist-researchers, organizers, and workers alike. The book is available now from Common Notions Press! Register here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/panitchschool/1978820 ---- March 3, 2pm, In-person, Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI), UofT, 130 St. George Street, Toronto Book talk: Digital Queers and High Tech Gays with Alex Ketchum Description Digital Queers and High Tech Gays is the history of LGBTQ+ cyber activism in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and beyond! Beginning in 1980, these queer cyber activists founded regional, national, and international organizations of engineers, scientists, and high tech professionals. They formed LGBTQ+ employee resource groups at tech companies. Throughout the 1990s, queer cyber activists collected money, hardware, and software to distribute to LGBTQ+ community organizations. They wrote guidebooks, zines, and manuals as part of their larger project of information activism. They utilized print, phone lines, and the World Wide Web to teach, share, and advocate. Queer cyber activists built Internet infrastructures and expanded the idea of who could be an Internet user. Through their work with LGBTQ2S+ archives, queer cyber activists ultimately also created the tools needed to preserve their own history. They engaged in this serious labor while continuing to center joy; through sharing food, celebrating together, and making jokes, queer cyber activists nourished a community that could undertake these technical transformations. From advocating for tech workers’ rights, to equipping LGBTQ+ organizations with the hardware and software needed to do their work, to creating in-person and online spaces where they shared information, socialized, and preserved queer histories, LGBTQ+ cyber activists used analog and digital technologies to transform queer folks’ lives both on the Internet and away from the keyboard. Ultimately this book explores how marginalized groups, particularly LGBTQ+ people, respond to, re-work, build, and shape digital technologies. Rather than passive users, marginalized peoples, particularly LGBTQ+ people, have played a role in shaping Internet culture More info soon ---- And you can expect 2-3 more book talks in March and April. See you there! best, Rafael -- dr. Rafael Grohmann Assistant Professor of Media Studies Department of Arts, Culture and Media<https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/acm/rafael-grohmann> Faculty of Information<https://ischool.utoronto.ca/profile/rafael-grohmann/> University of Toronto Leader, DigiLabour<https://digilabour.com.br/> Research Associate, University of Oxford<https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/profiles/rafael-grohmann/> Founding Editor, Platforms & Society<https://journals.sagepub.com/home/PNS> Principal Investigator, Worker-Owned Intersectional Platforms (WOIP)<https://digilabour.com.br/worker-owned-intersectional-platforms-woip/> Co-Lead, Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF)<https://criticaldigitalmethods.ca/creative-labour-critical-futures/> Researcher, AI Policy Observatory for the World of Work<https://www.essex.ac.uk/research-projects/ai-policy-observatory-for-the-wor…> Senior Fellow, Massey College<https://www.masseycollege.ca/> Faculty Affiliate, Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society<https://srinstitute.utoronto.ca/> <https://srinstitute.utoronto.ca/>

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Third Issue of Esoteric Gaming released!
by Nathaniel Poor 21 Jan '26

21 Jan '26

(Resending this to AoIR since neither Mark nor I saw it come over the wires.) Waaaaay back before the pandemic, Mark Chen started an experimental online journal (that wasn't a journal) as a place mostly for qualitative research on gaming practice, but also mostly for people to just share cool stories about games and gaming. It was partly in response to feeling constrained by traditional academic channels and meant for short snippets of thoughts that could be incomplete or otherwise just didn't fit anywhere in a regular paper or presentation. It was also in response to the crap that was going on 10 years ago as a way to celebrate diversity in gaming, geeking out on the varied bodies who play them and the varied ways they get played. But, then things happened (pandemic etc.) and EG had a bit of a hiatus. And, we're back! The Third Issue of Esoteric Gaming is ready for your perusal! We added another editor, Nick Lalone, we decided to each write something, and invited Nick Bowman to join us. Go read the journal here: https://esotericgaming.com <https://esotericgaming.com/> The intro to the Third Issue here: https://esotericgaming.com/intro-third-issue-2018/ And the CfP for the Fourth Issue here: https://esotericgaming.com/cfp-for-issue-4/ -Mark and the editorial team (sent by Nat) ------------------------------- Nathaniel Poor, Ph.D. (he/him/his) Underwood Institute http://www.underwood-institute.org/ http://github.com/natpoor http://sites.google.com/site/natpoor/

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Last Call for ICA Mobile Comm Preconference Submissions
by Campbell, Scott 21 Jan '26

21 Jan '26

This is the final call for extended abstracts and panel proposals to be submitted for the ICA Mobile Communication Preconference. Submissions will be closed after January 30. See the call for papers<https://www.icamobile.org/calls> for information about how to submit: https://www.icamobile.org/calls Scott W. Campbell Professor, School of Communication Rinehart Chair in Mediated Communication The Ohio State University

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Invitation | City St George's, U of London | MCCI Connect: A Seminar Series Bridging Research, Innovation, Education, and Professional Practice
by Devina Sarwatay 21 Jan '26

21 Jan '26

Dear all, The Department of Media, Culture and Creative Industries (MCCI), School of Communication and Creativity (SCC), City St George's, University of London (CSG) invites you to *MCCI Connect*: A Seminar Series Bridging Research, Innovation, Education, and Professional Practice! *MCCI Connect* aims to foster connections between traditionally siloed areas, encouraging interdisciplinary and cross-sector dialogue. Our focus is emphasising integration and collaboration through these events which are organised by MCCI Research Lead, Dr Carolina Matos and supported by MCCI Presidential Fellow, Dr Devina Sarwatay. These events are free and open to the public, with prior registration required for both in-person and online attendance. Light refreshments will be provided to in-person attendees. Attendees are encouraged to share their experiences on social media using the hashtag *#MCCIConnect* and *#CityStGSCC*. We look forward to welcoming you to an evening of critical dialogue bridging research, innovation, education, and professional practice! Please see *MCCI Connect* events planned over the 2025-26 academic year: *February 4th 2026, 5 pm | Gen Z Market Research* | Karis O'Leary-Smith, One Minute to Midnight and Konrad Collao, Craft, in conversation with Ayesha Taylor-Camara, MCCI Event details & Registration: https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/2026/february/bridgi… --- *April 15th 2026, 5 pm | Reflections on practice-led climate fiction research* | Jasmin Kirkbride, University of East Anglia Event details & Registration: https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/2026/april/mcci-conn… --- *May 7th 2026, 5 pm | Sustainable Storytelling in Fashion Media: Reorienting Sartorial Desire* | Morna Laing, The New School, Parsons Paris in conversation with Rosie Findlay, MCCI Event details & Registration: https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/2026/may/mccis-conne… --- *May 27th 2026, 5 pm | The Politics of National Promotion: Nation Branding and the State in Latin America - MCCI & Journalism Joint Event* | Cesar Jimenez-Martinez, London School of Economics and Political Science Event details & Registration: https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/2026/may/mccis-conne… *Devina Sarwatay, PhD* Presidential Fellow <https://www.city.ac.uk/about/people/academics/devina-sarwatay> Department of Media, Culture and Creative Industries School of Communication & Creativity City St George’s, University of London Northampton Square London EC1V 0HB My pronouns are she/her Email: devina.sarwatay(a)citystgeorges.ac.uk www.citystgeorges.ac.uk <http://www.city.ac.uk/> @DevinaSarwatay Vice-Chair, Media Education Research, IAMCR <https://iamcr.org/> International Liaison, Children Adolescents and Media Division, ICA <https://www.icahdq.org/> Publishing ThinkIN Group, The British Academy <https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/> *Selected publications:* 🆕Social Media + Society: Kidfluencers in India <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051251356169> 🆕Children, Media, and Technology: Access/Use <https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003453123-3/access-…> Journal of Autoethnography: From the Self to the Community <https://online.ucpress.edu/joae/article-abstract/4/2/298/196099/From-the-Se…> Media International Australia: Exploring children’s TikTok cultures in India <https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X221127037> 🏆Information, Communication & Society: Young People and Social Media in India <https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1988129> (ICA CAM Best Published Article 2023) Frontiers in Human Dynamics: Media Literacy, Social Connectedness, and Digital Citizenship in India <https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fhumd.2021.601239/full> Wiley-Blackwell: Young People's Meme Cultures in India <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119166900.ch6> Journal of Communication: Decolonizing Open Science <https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab027> *Confidentiality Notice * This message (including any attachments) contains information that may be confidential. Unless you are the intended recipient (or authorised to receive for the intended recipient), you may not read, print, retain, use, copy, distribute or disclose to anyone the message or any information contained in the message. If you have received the message in error, please advise the sender by e-mail, and destroy all copies of the original message (including any attachments). Thank you.

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Call for Proposals — All Things in Moderation (ATiM) 2026
by Venessa Paech 21 Jan '26

21 Jan '26

Hi everyone, Call for Proposals — All Things in Moderation (ATiM) 2026 25–26 June 2026 • Fully Online • Theme: “CARE” All Things in Moderation is the annual global gathering for moderation practitioners, community managers, policy makers, technologists, and researchers working at the intersection of platform governance, community labour, and digital culture. We invite scholars, researchers and practitioners to submit proposals for ATiM 2026, taking place 25–26 June 2026 in a fully online format designed to maximise accessibility across time zones and contexts. ATiM brings together diverse perspectives on moderation and community governance, emphasising practice, reflection, and interdisciplinary exchange. While the conference is most attractive to scholars of online community, social media, moderation, platform governance and trust and safety, previous instalments have proven valuable for scholars across domains and disciplines. We welcome interdisciplinary perspectives and collaboration. The 2026 theme is CARE. Moderation is a form of care work: protecting participants, establishing and enforcing boundaries, responding to harm, sustaining participation, and navigating organisational and platform-level demands all involve ethical labour. This year’s programme will explore how care is articulated, enacted, and contested across policy, product design, organisational structures, and grassroots practice. We welcome contributions that critically examine care in moderation, including its political, cultural, economic, affective, and infrastructural dimensions. We invite submissions addressing, but not limited to: * Balancing enforcement, risk management, and organisational or platform demands * Community or social media governance and moderation in practice, across different models and contexts * How power shapes decision-making, authority, and accountability in moderation * How can/does AI support care (or work against it) in governance, moderation, and trust and safety? * Can care practices mitigate online harms such as misogyny and racial hate? * Compliance, regulation, and operational pressure in online communities * What care-informed regulation could look like in practice? * How ideas of care are translated between policy, product, and frontline work? * Moderation across different cultural, regional, and governance contexts * Sustainable approaches to workload, boundaries, and responsibility Proposals should be clear about conceptual framing and relevance to the theme of care. They may be fully developed papers, research in early or partial stages, conversations and provocations, workshops or panels. We welcome submissions that do not necessarily direct engage with the theme, but otherwise off value to our audience of moderators, community managers, academics, policy makers and technologists concerned with moderation practices. Full submission details and deadlines are on the ATiM website. Note the slightly different timing of this year’s conference (June, not May - so as not to conflict with RightsCon in Zambia). I would love to have you join our growing international community of scholars and practitioners advancing critical dialogue about moderation and the futures of online social life. We are also seeking partners for the event. If you or your institution is interested in working with us, please reach out. Warm regards, VENESSA PAECH, BFA, MA Waddawurrung Country | Geelong PhD Student | Community in the Age of Machine Culture Convenor: All Things in Moderation Department of Media and Communication | Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Phone: + 61 0435 217 315 Email: venessa.paech(a)sydney.edu.au

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Final call for papers
by Harry Dyer (EDU - Staff) 20 Jan '26

20 Jan '26

Dear AoIR community, This is a final announcement for paper submissions for the 2026 International Conference on Social Media & Society (#SMSociety), which will take place in Glasgow, Scotland, from July 13th-15th. As a reminder, the deadline for extended abstract submissions (1000-1500 words abstracts) is Monday, January 26, 2026 at midnight (Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time). We look forward to receiving your submissions and seeing you in Glasgow! #SMSociety is a biennial gathering of leading social media researchers from around the world. It is the premier venue for sharing and discovering new peer-reviewed interdisciplinary research on how social media affects society. #SMSociety provides participants with opportunities to exchange ideas, present original research, learn about recent and ongoing studies, and network with peers. The call can be found below: https://socialmediaandsociety.org/smsociety-2026/ The 2026 conference is co-organized by the Digital Cultures and Economies Research Hub<https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-college-of-communication/research-at…> at the University of the Arts London (UAL), the University of East Anglia<https://www.uea.ac.uk/groups-and-centres/critical-cultural-studies-in-educa…> (UEA), and the hosts at the Division of Urban Studies and Social Policy<https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/research/urban-studies-social…> at Glasgow University. The conference's three-day program will feature panels and paper presentations, workshops, tutorials, networking events, and a poster session. In keeping with the conference's inter- and transdisciplinary focus, we welcome both quantitative and qualitative scholarly and original submissions that crosses disciplinary boundaries and expands our understanding of current and future trends in social media research across many fields including (but not limited to): Communication, Computer Science, Critical Data Studies, Education, Journalism, Information Science, Law, Management, Political Science, Psychology, Public Policy, Public Administration, Science and Technology, Sociology, Urban Studies, among others. TOPICS OF INTEREST (the list is not exhaustive) * Affordances * AI and LLMs * Algorithms * Computational, digital and data methods * Creators and Influencers * Cyberbullying, Trolling and Antisocial Behavior * Digital Education * Digital Intimacies * Discourse and Public Opinion * Health and Wellbeing * Infrastructures, platformisation and datafication * Marketing and Promotional Social Media * Misinformation and Disinformation * Online and Offline Communities * Platform Cultures * Platform Governance and Regulation * Emerging and Established Social Technologies, Apps and Platforms * Politics, Policy, and Regulation * Privacy, Security and Trust * Social Media Cultures and Everyday Life * Use and Users * Vibes, memes and trends SUBMISSION DETAILS * Submission types and guidelines<https://socialmediaandsociety.org/submission-types-and-guidelines/>: You can submit an extended abstract for a paper or poster presentation, and/or propose a panel, workshop or hands-on tutorial<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSftm_yw8HDDrnuliY7GkhIy4UkebDWviCI…> SUBMISSION DEADLINES * Papers (Extended Abstracts): January 26, 2026 (1000-1500 words) * Panels: February 16, 2026 (2000-3000 words) * Workshops & Tutorials: February 16, 2026 (2000-3000 words) * Posters (Extended Abstracts): March 13, 2026 (1000-1500 words) ORGANISING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: * Zoetanya Sujon - Reader and the Programme Director for Communications and Media courses at London College of Communication (LCC), University of the Arts London, UK * Harry Dyer - Associate Professor of Education, School of Education & Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia, UK * Mark Wong - Senior Lecturer and Subject Group Lead of Social and Urban Policy, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK * Devina Sarwatay - Presidential Fellow City St. George's, University of London, UK * Estaban Morales Velasquez - Assistant Professor / Media and Digital Cultures Centre for Media and Journalism Studies University of Groningen, NL * Irida Ntalla - Senior Lecturer in Digital Storytelling at London College of Communication (LCC), University of the Arts London, UK * Daniel Jordan - Postgraduate Research Student University of Glasgow, UK * Yingwen Wang - Postgraduate Research Student London College of Communications, University of the Arts London, UK * Yue Qin - Postgraduate Research Student London College of Communications, University of the Arts London, UK

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PhD position in AI and Law @ KIT
by Paul Friedl 20 Jan '26

20 Jan '26

Dear AoIR Community, I am delighted to share the following call for applications for a position as Doctoral Researcher. Prof. Frederike Zufall’s chair offers a truly fantastic interdisciplinary environment for research at the intersection of AI and public law. Best regards Dr. Paul Friedl ======================================================================== Doctoral Researcher (f/m/d) in AI and Law / Computational Law @ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) ======================================================================== Details: https://www.zar.kit.edu/downloads/Karriere/2026/Zufall_PhD.pdf Job description: The chair of public law and computer science (T.T.-Prof. Dr. iur. Frederike Zufall) is looking for a doctoral researcher with a keen interest in interdisciplinary research between public law and computer science. The chair is located at the computer science faculty of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), one of Germany's leading technical universities. For lawyers this environment offers the unique opportunity to actively collaborate with computer scientists and pursue new ideas as to the interdependence of law and computer science. The candidate will write a PhD thesis in law, located in the area of public law and computer science, and conduct interdisciplinary research with computer scientists. Ideally, the thesis should draw on the insights gained through this interdisciplinary research. Research topics connect - AI and law / Computational law / Agentic AI / Legal NLP / Legal informatics with research questions in public law on - Fundamental rights / Democratic legitimacy / Rule of law / Procedure / Administrative decision-making How can legal concepts be carried over to computational systems while upholding public law principles such as the protection of fundamental rights and democratic legitimacy? The position should be filled with a lawyer. Additional technical/CS background and/or expertise are a plus. Teaching obligations are subject to German state law. Qualification: · Master degree / First State Exam / JD (or equivalents) in law with top grades · English fluency · Affinity with technological questions, especially regarding AI and machine learning · Interest in bridging research questions in public law to CS concepts and AI approaches + willingness to conduct interdisciplinary research · Strong skills as to coordination, communication and collaboration We offer: We offer a young and international team☺︎, an attractive and modern workplace with access to the excellent equipment of the KIT, a varied work, a wide range of training opportunities, flexible working time models, an allowance for the job ticket BW and a casino/cafeteria. Salary: Salary category TV-L E13, 50 % (around 2.300 - 2.600 EUR depending on the fulfillment of professional and personal requirements) Contract duration: 2 years with planned contract extension for the PhD Starting date: at your earliest convenience Application up to: 15 February 2026 Application: Please send your application including a motivation letter, your CV, and relevant certificates in electronic form to: lawcs-applications(a)zar.kit.edu Feel free to also state and suggest specific research ideas and interests. We prefer to balance the number of employees (f/m/d). Therefore, we kindly ask female applicants to apply for this job. Recognized severely disabled persons will be preferred if they are equally qualified.

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