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

New Book Annoucement
by Rongbin Han 08 Apr '26

08 Apr '26

Dear all, I am delighted to share that my book *Make China Great Again: Online Alt-History Fiction and Popular Authoritarianism* has recently come out with Columbia UP. It is the first book that studies China's Internet from the perspective of authoritarian legitimation. On the Chinese internet, millions of writers and readers fantasize about going back in time and changing their country’s fate. One envisions saving the Southern Song Dynasty from the Mongols and turning China into a capitalist democracy. Another portrays a contemporary traveling to 1905 and sparking a communist revolution before the Chinese Communist Party was even founded. These stories share a theme of national revival that echoes both the official narrative of the “Chinese dream” and populist movements around the world. Why is alt-history so popular in China, and what does it reveal about politics and culture under authoritarianism? This book examines the production and consumption of online alt-history fiction in China, offering new insight into how authoritarian rule gains popular consent. Combining in-depth digital ethnography with analysis of dozens of alt-history novels, it explores how state intervention, market forces, and consumer preferences interact. It argues that citizens play a crucial role in constructing and maintaining the state’s dominance. Introducing readers to the uncanny world of alt-history, this book underscores how aspirations for the rebirth of the nation can bolster undemocratic politics—in China and elsewhere. The book is available on multiple platforms including Amazon. If you order it from the publisher, use CUP20 to get 20% off. Make China Great Again | Columbia University Press <https://cup.columbia.edu/book/make-china-great-again/9780231220552/> Amazon.com: Make China Great Again: Online Alt-History Fiction and Popular Authoritarianism: 9780231220552: Han, Rongbin: Books <https://www.amazon.com/Make-China-Great-Again-Authoritarianism/dp/023122055…> Thank you for your time and attention! I hope you will find the book relevant and interesting. Rongbin ____ Rongbin Han Professor Department of International Affairs University of Georgia *Make China Great Again <https://cup.columbia.edu/book/make-china-great-again/9780231220545/>* (Columbia UP, 2026) *Contesting Cyberspace in China <https://cup.columbia.edu/book/contesting-cyberspace-in-china/9780231184755>* (Columbia UP, 2018) *Directed Digital Dissidence in Autocracies <https://global.oup.com/academic/product/directed-digital-dissidence-in-auto…>* (Oxford UP, 2023) with J. Gainous, A. MacDonald, and K. Wagner *The Xi Jinping Effect <https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295752815/the-xi-jinping-effect/>* (U. Washington Press, 2024), co-edited with A. Esarey

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LaborTech Call for Award Nominations--Book, Grad Student Paper, Social Justice
by Ripley, Karina (gxy9fq) 08 Apr '26

08 Apr '26

Labor Tech Research Network<https://www.labortechresearchnetwork.org/> (LaborTech) invites submissions for our fifth annual Book, Graduate Student Paper, and Social Justice Awards. The deadline is June 1. *About Us* LaborTech is an interdisciplinary and transnational group of over 700 experts concerned with the intersection of technology and labor. We aim to reframe conversations about technology and labor towards issues of power, inequality, and social justice, and incorporate themes of feminism, anti-racism, and transnationalism. We also seek to foster an interdisciplinary, cross-regional, and community-oriented space for discussion, collaboration, and empowerment. For a deeper discussion of our mission, please visit our webpage. For a list of our previous winners, click here<https://labortechresearchnetwork.org/awards>. *Call for Nominations* As part of our mission to promote scholarship and activism towards more equitable forms of labor and technology, LaborTech is announcing a call for three awards -- Book, Graduate Student Paper, and Social Justice. These will honor projects which: * have distinctive intellectual merit or activist impact; * advance the knowledge about labor and technology in the global society; and * address our core focus on labor and technology and which may simultaneously address feminism, anti-racism, and/or transnationalism. *Eligibility*: Works from all disciplines and methodologies are eligible for nomination. Nominations are open to members and non-members of LaborTech. We welcome self-nominations especially, but also nominations from publishers, colleagues, and others familiar with the projects. We encourage submissions from women, people of color, queer communities, and those from the global south. LaborTech executive board members and committee chairs, as well as books published in our Labor and Technology series with MIT Press, are ineligible for these awards. *Prizes*: Winners receive a small cash award (which we hope to expand in years ahead!) and a certificate. In addition, we will promote visibility for your project by connecting with our globally-dispersed expert membership. This includes making a video of winners, to be distributed both in and out of our network, and hosting an End of Year Showcase for enhancing public exposure and attention of your work. Winners will be announced in December. *Deadline and Contact*: The deadline for submissions is June 1, 2026. Send questions to awards(a)labortechresearchnetwork.org<mailto:awards@labortechresearchnetwork.org>. See below for separate criteria and instructions for the various awards. CRITERIA AND SUBMISSION DETAILS *Book Award* Criteria: * Monographs only (no edited volumes or anthologies) * Multiple authors accepted * Published in the last three years (2024-26). * If your book is not out by the deadline for this award, please send proofs from the manuscript and a letter from the press editor confirmation publication before the end of 2026. Submission details: Please submit the following items in English to awards(a)labortechresearchnetwork.org<mailto:awards@labortechresearchnetwork.org>: 1. An electronic version in PDF format (contact us if only print form is available for books) 2. The author's contact email address 3. A one-page nomination letter stating the significance and contribution of the work *Graduate Student Paper* Criteria: * Written by students currently enrolled in a graduate program or who have graduated in 2025 * Single-authored pieces are preferred, but co-authored pieces will be accepted with the above conditions in Submission Details * If a co-authored piece, *the first author must be a graduate student.* * Papers may be published within the last three years (2024-26) or unpublished * Page length: 25-40 pages, double-spaced Submission details: Please submit the following items in English to awards(a)labortechresearchnetwork.org<mailto:awards@labortechresearchnetwork.org>. 1. Electronic version in PDF format 2. The author's email address 3. A one-page nomination letter stating: * the significance and contribution of the work * when the PhD was started and, if applicable, granted * if the paper was published, then state when and in what journal * if co-authored with faculty/advisors/other PhDs, please include a paragraph attesting to the student's dominant role in generating the paper (such as working on its theoretical components, doing the research, and writing it up). In addition, we ask that the cover letter is signed (digitally, or otherwise) by all co-authors, so that they are aware of this submission. *Social Justice Award* Criteria: * Those who are interfacing with technology in the course of their organizing, or who are organizing against inequitable technologies, in the context of labor, feminism, anti-racism, transnationalism struggles. This may include: * tech workers * labor organizers, whether in unions or other workers' associations * feminist, immigrant, community, and ethnic rights activists * scholar-activists. For this, we are not looking for purely academic work (i.e., scholars who are studying activism), but rather those who are participating in activism themselves, or who are promoting collaborations between activists and scholars. * people creating design alternatives for social justice, like engineers and designers * Open to individuals, small groups, and if appropriate, organizations * Focus will be on a particular campaign or project that is done with the aim of social justice regarding labor and/or technology. These projects may be broad (such as educating the public on a social justice issue) or specific (such as organizing a protest for higher wages). They may use a variety of strategies (e.g., art, design, social media, marches and strikes, policy interventions, etc.). We'd like to honor activists who, through these projects, have developed novel approaches or who are pioneers in the fight for more equitable relations of technology and/or labor. Submission details: * Fill out this Google Form<https://forms.gle/BirfWfuyJtPwmmDF8>: It has a few short questions regarding the significance and contribution of your social justice activities * Answers to this form should be a minimum 400 words each, in order to give us enough understanding of the nominee's accomplishments. No single sentence answers please :) Note: If you’re a busy activist, with little time for filling out applications, feel free to find a willing colleague who can speak to your activities and nominate on your behalf. * Please submit all items in English. However, if you have a submission in another language, contact us and we'll attempt to find a translator in our group. -- Dr. Karina Ripley (they/them) Assistant Professor @ University of Virginia Lead Organizer @ Labor Tech Research Network<https://labortechresearchnetwork.org/> @kaareeenah.bsky.social // karina.ripley.com

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CFP: EXTENDED DEADLINE 14 April - UMAP4Good@UMAP 2026 - First International Workshop on User Modeling, Personalization, and Adaptive Systems for Sustainability and Social Good
by Angelo Geninatti Cossatin 08 Apr '26

08 Apr '26

**** PLEASE, EXCUSE MULTIPLE POSTINGS **** Call for Papers: UMAP4Good 2026First International Workshop on User Modeling, Personalization, and Adaptive Systems for Sustainability and Social Good We invite submissions to the First International Workshop on User Modeling, Personalization, and Adaptive Systems for Sustainability and Social Good (UMAP4Good 2026), held in conjunction with the ACM UMAP 2026 conference. UMAP4Good 2026 is an in-person event. Details & submission guidelines can be found here: http://umap4good.github.io/umap4good26/ Important dates: April 14, 2026 - Paper Submission (EXTENDED) April 28, 2026 - Notification May 7, 2026 - Papers Camera-ready Submission In an era where personalization technologies increasingly shape human decision-making, integrating sustainability and social good into user-adaptive systems has become an essential challenge. Adaptive systems influence choices across many contexts, including health, mobility, education, and media consumption, positioning them as key technologies for supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. UMAP4Good 2026 provides an interdisciplinary venue to explore how personalization can support sustainable behaviors, ethical decision-making, and positive societal impact. We welcome works at various stages of development, including applied systems, empirical results, or theoretically grounded positions. We invite submissions in the form of full papers, reproducibility papers, short papers, and extended abstracts. Note: Accepted papers (full, reproducibility, and short) will be published in the proceedings (CEUR). Extended abstracts are editorially reviewed for workshop presentation only and will not be included in the proceedings. Topics of Interest We welcome submissions focused on sustainability perspectives, including but not limited to: - User Modeling and Adaptation for Sustainability - Modeling users’ sustainable preferences and behavior change patterns. - Personalized nudging and persuasive systems designed for sustainability. - Context-aware sustainability recommendations. - Energy-efficient modeling and "Green AI" for personalization. - Responsible and Sustainable Adaptive Systems - Multi-stakeholder adaptive systems. - Fairness, inclusion, and long-term impact modeling. - Explainability and trustworthy personalized systems. - Privacy, safety, and ethical considerations. - Evaluation and Methodology - Metrics beyond accuracy, specifically focusing on long-term, societal, and environmental impact. - Simulation-based evaluation for behavior change. - Reproducible pipelines and sustainability-aware benchmarks. - Application Domains - Education and digital well-being. - Health and lifestyle. - Media, misinformation, and social platforms. - Smart environments, mobility, and tourism. - Agriculture, energy, and resource management. Workshop organizers - Allegra De Filippo (University of Bologna) - Angelo Geninatti Cossatin (University of Turin) - Elisabeth Lex (Graz University of Technology) - Noemi Mauro (University of Turin) - Giacomo Medda (University of Cagliari) - Giuseppe Spillo (University of Bari) -- *Angelo Geninatti Cossatin* Post-Doctoral Researcher University of Torino | Dept. of Computer Science https://unito.webex.com/meet/angelo.geninatticossatin

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Academic positions in Barcelona (Creative Industries, Technology & Society)
by Ana María Castillo 08 Apr '26

08 Apr '26

Dear all, Our School of Communication at UIC Barcelona has opened several academic positions. While the profiles may appear specific, we are broadly seeking scholars working on creative industries, emerging technologies, and socially oriented research agendas. More info at: https://uic.talentclue.com/es/node/123935387/12623479 https://uic.talentclue.com/es/node/123992994/12623479 https://uic.talentclue.com/es/node/123933763/12623479 We are especially interested in candidates who are motivated to engage long-term with our academic project and relocate to Barcelona as part of an active research community. If this resonates with your work, we warmly encourage you to apply or share the call with relevant colleagues. Kind regards, Ana amcastillo(a)uic.es Ana María Castillo Vicedecana FCCOM UIC Barcelona <https://www.uic.es/es/facultad-de-ciencias-de-la-comunicacion> Faculty Associate BKC Harvard <https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/ana-maria-castillo> Directora Laboratorio Fractal <https://labfractal.org/>

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New Special Issue: Towards polycentricity? The quest for legitimacy and trust in digital governance (iCS)
by Danielle Flonk 08 Apr '26

08 Apr '26

Dear all, We are happy to announce a new Special Issue on polycentricity in digital governance in *Information, Communication & Society*, edited by Matthew Dylag, Daniëlle Flonk, Cristiana Lauri and Morshed Mannan. Access the Open Access introduction here: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2552374. The SI addresses how polycentricity affects trust and legitimacy in digital governance along four dimensions: governance, actors, values, and tools. - *Governance*: Positions on how to govern the digital realm are dispersed, and perspectives on what should be governed in the first place are diffuse. This has implications for trust and legitimacy: vulnerable groups, for instance, are required to trust opaque techno-social systems. - *Actors*: A wide range of actors has overlapping domains of authority and diverse expertise, such as international organizations, states, digital communities, and users. In order to make polycentric governance work, these actors have to cooperate, often across sectors and borders. - *Values*: Reasons and normative goals for digital governance vary, leading to governance challenges. Different actors focus on different values, for instance, transparency and accountability, freedom of speech, human rights, or sovereignty. Contradicting values can lead to a decay in trust and legitimacy. - *Tools*: A variety of laws, regulations, private rules, norms, standards and technologies are used to govern the digital. A combination of these tools can increase trust and legitimacy, but not every tool is equally effective. With six wonderful and insightful contributions across disciplines and topics: - Matthew Dylag compares how the EU, Canada and the US legislate AI to uncover their underlying policy goals. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2556745 - Morshed Mannan, Primavera De Filippi & Tara Merk research how perceptions about legitimate governance blockchain-based metaverses shape users' decisions to exit, voice or remain loyal. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2523978 - Isadora Borges Monroy assesses deputized surveillance as a central mechanism in data gathering in US policing. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2505696 - Lucas Henrique Muniz Conceição investigates the relationship between digital constitutionalism and democracy, and how individuals navigate governance both as citizens of states and users of digital platforms. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2492572 - Ellie Rennie, Jason Potts & Joshua Tan assess to what extent groups of validators have power over blockchain networks, which requires politics to control. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2455116 - Jan Aart Scholte wrote insightful concluding reflections on polycentricity and legitimacy in digital governance. http://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2026.2624711 Best, Matthew, Daniëlle, Cristiana and Morshed *Dani**ë**lle Flonk **/* *フロンクダニエラ* *Assistant Professor in International Relations and Politics* *Hitotsubashi University*Faculty of Law Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Studies (HIAS) Faculty Building 2, Room 625 d.flonk(a)r.hit-u.ac.jp | @danielleflonk | *Website <https://hri.ad.hit-u.ac.jp/html/100001780_profile_en.html>* *Recent publications:* Flonk, D., & Debre, M. J. (2025). Hollow multilateralism: How autocracies contest the norms and procedures of international organizations. *International Affairs*, 101(4) 1463–1482. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiaf104 Flonk, D., Jachtenfuchs, M. & Obendiek. A.S. (2024). Controlling internet content in the EU: towards digital sovereignty. *Journal of European Public Policy*, *31*(8), 2316-2342. DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2024.2309179 <https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2024.2309179> Flonk, D. (2021). Emerging illiberal norms: Russia and China as promoters of internet content control. *International Affairs*, *97*(6), 1925-1944. https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiab146

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Call for Papers
by Hakikur Rahman 07 Apr '26

07 Apr '26

Call for Papers- IJKM: I am pleased to invite researchers, academics, and practitioners to contribute to the International Journal of Knowledge Management (IJKM), published by IGI Global. The journal welcomes high-quality submissions in areas such as knowledge management, AI and knowledge systems, digital transformation, organizational learning, ICT4D, innovation, big data, decision support, and emerging technologies. Journal link: https://www.igi-global.com/journal/international-journal-knowledge-manageme… At the same time, we are looking to expand our Editorial Review Board with active, dynamic, and committed scholars who can contribute to maintaining the journal’s quality and visibility. In addition, I am also interested in connecting with prospective co-editors for future edited book projects in areas including AI, digital governance, sustainable development, ICT4D, knowledge management, and emerging technologies. If you are interested in submitting a paper, joining the ERB, or exploring future editorial collaborations, please feel free to send me a message at the following email address: mailto:email@hakik.org

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Special Issue Published - Digital Resilience Within a Hypermediated Polycrisis [MaC]
by Esteve Del Valle, M. 07 Apr '26

07 Apr '26

Dear colleagues, We are delighted to announce the publication of the special issue *Digital Resilience Within a Hypermediated Polycrisis <https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/issue/view/499>*, published in *Media and Communication*. The issue brings together 15 articles spanning more than 17 countries and addressing a wide range of digital resilience phenomena, from Bangladeshi women’s responses to disinformation and online harassment, to community‐led technologies countering environmental injustices in Brazil, to the navigation of digital surveillance in later life in Spain. Together, it offers an interdisciplinary, multimethod, and global approach that highlights both the opportunities and challenges involved in fostering digital resilience. All articles are open access and freely available to read and download (see the table of contents below and the attached editorial). Best, Marc Esteve del Valle, Ansgard Heinrich and Anabel Quan-Haase ################################################## *Digital Resilience Within a Hypermediated Polycrisis* (2026, Volume 14) Edited by Marc Del Valle, Ansgard Heinrich and Anabel Quan-Haase Complete issue: https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.i499 Table of Contents: *Digital Resilience Within a Hypermediated Polycrisis* https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/12272 By Marc Esteve del Valle, Ansgard Heinrich and Anabel Quan-Haase *Media Literacy as Resilience: A Conceptual Framework* https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11458 By Olga Pasitselska and Annamária Neag *Digital Resilience to Disinformation: From Libraries to Citizens* https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11404 By Nereida Carrillo, Marta Montagut and Roberto Gelado Marcos *Generational Differences in Digital Resilience in Four Countries* https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11399 By Shelley Boulianne *Community-Based Communication Technologies and Environmental Disinformation: Digital Resilience Under Far-Right Threats* https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11417 By Bruna Távora and Paulo Victor Melo *Targeted for Speaking Out: Gendered Disinformation and Digital Resilience in Bangladesh’s Polycrisis* https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/11429 By Farah Zahan Shuchy and Md. Azaher Uddin *Local Wisdom and Pre-Bunking Strategies: Building Digital Resilience Against Misinformation in Indonesia*https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11439 By Amia Luthfia and Mia Angeline *So Emotional? The Role of Emotions for Young Adults’ Resilience to Disinformation*https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11398 By Jülide Kont, Çiğdem Bozdağ, Wim Elving and Marcel Broersma *Digital Resilience in Social Media Feminist Activism: Reactance Theory Applied to Weibo and Zhihu*https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11402 By Jinman Zhang and Anabel Quan-Haase *Same Platform, Different Stories: TikTok and the Battle Over Immigration Narratives*https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11409 By William Hollingshead, Anatoliy Gruzd and Philip Mai *To Scenes Through Screens? A Study of The Offline Club Digital Detox Community*https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11395 By Zuzana Ľudviková and Rashid Gabdulhakov *Hypermediated Adolescence: Tactical Resilience Through and Against the Digital in Post-Pandemic China* https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/11452 By Dandan Dong *Between Resilience and Abandonment: Political Factors Determining Participatory Budgeting Through Digital Participatory Platforms* https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11507 By Joel Peiruza-Parga, Joan Balcells, Rosa Borge and Albert Padró-Solanet *Normative Commitments and Platform Logics: Understanding Journalism’s Adaptive Resilience Through Coverage of Democratic Innovations* https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/11560 By Paschalia (Lia) Spyridou *Navigating Digital Surveillance in Later Life: Determinants of Identity Masking and Data Protection Practices* https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/11500 By Sara Suárez-Gonzalo, Joel Peiruza-Parga and Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol *When Trust Facilitates Risk: Older Adults’ Navigation of Deceptive Content in Urban China*https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11531 By Rui Duan and Kun He -- Dr. Marc Esteve del Valle, *Senior Lecturer*, Centre for Media and Journalism Studies, University of Groningen (The Netherlands) | Google Scholar <https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BtRD8IkAAAAJ&hl=en>

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[CfP] Special issue of Internet Histories | Abstracts due May 1
by Amanda Menking 06 Apr '26

06 Apr '26

Hi All, Last call to submit your abstracts (500 words) by May 1 for a special issue of Internet Histories about trust and safety (the field, practice, profession, technologies, etc.): https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/interrogating-trust-safet… If you have any questions, feel free to email me directly. Best, ~A. -- Amanda Menking, Ph.D. (she/her) | Research & Programs | Trust and Safety Foundation <https://trustandsafetyfoundation.org/> | Calendly <https://calendly.com/amanda-trustandsafetyfoundation>

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CFP - 4S Open Panel #227: Computing Machinery Supply Chains Across Space, Time, and Method
by MC Forelle 06 Apr '26

06 Apr '26

Hello AOIR Community! It's been so exciting to see the fascinating open panels that folks are putting together. I wanted to share one more, for those of you interested in talking about computing machinery supply chains. Verónica and I especially eager to discuss methodological challenges or provide a space to workshop works in progress! *Panel 227 Computing Machinery Supply Chains Across Space, Time, and Method* *MC Forelle, University of Virginia; Ver**ónica Uribe del Aguila, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute* Over the past decade, the computing machinery industry—the sectors involved in designing, developing, manufacturing, and distributing physical hardware from industrial controllers to advanced AI processors—has faced several controversies. These have brought public attention to the environmental and economic impacts of their supply chains understood as extraction sites, factories, and trade agreements the industry depends on. The ripple effects of the chip shortage during the COVID pandemic, the US and EU’s Chip Act, and the rising tensions between China and Taiwan are examples of the computing machinery industry's infrastructural power, or the power to tear apart people’s lives while remaining invisible. STS scholars have long taken an interest in the global supply chains that comprise the computing machinery industry. They have paid attention to their materiality, geopolitical dynamics, and sociotechnical imaginaries to unpack how the industry's transnational configurations perpetuate troubling racial, colonial, neoliberal, and capitalist logic across different industries such as automotive, aerospace, agriculture and computing Itself. Building on this foundation, we invite submissions inquiring how computing machinery supply chains influence, expose, or otherwise involve other sectors of global industry through the lenses of political economy, critical geography and new materialism. We are particularly interested in historical and ethnographic perspectives that help us grasp the role computing technology plays in shaping the organization of industrial supply chains in different sectors. We will organize these sessions as a combined format panel. Therefore, we invite both full papers and works-in-progress. Full papers will be assembled into a traditional paper presentation session. Works-in-progress will be arranged into a workshop session for participants to share conceptual and/or methodological approaches and challenges and to collaboratively generate new avenues, techniques, and solutions. We ask that WIP submissions provide a clear description of the project in progress, its level of completion, and two or three questions for the session.

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Inviting submissions to 4S open panel on Mobile AI
by Adriana de Souza e Silva 06 Apr '26

06 Apr '26

Hi all, We are accepting submissions for an open panel Yifan Xu and I organized at the 4S (Society for Social Studies of Science) conference, which will happen this year in Toronto, October 7-10. The panel description is below. If you are interested in the topic and would like to participate, abstracts can be submitted here: https://www.4sonline.org/accepted_open_panels_toronto.php Please reach out with any questions (a.desouzaesilva(a)northeastern.edu <mailto:a.desouzaesilva@northeastern.edu>). Best, _____________________________________ Adriana de Souza e Silva, Ph.D. (she/hers) Professor of Communication Studies Director, Center for Transformative Media <https://camd.northeastern.edu/center-for-transformative-media/> 2025-2025 University AI Faculty Fellow <https://learning.northeastern.edu/programs/ai-in-teaching-and-learning-fell…> Senior Editor, Mobile Media & Communication <https://journals.sagepub.com/home/mmc> Chair, ICA Mobile Communication Division <https://www.icamobile.org/> www.souzaesilva.com <http://www.souzaesilva.com/> Accepted Open Panels, Toronto 2026 246 Mobile AI in Urban Life: Power, Infrastructure, and Community Innovation Around the Globe Adriana de Souza e Silva, Northeastern University; Yifan Xu, University of Texas at Austin Urban STS; Information, Computing and Media Technology; Infrastructure For most people worldwide, artificial intelligence (AI) is experienced through mobile devices and the urban infrastructures they interact with in everyday life. This is called Mobile AI: AI embedded in smartphones, navigation apps, and smart transit systems. These systems transform the way people experience cities beyond individual app usage, structuring millions of micro-decisions that together govern the terms of social and economic participation, shaping how people communicate and move around in urban spaces. Navigation apps like Waze help users find new routes through neighborhoods, increasing unintended traffic congestion, while autonomous vehicles like Waymo rely on AI algorithms to determine geofenced service boundaries, invisibly shaping which neighborhoods gain access to driverless mobility technology. The increasing embeddedness of Mobile AI in everyday life raises fundamental STS concerns about how these technologies reshape power, human agency, mobility, and citizenship. In the majority of the world, where mobile connectivity is the primary form of digital access, Mobile AI is reshaping urban mobilities, social relationships, and resource allocation. Yet scholarship about AI remain dominated by U.S.-centric perspectives that focus on affluent communities, leaving what Irani (2019) calls “the other 90%” largely invisible. This panel addresses this gap by examining how Mobile AI unfolds in diverse urban spaces. We especially welcome submissions centering under-resourced communities whose technological practices challenge dominant narratives about AI innovation and expertise. Submissions might include, but are not restricted to, the following topics: Mobile AI infrastructures as governing force that structure opportunity and vulnerability, determining who can access services, earn a living, or participate in urban life; How communities engage in “infrastructuring from below”, appropriating AI tools to create opportunities previously unavailable to them (i.e., grassroots organizing, communication, or livelihood creation). Mobile AI’s integration into everyday urban life across geographical and economic contexts; Maintenance, repair, and care work sustaining Mobile AI infrastructures.

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