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Last call: Hiring Three post docs (36 months+) in governance of emergent tech - HPI/Oxford
by Sandra Wachter 11 Jun '25

11 Jun '25

Are you interested in the governance of emergent tech? Do you care about the societal impacts of generative AI and hallucinations in areas such as the workplace, misinformation, free press, academia, and human rights? Would you like to work on tech policy issues? Come and work with me, Sandra Wachter <https://hpi.de/en/research/research-groups/technology-and-regulation/> (HPI/Oxford) at the Hasso Plattner Institute & Brent Mittelstadt and Chris Russell at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford. I am currently hiring three postdoctoral researchers to work across law, ethics, and computer science/AI/ML on the governance of emergent technologies. Each post is for 36 months with the possibility of renewal thereafter. Further info and links to apply: Law: https://tinyurl.com/4rbhcndp Ethics: https://tinyurl.com/yc2e2km4 Computer Science/AI/ML: https://tinyurl.com/yr5bvnn5 <https://tinyurl.com/yr5bvnn5> Application deadline is June 15, 2025. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.

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The 31st Annual ACM Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI 2026): First Call for Workshop & Tutorial Proposals
by Announce 10 Jun '25

10 Jun '25

*** First Call for Workshop & Tutorial Proposals The 31st Annual ACM Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI 2026) March 23-26, 2026, 5* Coral Beach Hotel & Resort, Paphos, Cyprus https://iui.hosting.acm.org/2026/ We are pleased to invite proposals for workshops and tutorials to be held in conjunction with the 31st International ACM Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (ACM IUI 2026), Paphos, Cyprus. Workshops aim to provide a venue for presenting research on emerging or specialized topics of interest and to offer an informal forum for discussing research questions and challenges. Potential workshop topics should be related to the general theme of the conference (“Where HCI meets AI”). Tutorials aim to provide fundamental knowledge and experience on topics related to intelligent user interfaces and the intersection between Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). We welcome proposals for a wide range of *full-day* or *half-day* workshops and tutorial formats and activities, including but not limited to: • Mini Conferences: Workshops that focus on a specific topic and may have their own paper submission and review processes. • Interactive Formats: Workshops that encourage active participation and hands-on experiences through break-out sessions or group work to explore specific topics. They may have their own paper submission and review process or target a report summarizing the discussions and outcomes. • Emerging Work Sessions: Workshops that foster discussion around emerging ideas. Organizers may raise specific topics and invite position papers, late-breaking results, or extended abstracts. • Project-Centric Formats: Workshops tied closely to a specific existing large-scale funded project(e.g., NSF, EU) with the goal to engage a broader community. • Interactive Competitions: Formats that invite individuals and teams to participate in challenges or hackathons on selected topics relevant to IUI. • Tutorials: Sessions that provide a structured instruction on topics aligned with the conference theme, such as HCI methods, AI techniques, methodological frameworks, or tools for building intelligent user interfaces. Review and Oversight by Workshop and Tutorial Chairs Proposals will be reviewed and evaluated by the Workshop and Tutorial Chairs. It is possible that workshops may be cancelled, shortened, merged, or restructured if there are insufficient submissions. Workshop and Tutorial summaries will be included in the ACM Digital Library for ACM IUI 2026. We will also publish joint workshop proceedings for accepted workshop submissions (through CEUR or a similar venue). Responsibilities of Workshop and Tutorial Organizers • Coordinate the Call for Papers, including solicitation, submission handling, and peer review process. • Create and maintain a dedicated website with Workshop or Tutorial information. The IUI Website 2026 will link to this page. • Prepare and communicate Call for Participation, targeting both IUI and broader relevant communities (e.g., via mailing lists, social media, newsgroups, or offline events) • Facilitate the planned activities, including paper presentations, discussions, and/or interactive elements. • Submit a workshop or tutorial summary for inclusion in the ACM Digital Library. • Collect camera-ready papers and author agreements from workshop participants for the joint workshop proceedings (CEUR or similar). Note that for the joint proceedings (CEUR or similar), submissions should be peer-reviewed and will need to meet publishers’ guidelines. CEUR, for example, requires a 5-page minimum per contribution. Note that not all workshop and tutorial formats listed above may meet these requirements, and we may not be able to include them. IUI 2026 is an in-person event, and we expect workshop organizers to attend, allowing the workshop to be conducted on-site. One author per paper is expected to attend in person to present the work. Proposal Format Workshop or tutorial proposals should be a maximum of four pages long (single-column format). Prepare your submission using the latest templates: Word Submission Template (https://authors.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/publications/taps/acm_submi…) or the LaTex Template (https://authors.acm.org/proceedings/production-information/preparing-your-a…) For Latex, please use “\documentclass[manuscript,review]{acmart}”. The proposals should be organized as follows: • Name and title: A one-word acronym and a full title. Please indicate “(Workshop)” or “(Tutorial)” after the title, as appropriate. • Abstract: A brief summary of the workshop or tutorial. • Description of workshop or tutorial topic: Should discuss the relevance of the proposed topic to IUI and its interest for the IUI 2026 audience. Include a concise discussion of why this workshop or tutorial is particularly relevant for the intended audience and how it will complement and enhance topics covered at the main conference. • Previous history: List of previous workshops or tutorials on this topic, including the conferences that hosted them and the number of participants. If available, report on past editions of the workshop (including URLs), along with a brief statement of the workshop series (e.g., covering topics, number of paper submissions, and participants), as well as post- workshop publications over the years and acceptance statistics. If this is the first edition of the workshop, describe how it differs from others on similar topics (e.g., by including conference names and years). • Organizer(s): Names, affiliations, emails, and web pages of the organizer(s). Provide a brief description of the background of the organizer(s). Strong proposals normally include organizers who bring differing perspectives on the topic and are actively connected to the communities of potential participants. Please indicate the primary contact person and the organizers who will attend the workshop. Also, please provide a list of other workshops or tutorials organized by workshop organizers in the past. • Workshop program committee: Names and affiliation of the members of the (tentative) workshop program committee that will evaluate the workshop submissions. • Participants: Include a statement of how many participants you expect and how you plan to invite participants for the workshop or tutorial. If possible, include the names of at least 10 people who have expressed interest in participating in the workshop or tutorial. • Workshop or Tutorial activities: A brief description of the format regarding the mix of events or activities, such as paper presentations, invited talks, panels, demonstrations, teaching activities, hands-on practical exercises, and general discussion. Please also list here any materials you will make available to tutorial participants, such as slides, access to hardware or software, and handouts. • Planned outcomes of the workshop or tutorial: What are you hoping to achieve by the end of the workshop or tutorial? Please list here any planned publications or other outcomes expected. • Length: Full-day or half-day. Submission Platform • All materials must be submitted electronically to PCS 2.0 http://new.precisionconference.com/~sigchi by the proposal submission deadline. • In PCS 2.0, first click "Submissions" at the top of the page, from the dropdown menus for society, conference, and track, select "SIGCHI", "IUI 2026", and then "IUI 2026 Workshops" or “IUI 2026 Tutorials”, respectively, and press "Go". We encourage both researchers and industry practitioners to submit workshop proposals. To support diverse perspectives in the workshops, we strongly recommend including organizers from varied institutions and backgrounds. Furthermore, we welcome workshops with an innovative structure that can attract diverse types of contributions and foster valuable interactions. Prospective organizers are encouraged to contact the Workshop and Tutorial Chairs in advance (workshops2026(a)iui.acm.org) to discuss ideas, receive feedback, or seek assistance in preparing engaging proposals. Especially for workshop proposals featuring innovative interactive formats, we are happy to help further develop and implement the ideas. Important Dates (AoE) • Workshop Proposals: August 22, 2025 • Decision notification: September 19, 2025 • Tutorial Proposals: October 17, 2025 • Tutorial Decision Notification: Nov 21, 2025 • Camera-ready Summaries: February 6, 2026 Workshop and Tutorial Chairs Karthik Dinakar, Pienso, USA Werner Geyer, IBM Research, USA Patricia Kahr, University of Zurich, Switzerland Antonela Tommasel, CONICET, Argentina

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[NORMalize @ ACM RecSys] Call for Contributions!
by Starke, Alain 10 Jun '25

10 Jun '25

Dear all, We excited to announce the first call for contributions for NORMalize: the Workshop on the Normative Design and Evaluation of Recommender Systems! This will take place in the period of September 22-26 in Prague, co-located with the ACM conference on recommender systems (RecSys) We solicit early-stage research ideas and previously published manuscripts from journals or conferences outside the core recommender systems community. More details can be found here: https://sites.google.com/view/normalizeworkshop/recsys25/call-for-papers?au… Deadline for submissions: July 10, 2025 On behalf of all organizers, Kind regards, Alain Starke Topics of Interest We are especially interested in contributions related to norms and values in recommender systems, including (but not limited to) the following themes: Philosophical, Legal, and Conceptual Foundations * Which norms and values are important in a specific domain, and why? * How should competing norms and values be balanced? * What norms and values are required or influenced by legal frameworks? * How will current and proposed legal frameworks impact the work on recommender systems? Qualitative and Stakeholder-Centered Approaches * How do different stakeholder groups perceive and prioritize norms and values? * What tensions emerge between stakeholder expectations and system design? Value-Sensitive and Normative Algorithm Design * How can we operationalize abstract norms and values into algorithmic objectives? * How can algorithms be designed to optimize for or balance multiple values? * What frameworks support multi-objective, multi-stakeholder optimization? Metrics and Evaluation Methods * How can we measure norms and values in recommender systems? * What kinds of data representations are required for such measurements? * Do value-oriented metrics generalize across domains? * How can we design robust experiments that surface normative dimensions? Datasets and Data Practices * How can public datasets support research on norms and values? * How does data representation affect value-sensitive evaluation? Case Studies and Empirical Insights * What norms and values emerge in real-world deployments? * What practical challenges arise in implementing value-sensitive systems? * How do deployed recommender systems behave with respect to these values?

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2 postdoc positions in the ERC-funded GAMEINDEX project at Charles University, Prague
by Jaroslav Švelch 09 Jun '25

09 Jun '25

2 postdoc positions in the GAMEINDEX project at Charles University, Prague =========================== We are seeking two post-doctoral researchers to conduct ethnographic studies of game production for the ERC grant “GAMEINDEX: Politics and aesthetics of indexical representation in digital games and VR.“ The project is headed by Dr. Jaroslav Švelch and located at Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, within the Prague Game Production Studies research group. The starting date is in 2026 and the duration of the position is 2 years, with the possibility of extension to 3 years. The deadline for applications is *30 SEPTEMBER 2025*. You can find an online version of this call here: https://gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz/2025/06/09/gameindex-two-funded-p… Project focus: GAMEINDEX focuses on indexical representation in games – both as traces of real-life objects or people in the simulated worlds of digital games and VR, and as references to physical locations. Besides games themselves, we are interested in analyzing indexical techniques such as motion capture, 3D scanning, voiceover recording, and others. The post-doctoral researchers will primarily contribute to the work package that analyzes the use of indexical techniques within the production practices of video games and/or VR, and explores the transformation of real-life objects and people into in-game assets. The GAMEINDEX project presupposes that material will be collected in game/VR production studios using ethnographic methods (studio ethnographies, participants observation, interviews). Within the scope of the GAMEINDEX project, described here, the applicant is free to come up with their own research project with more specific research questions. A detailed description of GAMEINDEX is available here: https://gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/svelch… Required qualifications: - A completed Ph.D. degree or a document from home university confirming that Ph.D. will be awarded by the starting date of contract - Documented experience in social scientific or humanistic research of digital games or other media Recommended qualifications: - Experience with studio ethnographies or other ethnographic methods of researching game or media production - A Ph.D. from fields such as media studies, film studies, anthropology, or sociology - A solid record of publishing academic research in the English language - Knowledge of contemporary game production and familiarity with indexical techniques (technical experience with them is welcome but not required) Required materials: - An academic CV and a list of published works - Two references from within academia (include name, title, institution, email address, and phone number); an additional reference from the game industry may be provided if applicable - A copy of a Ph.D. certificate or an official record of planned/completed defense - Research project – a 2,000 word description of your intended project, which should fit the aims and scope of GAMEINDEX but may reflect the applicant’s personal research interests and previous experience. The project should include: a theoretical background and positioning, research questions, methodology, a list potential case studies, risk analysis, and a rough work plan for the 2 years (Gantt chart not needed). - Two samples of academic writing – ideally from published articles, dissertation, or conference papers Practical arrangements: - The incoming applications will be screened by the GAMEINDEX team and suitable candidates will be invited for an online or in-person interview. - Successful applicants are expected to relocate to Prague and are eligible for a relocation fee from the project budget. - They will become full-time employees of Charles University, with benefits and a competitive salary commensurable with experience (details provided upon request). - Once employed, the researcher can be granted funding from GAMEINDEX to cover costs of fieldwork and conference travel. Application process: Applicants may submit their applications by September 30, 2025, via e-mail to: kariera(a)fsv.cuni.cz, with the subject: “Postdoc ERC GAMEINDEX”. Applicants may approach the PI Jaroslav Švelch at jaroslav.svelch(a)fsv.cuni.cz to ask questions about GAMEINDEX and the postdoc positions. Legal notice: By responding to this advertisement, you consent to the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, located at Smetanovo nábřeží 6, Prague 1, Postal Code 110 01, processing your personal data for the purposes of the selection procedure. The processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and Act No. 110/2019 Coll., on the Processing of Personal Data. Jaroslav Švelch, Ph.D. Associate professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague Head of the Prague Game Production Studies group, https://gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz/ Chair of the DiGRA Central and Eastern Europe Chapter Executive Board ________________________________________________________ My book PLAYER VS. MONSTER: The Making and Breaking of Video Game Monstrosity Out now on MIT Press: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047753/ @electroslav (Bluesky) Phone: +420 773 988 425

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Hiring: Three post docs (36 months+) in AI/ML governance - Hasso Plattner Institute/Oxford
by Brent Mittelstadt 09 Jun '25

09 Jun '25

One week left to submit your application! Apply to work with Prof. Sandra Wachter<https://hpi.de/en/research/research-groups/technology-and-regulation/> at the Hasso Plattner Institute<https://www.linkedin.com/company/hasso-plattner-institute/>, and collaborate with Prof. Brent Mittelstadt and Prof. Chris Russell at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. Prof. Wachter is hiring three long-term postdoctoral researchers to work across law, computer science/AI/ML, ethics, and investigative research on the governance of emerging technologies. Each post is for 36 months with the possibility of renewal thereafter. Further info and links to apply: Law: https://tinyurl.com/4rbhcndp Ethics: https://tinyurl.com/yc2e2km4 Computer Science/AI/ML: https://tinyurl.com/yr5bvnn5 <https://tinyurl.com/yr5bvnn5> Application deadline is June 15, 2025. All the best, Brent --------------------------------------- Professor Brent Mittelstadt Professor of Data Ethics and Policy Oxford Internet Institute University of Oxford 1 St. Giles, Oxford, OX1 3JS @bmittelstadt.bsky.social +44 (0)1865 287221 http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=365

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NEW VIDEO: How is AI helping advertisers skirt around EU law?
by Dr. Emma Briant 09 Jun '25

09 Jun '25

Dear friends and colleagues, Those interested in privacy/surveillance and targeted advertising may find this of interest.... I was honored to again address the European Parliament on Tuesday 3rd June, this time at the invitation of the Special committee on the European Democracy Shield, my talk was on 'Regulation of Political Advertising in the EU... or How to Avoid It?' and you can watch the video now here. <https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/webstreaming/20250603-1430-COMMITT…> (My contribution starts: 16:34:00 - panel begins 16:24:00). I talked about how ChatGPT is suggesting ways for advertisers to skirt around legal protections & target advertising on the basis of anxiety and other GDPR-protected categories in Europe. I again urged policymakers to close this loophole and properly enforce existing legislation, and regulate the influence industry. The panel also included excellent contributions from other distinguished colleagues: Arielle Garcia (Check My Ads) Alberto Fernandez Gibaja (International IDEA) The follow-up Q&A is also of interest. I hope you find this an interesting discussion and that it might be helpful in your teaching. Best wishes, Emma -- Dr Emma L Briant Visiting Associate Professor at Notre Dame University Fellow at Bard College, Human Rights Project Associate at University of Cambridge, Center for Financial Reporting & Accountability Speaking agent: Chartwell Speakers <https://www.chartwellspeakers.com/speaker/emma-briant/> Book agent: Inkwell Management <https://inkwellmanagement.com/> Author of: *Propaganda and Counter-Terrorism: Strategies for Global Change *from Manchester University Press Co-Author of: *Bad News for Refugees* with Prof. Greg Philo and Dr. Pauline Donald from Pluto Press. Support my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/emmalbriant Website: www.emma-briant.co.uk Sign up for my Newsletter! <https://emma-briant.co.uk/sign-up-for-important-updates/> Follow me on Mastodon @emmalbriant@mastodon.online Follow me on Twitter @emmalbriant "I thought yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life but it turns out today is." - Steve Martin “Women are like teabags . We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water.” - Unknown

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CfP on "AI Agents and Emerging Social Relationships"
by Lei Guo 09 Jun '25

09 Jun '25

Dear colleagues, This is a call for papers for a special issue of *Communication and Change <https://link.springer.com/journal/44382>* on *AI Agents and Emerging Social Relationships: Evidence-Based Perspectives on Human–AI Relational Interactions. * *Guest Editors:* Dr. Jonathan Zhu, Chair Professor, City University of Hong Kong Dr. Bolin Cao, Associate Professor, Shenzhen University *Overview:* The increasing presence of AI agents (including but not limited to chatbots and embodied conversational systems) is not only transforming communication practices but also reshaping the contours of social relationships. From intimate connections and caregiving roles to companionship and collaboration, AI agents are entering social relationships once considered exclusively human. As these systems become more integrated into our daily lives, it becomes imperative to ask: *What kinds of social relationships are being formed with and through AI agents?* This Special Issue invites original research that explores the *formation, negotiation, and transformation of social relationships involving AI agents*, with a focus on real-world settings and empirically grounded approaches. We particularly welcome submissions that, with or without an explicit theoretical framework, go beyond speculative discussion to offer *evidence-based and contextually grounded* accounts of how AI agents are embedded in everyday relational practices. While human–AI interaction is inevitably interdisciplinary, we encourage contributions that *make clear conceptual, operational, or empirical advancements within the field of communication research*. Relevance to human communication should go beyond merely citing communication theories; instead, submissions should engage substantively with communication-specific questions, perspectives, or frameworks. *Themes of Interest (include but are not limited to):* - AI-mediated intimate and romantic relationships - Parent–child dynamics in AI-augmented households - AI as companions, confidants, or caregivers - Human–AI collaboration and co-agency in work or creative contexts - Cultural, ethical, and affective implications of AI-sociality - Methodological innovations in studying AI-embedded social relations - Longitudinal or ethnographic insights into AI integration in daily life We seek papers that deeply engage with the *specificity of human–AI interaction*, that articulate what is novel or distinctive about these emerging relationships, and that contribute to broader understandings of *psychological and social transformation* in the age of AI. *Closed Workshop:* Authors of selected submissions will be invited to participate in a closed-door workshop in *November 2025*, aimed at fostering dialogue among contributors and refining manuscripts through critical discussion and peer feedback. This workshop will be held in person at *Fudan University*, and participation is strongly encouraged for authors of accepted submissions. Fudan University will cover *round-trip travel* and *accommodation expenses* for invited participants. *Important Dates:* - *Extended Abstract: *Deadline -* August 10, 2025*; Length: 600–1,200 words - Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by *August 20, 2025*, and invited to submit a full paper draft. - *Initial Full Paper Draft: *Deadline - *October 10, 2025*; Length: 6,000–10,000 words, including abstract, keywords, main text, references, tables, and figures - *Notification of Workshop Invitation: *Authors will receive notification by *late October 2025*, including whether they are invited to attend the closed, in-person workshop. - *Workshop Participation: *Date - *Late November 2025*; Location - Fudan University, Shanghai, China - *Final manuscript submission *(post-workshop, via journal system): Deadline - *January 15, 2026*; Submissions will undergo a blind peer review process. - *Expected publication: *First half of 2026 *Submission Guidelines:* Authors should follow the journal’s standard formatting and submission procedures. Please indicate that your manuscript is intended for the *Special Issue on **AI Agents and Emerging Social Relationships* in your email subject line and cover letter. Submissions (both extended abstracts and full papers) should be sent directly to both *cac(a)fudan.edu.cn* <cac(a)fudan.edu.cn> and *loniceralin(a)gmail.com* <loniceralin(a)gmail.com>. *Contact:* For inquiries regarding the special issue or suitability of a manuscript, please contact Guest Editor Dr. Bolin Cao at: *loniceralin(a)gmail.com* <loniceralin(a)gmail.com>. *About the Journal:* *Communication and Change <https://link.springer.com/journal/44382> *(C&C) is a peer-reviewed, open-access international journal dedicated to advancing the understanding of communication in the context of rapid technological and societal transformation. With emerging technologies such as AI and big data reshaping communication practices, social structures, and media landscapes, *Communication and Change* seeks to foster innovative research and theory-building that explores the dynamic interplay between communication and change. C&C is published by Springer and is institutionally based at the School of Journalism, Fudan University. Professor James E. Katz at Boston University and Professor Baohua Zhou at Fudan are the journal’s co-Editors-in-Chief.

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CfP - Asiascape: Digital Asia special issue on 'networked agitprop'
by Schneider, F.A. (Florian) 06 Jun '25

06 Jun '25

Dear list members, The peer-reviewed academic journal Asiascape: Digital Asia (DIAS)<https://brill.com/view/journals/dias/dias-overview.xml> is now inviting contributions for its 2026 themed issue on ‘Networked Agitprop in Asia’, edited by special issue editors Milan Ismangil and Florian Schneider. Agitative propaganda, or agitprop, has long been a powerful tool for shaping public opinion, mobilizing movements, and cultivating ideological narratives. Originally describing the Soviet Union's methods of distributing propaganda to fuel revolutionary fervour, the term agitprop has recently resurfaced in popular usage. For instance, influential political streamer Hasan Abi titled his short-lived show “Agitprop,” aiming to “amplify the anti-capitalist message.” Today, agitprop has evolved beyond its traditional confines of propagating Communism, finding new energy and purpose within digital networks and grassroots activism. The rise of digital technologies in Asia has revolutionized the form and function of agitprop, transforming it from a centralized form of propaganda into a dynamic phenomenon driven by an anonymous mass whose solidarity stems from digital networks (see Jodice 2022, Lee & Chan 2018).Movements such as the 2015 Sunflower Protests in Taiwan, the 2020 white paper protests in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), or the 2025 protests against Martial Law in Korea and the Taiwanese movement the same year that aimed to recall unwanted politicians are all prominent examples. We can further consider everyday examples such as Morton (2023) who discusses aJapanese online agitprop poetry community. The role of the internet in social movements is not new; already 2011’s Arab Spring was hailed by some as the ‘Twitter Revolution’. Since then, the evolution of the internet and growing digital expertise amongst the population, not to mention the recentinfluence of generative AI, has led to different forms of integration of the digital with the offline. Two recent examples from the 2019 Hong Kong social movement are pertinent: 1. The proliferation of networked agitprop as discussed by Ismangil and Schneider (2023), wherein protesters create a visual commons online, which is then disseminated in offline protest spaces. The advent of generative AI has made this process even easier, as even non-artist can now contribute. 2. The use of protest-specific apps, wherein protesting becomes a part of everyday life through selective buy/boycotting applications on smartphones (Poon and Tse 2024). Social media platforms and internet-based communication have become pivotal in disseminating visual propaganda, mobilizing protests, and shaping ideological narratives. For this purpose, this call for papers considers both top down and bottom-up efforts at agitprop. We invite interdisciplinary contributions that examine the intersection of agitprop, social media, and protests in Asia. Topics may include: • the role of visual and textual propaganda in grassroots movements, • the influence of digital networks on ideology formation, • comparative analyses of internet-driven agitprop techniques, • government use of (networked) agitprop to stir up nationalist sentiment, for example in India and the PRC. • the emergence of new actors in the agitprop space, for instance influencers. This special issue aims to explore the ways agitprop adapts and thrives in the digital age, within the context of Asia. We hope agitprop can prove a fruitful concept for understanding a range of contemporary phenomena: efforts by established actors such as governments to formulate their own agitprop internally (consider China's 'Learning from Xi' app); bottom-up efforts at formulating counter ideologies; communicative interventions that are then categorized as election interference and social media manipulation; new influencer propaganda (Xu) and its role in commercial platform economies; and more. Framing these dynamics through the concept of agitprop promises to expand our understanding of digital strategic communication while tying these contemporary efforts at propaganda and ideological framing into a longer historical and regional context. Submission Interested contributors should first send their title, abstract (150 words), and short biography via email to the special issue editor, Milan Ismangil<https://www.uu.nl/staff/MSIsmangil>, by 15 July 2025. The editorial team will select contributions in August, and successful contributors should then prepare articles of 8,000 words, including notes and references, to be submitted through the journal’s editorial management system<http://www.editorialmanager.com/dias/default.aspx> by 1 October 2025. All papers will be fully peer-reviewed, and authors will receive the review decision by December 2025, for potential publication in the early summer 2026. Please see the instructions for authors<http://www.brill.com/files/brill.nl/specific/authors_instructions/DIAS.pdf> for further information on the in-house style requirements. For further questions, and to submit abstracts, please contact the special issue editor at milanismangil(a)proton.me<mailto:milanismangil@proton.me>. References Ismangil, Milan & Schneider, Florian (2023), 'Hong Kong's Networked Agitprop: Popular Nationalism in the Wake of the 2019 Anti-Extradition Protests'. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 52(3), 488-517. Jodice, Noah (2022), 'The Precarity of Images: Sci-fi Worldbuilding and Its Uses in Agitprop'. MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture 4. Retrieved 13 May 2025 from https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_illustration/4/ Lee, Francis L. F. & Chan, Joseph M. (2018), Media and Protest Logics in the Digital Era: The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. Oxford University Press. Morton, Leith (2023), 'Contemporary Japanese Poetry and Politics: An Overview'. Internationale Zeitschrift für Kulturkomparatistik, 10, 83-109. Poon, H. & Tse, T. (2024), 'Enacting Cross-Platform (Buy/Boy) cotts: Yellow Economic Circle and the New Citizen-Consumer Politics in Hong Kong'. New Media & Society, 26(5), 2971-2991<tel:2971-2991>. Xu, Jian & Yang, Ling (2025), 'Celebrity Public Relations in China: Power, Politics and Pop Propaganda'. The China Quarterly, online first.

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Call for Chapters: Edited Volume on Ethnographic Methods and Artificial Intelligence
by Gabriele de Seta 06 Jun '25

06 Jun '25

Hello, me and co-editors would like to draw attention to our call for short chapters for a collection on ethnography & AI: Call for Chapters: Edited Volume on Ethnographic Methods and Artificial Intelligence We are seeking submissions of short chapters for an edited volume dedicated to theoretical, methodological, and practical innovations in ethnographic methods for AI-augmented and algorithmically mediated social worlds. The different sections of the volume will combine innovative conceptual frameworks, experimental case studies, and hands-on toolkits, aiming to guide researchers across disciplines and industries in applying and adapting ethnographic methods to the “synthetic situations” (Knorr Cetina, 2009) opened up by new computational technologies. Editors and Publication Details: The volume, provisionally titled Synthetic situations: Ethnographic methods for post-artificial worlds, will be published by Routledge in 2026. The editors are Gabriele de Seta (University of Bergen), Aleksi Knuutila (University of Helsinki) and Matti Pohjonen (University of Helsinki). The editors will organise a chapter development seminar and a workshop with invited contributors in September 2025 at the University of Helsinki (participation optional), for which a limited number of travel grants will be available. Unfortunately no payment for authors is available. Submission Guidelines: Deadline for abstracts: 15th of July 2025 Notification of acceptance: 30th of July 2025 Deadline for first draft: 31 December 2025 Submission requirements: We invite researchers, practitioners and artists working across the social sciences, digital humanities, computer science, HCI and other fields to submit an abstract (max. 250 words) for a 3,000–5,000-word chapter. We welcome contributions across genres, including: * Epistemological interrogations * Methodological frameworks * Case studies * Fieldnotes and experiment reports * Ethical reflections * Toolboxes and field devices * Multimodal outputs * Commented code * …and more We especially encourage submissions centred on majority world contexts, subaltern communities, marginal epistemologies, and decolonial perspectives on research methods. For further details or to submit your abstract, please contact us at: gabriele.seta(a)uib.no<mailto:gabriele.seta@uib.no> Editorial Vision: In recent years, a vast variety of technologies which we call “artificial intelligence” - from Large Language Models and synthetic media generators to warehouse optimization and self-driving cars - have seen dramatic technical advancements and wide societal adoption. For social scientists and ethnographers, this has been simultaneously a source of fear and inspiration. New predictive models and large-scale datasets have given social currency to particular forms of expertise and practices of knowledge production, such as data science and big data analytics. This foregrounding of quantitative methods has often been at the expense of more qualitative ways of knowing the co-construction of social worlds and technological systems. Our edited volume foregrounds synthetic situations: sociotechnical arrangements in which artificial intelligence is both an ethnographic object of study and a qualitative research tool. We understand ethnography in a broad sense, as a research sensibility grounded on long-term presence, immersive participation, and dialogic understanding of otherness. This book aims to explore how computational methods and artificial intelligence are not merely displacing or challenging ethnographic practices, but also augmenting them and being augmented by them. Through our curated collection of chapters, the book contributors explore how computational technologies and ethnography co-construct “post-artificial worlds” - for instance, how LLMs become entangled with increasingly mediated fieldsites, how machine learning models essentialize, reproduce or erase situated knowledges, or how chatbots function as collaborators for participatory research. best, g

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Open access and free resources in Science, Technology and Society
by Bahar Celik Muller 06 Jun '25

06 Jun '25

***Apologies for cross-posting*** To create awareness about our publishing in Platform studies, we put together a collection of free articles, chapters and open access titles<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/collection/PS-Collection?pageSize…>. Please feel free to share this with students and colleagues. Other open access titles from our list this season include: * Rhythm and Vigilance: Ethnographies of Surveillance and Time edited by Peacock et. al.<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/edcollbook-oa/book/9781529246544/…> * The Realities of Autonomous Weapons edited by Thomas Christian Bächle and Jascha Bareis<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/edcollbook-oa/book/9781529237191/…> * The Ethics of AI: Power, Critique, Responsibility by Rainer Mühlhoff<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/monobook-oa/book/9781529249262/97…> * Behind the Science: The Invisible Work of Data Management in Big Science by Katherine Harrison<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/monobook-oa/book/9781529230123/97…> If you are interested in trying out more content from our Science, Technology and Society list, request access to our Sociology<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/subject/SOC-Collection> <https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/subject/SOC-Collection> list or Global Social Challenges collections<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/gsc/>. If you would like to talk to us about your publishing projects in this field, including open access options, please contact our editor at Paul.Stevens(a)bristol.ac.uk, and discover<https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/author-hub/why-publish-with-us> why publishing with an ethical university press could be the right choice for your work<https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/author-hub/why-publish-with-us>. Sign up for our mailing list<https://forms.gle/vA5fYTzZmAQ5oH8QA> and get 50% off Adrian McKenzie's latest book, 1000 Platforms, this June (£27.99 £13.45)! Bahar Muller Senior Marketing Executive 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…>

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