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

CfP – Dossier: Regulating Digital Platforms in Political Communication
by Eurico Matos 05 May '26

05 May '26

Call for Papers Dossier: “Dilemmas and Challenges of Regulating Digital Platforms in the Context of Political Communication” ECO-Pós – Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação da UFRJ Volume 29, Issue 2 Many of the dilemmas shaping public debate in contemporary societies are fundamentally communicational in nature and are directly linked to the growing mediatization of everyday life and the digitalization of social, political, and economic interactions. In the context of recurring diagnoses of democratic crises, multiple forms of disinformation, hate speech, political radicalization, and profound transformations in the world of work, a wide range of social, political, and legal actors have been called upon to debate the regulation of contemporary communication systems, characterized by the coexistence of digital and traditional media. The emergence and popularization of digital platforms have produced a new structural transformation of the public sphere, as argued by Jürgen Habermas. As a result, social and political phenomena with direct implications for the foundations of democratic societies have intensified or taken on new and challenging forms, including political polarization, ideological radicalization, and epistemic crises related to the delegitimization of science and democratic institutions. These dynamics are often associated with platform-related structural determinants, such as monetization models, content curation mechanisms, and the limited or absent transparency surrounding digital advertising regimes. This thematic dossier aims to bring together scholarly articles that engage with debates on the regulation of digital media in the field of political communication, while maintaining an open and critical stance toward regulatory approaches as forms of social, economic, and political control. Multidisciplinary contributions are welcome, particularly those addressing (but not limited to) the following topics: – Comparative and transnational approaches to models of digital platform regulation – Legal, ethical, and political dilemmas of regulatory initiatives, with particular attention to civil and political liberties – Critical perspectives on the regulation of digital media – Regulation and the new structural transformations of the public sphere – Challenges to electoral regulation in contexts of expanding online political advertising and media coverage of opinion polls – Media agenda-building and public perceptions of platform regulation – Self-regulation versus state regulation: digital sovereignty, algorithmic transparency, and content moderation – Transparency, removal, and content labeling policies in electoral contexts Submission deadline: May 15, 2026 Editors: Camilo Aggio (Federal University of Minas Gerais – UFMG) and Eurico Matos (FGV School of Communication, Media and Information) Estimated publication: September/October 2026 No submission or publication fees are required from authors. Further information and submission guidelines are available at: https://revistaecopos.eco.ufrj.br/eco_pos/announcement/view/334 <https://revistaecopos.eco.ufrj.br/eco_pos/announcement/view/334> Contact: eurico.neto(a)fgv.br or camiloaggio(a)gmail.com -- *Eurico Matos * Professor da Escola de Comunicação, Mídia e Informação da Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV Comunicação) | Coordenador do Mestrado Profissional em Comunicação Digital e Cultura de Dados da FGV Comunicação | Pesquisador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência & Tecnologia em Democracia Digital (INCT.DD) cv(lattes) <http://lattes.cnpq.br/6936324574792283>

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New Book on Digital Nationalism and Affective Governance
by Dechun Zhang 05 May '26

05 May '26

Dear Colleagues, I apologize for the cross-posting. I am excited to announce that my book, Digital Nationalism and Affective Governance: Propaganda, Public Sentiment, and Soft Authoritarianism in China (https://www.routledge.com/p/book/9781041308775) will be available for pre-order on May 5 and officially released on May 26. The book investigates how digital propaganda in China operates as a platform-shaped practice under soft authoritarianism, where nationalism functions as a discursive technology that organizes meaning, structures visibility, and channels public affect. Propaganda is no longer purely top-down; it emerges from a dynamic co-production between state narratives, platform affordances, and public emotions. Governance is enacted subtly through emotional guidance, algorithmic visibility, participatory cues, and discursive standardization, while overt censorship persists in the background. At the same time, citizens are active participants: they use nationalist discourse to express identity, perform loyalty, reshape official narratives, and voice critique. In this system, the public and the state co-produce political meaning, creating fragmented yet structured nationalist expressions that circulate within a platformized governance model. This highlights a form of participatory propaganda, where control is affective and publics negotiate legitimacy, belonging, and authority through digital nationalism. While the book focuses on China, it also provides insights into the broader dynamics of digital politics, affective governance, and authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes. You can pre-order the book https://www.routledge.com/p/book/9781041308775, 20% Discount with code CISYCDNAG20, and I would be delighted if you share it with colleagues interested in digital politics, digital nationalism, propaganda, online participation, media, governance, and China. I also welcome feedback, discussion, and engagement with anyone working on related topics. Best wishes Dechun

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AIES 2026 invites PC members!
by Petter Ericson 04 May '26

04 May '26

Hi all, Who decides what counts as progress in AI, Ethics, and Society? We invite nominations for reviewers and Senior Program Committee members for #AIES2026, the 9th AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, taking place in Malmö, Sweden, October 12–14, 2026: https://www.aies-conference.com/2026/call-for-papers/ If you want to shape the field, not just follow it, nominate yourself or a colleague for AIES2026's (Senior) Program Committee. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLBJwAeGTYjfKkRxyRGbVJQrLAMfJ1sm1… As a Program Committee member, you will uphold rigor, fairness, and interdisciplinary excellence in research, and contribute to defining what “state of the art” means in AI, Ethics, and Society. Happy and grateful for your (self)-nominations! Conference program co-chairs: Aylin Kamelia Caliskan, University of Washington S. Matthew Liao, New York University Mirko Tobias Schäfer, Utrecht University Daniel S. Schiff, Purdue University Conference general co-chairs: Virginia Dignum, Umeå University Petter Ericson, Umeå University -- Petter Ericson Staff Scientist, AI Policy Lab and Responsible AI research group AI Policy Lab | Department of Computing Science Umeå University, Sweden 📧 pettter(a)cs.umu.se 🌐 www.aipolicylab.se

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INNOVADE-Webinar: What Digital Futures Do We (Not) Want? Results from the Futures of Digital Democracy Survey
by Christian Fuchs 04 May '26

04 May '26

INNOVADE-Webinar: What Digital Futures Do We (Not) Want? Results from the Futures of Digital Democracy Survey Tuesday, 26 May, 10:00-11:30 CET Registration: https://innovade-democracy.eu/events/what-digital-futures-do-we-not-want A webinar organized by the EU project INNOVADE: Innovative Democracy through Digitalisation In this seminar, the Paderborn University research team presents some results of the Future of Digital Democracy Survey. The webinar asks: What digital futures do we (not) want? How should future digital society (not) look like? How can we advance digital democracy and weaken digital authoritarianism? Agenda Introduction Kevin Friesch: The Futures of Digital Society: Four Scenarios Joel Museba: The Futures of Digital Democracy Survey’s Methodology Christian Fuchs: What Digital Futures, Digital Society, and Digital Platforms Do We (Not) Want? The Futures of Digital Democracy Survey (FDDS): Results and Policy Implications Discussion Subsribe to the INNOVADE newsletter: https://innovade-democracy.eu/newsletter

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FINAL REMINDER - TOMORROW - Invitation: Webinar on LGBTQ+ Digital Resistance in Hungary (5th May 2026)
by Anna Zsubori 04 May '26

04 May '26

Dear Colleagues, Apologies for cross-posting. --- You are warmly invited to join us for an upcoming webinar featuring Mariann Filó (activist, psychologist & Budapest Pride organiser), Ádám András Kanicsár (activist, journalist & social media expert), and Joci Márton (Roma LGBTQ+ activist) on Hungarian LGBTQ+ citizens' use of social media. This event is chaired by Dr Anna Zsubori and draws on research conducted during her British Academy-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Loughborough University. --- Sites of Hostility and Resistance: Navigating the Digital LGBTQ+ Public Sphere in Hungary 📅 Date: 5th May 2026 🕠 Time: 5pm-7.30pm (UK time) 📍 Registration: This event is FREE to attend, but registration is essential. To book your place, please email: a.zsubori(a)lboro.ac.uk<mailto:a.zsubori@lboro.ac.uk> 🎤 About the event: Various digital media platforms in illiberal contexts function as a complex double-edged sword. In Hungary, they often act as additional channels for illiberal attitudes, amplifying state-sponsored negative sentiments. Yet, these same spaces remain vital for the expression of liberal views and resistance. This session explores this tension, focusing on how social media spaces have become sites of both systemic hostility and profound resistance for LGBTQ+ communities in Hungary. We will be joined by Hungarian guest speakers who will discuss the lived reality of navigating this digital environment. The discussion will cover the online and offline consequences of the regime’s anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, as well as the state-encouraged harassment. Beyond victimisation, our speakers will highlight the diverse strategies of resistance, exploring how marginalised groups utilise digital media to build counter-narratives, maintain community safety, and challenge the illiberal status quo. The session features a panel of individuals at the forefront of this struggle, including activists, journalists, and individuals with direct lived experience of digital victimisation. By bringing together those who document these harms and those who experience them, this webinar aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how political communication in an illiberal regime translates into real-world harm, and how resistance persists in the face of structural exclusion. This webinar will be of interest to academics across communication, digital media, gender and LGBTQ+ studies, human rights, and political science, as well as non-academic audiences interested in the lived realities of LGBTQ+ minorities and their digital experiences. 💸 The event is supported by the British Academy and Loughborough University. Looking forward to seeing you there! Also, feel free to circulate this invitation! All the best, Anna Dr Anna Zsubori, FHEA<https://www.lboro.ac.uk/subjects/communication-media/staff/anna-zsubori/?fb…> (she/her) British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow<https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/postdoctoral-fellowships/past-a…> Participant of the inaugural British Academy Elevate Programme, 2025/26 Cohort<https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/early-career-researcher-network/british…> School of Social Sciences and Humanities Loughborough University Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK E: a.zsubori(a)lboro.ac.uk<mailto:yl304@le.ac.uk>

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37th IEEE International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE 2026): Third Call for Papers (Industry Track)
by Announce 01 May '26

01 May '26

*** Third Call for Papers (Industry Track) *** 37th IEEE International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE 2026) October 20-23, 2026, 5* St. Raphael Resort and Marina Limassol, Cyprus https://cyprusconferences.org/issre2026/ The ISSRE Industry Track gathers industry representatives as well as researchers from, within or in collaboration with industry to discuss software reliability, quality assurance as well as experiences and lessons learned. This year we will bring experiences from self- made tools, usage of AI, generative AI and machine learning in relation to software reliability. Industry track papers are expected to be of interest to software development professionals, as well as to anyone researching or working in the area of software reliability, software quality, and process improvement groups, with concrete relevance to industrial problems and practical applications. All presenters of accepted papers will be required to attend the conference in person. Participating in the conference would give a chance to meet and discuss with a wide selection of researchers and other industry experts in the area. Topics of Interest Topics of interest include development, analysis methods and models throughout the software development lifecycle, from an industrial and practitioner-oriented perspective. Ask yourself this: Is the work grounded in real-world systems, operational experience, or industrial practice, and does it address reliability or dependability concerns? If it is, you have found the right conference track. For a more detailed list check out the detailed topics list for the research track on this site. • Use cases, practical experiences, lessons learned, improvement programs in reliability or dependability. • Foundations of reliability and dependability, including process, technology, methods, metrics and lessons learned. • Design for reliability or dependability, failure and incident case studies, including experiences in security, testing, verification, and related practices in the field. • Reliability in AI-driven and autonomic systems or AI techniques used for Reliability Engineering. • Software reliability in any system domain. • Trustworthiness, security, and Responsible Software Engineering. • Human-centric focus on reliability and dependability. • Adoption of reliability standards, measurements and similar experiences. We look for papers with good evaluation, honest data, new insights and practical experiences that can be used to help others. We also encourage submissions reporting negative results, unexpected outcomes, and lessons learned from real-world practice. Submission Guidelines and Instructions We invite three kinds of submissions to the Industry Track: • Enlightening Talk or Tool Demo: 1-2 page abstract (OR a Power Point presentation OR a video for a tool demo). • Short paper: 4-pages (including references). • Full paper: 6-pages (including references). All the submissions will be reviewed by members of the Industry Track Program Committee. Accepted papers (with an abstract) will be included in the ISSRE Supplemental Proceedings and submitted for publication to IEEE Xplore. Papers are submitted via Easy Chair https://easychair.org/conferences?conf=issre2026 . Submissions must adhere to the IEEE Computer Society Format Guidelines (for more Information, please refer to the relevant part on the conference website: https://cyprusconferences.org/issre2026/industry-track/) Note that: • A paper must include the title, the name and affiliation of each author, an abstract of up to 150 words, and up to 4 keywords. Thus, submissions are not anonymous. • Reviewers will use the abstract during the bidding process for peer-review. Thus, the abstract should state the paper goals clearly, along with the means used to achieve them. • The first page is not a separate page, but is a part of the paper (i.e., it has technical material in it). Thus, this page counts toward the total page budget for the paper. • Symbols and labels used in the graphs should be readable as printed, without requiring on-screen magnification. • Limit the file size to less than 15 MB (for Video’s – provide a live link). Papers that exceed the page limits specified, on topics not in the scope of ISSRE, or that do not follow the formatting guidelines will be rejected without review. Authors of accepted papers will have the chance to present their work at ISSRE 2026. Submission implies the willingness of at least one of the authors to register for the conference and to give the talk, if the paper is accepted. Best Paper Awards The Industry Program Chair will select three candidates among top-ranked papers presenting and motivating novel and disruptive ideas that address problems relevant for industry. Selection will be based on the reviewers’ feedback, novelty and potential impact of the results. The final selection of the best paper will be done by the audience attending the presentation of the candidate papers. Eligible papers must be (1) full papers accepted to the industry track, and (2) co-authored by at least one author whose primary affiliation is in Industry. Important Dates (AoE) • Abstract Submission Deadline: June 28, 2026 & July 3, 2026 • Paper Submission Deadline: July 5, 2026 & July 12, 2026 • Notification to Authors: August 12, 2026 • Camera Ready Papers: August 19, 2026 • Enlightening Talks or Tool Demos (without abstract; not to appear in the proceedings): August 15, 2026 • Author Registration Deadline (Industry Track): August 19, 2026 Organisation General Chairs • Leonardo Mariani, University of Milano - Bicocca, Italy • George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Program Coordinator • Roberto Natella, GSSI, Italy Research Program Committee Chairs • Domenico Cotroneo, UNC Charlotte, USA • Jie M. Zhang, King's College London, UK Industry Program Chairs • Jinyang Liu, Bytedance, USA • Sigrid Eldh, Ericsson AB, Sweden Workshop Chairs • Georgia Kapitsaki, University of Cyprus, Cyprus • August Shi, The University of Texas at Austin, USA Doctoral Symposium Chairs • Stefan Winter, LMU Munich, Germany • Lili Wei, McGill University, Canada Fast Abstract Chairs • Luigi Lavazza, University of Insubria, Italy • Yintong Huo, SMU, Singapore JIC2 Chair • Helene Waeselynck, LAAS-CNRS, France Publicity Chairs • Allison K. Sulivan, The University of Texas at Arlington, USA • Jose D'Abruzzo Pereira, University of Coimbra, Portugal Publication Chairs • Sherlock Licorish, Otago Business School, New Zealand • Maria Teresa Rossi, GSSI, Italy Artifact Evaluation Chairs • Naghmeh Ivaki, University of Coimbra, Portugal • Fumio Machida, University of Tsukuba, Japan Diversity and Inclusion Chair • Eleni Constantinou, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Financial Chair • Costas Pattichis, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Web Chairs • Michalis Ioannides, Easy Conferences LTD • Elena Masserini, University of Milano - Bicocca, Italy Registration Chair • Easy Conferences LTD

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