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

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

13 Jan '26

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

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Critical AI and Digital Majority Centres seminar - forgot to include the link, sorry!
by Andrea Medrado 13 Jan '26

13 Jan '26

Hello again, re-sending the email, this time with the registration link (sorry!) Happy New Year! We are excited to host two invited speakers for the first seminar of 2026 this Thursday at the Department of Communications, Drama, and Film, as part of a joint event between our Critical AI Centre (CrAIC) and Digital Majority Centre. Please find details below, sign up via Eventbrite, and we hope to see you there in person or online! Critical AI Centre & Digital Majority Centre Joint Seminar Thursday 15th January 3-5pm GMT In person - TS2, Alexander Building, Thornlea & Online Online - register here:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/critical-ai-centre-digital-majority-centre-joint-seminar-tickets-1980420098827 Dr Sarah Shugars (they/them), Rutgers University - profileIf AI is so Great, then Why am I Tired All the Time? While the collection of technologies commonly known as “AI” have been developed and interrogated by researchers for decades, these tools have only recently captured the public’s attention. The widespread availability of these technologies has quickly impacted multiple facets of society, raising important ethical and practical questions about how these tools should be used and studied. This talk examines the social and technical development of AI and reflects on how social scientists could and should interact with these tools—or not—as objects of study as well as tools for research and teaching. Particular attention will be given to the limitations of these technologies, their ethical and environmental impacts, and their appropriateness for different scholarly tasks. Prof Bilge Yesil (she/her), City University of New York - profile Talking Back to the West: How Turkey Uses Counter-Hegemony to Reshape the Global Communication Order Turkey’s global communication apparatus has expanded remarkably since the 2010s under the Erdogan regime, promoting the country as a rising power while discrediting the West. Part of this project involves Turkey’s efforts toward digital sovereignty, including regulating global platforms and promoting domestic technological infrastructure. Although Erdogan's proxies claim to decolonize the global communication landscape and advocate for the Global South, Yesil argues that their counter-hegemonic mobilization is transactional, selective, and exclusionary and provides critical insights into the politics of victimhood and the essentialization of East–West binaries. All the best, Andrea Medrado, Patrick Gildersleve, Brett ZehnerThe Critical AI Centre, University of Exeter _______________________________________________ The Air-L(a)listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/

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CrAIC and Digital Majority Centre Seminars - If AI is so great, why am I tired all the time?
by Andrea Medrado 13 Jan '26

13 Jan '26

Dear all. Happy New Year! We are excited to host two invited speakers for the first seminar of 2026 this Thursday at the Department of Communications, Drama, and Film, as part of a joint event between our Critical AI Centre (CrAIC) and Digital Majority Centre. Please find details below, sign up via Eventbrite, and we hope to see you there in person or online! Critical AI Centre & Digital Majority Centre Joint Seminar Thursday 15th January 3-5pm GMT TS2, Alexander Building, Thornlea & Online Dr Sarah Shugars (they/them), Rutgers University - profile If AI is so Great, then Why am I Tired All the Time? While the collection of technologies commonly known as “AI” have been developed and interrogated by researchers for decades, these tools have only recently captured the public’s attention. The widespread availability of these technologies has quickly impacted multiple facets of society, raising important ethical and practical questions about how these tools should be used and studied. This talk examines the social and technical development of AI and reflects on how social scientists could and should interact with these tools—or not—as objects of study as well as tools for research and teaching. Particular attention will be given to the limitations of these technologies, their ethical and environmental impacts, and their appropriateness for different scholarly tasks. Prof Bilge Yesil (she/her), City University of New York - profile Talking Back to the West: How Turkey Uses Counter-Hegemony to Reshape the Global Communication Order Turkey’s global communication apparatus has expanded remarkably since the 2010s under the Erdogan regime, promoting the country as a rising power while discrediting the West. Part of this project involves Turkey’s efforts toward digital sovereignty, including regulating global platforms and promoting domestic technological infrastructure. Although Erdogan's proxies claim to decolonize the global communication landscape and advocate for the Global South, Yesil argues that their counter-hegemonic mobilization is transactional, selective, and exclusionary and provides critical insights into the politics of victimhood and the essentialization of East–West binaries. All the best, Andrea Medrado, Patrick Gildersleve, Brett ZehnerThe Critical AI Centre, University of Exeter

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Webinar: Strengthening Gender, Equity and Rights in South-East Asia National Digital Health Strategies
by JAVIER GARCIA MARTINEZ 13 Jan '26

13 Jan '26

>From 2014 to 2020, South-East Asia’s Regional Strategy for Strengthening eHealth helped countries advance affordable, sustainable digital health, with WHO support and at least 80% developing national digital health strategies; more countries in South-East Asia and the Western Pacific are drafting strategies in 2026/2027 in line with the Global Strategy on Digital Health (2020–2027). However, many strategies still neglect gender, equity, and human rights, rarely addressing inequalities, community participation, or the needs of marginalised groups, which risks a digital transition that deepens existing gaps. To respond, the Digital Health and Rights Project (DHRP) Consortium is hosting regional webinars to promote learning and collaboration on embedding GER in digital health and AI, drawing on its report *Towards People-centred Digital Health Strategies: Gender, Equity, Rights and Inclusion* <https://digitalhealthandrights.com/news-and-blog/towards-people-centred-dig…>, a new collection of *UN guidance **on digital health, gender equality and human rights* <https://digitalhealthandrights.com/news-and-blog/un-guidance-on-digital-hea…>, and forthcoming checklists and tools. *Strengthening Gender, Equity and Rights in National Digital Health Strategies in South-East Asia **- the second in our three-part series* *Date:* Thursday, 22 January 2026 *Time:* 08:00 – 09:30 GMT (13:30 IST / 15:00 WIB / 16:00 PHT) *Platform:* Zoom (Link provided upon registration) *Translation* (captions) *available**!* *Registration:* *https://forms.office.com/e/f4nCEPGeBc* <https://forms.office.com/e/f4nCEPGeBc> Speakers: - *Ramla Khalidi*, Resident Representative, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Vietnam - *World Health Organization* (WHO) speaker (TBA) - *Khine Su Win*, Strategic Development Director, The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) Asia - *Tu Nguyenan*, Youth Programme Coordinator, Vietnam Network for People living with HIV (VNP+) - *Meg Davis*, Professor, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM), University of Warwick - *Tara Imalingat*, Advocacy and Impact Coordinator, Digital Health and Rights Project, CIM, University of Warwick *And please save the date for our third webinar:* *Strengthening Gender, Equity and Rights in National Digital Health Strategies in the Eastern Mediterranean/MENA Region* Date: Thursday, 5 March 2026 Time: 10:00 – 11:30 GMT (13:00 AST / 14:00 EET) Registration: *https://forms.office.com/e/f4nCEPGeBc* <https://forms.office.com/e/f4nCEPGeBc> Note: The registration link is valid for access to all webinars in the series. Please register and disseminate this invitation with others who may be interested! *Stay Connected!* Follow us on social media: X <https://x.com/DigHealthRights> LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-health-and-rights-project/?viewAsM…> Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/dighealthrightspi?igsh=cWJ0ZzJweGp4aXlm> You can also join our mailing list <https://graduateinstitute.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=590ca89241da5db5…>

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Call for Papers: Special Issue on “Co-Producing Environmental Publics” — Communication and the Public
by Dechun Zhang 13 Jan '26

13 Jan '26

Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce a Call for Papers for a forthcoming Special Issue of Communication and the Public (https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ctp) titled: Co-Producing Environmental Publics: Technology, Communication, and Ecological Transformation In recent decades, environmental challenges—ranging from climate change and air pollution to biodiversity loss and resource scarcity—have increasingly shaped not only policy agendas but also the very texture of public life globally. Responding to these crises, digital technologies—including sensor networks, big data analytics, algorithmic systems, and artificial intelligence—have become constitutive elements in how environmental issues are rendered visible, knowable, and actionable. These technologies do more than document ecological change. They actively intervene in the communicative infrastructures through which publics emerge, take shape, and act. Systems of sensing, modeling, and prediction increasingly define what counts as “environmental risk,” thereby shaping understandings of responsibility, urgency, and agency. At the same time, these infrastructures operate unevenly: algorithmic filtering, platform governance, and unequal access to data intensify existing inequalities in visibility, participation, and recognition—particularly in contexts of rapid or uneven environmental degradation. As a result, environmental publics are increasingly co-produced through the interaction of ecological conditions, technological systems, and communicative practices. Yet many existing theories of publicness and communication—largely premised on stable media environments and human-centered deliberation—struggle to account for publics constituted through algorithms, sensors, platforms, and predictive ecologies. This special issue seeks to advance scholarly understanding of how technological systems reshape environmental communication and how ecological crises, in turn, reconfigure the communicative, institutional, and imaginative infrastructures of public life. By foregrounding the mutually constitutive relationship between technology, publics, and ecological transformation, the issue aims to deepen theoretical debates on public formation, algorithmic governance, mediated knowledge production, and collective action in an era of planetary uncertainty. Scope and Themes We welcome conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions that examine how digital technologies mediate environmental governance, identity formation, activism, and the circulation of ecological knowledge. Contributions may engage with one or more of the following (non-exhaustive) themes: * Algorithmic infrastructures and the formation of environmental publics * Datafication, environmental knowledge, and public authority * Public communication of climate models, predictive ecologies, and digital simulations * Networked environmental activism and hybrid public mobilization * Communicative agency among scientists, Indigenous communities, and climate advocates * Surveillance ecologies, risk governance, and public trust * Digital platforms, environmental legitimacy, and contestations of power * Environmental media propaganda, misinformation, and AI-generated narratives We especially encourage submissions from underrepresented regions (Asia, Africa, Latin America, Indigenous contexts) and interdisciplinary perspectives across communication studies, STS, environmental governance, and political ecology. Submission Process and Key Dates * Abstract submission deadline: March 20, 2026 * Notification of invitations to submit full papers: March 30, 2026 (Please note that an invitation does not guarantee publication; all full manuscripts will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process.) * Full paper submission deadline: July 31, 2026 * Planned publication: 2027 Abstract Submission Guidelines Please submit an abstract of up to 500 words, in English, to all guest editors with the subject line: “CAP Special Issue Submission” Guest Editors: Dr. Dechun Zhang, University of Copenhagen (dezh(a)hum.ku.dk) Dr. Weiai Xu, University of Massachusetts Amherst (weiaixu(a)umass.edu) Dr. Han Lin, Soochow University (linhan741(a)gmail.com) Full call for paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zAr6qNL5YtkC9YKQtj9VexGcPmZxelaq/view?usp=… We would greatly appreciate it if you could circulate this Call for Papers within your professional networks and among colleagues who may be interested. We look forward to your submissions. With best regards, Dechun Zhang (on behalf of the Guest Editors)

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[CfP Reminder] INDL-NA Symposium on Labor and AI @ Yale
by Posada, Julian 13 Jan '26

13 Jan '26

Dear colleagues, This is a reminder that the deadline for abstract submissions for the INDL-North America Symposium on Labor and Artificial Intelligence is fast approaching. * Submission Deadline: January 18, 2026 (Anywhere on Earth) * Symposium Date: April 29, 2026 * Location: Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States. We are also thrilled to announce our opening keynote speaker: Dr. Julia Ticona, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. A formal abstract for the keynote address will be shared in the coming weeks. Please visit the symposium website<https://indl-na.sciencesconf.org/> for the full call for papers and submission instructions. The abstract for the keynote will be shared in the future. *Apologies for cross-posting. Please share widely.* —————————— Julián Posada, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of American Studies Yale University https://posada.website/

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CFP: Digital Platforms and Digital Labor in East Asia and Beyond — Special Issue, Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
by Dechun Zhang 13 Jan '26

13 Jan '26

Dear colleagues, The Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia (JCEA) is pleased to invite submissions for a special issue titled “Digital Platforms and Digital Labor in East Asia and Beyond.” This issue explores how platform companies have become key infrastructures of contemporary life, reorganizing economic exchange, labor relations, and everyday social interaction. With Asia as a central site of platform innovation—from Alibaba, Meituan, and Didi to Coupang, Rakuten, Grab, Gojek, Shopee and beyond—this special issue highlights how platform-mediated work emerges and is contested in diverse political, social, and cultural contexts, and how these experiences speak back to global debates on the future of work. Across the region, ride-hailing, food-delivery, e-commerce, livestreaming, influencer economies, and other platform-based industries are reshaping what it means to work, organize, and be governed. Platforms promise flexibility, entrepreneurship, and new forms of aspirational and creative labor, yet they also deepen precarity through algorithmic management, opaque data practices, and limited social protections. We therefore invite contributions that critically investigate these tensions, foreground workers’ perspectives, and situate Asian cases within comparative and global conversations on digital capitalism and labor. We welcome submissions from communication and media studies, sociology, anthropology, political economy, labor studies, law, Asian studies, and related fields. Submissions may employ qualitative, quantitative, computational, or mixed methods, and may be empirical or theoretical in nature. Potential topics include (but are not limited to): * Algorithmic management, surveillance, and labor control in platform economies * Worker agency, identity, and resistance in gig and creative labor * Regulation, law, and welfare regimes shaping platform work * Gender, class, race/ethnicity, and migration in digital labor markets * Blurred boundaries between production and consumption (prosumption, user participation, datafication) * Transnational digital labor, outsourcing, and cross-border freelancing * Emerging technologies (AI, automation, blockchain, IoT) and the future of work We particularly encourage papers that place Asian experiences in comparative or global perspective, and that extend or challenge existing theoretical frameworks in digital labor studies, platform capitalism, and critical political economy. The full CFP is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13DVKzyEVc0563TVdQUQzpR-yCDR7Yp-4/view?usp=… Submission Guidelines Please submit an abstract of up to 500 words in English and a short author bio to j.c.eastern.asia(a)gmail.com, with “JCEA Special Issue – Digital Platforms and Digital Labor” as the email subject line Key Dates * Abstract submission: 20 March 2026 * Notification of invitation to submit full paper: 1 April 2026 * Full paper submission: 30 September 2026 Further information about the journal is available at: https://jceasia.org/ We very much look forward to your abstracts and to advancing critical conversations on digital platforms and digital labor in East Asia and beyond. Best wishes Dechun Zhang JCEA Managing Editor (on behalf of the JCEA Editorial Board)

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Hiring a Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Digital Media
by Liz Rodwell 12 Jan '26

12 Jan '26

Happy New Year! We’re seeking a new TT faculty member for our Digital Media program. Some details: The Cullen College of Engineering's Department of Information Science Technology at the University of Houston (UH) seeks qualified candidates for a full-time, tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor to begin in Fall 2026. The preferred candidate must possess outstanding academic credentials that clearly demonstrate the ability to conduct successful research in emerging digital media. A Ph.D. in a relevant field of Information Science/Systems, Computer Science/Engineering, or Social Science/Communication/Digital Media is required, and a strong background and experience working with artificial intelligence systems, machine learning algorithms, augmented/virtual reality technologies, robotics, and/or high-performance computing. Research into these technologies could encompass both the design and construction of these technologies, as well as the implications of these systems. For more info: https://careers.uh.edu/jobs/assistant-professor-information-science-technol… Review of applications starts 1/31. Cheers, Liz — Check out my book! Push the Button: Interactive Television and Collaborative Journalism in Japan <https://www.dukeupress.edu/push-the-button> https://www.lizrodwell.com <https://www.lizrodwell.com/> https://www.uh-uxlab.com <https://www.uh-uxlab.com/> Elizabeth Rodwell, Ph.D. Digital Media Program Coordinator Associate Professor | Director of The User Experience (UX) Lab University of Houston <http://uh.edu/> Office (713) 743-3046 erodwell(a)uh.edu <mailto:erodwell@uh.edu>

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Deadline reminder: Abstract submissions for GIG-ARTS Dublin 2026 (19 January 2026)
by Mauro SANTANIELLO 12 Jan '26

12 Jan '26

Dear Colleagues, Just a friendly reminder that the deadline to submit extended abstracts for the 10th GIG-ARTS Conference (Dublin City University, 14–15 May 2026) is *19 January 2026*. Submission (extended abstract) guidelines: - Up to 500 words - Please include: research question(s), theoretical framework, approach & methodology, and expected findings / empirical outcomes - Submit via the conference portal: https://conftool2026.gig-arts.eu/ The full Call for Papers (including key dates and conference details) is available here: https://gig-arts.eu/dublin-2026/. Best regards, Mauro Santaniello, on behalf of the Organizing Committee Prof. Mauro Santaniello (PhD) Associate Professor in Political Science ICPC <https://www.internetpolicyresearch.eu/> Director| GIG-ARTS <https://gig-arts.eu/> Coordinator| Giganet <https://www.giga-net.org/> Secretary SWING <https://www.internetpolicyresearch.eu/swing-2025> Scientific Coordinator | UNU-CRIS <https://cris.unu.edu/people> Associate Research Fellow PRIN on Digital Sovereignty <https://www.internetpolicyresearch.eu/internet-and-communication-policy-cen…> Principal Investigator Latest publications <https://docenti.unisa.it/023694/ricerca/pubblicazioni>

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CfP Topical Collection "Untangling the Quantum Ecology" in Digital Society journal
by Stefano Calzati 12 Jan '26

12 Jan '26

Dear all, Please find below the CfP for the Topical Collection Untangling the Quantum Ecology: Charting the Impact of Quantum Theory and Quantum Technologies on Technoscience and the Digital Transformation, guest-edited by Dr Stefano Calzati (Joint Research Centre, Brussels) and Prof. Robert Braun (Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna) in the journal Digital Society. https://link.springer.com/collections/hafcjjejbd CfP snippet: "This proposed topical collection (TC) aims to shape a novel dialogue at the intersection of Critical Data Studies (CDS), Science and Technology Studies (STS), and societal-oriented readings of quantum mechanics’ interpretations. Our point of departure is that analyses of the social are tacitly grounded in a Newtonian interpretation of the physical (Braun 2024). Challenging onto-epistemic frameworks, including those of science, data and datafication practices, need to investigate alternative imaginaries (Jasanoff & Kim, 2015) in order to better understand the co-constitution of scientific, technical, human, and biotic relations of ruling and mundane performances of the everyday (Smith 2001). In this issue, we experiment with the notion of 'quantum ecology' (Calzati & de Kerckhove 2024) intended as both an onto-epistemological framework – drawing on principles and phenomena of quantum physics such as uncertainty, decoherence, nonlocality, entanglement, complementarity, discreteness – and a disruptive technological paradigm shaped by quantum technologies (QTs) , whose impact has profound implications for the digital transformation, including Artificial Intelligence. On the one hand, quantum theory can provide a refreshing standpoint from which to re-examine and extend the critique of big data, computing analytics, and digital practices towards the reworking of their onto-epistemological assumptions, which remain rooted in “classical” worldviews. Hence, a space opens for a critical reframing of technoscientific practices and the sociotechnical effects of the digital transformation, which challenges, among others, objectivism, binarism, and networkedness, , advancing alternative ways to think, represent, and enact physical, social, scientific, and digital worldmakings, their spaces and temporalities, as well as individual and collective governmentalities. On the other hand, the consolidation of the quantum technological paradigm, comprising of both already existing “quantum sensing technologies” and fast-developing “quantum information technologies”, is converging with the development of AI, bringing to the fore new sociotechnical tensions, potentialities, and threats, which warrant further exploration. Here the focus is especially on quantum theory and QTs’ innervation with and disruption of the digital transformation, especially its narratives, imaginaries, and generativity." We weclcome research articles (8000 words) or commentaries (3000 words), which can be sent until the 30th of September 2026 via Editorial Manager (https://www.editorialmanager.com/diso) by selecting "TC-Quantum Ecology". Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis and, if accepted, published as soon as they are ready. I believe the call will appeal to quite a few people in here. Feel free also to share with whoever might be interested. All best Dr Stefano Calzati Centre for Advanced Studies Joint Research Centre, European Commission Brussels

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