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Hybrid event: The Realities of Autonomous Weapons - Science, Technology and Society
by Bahar Celik Muller 06 Jun '25

06 Jun '25

***Apologies for cross-posting*** Bristol Digital Future Institute on 10 July, 5pm-7:30 (BST) (hybrid) We invite researchers, students, policy makers, educators and journalists to participate. Register free: Book Launch: The Realities of Autonomous Weapons (headfirstbristol.co.uk)<https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/bristol-digital-futures-institu…> ________________________________ The development of autonomous weapon systems has been subject to intense discussions for years. Numerous political, academic or legal institutions debate the consequences and risks that arise from these technologies, particularly their ethical, social and political implications. Despite this public prominence, it often remains surprisingly unclear which technology is evoked by the term autonomous weapon systems. It can refer to drones, flight carriers, unmanned aerial, ground or maritime vehicles, robots and robot soldiers or cyberweapons. The rationale of “The Realities of Autonomous Weapons” maintains that the issues in question can only be understood by acknowledging the constant and complex dynamic between the actual technological developments and the visions and virtual scenarios that are associated with them. For this reason, the perspectives taken in the book foreground the different realities of autonomous weapon systems, ranging from popular culture, war scenarios, new media environments to technical precursors. This sheds a light on how autonomous weapon systems are constructed as both a technological reality and a futuristic possibility. The event invites the audience to discuss the full scope of this controversial technology, showing how autonomous weapon systems mediate between reality, imagination, possibility and fiction. We welcome people from 5pm, when some snacks and drinks will be provided. We will start the discussion at 5.30PM The event will be hybrid. We have unlimited online spaces but limited physical capacity! Please register early to secure your space. *** Panelists: Lucy Suchman (University of Lancaster / ICRAC) Thomas Christian Bächle (Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society Berlin) Jascha Bareis (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) Moderator: Ola Michalec (University of Bristol) Printed edition available via Bristol University Press: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-realities-of-autonomous-weapons Digital edition available open access: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-realities-of-autonomous-weapons Entry requirements: no age restrictions Book Launch: The Realities of Autonomous Weapons (headfirstbristol.co.uk)<https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/bristol-digital-futures-institu…> [https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/images/events/1308/e130828_i262688_s4.jpg]<https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/bristol-digital-futures-institu…> Book Launch: The Realities of Autonomous Weapons tickets — 0p | Bristol Digital Futures Institute, Bristol<https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/bristol-digital-futures-institu…> The development of autonomous weapon systems has been subject to intense discussions for years. Numerous political, academic or legal institutions debate the consequences and risks that arise from these technologies, particularly their ethical, social and political implications. Despite this public prominence, it often remains surprisingly unclear which technology is evoked by the term ... www.headfirstbristol.co.uk Bahar Muller Senior Marketing Executive Bristol University Press has won the Independent Academic and Professional Publisher of the Year 2024 award.<https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/bup-has-won-the-independent-academic-a…> New this month Basic Income: The Policy That Changes Everything<https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/basic-income?utm_source=s…> by Matthew Johnson, Kate Pickett, Daniel Nettle, Howard Reed, Elliott Johnson and Ian Robson Timebomb: When Ageing Explodes<https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/timebomb?utm_source=signa…> by Giles Merritt Our charity for 2025 is Bristol Refugee Rights. Find out more and donate here.<https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/charity?utm_source=signature&utm_mediu…> Keep up with all our news and get a 25% discount on ALL Bristol University Press and Policy Press books by signing up to our newsletter<https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/signup-bup-pp?utm_source=signature&utm…>.

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CFP: ECSCW 2025 Workshop on Malicious Use of AI: A Value-Sensitive Approach for Stakeholder Consensus (Newcastle, July 1)
by Blasiak, Kevin Marc 05 Jun '25

05 Jun '25

Apologies for cross-posting Dear colleagues, We are pleased to invite contributions to the ECSCW 2025 Pre-Conference Workshop: Shifting the Conversation on Malicious Use of AI: A Value-Sensitive Approach for Stakeholder Consensus Date: July 1, 2025 (half-day workshop) Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Submission Deadline: May 26, 2025 (23:59 UTC+2) Workshop Overview: As AI technologies become deeply embedded in society, they drive both innovation and an alarming rise in malicious uses including disinformation, cyberattacks, surveillance, and online radicalization. These threats are not isolated technical challenges. They are sociotechnical problems rooted in the interplay of technology design, governance, collaborative work, and shifting regulatory systems. Malicious AI use often combines organized campaigns with distributed grassroots dynamics, making it difficult to address through technical solutions alone. This half day workshop will use a Value Sensitive Design (VSD) lens to reframe how we understand and respond to AI enabled threats. Participants will collaboratively explore ethical, organizational, and policy dimensions of AI governance. We aim to foster actionable strategies that consider not only the technological infrastructures enabling these risks but also the broader sociotechnical ecosystems and work practices that can mitigate them. The workshop will include expert panels featuring stakeholders from industry and government or policy sectors (names to be announced) and will foster rich interdisciplinary dialogue across a range of fields including, but not limited to, CSCW, information systems, cybersecurity, and trust and safety. Through collaborative activities, we seek to co develop pathways for ethical AI governance that are inclusive, practical, and grounded in real world experience. Participation is open to all interested researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders. Topics of Interest include (but are not limited to): Sociotechnical mechanisms enabling or mitigating malicious AI use AI threats in content moderation, trust & safety, OSINT, and cybersecurity Case studies on platform governance or regulatory adaptation VSD-informed approaches to ethical AI governance Empirical or theoretical explorations of AI-related harms Strategies for multi-stakeholder collaboration in high-risk environments Organizational adaptation to AI threats in public and private sectors Lessons learned from cross-sector governance successes and challenges Submission Details: Format: Short position paper (2–4 pages) or equivalent (white paper, case study, or theoretical piece). Submissions will be reviewed by the organizers for relevance, quality, and their potential to contribute to workshop discussions. Accepted position papers will be shared among participants ahead of the workshop. Submission Email: kevin.blasiak (at) tuwien.ac.at Deadline: May 26, 2025 (23:59 UTC+2) Notification of Acceptance: Early June, 2025 Selected participants will engage in panel discussions, breakout groups, and contribute to a co-authored post-workshop report. To ensure focused and productive dialogue, the workshop will be limited to 20 participants. Full Call & Submission Details: Call website: https://cts.wien/en/misc/20250429_responsiblecomputing_ecscwcallproposals/ Organizers: Kevin M. Blasiak, PhD – Postdoctoral Researcher, TU Vienna | Leader, Responsible Computing Circle, Center for Technology & Society (CTS) Daniel E. Levenson, MA, MLA – PhD Student, Swansea University | Board Member, Society for Terrorism Research Workshop Sponsors: CTS//circle.responsibleComputing, TU Vienna Terrorism and Social Media (TASM) at Swansea University, Cyber Threats Research Centre (CYTREC) We look forward to your submissions and hope to see many of you in Newcastle! Best regards, Kevin M. Blasiak & Daniel E. Levenson ______________________________________________________________________________ Kevin M. Blasiak, PhD [he/him] Postdoctoral researcher, Circle lead, responsibleComputing Center for Technology & Society Gußhausstraße 27-29, 1040 Vienna, Austria T: +43 1 58801 79901394 M: +43 670 2042787 https://cts.wien <https://cts.wien/> kevin.blasiak(a)tuwien.ac.at <mailto:kevin.blasiak@tuwien.ac.at> kevin.blasiak(a)cts.wien <mailto:kevin.blasiak@cts.wien>

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DiscoverText, TrustDefender, Twitter Data, and the Future
by Shulman, Stu 04 Jun '25

04 Jun '25

The free academic text analytics and machine learning platform DiscoverText, and the spin off TrustDefender, are now Canadian software projects running on fast new hardware in a Vancouver, BC high-speed co-location site. Software operations in the United States after 20 years in universities, start-up incubators, the commercial cloud, and finally my basement for the last 6 or so years, are officially over. Canadian researchers with requirements to keep sensitive research data in Canada please take note. For 15 years, with the exception of about three months, we have had access to Twitter data. That access (currently a paid subscription) ends this month. If you want one last dataset of up 500,000 Tweets from the last 12 months, set up a meeting and I can get that for you. There are costs for data access and labor to access the chunks of up to 20,000 Tweets per download. We have migrated about 1,000 projects with 300,000,000 curated Tweets to preserve these idiosyncratic archival records for future research studies by academics interested in the topics like the first three days of #metoo, #BLM, COVID-19, and too many things related to American elections. If you have any historical Twitter in JSON format, you can load it for collaborative research purposes and see the (live) Tweets in our platform using the authentic Twitter display. I am excited to be returning to school to start a Masters program in library science at UBC this fall. My goal is to focus on trust in information systems. At the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, to be held in Vancouver this year, I will be offering a 4-hour pre-conference workshop September 10, 2025 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM titled "Teaching and Researching Trust with Large Scale Twitter Datasets" https://connect.apsanet.org/apsa2025/pre-conference-short-courses/ If you want to be a part of the workshop, I could use a few assistant presenters in Vancouver to help me set up and execute what could be one of the larger workshops I have had to date. I am going to try and keep these tools free for academics as long as possible. Some of the core annotation, measurement, and adjudication features designed in 2007 are highly functional and efficient scientific instruments. https://tinyurl.com/DTCitations ~Stu -- Dr. Stuart W. Shulman Founder and CEO, Texifter Editor Emeritus, *Journal of Information Technology & Politics*

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Deadline Extension - 3rd Summer School in Digital Methods for Critical Consumer Studies, Lake Como, 22-26 September 2025
by Camilla Volpe 04 Jun '25

04 Jun '25

Dear all, There is still time to apply for the 3rd edition of the Summer School in Digital Methods for Critical Consumer Studies, which will take place in Como from September 22 to 26, 2025. This year's theme is: Artificial intelligence as a methodological resource and its applications for consumer culture research. The School will focus on the intersection between Digital Methods, consumer culture, and AI technologies such as large language models (LLMs), exploring both technical and critical perspectives. It is intended for MA and PhD students who wish to integrate digital methods into their research projects in the field of consumer culture. The programme includes lectures, workshops, keynote talks, and group work, delivered by an international and interdisciplinary faculty. Confirmed keynote speakers: Joonas Rokka (Emlyon Business School) Giorgia Aiello (University of Milan) Gabriele Colombo (Politecnico di Milano) The Summer School is organized by the University of Milan, in collaboration with: SOMET - PhD Programme in Sociology and Methodology of Social Research, Milan School of Media and Communication, PhD in Communication Science and Practice, University of Pavia. Application deadline has been extended to June 16, 2025. Applications must include a CV and a presentation letter (with a brief bio, research interests, and motivation to participate) and should be sent to laura.bruschi(a)unimi.it by June 16 at the very latest. Full programme and details: <https://dmcs.lakecomoschool.org/>*https://dmcs.lakecomoschool.org <https://dmcs.lakecomoschool.org/>* We welcome applications from MA and PhD students, early-career researchers, and professionals interested in digital methods, AI, media, and consumer studies. Please feel free to share this call with colleagues or students who might be interested. Best regards, On behalf of the School Directors: A. Caliandro, A. Gandini, M. Airoldi

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Children and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in Australia: The Big Challenges (Report)
by Tama Leaver 03 Jun '25

03 Jun '25

Dear AoIR Friends and Colleagues, We're pleased to share the release of our ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child report "Children and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in Australia: The Big Challenges", led by Suzanne Srdarov and myself. The world of AI is complicated and continually changing, with particular issues that impact on children and young people more than others. Our report highlights issues we believe AI companies, policy makers, educators and anyone responsible for thinking about AI and kids, should consider. In summary the 9 big challenges in terms of children and generative AI tools that we highlight are: ✨ Agentic Language - real-time interactions, especially via voice, make GenAI tools sounds like they are agents, aware of what they're saying (ie intelligent). They aren't. ✨ Bias - Indiscriminately harvesting data from many sources includes the biases inherent in these sources. Bias in often means bias back out again. ✨ Copyright and Ownership - while there are lots of legal questions about the training data, it's clear a lot of content was taken without permission or payment, which remains a big issue. ✨ Environmental Cost - the cost of a GenAI answer is significantly higher than other answers, including search. That adds up to a lot more power, water and other resources for these tools. In a world struggling with climate change, GenAI is making that struggle worse, not better. ✨ Indigenous Data Sovereignty - at present, Indigenous data is harvested indiscriminately, perpetuating the worst extractivist harms, and not giving Indigenous people a real say in how these tools are deployed. ✨ Interactive AI Agents & AI Companions - the design of GenAI tools makes them feel like actual people. Emotional ties and bonds can be built, especially by younger users. That can be dangerous. ✨ Privacy - these tools are all hungry for personal data in a range of ways, many of which are not made transparent to users. ✨ Ubiquitous AI - increasingly the question isn't where to find AI tools, but wide integration means it's hard to find online spaces where AI tools aren't now baked in. ✨ AI Literacies or Critical AI Literacies? - there's a vital difference between equipping young people to be AI tool users compared to having the literacy to evaluate the full costs and appropriateness (or not) of using these tools in the first place. The full report can be read and downloaded here: https://issuu.com/digitalchild/docs/children_and_generative_artificial_inte… More of the Centre's work on children and GenAI can be found here: https://digitalchild.org.au/artificialintelligence/ #artificialintelligence #GenAI #childrensrights Cheers, Tama -- Professor Tama Leaver (he/him) Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) http://aoir.org 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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Call for study participants on newscasters
by My Nguyen 03 Jun '25

03 Jun '25

Dear all, We are conducting a study on newscasters and are seeking participants to collect pilot data for a presentation at an upcoming conference. If you are a U.S. resident aged 18 or older, we would greatly appreciate your participation in our survey. Please feel free to share this invitation with others who might be interested. Here's the survey link: https://lsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3OvBHWE87mUdeOq Please contact me if you have any questions. Thank you for your time and support. With best regards, Nguyen Ngoc Yen My, MS Graduate Assistant Student, Ph.D. in Media and Public Affairs LSU Manship School of Mass Communication

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CfP: Critical Legal Conference, UK in person
by Lavrenteva, Ksenia 03 Jun '25

03 Jun '25

Dear Association of Internet Researchers community, As part of the Critical Legal Conference 2025, to be held in person at the University of Exeter (UK) from 4–6 September 2025, I would like to invite submissions to the stream "Future Tense: Legal Imagination in Times of Acceleration." This stream invites critical engagement with the role of legal thought in the face of accelerating technological, ecological, and political change. As crises multiply and intensify — from AI and automation to climate collapse and democratic erosion — law often appears reactive, slow, and burdened by the past. Legal systems struggle not only to keep pace with unfolding transformations, but also to articulate meaningful futures. We suffer from a crisis of imagination as much as a crisis of regulation. This stream welcomes speculative and creative approaches that explore how law might evolve or be reimagined under radically altered conditions. Possible themes include: * Algorithms and AI as juridical forces * Regulating machine sentience or planetary collapse * Legal utopias and dystopias * Critiques of “the post-” and grounded futurisms If your work examines digital governance, the politics of acceleration, or the speculative intersections of law and technology, we would love to hear from you. The deadline is 1 August. To submit an abstract, please email kl633(a)exeter.ac.uk with the subject line: 'Future Tense: Legal Imagination in Times of Acceleration'. More detail about the stream https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/clc2025/call-for-papers/#future-tense Full CFP https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/clc2025/call-for-papers/ Stream contact kl633(a)exeter.ac.uk General enquiries info-clc2025(a)exeter.ac.uk More information about the Critical Legal Conference 2025 is available at https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/clc2025/ Best regards, Ksenia Lavrenteva PhD Researcher | University of Exeter Latest publication: “Gatekeeping Access: Exploring Open Access Challenges for Museum Collections Held in Russia” Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 12(2) (2025). https://doi.org/10.31274/jlsc.18274

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AI Literacies launch + keynote by Mark Carrigan (hybrid)
by Adi Kuntsman 03 Jun '25

03 Jun '25

Dear all The programme for our AI Literacies launch is ready – and theeven will be in hybrid formal, allowing you to tune in online if you cant joinis in Manchester We have a great line up of panellists, a Pecha Kucha styleshow case of the work by our members, and a keynote by Mark Carrigan, theauthor of Generative AI for Academics Details are here https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/ai-literacies-public-launch/, including registration links to attend online or in person Hope to see you there! -------- DrAdi Kuntsman, Reader in Digital Politics Head of Ethics, Faculty of Artsand Humanities Co-Lead, Digital Society Research Group Director, Digital Politics Summer School Department of History, Politics and Philosophy Manchester Metropolitan University

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You’re Invited: Not Your Parents’ Politics Book Launch Toast at ICA!
by Ioana Literat 02 Jun '25

02 Jun '25

Dear colleagues and friends, We’re excited to invite you to a toast celebrating the launch of our recent book, Not Your Parents’ Politics: Understanding Young People’s Political Expression on Social Media (Oxford University Press). Saturday, June 14 4:00–4:20 PM Oxford University Press Stand (Centennial Ballroom D, Booth 212) We’re especially grateful that Lynn Schofield Clark has kindly agreed to say a few words to mark the occasion. Then we’ll raise a glass, and there will be some fun surprises! We’d love to see you there! Warmly, Ioana Literat and Neta Kligler-Vilenchik -- Ioana Literat, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Communication, Media and Learning Technologies Design CMLTD Program Co-Director Teachers College, Columbia University http://ioanaliterat.com <http://ioanaliterat.com/> New book: Not Your Parents' Politics: Understanding Young People's Political Expression on Social Media <https://www.amazon.com/Your-Parents-Politics-Understanding-Communication/dp…>

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NASSS Call for Abstracts: Sport, Power, and Datafication (June 10 deadline)
by Pratik Nyaupane 02 Jun '25

02 Jun '25

Hello, I would like to invite you to submit paper abstracts for our panel on *Sport, Power, and Datafication* at this year's *North American Society for the Sociology of Sport <https://nasss.org/conference2025/> *conference in *Seattle, Washington,* on November 5- 8th. Please find our panel description below: Contemporary life is increasingly governed by datafication, which refers to the phenomenon of quantifying human life through digital information for economic, political, and social value (Mejias & Couldry, 2019). The logics and impacts of datafication are now firmly entrenched within the realm of sport. Examples range from the collection and manipulation of athlete biometric data to the algorithmic presentation of digital sports discourse to the implementation of surveillance technologies towards athletes and spectators. This session seeks presentations that critically assess the economic, political, social, cultural, and moral/ethical implications of big data for the cultures of sport. We invite presentations that analyze these tensions from a range of empirical, methodological, theoretical, and disciplinary approaches, including (but not limited to): critical data studies, science and technology studies, critical algorithm studies, media/communications studies, new materialism, cultural studies, and information studies. Due June 10, 2025 Abstract submission link HERE <https://conference.nasss.org/2025/papers/paper_proposal0.php?_gl=1*1ulcpti*…> Questions can be sent to Pratik Nyaupane (nyaupane(a)usc.edu) Brandon T. Wallace (bratwall(a)iu.edu) or Vincent Peña (vpena4(a)depaul.edu) -- Pratik Nyaupane Ph.D. Candidate in Communication University of Southern California (He/Him)

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