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CfP_Digital Culture & Society_ Towards Popular Techno-Futures_ Due March 15
by Jascha Bareis 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

Call for Articles: Special Issue of the journal Digital Culture & Society http://digicults.org/ Towards Popular Techno-Futures - a Global Policy Perspective Submission deadlines for abstracts (200-300 words): March 15 and full papers (6000-8000 words): August 15, 2025 Please submit all contributions to: techfutures(a)posteo.com This special issue will bring together articles exploring Popular Techno-Futures from interdisciplinary and international perspectives, i*ncluding Cultural and Media Studies, Science and Technology Studies and related disciplines.* The goal of this special issue is to decenter the discussion on socio-technical futures and the role of popular culture, aesthetics and media in their (re)production. In the Global North, official policies and cultural engagements with techno-futures are predominantly driven by a small group of libertarian techno-oligarchs who, in spite of reinforcing critical and dystopian counter-discourses, propound celebratory views of technological progress - of enhancing, or overcoming the human - motivated by their desire to attract venture capital. These futures emerge as increasingly hegemonic, as governments tend to share these celebratory views to further their own interests of economic and national competitiveness. Nationalist, elitist, and often ethnocentric imaginaries and narratives blur the line between political, economic, and pop-cultural realms and become obstacles to a nuanced and inclusive discourse on the risks and benefits of future technologies. What is worse, the political surrender to capitalist and competitive growth-lock-ins disregards or even erases a vast imaginary zone of alternative futures. Focused on the interests of individual nations, these narratives tend to disregard the historical and current economic entanglements between technological developments in the North and the exploitation of the South. Political and cultural media discourses in the North tend to cast the Global South as war-torn, technologically underdeveloped, and in need of help. At the same time, official national strategies in the Global North as well as the Global South foreground the use of technology to further development and economic growth. These efforts tend to disregard the economic precarity of local populations and the necropolitical exploitation of the lands of the South. Rarely acknowledged in official media discourses and dominant cultural references, these connections nevertheless emerge in counter-cultural discourses and artistic productions predominantly from the Global South which imagine their own techno-futures. Preexisting research on techno-futures and their impact on the societal acceptance, design, and use of technologies has mostly focused on the ‘key players’ of the West (and its antagonism to China), while other parts of the world have been neglected. Conceptually, Cultural Studies and STS scholarship have long stressed the interplay between the social imagination and the de facto production of scientific facts or socio-technical authority. Contributions will work from the general premise that technologies are shaped not only by the policies and views of political or economic elites and the allocation of resources but also by various narratives and discourses drawing on popular imaginaries and cultural frameworks of techno-futures. Technology, and therefore also technological futures, are always socially situated, relational, and enmeshed in (dominant) narratives of societal sense-making, constantly reworked and understood differently by users and contexts. Narratives, in particular, have not only been understood as reservoirs of sense-making, but also as performative trajectories, causing dominant perceptions, expectations and investments - powerfully transforming future ideas into material being. While the intersecting fields of cultural studies and STS have begun to acknowledge voices from the Global South, there is still more work to be done to arrive at a more just and inclusive picture. Such a global take on tech-futures has taken on a renewed urgency in times of rising geopolitical block formations, growing tensions, and a worrying resparking of nationalist sentiments. In this special issue, we plan to focus on forms of tech-future societal discourses from a global and popular perspective to counter the dominant Western mode of inquiry and its (de-)construction of tech-futures. Eligible articles should thus tackle (one or more of) the following questions: * How do different forms of sense-making, like belief systems, media, cultural memory, myths, political culture, and social ideals around the globe reflect, shape, and produce their own tech-futures? * How are these futures co-produced through local and regional experiences, histories and narratives, and how do such narratives interweave traditional and futuristic discourses to create culturally specific futurisms (Sinofuturism, Afrofuturism, Indigenous Futurisms)? * What role do the denial or promotion of, opposition or attraction to, and resistance against or adoption of Western modernist and techno-progressive paradigms play? * How do tensions between spheres of global or local, official or informal shape artistic and media explorations of techno-futures? * What kind of cultural productions and media embody and represent tech-futures? What is the role of the arts, stories, markets, ideals, figures, imagery, humor, narrativity etc. in transmitting and producing different techno futures? * What kind of different hermeneutical approaches and tools exist in contribution or opposition to creating typologies, comparisons, discourses, symbols, analysis etc.? * Which transnational patterns and connections and block formations can be identified in their development? When submitting an abstract, authors should make explicit to which of the following categories they would like to submit their paper: Field Research and Case Studies (full paper: 6000-8000 words) We invite articles that discuss empirical findings from studies that approach the relationships between neurobiology, brain research, computational intelligence, biopolitics, psychological research and the new AI movement. These may include practices of circulating or collecting data as well processes of production and evaluation. Methodological Reflection (full paper: 6000-8000 words) We invite contributions that reflect on the methodologies employed when researching the practices of the new tendencies of AI (e.g. artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems, genetic algorithms, evolutionary computation, deep learning, prognostics and predictive modelling, computer vision). These may include, for example, the specificities of ethnographic fieldwork in online/offline environments; challenges and opportunities faced when qualitatively researching quantifiable data and vice versa; approaches using mixed methods; discussions of mobile and circulative methods; and reflections of experimental forms of research. Conceptual/Theoretical Reflection (full paper: 6000-8000 words) We encourage contributions that reflect on the conceptual and/or theoretical dimension of the new artificial intelligence paradigm, and discuss or question how digital intelligence can be defined, what it can describe, and how it can be differentiated. Entering the Field (2000-3000 words; experimental formats welcome) Publication schedule March 15: Collection of abstracts August 15: Collection of full papers September onwards: Peer-review Early 2026: Publication of the Special Issue *Please submit your abstract of 200-300 words until March 15, 2025 to the following email address:* techfutures(a)posteo.com Publication fees None. The issue will be made fully open access one year after initial publication. We strongly encourage researchers and practitioners around the world (especially the ones outside, or countering, the scientific production of the global North) to submit an abstract. *Please circulate widely.* Guest editors: Jascha Bareis Scientific Staff at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) & Associate researcher at the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) Anya Heise-von der Lippe Assistant Lecturer with the Chair of Anglophone Literatures at the English Department of the University of Tübingen Felix Spremberg Postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University -- *Jascha Bareis*(Profile) <https://www.itas.kit.edu/english/staff_bareis_jascha.php>(Scholar) <https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bf1gf9AAAAAJ&hl=de&oi=ao>(LinkedIn) <https://www.linkedin.com/in/jascha-bareis-36082523b/> Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis(ITAS) <https://www.itas.kit.edu/english/index.php> Karlsruher Institute of Technology(KIT) <https://www.kit.edu/english/index.php> Research Group Digital Technology and Societal Change(FG DigIT) <https://www.itas.kit.edu/english/rg_digit.php> *Recent Publications* Ask Me Anything ! 😈How ChatPGT Got Hyped Into Being.SOC ARXIV Preprint <https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/jzde2> The Trustification of AI. Disclosing the bridging pillars that tie Trust and AI together.Big Data & Society <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20539517241249430> Technology Hype: Dealing with bold expectations and overpromising, with M. Roßmann and F.Bordignon.Journal of Technology Assessment in Theory and Practice <https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/article/view/7073>

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CfP “Digital Pasts and Futures"
by Fergal Lenehan 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

Dea colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to our Call-for-Papers. Abstracts we most welcome. Fergal Lenehan “Digital Pasts and Futures: Internet Histories, Digital Interculturality and Reimagining Digitality” Call-for-Papers: The Fourth ReDICo (Researching Digital Interculturality Co-operatively) Conference Online, 23-24 June 2025 In this conference we would like to bring together scholars who engage with internet histories, digital futures and digital interculturality so as to initiate a discussion regarding the reimagining of digitality, not least its relationship to interculturality. We are, thus, interested in wide and interdisciplinary approaches that go beyond the presentism that often marks media and communication studies, while also engaging with alternative visions of how digitality can be construed, not least from an intercultural perspective. For more details see:🔗[1] Please send an abstract (250 words) of your intended paper to: redico(a)uni-jena.de by 28 February 2025. It is intended that a selection of the papers presented will be published following a peer review process in book form, funding pending, with the transcript Publishing House in the Series “Studies in Digital Interculturality”[2]. The conference is without fees, completely online and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). Keynote speakers that have already been confirmed include Prof. Valérie Schafer (University of Luxembourg), Associate Prof. Helle Strandgaard Jensen (Aarhus University), Prof. Ethan Zuckerman (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) and Prof. Ramesh Srinivasan (University of California, Los Angeles). apl. Prof. Dr. Fergal Lenehan and PD Dr. Luisa Conti (Friedrich Schiller University of Jena) Links: ------ [1] https://hub.redico.eu/call-for-papers/111/digital-pasts-and-futures-interne… [2] https://www.transcript-publishing.com/series/cultural-studies/studies-in-di… Apl. Prof. Dr. Fergal Lenehan https://redico.eu Intercultural Studies/IWK, Jena fergal.lenehan(a)uni-jena.de Tel.: +49 (0)3641 – 944379 Fax: +49 (0)3641 – 944372 Home Office: +49 (0)1737645442 Sprechzeiten: nach Vereinbarung Latest open-access article "Examining realised and unrealised contacts: theoretical thoughts on digital interculturality" https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14708477.2024.2419666 Latest co-edited books: "Lifewide Learning in Postdigital Societies Shedding Light on Emerging Culturalities" https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-6889-6/lifewide-learning-in-pos… "Sprache und Interkulturalität in der digitalen Welt / Language and Interculturality in the Digital World" https://www.peterlang.com/document/1334725

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19th European Conference on Software Architecture (ECSA 2025): Fourth Call for Papers (Research/Industry), Tools & Demos and Workshop Proposals
by Announce 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

*** Fourth Call for Papers (Research/Industry), Tools & Demos, and Workshop Proposals *** 19th European Conference on Software Architecture (ECSA 2025) September 15-19, 2025, 5* St. Raphael Resort and Marina, Limassol, Cyprus https://conf.researchr.org/home/ecsa-2025 (*** Proceedings to be published by Springer in LNCS ***) The European Conference on Software Architecture (ECSA) is the premier European software architecture conference, providing researchers, practitioners, and educators with a platform to present and discuss the most recent, innovative, and significant findings and experiences in the field of software architecture research and practice. The 19th European Conference on Software Architecture (ECSA 2025) will be held from September 15 to 19, 2025. ECSA 2025 is planned as an in-person conference taking place in the beautiful city of Limassol (Cyprus). SCOPE The theme for ECSA 2025 is “impactful software architecture”. The software architecture discipline has had a critical role in shaping robust, scalable, and maintainable systems. We are interested in learning about software architecture principles and practices, emergence trends and case studies highlighting strategic architectural choices that can lead to enhanced performance, improved collaboration, and long-term sustainability. The overarching question is how these architectural principles and practices, both well-established and emerging, are making an impact in real-world systems, and how that impact is being felt across various domains, from enterprise systems to more novel areas like, e.g., AI-driven or autonomous applications? The Program Committee of the 19th European Conference on Software Architecture seeks submissions of original and unpublished high-quality papers describing fundamental and applied research; new methods, approaches, and processes; novel applications; education and training in software architecture; and experience reports on all topics related to software architecture. We particularly encourage papers that demonstrate that diversity in gender, culture, religion, country, etc. are key factors for success and innovation in software architecture. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: • Foundational principles of software architecture • Relationship of requirements engineering and software architecture • Quality attributes and software architectures • Architecture practices for secure, explainable, and trustworthy software • Architecture design and analysis • Architecture description languages and meta-models • Architecture verification and validation • Management of architectural knowledge, decisions, and rationale • Architecture patterns, styles, and tactics; reference architectures • Architecture viewpoints and views • Architecture conformance • Software architecture virtualization and visualization • Architecture-centric process models and frameworks • Software architecture and agile, incremental, iterative, and continuous development • Component-based models and deployment; middleware • Software architecture and system architecture • Software tools and environments for architecture-centric software engineering • Ethics, cultural, economic, business, social, human, and managerial aspects of software architecture • Architecture and technical debt • Architecting for sustainable and environment friendly systems • Applying AI and LLMs in software architecture and architecting for AI and LLM intensive systems • Software architecture education • Cross-disciplinary approaches to software architecture • Architectures for reconfigurable and self-adaptive systems • Architectural concerns of autonomic systems • Software architecture applied to new and emerging areas, such as the cloud/edge, big data, blockchain, cyber-physical systems, IoT, autonomous systems, systems-of-systems, energy- aware software, quantum computing, AI-enabled systems • Empirical studies, systematic literature reviews, and mapping studies in software architecture • Diversity, equity, and inclusion in activities related to software architecture RESEARCH PAPERS ECSA 2025 seeks four types of papers for the research track: • Research papers (max. 16 pages in LNCS style) which describe novel contributions to software architecture research (submissions should cover work that has a sound scientific/technological basis and has been validated) • Education and training papers (max. 16 pages in LNCS style) that address methodologies, experiences and best practices for teaching and training software architecture • Experience reports (max. 16 pages in LNCS style) that cover innovative implementations, novel applications, insightful performance results and experience in applying software architecture research advances to practical situations and systems • Short papers (max. 8 pages in LNCS style) that present novel and preliminary work-in- progress or challenges in a topic of software architecture research, education, and training. Submissions must have a sound basis, but not necessarily be validated in full. All submitted papers will undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review process. Papers will be selected based on originality, quality, soundness, and relevance. All contributions must be original, not published, accepted, or submitted for publication elsewhere. Contravention of this concurrent submission policy will be deemed a serious breach of ethics, and appropriate action will be taken in all such cases. Plagiarism checking will be conducted and any paper reporting more than a 20% match with published work will be desk-rejected. To note is that research papers, education and training papers, and experience reports that are rejected in their categories may be re-evaluated as short papers only if the committee decides on rejection of the full paper on the basis that it presents preliminary work. The research track of ECSA 2025 supports an Open Science policy. We encourage all contributing authors to disclose (anonymized and curated) data/artifacts to increase reproducibility. Note that sharing research artifacts is not mandatory for submission or acceptance. Upon submission to the research track, authors are required: • To make their artifacts available to the program committee (via a link to an anonymous repository) and provide instructions on how to access this data in the paper; or • To include in the paper an explanation as to why this is not possible or desirable; and • To indicate why they do not intend to make their data or study materials publicly available upon acceptance, if that is the case While sharing research artifacts is not mandatory for submission or acceptance, authors are required to include a Data Availability statement after the Conclusions section in a section named "Data Availability". This statement should explain whether or not data and/or artifacts are available or how they could be accessed (or not). Upon acceptance, papers with Open Science artifacts (e.g., data, tools, etc.) will be invited to upload their artifacts into the ECSA Zenodo community (https://zenodo.org/communities/ecsa/) to make them accessible and visible to the ECSA community. Sharing artifacts via the ECSA Zenodo community is required for authors to be eligible for the best Open Artifact award. All contributions must be formatted according to the Springer LNCS style (https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…) Page limits include figures and references. Contributions need to be submitted in PDF format via EasyChair to the ECSA 2025 Research Track: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ecsa2025. Please select the “Research Track” in EasyChair for your submission and click "Continue". The proceedings will be published by Springer as part of the LNCS series. We also plan to organize a Journal Special Issue on the theme of ECSA 2025 and to invite authors of selected papers to submit an extended version of their research. INDUSTRY PAPERS The Industry Track at ECSA 2025 brings together practicing software architects and software architecture researchers from regional, European, and worldwide communities. We are seeking contributions from industry that share challenges, practical solutions, successful practices, failures, and lessons learned while analyzing, designing, implementing, evaluating, and evolving software architectures. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following themes: • Experience with architectures for emerging technologies, like LLM, and Agent-based system • Domain-specific challenges for software architects and architectures • Architecture specification and documentation • Architectural patterns, tactics, and tools • Practices and methods supporting architecture design, evaluation and evolution • Integration of architectural practices and methods with other software engineering approaches/practices/methods (e.g. Agile) • Social and organizational aspects, like human-machine, human-AI interactions, human-in-the-loop The ECSA 2025 Industry track aims to contribute to bridging the gap between academia and industrial practice by establishing an open communication and discussion environment. It will offer researchers and practitioners the opportunity to interact with fellow professionals and develop new ideas and skills for addressing industrial problems and collaborations. There are three ways to contribute: Full Papers (up to 16 pages in Springer LNCS style) describing best practices and experience from applying novel approaches to large-scale industrial projects in the context of software architecture. Submissions will be selected based on originality, quality, soundness, practical relevance, and potential for discussion. Short Papers and Presentations (6-10 pages in Springer LNCS style) outlining presentations on practices and experience related to software architecture from the industry. Submissions will be selected based on originality, practical relevance, and potential for discussion. Software Architecture Showcases (6 pages in Springer LNCS style) demonstrating a specific real-world architecture (including its flaws) together with a discussion of the context, challenges, and/or process that led to its present form. It can be formulated as an abstract outlining the architecture to be presented, preferably together with links to externally available work products. Submissions will be selected based on the offered insights into real architectural work, work products, and learnings related to architecture. All contributions need to be written in English, must be original, not published, accepted, or submitted for publication elsewhere. If accepted, each contribution needs to be presented by one of the authors who is registered at the conference. All contributions must be formatted according to the Springer LNCS style (https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…) Page limits include figures and references. Contributions need to be submitted in PDF format via EasyChair to the ECSA 2025 Research Track: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ecsa2025. Please select the “Industry Track” in EasyChair for your submission and click "Continue". TOOLS AND DEMOS The Tools and Demonstrations (Tools & Demos) Track provides an opportunity for both researchers and practitioners to present and discuss the most recent advances, ideas, experiences, and challenges in the field of Software Architecture by means of Tools & Demos presentations. Tools & Demos papers are intended to address any aspect of: (i) tool support for software architectures, or (ii) demonstrate results about the application of architectural approaches. Papers submitted to this track can belong to two distinct categories: • Tool papers: These papers deal with the development and evaluation of tools to support software architecture. They may present new tools, extensions to existing tools, or evaluations of the effectiveness of tools. The aim is to provide a platform for the exchange of innovative tools and techniques that help design, implement and analyze software architectures. • Demo papers: These papers will demonstrate concepts, techniques or systems related to software architectures. The focus is on presenting practical applications and implementations of architectural approaches. Demo papers may include live demonstrations, prototypes or simulations that emphasize the benefits and potential of specific architecture solutions. Both Tool Papers and Demo Papers contribute to the advancement of the field by providing insights, experiences and practical solutions related to software architectures. Tools and Demos should not be used as a means for commercial advertisement. We will strive to keep ECSA’s tradition to select the Best Tools & Demo Paper, awarded during the conference. The selection of the best tool and demo paper will be made based on the votes of the attendants of the conference. Submissions of Tools & Demos papers should describe the work, how it relates to other industrial or research efforts, including references, what the expected benefits are, a video of the tool or demo (if one exists), and the web-page and/or open-source repository for the tool (if one exists). All submissions must conform to the LNCS template and must not exceed 8 pages. Tools & Demos submissions should provide a link to a video, with audio commentary, of a maximum of ten minutes in length, with high resolution (e.g., details of the tool’s functionality should be clearly visible). The video must be uploaded on a server (e.g., YouTube, Google Drive, Dropbox), and the link must be included in the submission for its evaluation (as a footnote on the first page of the submission or as links after the abstract of the submission). In addition, it is possible to provide open material, e.g., source code and/or a running instance of the tool. The links to the video and (if applicable) the additional material should be included in the contribution after the abstract and before the introduction sections. Paper submissions must be made electronically via the online EasyChair submission site for the ECSA 2024 conference, selecting the “Tools & Demos Track”: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ecsa2025 . The selection criteria of Tools & Demos papers will consider their originality, relevance for the ECSA audience, technical soundness, and presentation quality. Each submission will be evaluated by at least two PC members, in a single-step review process. The accepted papers will be included in the ECSA 2025 companion volume to be published in Springer LNCS series. WORKSHOP PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit proposals for workshops and tutorials held in conjunction with ECSA 2025. Workshops and tutorials will be held on September 15-16, 2025 (right before the main conference on September 17-19, 2025). ECSA workshops allow researchers and practitioners to exchange and explore innovative software architecture (scientific or engineering) ideas and challenges at an early stage. Topics of interest are, but are not limited to: • Software Architecture challenges for AI- and ML-based Systems • Software Architecture challenges for Self-Adaptive Systems • Software Architecture challenges for Cyber-Physical Systems • Software Architecture challenges in Big Data and Cloud Computing • Software Architecture challenges in IoT-based Systems • Software Architecture challenges in DevOps and MLOps • Software Architecture challenges in Blockchain Engineering • Software Architecture challenges in Quantum Software • Quality-of-service (QoS) measurements of Software Architectures • Privacy and Security in Software Architectural Design • Context-aware, Autonomous, and Smart Architectures • Sustainability in Software Architectures • Software Architecture Erosion and Architectural Consistency • Technical Debt in Software Architecture Design • Architecting the Digital Twin • Continuous Architecting • Agile Software Architecting • Human Aspects of Software Architecting • Software Architecture Assessment • AI assisted Software Architecting • Agile Modeling All proposals must conform to a maximum of 8 pages following the LNCS format (see below), including references, appendices, and figures. The proposal must include the following information in the order specified: • Workshop title and acronym • Contact information for the workshop organizers (name, affiliation, email) and the main contact • Abstract (up to 200 words) for the ECSA 2025 website (if the workshop is accepted) • Motivation and Objectives ○ Relevance of the workshop to the field of software architecture ○ Anticipated goals and outcomes (e.g., open research problems to pursue, validation objectives, empirical studies) • Format ○ Workshop format (e.g., paper presentations, keynotes, breakout sessions, panel-like discussions) and plans for generating discussions ○ Duration - half day, one day or two days ○ Preliminary workshop schedule ○ Special services, logistic and/or equipment constraints • Participation ○ Target Audience and expected background ○ Plans regarding the mix of industry and research participation ○ Expected minimum and maximum number of workshop participants ○ Plans for participant solicitation and dissemination • Submission ○ Types of contributions (e.g., extended abstracts, position papers, research papers, etc.) and their estimated number. ○ Review and evaluation process deciding about the acceptance of submissions ○ Program committee, including tentative and already committed members ○ Strategy for the proceedings • Organizers ○ Brief description of each organizer’s background, including relevant past experience in organizing conferences and workshops ○ Brief organizers’ bios • Previous editions ○ Where and when the workshop has been offered previously, the past numbers of submitted and accepted papers, numbers of attendees ○ Number of registered attendees and websites of previous editions (if any) • Draft Call-for-Papers (1 page) Submissions must follow the LNCS style (https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…) All proposals should be submitted before the submission deadline (see below) using the online submission site: EasyChair ECSA 2025 Workshop track (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ecsa2025) ECSA 2025 will use a single review process for workshop proceedings. For accepted papers, the minimum number of pages for each workshop paper is 8 and the maximum is 16 pages in the LNCS format. The proceedings of the workshops will be published by Springer in the LNCS series. IMPORTANT DATES Main Conference (Research and Industry Papers) • Abstract submission: March 14, 2025 • Paper submission: March 21, 2025 • Notification: May 9, 2025 • Camera-ready paper: June 23, 2025 Tools & Demos • Abstract submission: May 16, 2025 • Paper submission: May 23, 2025 • Notification: June 20, 2025 • Camera-ready paper: June 27, 2025 Workshops • Workshop proposals: February 15, 2025 • Workshop proposals notification: March 7, 2025 • Workshop papers abstracts: May 12, 2025 • Workshop papers submission: May 19, 2025 • Workshop papers notification: June 20, 2025 • Workshop papers camera-ready: June 27, 2025 • Workshop dates: September 15-16, 2025 Early/Author registration for all accepted contributions: June 27, 2025 All dates are 23:59h AoE (Anywhere on Earth). ORGANISATION General Chairs • Cesare Pautasso, University of Lugano, Switzerland • Vasilios Andrikopoulos, University of Groeningen, The Netherlands Program Co-Chairs • Nour Ali, Brunel University London, UK • Jacopo Soldani, University of Pisa, Pisa Tools & Demos Co-Chairs • Mohamed Soliman, Heinz Nixdorf Institut, Paderborn University, Germany • Use Zdun, University of Vienna, Austria Workshop Co-Chairs • Tommi Mikkonen, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland • Jennifer Perez, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

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“Difference and power in the time of responsible AI”, Fully funded PhD opportunity @ Uni of Sheffield
by Helen Kennedy 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

Please share this exciting opportunity <https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/difference-and-power-in-the-time-of-r…> to undertake a PhD at the University of Sheffield, on the topic of ‘Difference and power in the time of responsible AI’, with potential applicants. The successful candidate will be supervised by Dr Susan Oman <https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/is/people/academic/susan-oman>, AI and In/equality Theme Lead in the Centre for Machine Intelligence <https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/machine-intelligence> at the University of Sheffield. The deadline for submissions is Thursday 27th February. Please contact Susan with any questions. -- Professor Helen Kennedy FBA FAcSS Professor of Digital Society, University of Sheffield, @hmtk, @hmtk@scholar.social, she/her Director of: ESRC Digital Good Network <https://digitalgood.net/> (@digitalgoodnet) + Living With Data <https://livingwithdata.org/> (@Living_WithData) + Public Voices in AI <https://digitalgood.net/dg-research/public-voices-in-ai/> *Recent publications:* Kennedy, H., Ditchfield, H., Oman, S., Bates, J., Perea, I. M., Fratczak, M., & Taylor, M. (2024). How people connect fairness and equity when they talk about data uses. *Big Data & Society*, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517241303162 Ditchfield, H., Oman, S., Kennedy, H., Frątczak, M., Bates, J., Taylor, M., & Medina-Perea, I. (2024). 'What ifs: The role of imagining in people’s reflections on data uses', *Convergence*. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241300898 The Digital Good Network (2024) 'What do we mean when we talk about a good digital society?' in British Academy (ed) *What are the Possibilities of a Good Digital Society? * http://doi.org/10.5871/digital-society/9780856726934.001 <http://doi.org/10.5871/digital-society/9780856726934.001> Taylor, M., Kennedy, H., and Oman, S. (2023) ‘Challenging assumptions about the relationship between awareness and attitudes to data uses amongst the UK public’, *The Information Society*, 40(1): 32-53, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01972243.2023.2283729. Bates, J., Kennedy, H., Medina-Perea, I., Oman, S. and Pinney, L. (2023) ‘Socially meaningful transparency in data-based systems: reflections and proposals from practice’, *Journal of Documentation*, DOI: 10.1108/JD-01-2023-0006.

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Job opportunity: Seeking great candidates interested in young people, tech & polarization, and civil discourse
by Katz, Vikki 01 Feb '25

01 Feb '25

Hi all, I'm seeking an experienced qualitative or mixed-methods researcher interested in young people, social media & polarization, and curriculum development to serve as Assistant Director of the newly formed Or Initiative at Chapman University. The Or Initiative is being designed as a distinct alternative to the ways pre-teens, teens, and emerging adults have been (dis)engaging from each other around the Israel-Palestinian conflict, rising U.S. antisemitism, and other politically polarizing issues via curriculum design and other evidence-based communications tools. More details can be found in the full listing below. Chapman University Careers | Assistant Director, Or Initiative https://chapman.peopleadmin.com/postings/36169<https://chapman.peopleadmin.com/postings/36169?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0…> Please share this posting with qualified candidates located in Orange County, CA and those who would be interested in relocating to sunny SoCal. Five years of funding is secured for this position as a start, so this is not a short-term hire. Anyone with Qs can email me at vikkikatz(a)chapman.edu Thanks, Vikki ---- Vikki Katz, Ph.D. Professor & Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair in Free Speech Editor, Journal of Children and Media<https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rchm20> Chapman University School of Communication 1 University Drive, Orange CA 92866 Faculty Profile<https://www.chapman.edu/our-faculty/vikki-katz> | Schedule a Meeting<https://calendly.com/vikkikatz>

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CfP Creating Spaces for Digital Futures - Interdisciplinary Conference
by Esther Laufer 31 Jan '25

31 Jan '25

Call for Papers Interdisciplinary Conference on Creating Spaces for Digital Futures 09.10.2025 – 10.10.2025 in Bochum, Germany, Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) In an era where digital transformation is reshaping every facet of our lives, the concept of digital spaces opens new frontiers for research. While spaces are understood differently across various disciplines and encompass both material and abstract dimensions, the term is commonly used to describe the interdependencies between individual practices and environments. Thus, individuals are shaped by economic, legal, social, cultural and spatial structures that simultaneously emerge from action (Lefebvre 1991; Löw 2001). Addressing spaces from multiple perspectives considers social and technical affordances and helps to anticipate digital futures. The two-day conference “Creating Spaces for Digital Futures” calls on researchers from various disciplines dealing with research questions related to digital transformation to explore how digital environments can be designed, utilized, and optimized to enhance various aspects of society – now and in the future. The conference will be a space to analyze both macro-level trends and micro-level action, investigating the interdependencies between practices and digital spaces. We will explore perceptions of space and individual agency within digital environments, as well as the creation of new digital spaces in various contexts. We invite scholars to contribute their insights and research presenting theoretical, empirical or visionary positions on how these spaces can be analyzed, perceived and designed. More specifically, this conference will focus on, but is not limited to, three specific types of digital spaces, each with distinctive implications, challenges and opportunities: Public Spaces, Learning Spaces, and Data Spaces. We invite submissions for position papers and theoretical papers, research reports, workshops, and debates. Deadline for submission of abstracts: February 15, 2025 For further information, please visit our website (https://www.cais-research.de/creating-spaces-for-digital-futures/) or contact us at submissions(a)cais-research.de mailto:submissions@cais-research.de. References Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Blackwell. Löw, M. (2001). Raumsoziologie. Suhrkamp.

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[Deadline extension] Network Imaginaries: Past, Present, and Future (4S 2025 Seattle)
by Charles CORVAL 31 Jan '25

31 Jan '25

Dear colleagues, We would like to share that the deadline for submitting an abstract to the 4S panel,* Network Imaginaries: Past, Present, and Future* (September 3-7, 2025, Seattle, WA, USA), has been *extended** to February 2nd*. You can find the original Call for Papers with updated information below. We welcome papers of varying approaches that consider the origins, mobilizations, endurances, and evolutions of the network imaginaries underlying technologies and systems from the 19th Century through to contemporary transformations and promises. (See below for the full call and submission details.) Proposals consisting of a short abstract (up to 250 words) will be accepted until January 31 *February 2nd* via the official website of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S). Charles Corval Sciences Po Paris / Institut d'études politiques de Paris — 4S Open Panel 239: Network Imaginaries: Past, Present, and Future Decades after the introduction of the consumer internet, society now anticipates profound transformations in computing and networking driven by innovations like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, the internet-of-things (IoT), robotics, data mining, and cloud computing. As these developments promise—or threaten—to reshape public and private networks and technologies, it is vital to investigate the network imaginaries that motivate, constrain, and enable their development, adoption, regulation, and exploitation. Network imaginaries have long been central to modernity, from their origins in symbolic practices like weaving to their influence on technical and organizational thought. In fact, as Pierre Musso (2003) has argued, the concept of the network is foundational to our collective imaginations, even shaping both the philosophies and social sciences that critique them. Information and communication technologies, in particular, have become unimaginable without the language and imagery of networks, and they remain effective and powerful as innovations periodically promise to repair, reinforce, and reconfigure existing systems, practices, and economies (De Filippi, 2019). According to Castoriadis (1975), social imaginaries are the shared meanings, symbols, and institutions a society creates and sustains to define itself, guide its practices, and provide coherence to its social order. Similarly, sociotechnical imaginaries, as articulated by Jasanoff and Kim (2015), offer a critical framework for understanding the cultural and ideological contexts of technological adoption and innovation. This panel on network imaginaries, then, seeks to explore these inspirations, contexts, and intersections while reexamining -- or preexamining -- the utopias, anxieties, and ideologies embedded in contemporary networks and networked technologies, as well as their intended and unintended consequences. We welcome proposals representing a variety of perspectives and approaches to addressing the enduring network imaginaries of existing and emerging technologies and techniques. Potential topics include but are not limited to historic networks, information economics, artificial intelligence, cybernetics, decentralization narratives, surveillance regimes, digital sovereignty, IoT, blockchain, and the future role of new technologies toward repairing or reinforcing preexisting network functions and goals. Open Panel: Network Imaginaries: Past, Present, and Future (Panel 239) Proposal Format: Short Abstract (250 words max) Proposal Deadline: January 31, 2025 February 2nd, 2025 Notice of Acceptance: March 15, 2025 Proposal Submission: https://www.4sonline.org/accepted_open_panels_seattle.php Panel Organizers: Charles Corval, charles.corval(a)sciencespo.fr Daniel Kim, ddaniel.kim(a)utoronto.ca

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Selection Process of Post-Doctoral Fellowship - The economic regulation of digital platforms (China)
by Helena Martins 31 Jan '25

31 Jan '25

Dear all, The Coordination of the Professional Postgraduate Program in Economics at the Federal University of Sergipe (Brazil) has published a call for applications for a postdoctoral fellow in the project "The economic regulation of digital platforms", with a grant funded by FAPESP. The study focuses on the platform scenario in China. The project is expected to last two years. The position is based in Sergipe, Brazil, with the possibility of studying in China. Submission of applications - From 22/01/2025 to 19/02/2025 until 23:59 Detailed information about the process can be found in the public notice below: https://obscomplataformas.com.br/editais https://www.sigaa.ufs.br/sigaa/public/programa/noticias_desc.jsf?lc=pt_BR&i… -- *Helena Martins* Professora da Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) Editora da Revista Eptic <http://revistaeptic.net.br> Líder do Telas - Laboratório de Pesquisa em Economia, Tecnologia e Políticas da Comunicaçã <http://dgp.cnpq.br/dgp/espelhogrupo/570544>o <http://dgp.cnpq.br/dgp/espelhogrupo/570544> <http://dgp.cnpq.br/dgp/espelhogrupo/570544> -- *Helena Martins* Professora da Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) Editora da Revista Eptic <http://revistaeptic.net.br> Líder do Telas - Laboratório de Pesquisa em Economia, Tecnologia e Políticas da Comunicaçã <http://dgp.cnpq.br/dgp/espelhogrupo/570544>o <http://dgp.cnpq.br/dgp/espelhogrupo/570544> <http://dgp.cnpq.br/dgp/espelhogrupo/570544>

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37th International Conference on Testing Software and Systems (ICTSS 2025): Third Call for Papers
by Announce 31 Jan '25

31 Jan '25

*** Third Call for Papers *** 37th International Conference on Testing Software and Systems (ICTSS 2025) September 17-19, 2025, 5* St. Raphael Resort and Marina, Limassol, Cyprus https://conf.researchr.org/home/ictss-2025 (*** Proceedings to be published by Springer in LNCS ***) IFIP-ICTSS is a well-established conference where researchers, developers, testers, and users from industry get together to present and discuss the most recent innovations, experiences and open challenges related to testing software and systems and measuring software quality. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: ■ AI for Software Testing and Testing of AI: the growing interest in the use of AI has also spread in to various aspects of software testing. In addition, work is underway to test and validate AI systems/applications (machine learning, expert systems, neural networks). ■ Aspects of testing: test derivation, test selection, test generation, test coverage, test concretization, test implementation and execution, test result analysis, test oracle, verdict computation, test management, active testing and passive testing, monitoring and runtime verification. ■ Testing new technologies: this year we encourage submissions focused on testing Large Language Models (LLMs), audit machine learning systems (especially for applications to Health) and Quantum systems (programs, computers, and simulators). ■ Diversity on testing: diverse generation, selecting diverse test suites, foundations of testing and diversity, applications of entropy and Kolmogorov complexity on test suite diversity. ■ Theoretical approaches: formalisms (such as automata, state machines, process algebra, logics, Markov-chains...), testing frameworks, results for compositionality, refinement, soundness and completeness, addressing complex systems, heterogeneous or hybrid systems. ■ Modelling languages (such as UML, MATLAB, Simulink, Modelica...) and associated tooling for model-based testing: test generation from models, model-based oracles. Scalability, traceability, quantification issues. Automated support of any parts of the testing activities, testing processes, test-driven development, sound metrics and measurements. ■ Testing of quality aspects: Functional, interoperability, unit, integration, performance, load, conformance, non-regression, reliability, robustness. ■ Security Testing: methodologies and techniques for continuous security assessment, security monitoring, security review, penetration testing, verification of certification compliance; automation of security testing processes. ■ Testing emerging technologies: quantum systems (programs, computers, and simulators), genetic algorithms, metaverse, and any other technology in the early stages of testing. ■ Human Aspects of Testing: human psychology and management attitude play major roles in formulating and adopting testing in practice. ■ Cross domains and combination of techniques: using other techniques such as proof, model-checking, symbolic execution, abstract interpretation, static analysis, simulation, model learning, ... to improve quality and reduce the effort in testing processes. ■ Cross domains and combination of techniques: using other techniques such as proof, model-checking, symbolic execution, abstract interpretation, static analysis, simulation, model learning, machine learning, expert systems, neural networks, genetic algorithms... to improve quality and reduce the effort in testing processes. ■ Application aspects and case studies: Communicating systems such as cyberphysical systems, systems of systems, embedded systems, web services systems, smart grids, cloud computing systems, business information systems, real-time systems, distributed and concurrent systems. Case studies and industrial applications involving qualified empirical evaluations. IFIP-ICTSS Invites: Full papers (12 to 15 pages plus at most 2 extra pages for references in the one-column Springer LNCS format) describing original research contributions with sufficient evidence for the interest of the proposed approach. Industry papers (12 to 15 pages plus at most 2 extra pages for references in the one-column Springer LNCS format) describing original research or experience report conducted within an industrial environment or in collaboration with an industry partner. Short papers or work-in-progress papers (up to 6 pages plus at most 1 extra page for references in the one-column Springer LNCS format) describing academic work in progress or tool implementations, as well as testing processes, achievements and feedback on testing methods for industrial case studies. Journal-First. The aim of the Journal-First (JF) submission category is to further enrich the program of ICTSS, as well as to provide an overall more flexible path to publication and dissemination of original research that is within the scope of ICTSS. A submission in this category must adhere to the following criteria: ■ It should be clearly within the scope of the conference. ■ It should be recent: it should have been accepted and made publicly available in a journal (online or in print) by January 1, 2023 or more recently. ■ It has not been presented at, and is not under consideration for, Journal- First tracks of other conferences or workshops. ■ The submission has to be in the form of a 4-page extended abstract and has to provide a concise summary of the published journal paper. ■ It must be marked as such in the submission’s, and must explicitly include full bibliographic details (including a DOI) of the journal publication they are based on. Since the referenced journal papers have already been reviewed and accepted by the corresponding journals, submissions in the JF category will not be reviewed again for technical content. Submissions will be judged on the basis of the above criteria, but also considering how well they would complement the conference’s technical program. Accepted submissions in this category will be part of the proceedings of ICTSS 2025, with the title equal to the original title of the article with the prefix. The submission link is: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=ictss2025 The papers will be published by Springer in the LNCS volume. Authors should consult Springer’s Instructions for Authors of Proceedings (https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…) and use either the LaTeX or the Word templates provided on the authors’ page. Springer’s proceedings LaTeX templates are available in Overleaf. Authors are encouraged to include their ORCIDs in their papers. Journal Special Issue Best papers of the conference will be invited to submit an extended version of their article at a special (topical) issue of the Springer Nature of Computer Science (https://link.springer.com/journal/42979) Deadline will be near the end of December 2025 with a tentative publication date for the middle 2026. Collocation ICTSS 2025 will be collocated with the 19th European Conference on Software Architecture (https://conf.researchr.org/home/ecsa-2025) IMPORTANT DATES ■ Paper Submission: May 19, 2025 (AoE) ■ Author Notification: June 30, 2025 (AoE) ■ Camera-ready Versions and Author Registration: July 14, 2025 (AoE) ORGANISATION Conference Chairs ■ Silvia Bonfanti, University of Bergamo, Italy ■ George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus

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cfp The rise of Tech Occultism - Narratives of AI, Imaginaries, and Digital Cultures in Mobility Control
by Nagy, V. (Veronika) 31 Jan '25

31 Jan '25

Call for Papers: Pre-Organized Panel The rise of Tech Occultism - Narratives of AI, Imaginaries, and Digital Cultures in Mobility Control International Conference on Culture, Crime, and Global Challenges 16-17 April, 2025, Utrecht University, The Netherlands We invite submissions for a pre-organized panel at the International Conference on Culture, Crime, and Global Challenges that critically explores the narratives and imaginaries surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI) in mobility control, forced migration, and law enforcement in the European context. This panel focuses on the contextual assumptions and cultural frameworks that shape the use and perception of AI technologies within the growing conservative political climate, particularly in relation to migration and policing practices. The selection of papers seeks to unpack how digital cultures, underpinned by a "culture of fear" and the "cult of AI," are constructed and challenged through both policy and public discourse. The panel, titled "Tech Occultism", critically explores the growing mystification and fear surrounding AI in the contexts of migration control, forced migration, and law enforcement. We investigate how AI technologies are framed within a culture of fear, where its technological powers are perceived as unpredictable and omnipotent, often seen as part of a cult of AI that promises solutions while also amplifying anxieties. Drawing on key theoretical concepts such as Technopanic, Cybernetic Totalism, and threat inflation, we examine how AI is increasingly portrayed as a powerful, almost mystical force that shapes governance in unseen and uncontrollable ways. This 'sacred' framing is connected to Pasquale's "unlawfulness by default", which advocates for proactive regulation of algorithmic systems to mitigate the risks associated with their hidden and potentially harmful influence. The panel will unpack how these narratives -emerging from a culture of fear and the cult-like reverence of technology-reinforce and challenge digital governance frameworks in the surveillance and policing of migrants, particularly in an era of rising political conservatism. Key themes for this panel include: * The narratives around AI and migration control: How are AI technologies framed in political and public discourse, and what imaginaries do they produce regarding migration, security, and border enforcement? * The role of AI in reinforcing cultural assumptions about migration, security, and societal risk * The "culture of fear" in digital governance: How does fear of technological overreach, datafication, and surveillance intersect with political and social anxieties, particularly concerning forced migrants? * The "cult of AI" in law enforcement cultures: How are AI technologies framed as solutions to complex societal problems, and how do these narratives shape institutional practices in policing and migration management? * The impact of AI-driven digital cultures on human rights, privacy, and exclusion, particularly within marginalized migrant communities * Imaginaries of surveillance and control: How do digital tools like predictive policing, facial recognition, and biometric tracking shape the experiences of migrants and the public's understanding of state authority? * Resistance to AI in governance: How do activists, policymakers, and communities challenge the deployment of AI in migration and policing, and how do these contestations interact with broader cultural and political narratives? We welcome interdisciplinary contributions from digital criminology, Science and Technology Studies (STS), social anthropology, political science, and cultural studies. Submissions should critically engage with the cultural, political, and ethical dimensions of AI technologies, offering insights into the imaginaries, assumptions, and contested narratives surrounding digital governance. Please send an abstract (max. 300 words) and a brief biography to Veronika Nagy at v.nagy(a)uu.nl<mailto:v.nagy@uu.nl> by February 25, 2025. We look forward to your contributions and to engaging in a dynamic discussion on these critical issues at the conference! See the Conference website here: International Conference on Culture, Crime, and Global Challenges - News & Events - Utrecht University<https://www.uu.nl/en/events/international-conference-on-culture-crime-and-g…> Kinds regards, Veronika Nagy Dr. Veronika Nagy | Assistant Professor | Utrecht University | Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology | Facutly of Law, Economics and Governance | RENFORCE Researcher | Johanna Hudiggebouw. Achter Sint Pieter 200, 3512 HT Utrecht | room D3.12 | +31641035072 | v.nagy(a)uu.nl<mailto:v.nagy@uu.nl> | https://www.uu.nl/staff/vnagy|

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