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3 PhDs, a postdoc and an ass.prof. at the Center for Digital Narrative
by Jill Walker Rettberg 21 Feb '23

21 Feb '23

Hi everyone, We are launching the Center for Digital Narrative (CDN)<https://www.uib.no/en/cdn> (https://www.uib.no/en/cdn) at the University of Bergen in August, and have just started advertising positions. Right now we have an opening for an associate professor in game studies, three PhDs (one in electronic literature, one in social media narrative and one in AI/XR/conversational narratives) and a postdoc in electronic literature. There’ll be another open PhD in Digital Culture advertised soon. PhD positions (and postdocs and of course the ass.prof) in Norway all pay normal salaries (not student stipends) and carry with them employee rights like parental leave and all the standard Norwegian welfare benefits (healthcare, subsidized universal childcare etc). Salary ranges are stated on the job ads. You would need to live in or be willing to relocate to Bergen. CDN is a new Center for Research Excellence funded for ten years through the Norwegian Research Council. Our premise is that narratives are fundamental to humans’ understanding of ourselves and our world, and there is an urgent need to understand how narratives change with digital media. How do recommendation algorithms in social media shape the stories we can tell and how stories spread? How will AI or VR and AR impact storytelling? What characterizes narratives in digital games, or in electronic literature? In addition to developing new research, CDN aims to train new humanities researchers for the societal challenges ahead: researchers who know how to collaborate, to use digital methods and to work together to develop new knowledge. CDN will have its own building in the middle of our Bergen campus, with frequent social and research-based events. It’s going to be amazing – we are all so excited! Please apply if this looks right for you, or pass the ads on to others who may be interested! 1) Associate Professor in Digital Culture (Game Studies): (tenured position) https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/240043/associate-professor-i… We are seeking an Associate Professor with research expertise within game studies, and with research interests that can complement the existing scholarly competency of the department and the CDN. We are seeking an ambitious candidate with an increasing research portfolio and who is eager to develop and refine their own research agenda within digital narratives. This is an entry-level position – in the Norwegian system we don’t distinguish between assistant and associate professors, and so anyone with a relevant PhD is encouraged to apply. The position is equally weighted between teaching and research. Application deadline: 24th March 2023 2) PhD in Electronic Literature: (4 year position) https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/240672/phd-research-fellowsh… The successful candidate’s PhD project will address electronic literature from the standpoint of literary genres across historical periods, considering how forms of electronic literature are in conversation, agreement, and conflict with genres which might range, for example, from the epic to lyric poetry, to the novel. There is some flexibility in the topic of the dissertation, which will be developed in collaboration with the CDN electronic literature node leader during the candidate’s first semester. Application deadline: 19th March 2023 3) PhD in Extending Digital Narrative (XDN): (3 year position) https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/240664/phd-research-fellowsh… Applicants must propose a PhD project to investigate new forms of digital narratives that use emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Extended Reality (XR), and/or conversational interfaces from a humanities perspective. Both critical and creative research approaches will be encouraged. There is some flexibility in the topic of the dissertation, which will be developed in collaboration with the XDN project leader during the candidate’s first semester. Application deadline: 1st April 2023 4) PhD in Social Media Media Narratives: (4 year position) https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/240670/phd-research-fellowsh… The successful candidate’s PhD project will address narratives emerging in social media with an emphasis on marginalized and/or ideology-driven voices and communities. The project should use interpretative, qualitative methodologies, e.g., ethnography, visual or textual analysis etc. We are particularly interested in projects that consider how collective narratives shared across social media connect to a sense of belonging to or being excluded from a group. Relevance to a Norwegian or Nordic context is an advantage. There is some flexibility in the topic of the doctoral thesis, which the candidate will develop further in collaboration with the leaders of CDN's group for social media. Application deadline: 19th March 2023 5) Postdoctoral position in Electronic Literature: (3 year position) https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/240519/postdoctoral-position… The Center for Digital Narrative is adapting an extensive open-access platform, the ELMCIP Electronic Literature Knowledge Database, to serve as a lasting research environment that will document current research in the broader category of exploratory, digital narrative. The database will also encompass emerging narrative forms that are increasingly found in computer games, social media, computational systems, and extended reality narratives. - The applicant is expected to develop this database and conduct independent research based on digital humanities analyses of genres, histories, technological and cultural contexts of electronic literature. - The applicant is also expected to survey international, multilingual databases documenting electronic literature, digital narrative, and related topics. - The applicant will help develop one or more independent grant proposals for future research with support from CDN. - The applicant will collaborate with other members at the center and participate in and contribute to its seminars and events. Application deadline: 1st April 2023 6) PhD in Digital Culture with a focus on Digital Narratives – this position will be advertised very soon! Check the CDN website (http://uib.no/en/cdn) or http://jobbnorge.no for updates. Jill Walker Rettberg Professor of Digital Culture and Co-Director of the Center for Digital Narrative Universitetet i Bergen https://www.uib.no/en/persons/Jill.Walker.Rettberg

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Postdoc Opportunity
by Jenny Davis 20 Feb '23

20 Feb '23

Consider applying for this 2-year Research Fellow position, working with an interdisciplinary team (including me!!) to study AI in insurance https://jobs.anu.edu.au/en/job/549657/research-fellow Please feel free to be in touch with any questions Best, Jenny Jenny L. Davis Associate Professor School of Sociology The Australian National University Recent Article(s): Davis, Jenny L., Apryl Williams and Michael Yang. 2021. Algorithmic Reparation<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20539517211044808> Big Data & Society Book: How Artifacts Afford: The Power and Politics of Everyday Things (MIT Press 2020)<https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/how-artifacts-afford> Website: jennyldavis.com<https://www.jennyldavis.com/> Twitter: @Jenny_L_Davis<https://twitter.com/Jenny_L_Davis>

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Journal of Communication Technology Call for Papers Winter 2023 Issue
by Plothe, Theodore 20 Feb '23

20 Feb '23

Journal of Communication Technology Call for Papers Winter 2023 Issue The Journal of Communication Technology (ISSN 2694-3883), the official journal of the Communication Technology division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication is pleased to announce a Call For Papers for the Winter 2023 issue to be released in December 2023 or January 2024. JoCTEC welcomes scholarship from a broad area of inquiry, with the expressed mission to bring together research that facilitates discussion and cultivates understanding of the ways in which communication technologies are changing not only media processes and content, but also audiences, institutions, and society at large. We ask for submissions with a particular focus that pertains to communication technologies, this includes but is not limited to studies of advertising, science, networks, health, politics, history, policy, public relations, management, economics, ethics, minorities, visual communication, and social media. JoCTEC is not limited to a particular theoretical and methodological perspective. We welcome research that informs debates from comparative empirical perspectives and more conceptual and theoretical approaches. What remains at the forefront for our journal is that scholarship is systematic and rigorous concerning communication technologies and their impacts, no matter the disciplinary precision of the inquiry. While we will still consider article submissions on a rolling basis for regular issues, to receive full consideration for the Winter 2023 issue, we have set a June 1, 2023 deadline. Please find submission guidelines and information below. Guideline for Paper Submission: Submissions should follow the manuscript guidelines for JoCTEC. * Prepare the manuscript using APA (7th ed) citation style, with text of no more than 9,000 words (inclusive of abstract, figures/tables, and references). * Submit the manuscript in Word format with all author-identifying information omitted to allow for blind peer review. * Confirm manuscript is not before another journal for consideration, and that the manuscript has not been previously published, including in a language other than English. * The submission deadline is June 1, 2023.

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Call for papers; Practices of/for information access
by Oltmann, Shannon M. 20 Feb '23

20 Feb '23

Colleagues- Please see below for a new call for papers in the Journal of Information Policy; I'm co-editing the special issue with Sharon Strover (UT-Austin) and Christopher Ali (Penn State). We are purposefully taking a very broad stance with respect to "information access" and we hope to see some contributions from this community. Feel free to contact me with any questions. -Shannon Oltmann Practices of/for information access Manuscripts due by 6/15/2023 https://www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls_JIP.html (then click on "submissions" tab) Information access is fundamental to communities of all sizes. Communities of all sizes and compositions, urban, suburban, or rural, dominant or traditionally marginalized, need the ability to access reliable, useful, and meaningful information. Information access has physical, social, and intellectual aspects (Burnett, Jaeger, & Thompson, 2008), which need to be contextualized in specific communities, times, and places. Access can be facilitated or constrained through specific policies, practices, companies, and social and civic institutions such as libraries and information organizations. In this call for papers, we seek article submissions that problematize, contextualize, and begin to resolve the complexities of information access for communities. We are particularly interested in articles that offer useful practices of and for information access in the United States, globally, and comparatively. Submissions may be specifically focused on particular aspects or examples of information access, such as what we have learned from past moments of broadband support and financing or the role of libraries in facilitating broader forms of information access. Other submissions may present a broad overview of the state of information access. Submissions may take a historical, theoretical, or empirical approach. We welcome submissions that describe (or problematize) practices, models, or theories related to information access (such as net neutrality, content moderation, or internet filtering). We welcome submissions that consider information access in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, from an international perspective, with an interdisciplinary lens, and through the use of multiple methodologies. Co-guest editors are Sharon Strover (sharon.strover(a)austin.utexas.edu) Christopher Ali (cba434(a)psu.edu) and Shannon M. Oltmann (shannon.oltmann(a)uky.ed) Manuscripts are due by June 15, 2023. Papers submitted to the Special Issue should be anonymized. They should be submitted through the Journal’s online submission platform and follow the Journal’s standard submission guidelines (https://www.editorialmanager.com/jip/account/JIP%20Author%20Guidelines.pdf) For more information on the Journal, see: https://www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls_JIP.html and for submitting your paper, visit http://www.editorialmanager.com/jip/ Shannon M. Oltmann, Ph.D. Pronouns: she/her/hers Associate Professor School of Information Science College of Communication & Information University of Kentucky shannon.oltmann(a)uky.edu<mailto:shannon.oltmann@uky.edu> Associate Editor, Library Quarterly

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Reminder: (Un)timely Endings panel at Nordic STS, Oslo, June 7-9
by Julia Velkova 20 Feb '23

20 Feb '23

Dear colleagues, This is a reminder to consider submitting an abstract for the panel: “(Un)timely Endings: Negotiating Sociotechnical relations in their unmaking” at the Nordic STS Conference in Oslo, 7-9 June. Deadline for 250-word abstracts is 1 March 2023. Submissions are done through the conference website: https://www.sv.uio.no/tik/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferenc…<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sv.ui…> PANEL DESCRIPTION: (Un)timely Endings: Negotiating Sociotechnical relations in their unmaking Panel organizers: Julia Velkova (Linköping University) and Marisa Cohn (IT University of Copenhagen) Despite critical approaches aiming to mitigate harms wrought by emergent technologies, we little understand what it takes to disarticulate, dismantle, and let go of complex sociotechnical relations that comprise technological infrastructures. Public calls to dismantle or abandon technologies and large scale systems are now commonplace from ongoing massive efforts of science, policy, and industries to phase out fossil fuel-driven infrastructures, to the current and ongoing dismantling of Twitter as it falls into organizational neglect and users migrate elsewhere. Systems that are aging, obsolescent, or deprecated are all around us. Nuclear power plants are taken down, data centers, fiber optic cables, copper-line telephone systems, are “retired”, algorithmic systems, knowledge infrastructures, and software supporting organizational work, are continuously abandoned and replaced. These systems comprise sociotechnical relations, a wide variety of attachments and commitments – affective, material, embodied, professional, economic –that are refigured in their unmaking. What is a timely ending for some, may be experienced as untimely to others, as the differential temporal entanglements of technological lifetimes are exposed in their negotiated endings. When systems come to an end, there is a shift from repair as upkeep of ongoingness, towards letting go or “repair into decay” (Cohn 2016). This is a laborious process that requires disarticulating technology; engaging with fragility (Tsing), as well as the transience and ruination with infrastructure (Velkova 2019). This panel takes dismantling, decline, and deprecation of aging or retiring sociotechnical systems as a starting point to provoke a discussion about the technopolitics, temporal work, detachments and negotiations that unfold when technological development becomes oriented towards termination. Suggestions for questions and topics that papers could explore include, but are not limited to: · How is technological “retirement”, “decrescence,” “devolution”, and disarticulation from sites of use/social practice enacted? · How is "untimelines" socially negotiated, contested, challenged and inhabited? When and how does it matter, for whom? · How are entangled lifetimes, lifecycles, livelihoods disentangled? How are attachments/affinities - of materialities, bodies, knowledges - to an aging technology refigured towards endings? · How are different endings - convivial (Cohn 2016), or toxic or violent negotiated and which endings are enacted? What could it mean for sociotechnical systems to age and die “well”? · How is loss of relevance of knowledge/expertise enacted and negotiated in the social shaping of infrastructural untimeliness /dismantling/ disappearance? · Waning of / Decrescence of/transformation of imaginaries associated with a technology in decline (e.g. what it would look like if we revert the temporality of sociotechnical imaginaries - not towards a future but towards imagining/enacting a past?) Conceptual work to consider technological lifetimes and durations, their finitude as well as ongoingness. Best, Julia Velkova and Marisa Cohn Julia Velkova, PhD Associate Professor of Media and Communication Studies Department of Thematic Studies - Technology and Social Change web: www.juliavelkova.org<http://www.juliavelkova.org/> [Linköping University] Tel: +46 (013) 28 40 25 Visiting address: TEMA-huset, Room A311, Campus Valla s-581 83 Linköping Please visit us at liu.se<https://liu.se/> E-mailing Linköping University will result in Linköping University processing your personal data. Find more information on how this is done at https://liu.se/en/article/integritetspolicy-liu

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Update on Digital Influence Mercenaries: Surfacing Team Jorge
by Dr. Emma Briant 20 Feb '23

20 Feb '23

Dear Colleagues and Friends, I am excited to share a wave of reporting this week relevant to the interests of this group... from the deep investigation Forbidden Stories have done with 30 media partners exposing a dark corner of the influence industry and its cyber mercenaries #storykillers... (Forbidden Stories <https://forbiddenstories.org/> pick up the investigations of murdered journalists and complete them, so stories cannot be silenced by deadly means). I have been helping the team over several months providing insights and expertise and there has been a great deal of reporting this week. I am including here links to some of the articles, and some of the expertise I contributed to their investigations as well as an article from me at the end of the email, which may be helpful for highlighting how related intelligence and influence industries work together for online influence operations. Forbidden Stories investigation picked up the important work of murdered journalist Gauri Lankesh in India and his first article on Lankesh <https://forbiddenstories.org/story-killers/gauri-lankesh-in-the-age-of-fals…>is a disturbing account of how online hatred and harassment can incite violence against a journalist to silence them. I told Forbidden stories that “manipulating the truth has swelled into a billion-dollar business with hundreds, possibly thousands, of service providers worldwide.” And “There is a huge range of unregulated industry practices that would widely be considered unethical but not illegal.” Next an article <https://www.occrp.org/en/storykillers/hacks-bots-and-blackmail-how-secret-c…> in OCCRP gives a deep dive into this surveillant industry for 'Hacks, Bots and Blackmail: How Secret Cyber Mercenaries Disrupt Elections.' And another episode this investigation by Der Spiegel <https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/storykillers-undercover-bei-den-cybersoeldne…> about the sting that set up 'Team Jorge' and The Guardian revealed their Cambridge Analytica ties <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/18/cambridge-analytica-staff-lea…>... Der Spiegel interviewed me on how overlooked this industry has been: "Emma Briant, one of the world's leading experts in information wars & Cambridge Analytica scandal, argues the public focus continues to be on Facebook, Twitter and similar media companies. But not on the real problem, on the huge industry that exists in secret." And the next big investigation <https://forbiddenstories.org/story-killers/the-gravediggers-eliminalia/> to read in this disturbing series is on 'reputation management' firm, Eliminalia. This is a segment of industry which puts a price on censorship and enables the powerful to rewrite history... I told Forbidden Stories investigation that “The legitimate uses for this kind of reputation management are few compared to the advantages for corrupt individuals.” These are firms profiting on the cleansing of wrongdoing from the public record. This is just a few of the articles published this week. With that in mind, in an attempt to draw larger insights from the series and highlight important issues… I share my own analysis of what is revealed about this highly coordinated and opaque Digital Influence Industry by the series of individual investigations in my article on Patreon ‘Coordination in the Influence Industry: 'Surfacing' Team Jorge’ <https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-article-in-78908871>: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-article-in-78908871 I hope you find this a helpful update and thanks for supporting my ongoing work on this. I have another new scholarly publication forthcoming on Digital Influence Mercenaries this year which I will update you on very soon. Best wishes, Emma -- Dr Emma L Briant Owner: Maven of Persuasion LLC Fellow at Bard College, Human Rights Project Fellow at Central European University, Center for Media, Data and Society Associate at University of Cambridge, Center for Financial Reporting & Accountability 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 <http://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

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Call for Workshop Papers: IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks (IEEE WoWMoM 2023), Deadline: March 1, 2023
by Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou 20 Feb '23

20 Feb '23

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for Workshop Papers IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks (IEEE WoWMoM 2023) Boston, MA, USA, June 12, 2023 https://coe.northeastern.edu/Groups/wowmom2023/workshops_page.html Important Dates: - Submission due: March 1, 2023 - Acceptance notification: April 1, 2023 - Camera-ready version: April 15, 2023 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks (IEEE WoWMoM 2023), now in its 24th edition, is a premier forum for networking, software systems, and multimedia research in the wireless/mobile area. The WoWMoM organizing committee invites papers for the following workshops affiliated with the conference. Accepted WoWMoM 2023 workshop papers will be included in the conference proceeding published in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library, showing their affiliation with IEEE WoWMoM. List of WoWoMoM 2023 workshops accepting submissions: 1. WINNETS. Second International Workshop on Massive Digital Twins for the Computer-Networks Evolution o Antonio Virdis (University of Pisa, Italy) o Marco Picone (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy) o Robert Gazda (Wireless and Networking Lab, InterDigital Communications) o Antonio de la Oliva Delgado (University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain) 2. SC2. 4th International Workshop on Smart Computing for Smart Cities * Anish Jindal (Durham University, UK) * Angelos K. Marnerides (University of Glasgow, UK) * Petros Spachos (University of Guelph, Canada) * Amit Dvir (Ariel Cyber Innovation Center, Ariel University, Israel) 3. NTN-6G. 3rd IEEE WoWMoM Workshop on NTN in 6G Wireless * Sara Pizzi (University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Italy) * Giuseppe Araniti (University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Italy) * Helka-Liina Määttänen (Ericsson Research, Finland) 4. ISMS. 3rd Workshop on ICT, Sensing, and Mobility in Smart cities * Federico Chiariotti (University of Padova, Italy) * Federico Librino (Istituto di Informatica e Telematica, CNR, Italy) * Andrea Zanella (University of Padova, Italy) 5. SLICO. Smart Living and Communications the next Generations Networks * Eduardo Cerqueira (Federal University of Para, Brazil) * Bruno Sousa (University of Coimba, Portugal) * Zhongliang Zhao (Beihang University, China) * Noe Godinho (University of Coimbra, Portugal) 6. WiSense. IEEE Workshop on Device Free Wireless Sensing * Eyuphan Bulut (Virginia Commonwealth University, USA) * Muhammad Shahzad (North Carolina State University, USA) 7. XRNR. First International Workshop on Extended Reality over 5G New Radio and Beyond * Stefano Paris (Nokia Bell Labs, France) * Vincenzo Mancuso (IMDEA Networks Institute, Spain) * Nikolaos Pappas (Linköping University, Sweden) 8. WoLoLo. First International Workshop on Wireless outdoor, Long-Range and Low-Power Networks * Ulf Kulau (TU Hamburg, Germany) * Andreas Reinhardt (TU Clausthal, Germany) * Kai Li (CISTER Research Centre, Portugal) 9. SRCNAS. 2nd Workshop on Secure and Reliable Communication and Navigation in the Aerospace * Corinna Schmitt (Research Institute CODE, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany) * Volker Gollnick (Institut für Luftransportsysteme, Technische Universität Hamburg, Germany) 10. WUNCOMSC. First International Workshop on Unconventional Communications * Michael Taynnan Barros (University of Essex, UK) * Maximilian Schäfer (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany) * Chun Tung Chou (University of New South Wales, Australia) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou, Assistant Professor Computer Engineering Vice Chair Director of Recruiting and Admissions Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM, 87131 Office: 326B Tel.: (505)-277-5501 Email: eirini(a)unm.edu<mailto:eirini@unm.edu> Website: PROTON Lab<http://ece-research.unm.edu/tsiropoulou/index.html> PROTON Lab's News: @Tsiropoulou_EE<https://twitter.com/Tsiropoulou_EE> "Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach." ~ Aristotle

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Ecological AI & Creative AI at King's College London
by Joanna Zylinska 20 Feb '23

20 Feb '23

Dear All, I have a couple of AI-related announcements from the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London: a talk on Ecological AI and a position paper on Creative AI. *1. Ecological AI* The Creative AI Lab and the Computational Humanities Research Group in the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s have the pleasure to invite you to this talk and discussion on the role of the humanities in imagining AI futures by philosopher of technology Adam Nocek from Arizona State University. 15 March 2023, 17:00 to 18:30 Strand Campus, Bush House (SE) 1.01 Free to attend but places are limited so please register: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/ecological-ai The premise of this talk is that we need to think about artificial intelligence (AI) as a complex ecosystem, and that doing so requires navigating thorny disputes in the theoretical humanities and social sciences concerning the autonomy and environmental dependency of machine learning algorithms. Further, the talk contends that steering this course requires entering into a series of debates concerning AI and its metaphysical, political and ecological existence. The proposal for an ecologically complex view of machine learning outlined in this talk will take shape against the backdrop of various tensions and dead ends that arise in two competing theoretical discourses: the first stresses the autonomy of computational rationality, the second emphasizes the dependency and impact these algorithmic systems have on planetary systems. Along the way, the talk will trace the ways in which these different conceptual projects also become legible through divergent but equal investments in Karl Marx’s work on automation. But ultimately, certain intractable problems regarding machine learning and its relation to the interiority and exteriority of algorithmic systems will give us permission to search for a revised conception of ecological complexity in the work of Conrad Hal Waddington, Lynn Margulis, and Alfred North Whitehead. Such a reframing will also seed new potentials for political critique, and also reaffirm the central importance of the theoretical humanities for engaging AI futures. Speaker bio Adam Nocek is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Technology and Science and Technology Studies at the School of Arts, Media + Engineering, Arizona State University. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Philosophical Technologies (CPT) and Editor of Techniques Journal. He is the author of Molecular Capture: The Animation of Biology (2021) and is working on his next monograph, Governmental Design: On Algorithmic Autonomy. Website: http://adamnocek.com *2. Creative AI * Creative AI Lab (a collaboration between Serpentine's R&D Platform and Department of Digital Humanities) has the pleasure to announce the publication of our position paper, ‘Creative—Critical—Constructive—Collaborative—Computational: Towards a C5 model in Creative AI’. The paper analyses creative activity enabled by machine learning and recognised under the banner of ‘Creative AI’. The theoretical discussion is anchored in critical reflection on the activities in which we have been involved as part of our Lab. The paper proposes a C5 model (‘Creative—Critical—Constructive—Collaborative—Computational’) bringing together technical research and conceptual inquiry, while shifting focus from artefacts to their wider contexts, processes and infrastructures. It also outlines directions for future research on creativity and AI. The paper is available open-access: https://bit.ly/creativeAI_23 Best, Joanna -- Joanna Zylinska Professor of Media Philosophy + Critical Digital Practice King's College London Department of Digital Humanities http://www.joannazylinska.net

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New book on HIV, sex, and internet: opportunity for review
by Jaime García Iglesias 19 Feb '23

19 Feb '23

(My editor has asked me to embark in an exercise of shameless self-publicity, so here it goes. Apologies for cross-posting) My newest book, The Eroticising of HIV: Viral Fantasies, is now available in Palgrave's Health, Technology, and Society series. This book examines sexual fantasies and their influence on everyday life through the stories of twenty-two men who introduce themselves as bugchasers, i.e. gay men who eroticize HIV. The book defines bugchasing, charts its history and contexts, and considers how it has changed in the age of internet and PrEP. Through the participants, their experiences and contexts, this text also theorizes about sexual fantasies, seeking to understand how people define sexual fantasies and use the internet. Chapters also consider how fantasies influence HIV prevention and care. Link: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-11352-9 If you'd be interested in reviewing the book, please get in touch! Jaime Garcia Iglesias Mildred Baxter Fellow, Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society, University of Edinburgh

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Book Publication: The Critical Meme Reader #2: Memetic Tacticality
by Tom Divon 19 Feb '23

19 Feb '23

Hello, Digital Culture thinkers! Thrilled to share this recent publication by the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam (INC) - *The Critical Meme Reader #2: Memetic Tacticality* (edited by Chloë Arkenbout and Laurence Scherz). The INC Reader series is derived from the Institute’s conference contributions and ties together many academic and non-academic thinkers dealing with the (political) power of memes beyond virtual images. This collection emphasizes the ability of memes to serve as tactical “weapons” in times of conflict. The multimodal novelty of memes has proven its efficiency in mobilizing people in events like the Capitol riots, sparking memetic violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and playing a substantial information delivery role in the war in Ukraine. It seems that in times of conflict, memetic warfare becomes more immediate and accessible than real-life demonstrations, and the distinction between the virtual and ‘real life’ no longer applies, or perhaps was never there? This collection delves into the current events that have driven the spread of memetic responses through digital infrastructures, policies, regulations, and bodies. Furthermore, this collection envisions the concept of "memetic tacticality" as a catalyst of a cultural revolution and raises important questions such as what kind of labor would require to materialize this reality? What kind of tools and principles would we need? And what if the memetic logic of spreading information were applied to promote the dissemination of progressive ideas that could pave the way for a better future? Get the full book here (PDF): https://networkcultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Critical-Meme-Reader… *Book Content:* Preface / Geert Lovink Introduction / Chloë Arkenbout and Laurence Scherz *Part 1: MEMETIC AMMUNITION* # Political Meme Toolkit: Leftist Dutch Meme Makers Share Their Trade Secrets / Chloë Arkenbout # Benevolent Edgelords: Specters of Benjamin and Memetic Ambiguity / Pierre d’Alancaisez # Semiotics of Care and Violence: Memetization and Necropolitics During the Brazilian 2018 Presidential Elections in the Action #MarielleMultiplica / Isabel Lögfren *Part 2: SUBVERSIVE MEMES TO THE RESCUE* # ‘Let’s Go Baby Forklift’: Fandom Governance in China within the Covid-19 76 Crisis / Jamie Wong # Playful Publics on TikTok: The Memetic Israeli-Palestinian War of #Challenge / Tom Divon # Memes as Schemes: Dissecting the Role of Memes in Mobilizing Mobs 106 and Political Violence / Bhumika Bhattacharyya # Like a Virus / Daniel de Zeeuw, Tommaso Campagna, Eleni Maragkou, Jesper Lust and Cwarlo De Gaetano *Part 3: MEMES AND (MENTAL) LABOR* # I’m Not Lonely, I Have Memes: The Cognitive (Disembodied) Experience of 140 Depression Memes / Laurence Scherz # EVERY MEME MAKER WE KNOW IS EXHAUSTED / Anahita Neghabat and Caren Miesenberger # Not Like Other #Girlbosses: Gender, Work & the #Gatekeeping of Meme Capital / Christine H. Tran *Part 4: A WORLD CRITICIZED THROUGH MEMES* # Memes in the Gallery: A Party Inside an Image Ecology / Marijn Bril Get in Loser # We’re Criticizing the Art World: Memes as the New Institutional / Critique Manique Hendricks # The Rise and Fall of Web4U (2033-2063) / Jasmine Erkan and Emma Damiani # Oprah Memes, or Dis-articulations of Affect / Katrin Köppert # Speculate — or Else! Blockchain Memes on Survival in Radical Uncertainty / Inte Gloerich *Part 5: AT THE END OF THE ROAD, THERE’S MEMES* # Memeing Reading // Reading Memeing / Jordi Viader Guerrero # You’ll Never Feel Alone — Thoughts on Relatability / Florian Schlittgen # The Promise of Memes: The Case of Fotonski Torpedo / Mariana Manousopoulou # ‘Then We Could Explore Space, Together, Forever’: On Hope and Memes / Savriël Dillingh

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