- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

New book: Platforms: A Critical Introduction
by Helmond, A. (Anne) 29 Aug '26

29 Aug '26

Dear AoIR community, We are excited to share that our new book, *Platforms: A Critical Introduction*, is now out with Polity! From Instagram and Uber to Alibaba and ChatGPT, platforms shape nearly every aspect of contemporary life. But what exactly are platforms, how do they work, and how did they become so powerful? The book offers an accessible and critical introduction to platforms and platformisation. It approaches platforms as companies, services, and technologies or infrastructures, and introduces key concepts including platform power, governance, and strategy. Drawing on examples from around the world, we examine how platforms shape economies, cultures, and institutions, while also offering practical approaches for analysing platforms. The book is intended for students and scholars across media and communication studies, the social sciences, and the humanities, as well as for anyone interested in understanding the growing role of platforms in society. Table of contents: 1. Introduction: Platforms in culture and society 2. Understanding platforms 3. Profit and power 4. Governance and regulation 5. Conclusion and outlook Use code HVD30 for 30% off at https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=platforms-a-critical-intro… José van Dijck writes: “Helmond and van der Vlist are gifted teachers who help students and faculty find their way in the burgeoning field of platform studies. Platforms is a timely and much-needed book to help us understand the rapidly changing online environment.” Marc Steinberg writes: “This should be the first book you read on platforms. Helmond and van der Vlist provide a masterful introduction and critical guide to understanding platforms. A must-read for students and scholars alike.” To learn more about the book: https://www.politybooks.com/blog-detail/platforms-everywhere-understanding-… Anne Helmond is Associate Professor of Media, Data & Society at Utrecht University. Fernando van der Vlist is Assistant Professor in Critical Data & AI at the University of Amsterdam. Best wishes, Anne and Fernando

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CFP: Collaboration and Trust in AI-Assisted News Production
by Ali, Mohammad 29 Aug '26

29 Aug '26

Dear colleagues, I am pleased to share this Call for Papers for a Frontiers Research Topic, “Collaboration and Trust in AI-Assisted News Production,” for which I am serving as one of the guest editors. We welcome interdisciplinary contributions spanning journalism, communication, HCI, AI, information science, and related fields. Topics include (but are not limited to): * Human-AI collaboration in newsrooms * AI transparency and disclosure * Editorial oversight and accountability * Audience perceptions of AI-generated news * Ethics, bias, and misinformation * AI for local and resource-constrained newsrooms Submission deadline: November 23, 2026 Please feel free to share with colleagues who may be interested and let me know if you have any questions. More information: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81092/collaboration-and-trust-i… Best wishes, Ali Mohammad Ali, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Communication<https://arts-sciences.und.edu/academics/communication/index.html> University of North Dakota<https://und.edu/>, USA Editorial Board Member: Public Relations Review<https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/public-relations-review/about/editori…>

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New research on EdTech and children's rights from the Digital Futures for Children centre
by Sonia Livingstone 26 Aug '26

26 Aug '26

Dear colleagues I wanted to bring to your attention two recent publications from the Digital Futures for Children centre: 1. 'Assessing the impact of using EdTech on children's learning: A scoping review of meta-analyses' (by Kruakae Pothong, Kim Ringmar Sylwander, Sonia Livingstone, and Sandra El Gemayel) Open access link: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/140402/ We conducted a scoping review of meta-studies assessing the impact of using EdTech on children's learning. This review considers 56 meta-analyses, encompassing findings from 2,111 studies, involving many thousands of children worldwide. The evidence shows that gains from EdTech are realised in very particular contexts and conditions of implementation. Thus, we find that learning effects depend on how and by whom technology is deployed and used, rather than on an EdTech technology in isolation. EdTech produces its strongest effects when embedded in active, collaborative and contextually grounded pedagogical approaches. When findings are disaggregated by children with different needs, ages and abilities, the measured impact varies greatly, and the evidence is the weakest for the most vulnerable children. 1. Our anthology 'Children's rights under pressure in a digital world' (edited by Kim R Sylwander, Gazal Shekhawat and Sonia Livingstone) Open access link: https://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/our-work/rights-under-pressure The DFC's first anthology showcases work presented at the ICA 2026 pre-conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Spanning continents, the anthology's papers are organised around five themes: participation, regulation, family, commercial interests, and new technology. We invite readers to engage with the papers and seek conversation and collaboration with our anthology collaborators across the world. You can learn more about the DFC's work here: https://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/our-work All the very best, Sonia Professor Sonia Livingstone OBE, FBA, FRSA, FBPS, FAcSS Department of Media and Communications, FAW.7.01M Digital Futures for Children (DFC) centre, PEL.9.01I digital-futures-for-children.net<http://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/> London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE UK Bio at sonialivingstone.net<http://sonialivingstone.net/> and linkedin.com/in/sonia-livingstone-6b0b8712<http://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-livingstone-6b0b8712/> Zoom lse.zoom.us/my/sonialivingstone<https://lse.zoom.us/my/sonialivingstone>

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CfP: Sociocybernetics, systems theory and AI-mediated society (ISA World Congress, Gwangju 2027)
by Terenzi, Massimo 26 Aug '26

26 Aug '26

Dear All, As agentic AI layers onto algorithmic recommendation systems in our digital environments, there is a profound change in the way that society observes, reacts, and reorganizes itself. We are no longer only watching humans interact with their tools: we are watching feedback loops in which automated systems take part in communication and coordination. In order to investigate these dynamics, we are organizing the session "*Born from Turbulence: Sociocybernetics, Systems Theory, and AI-Mediated Society*" at the *XXI ISA World Congress of Sociology* ("Global Sociology in Turbulent Times", Gwangju, Republic of Korea, 4-10 July 2027). We are writing to Air-L because we would particularly like to hear from the empirical internet researchers of the AoIR community. Our basic claim is that the loop should be the unit of analysis that we take into consideration. Be it the analysis of platform behavior, of attention economies, of synthetic media, or of coordinated activities, understanding the dynamics of the feedback loop is crucial. Instead of attributing humanlike intentionality to the machines, we interpret them as participants in communication and mechanisms of structural coupling (Esposito). We welcome contributions addressing, among others: - Scale and agency: how does the localized operation of AI and recommender systems scale up into the macro feedback dynamics of platforms and publics? - Opacity and observation: is it possible for a social system to observe and reorganize itself when the algorithmic loops mediating the observation are proprietary and opaque? - Platform governance: what could notions like circularity, self-reference, and second-order cybernetics contribute to the governance of AI-mediated ecosystems? Topics include: algorithmic visibility, recommender systems, information disorders, automated coordination, and adjacent areas. Papers addressing the central systemic concepts (feedback, circularity, self-reference) under any theoretical framing are especially welcome. The goal is to make a connection between the empirical study of platforms and systems theory. More details: - Abstracts: up to 300 words, in English - Deadline: 14 October 2026, 24:00 GMT *- Submission: https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2027/webprogrampreliminary/Session2687… <https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2027/webprogrampreliminary/Session2687…>* - Congress guidelines: https://www.isa-sociology.org/isa-events/xxi-world-congress-of-sociology/co… Questions are welcome off-list. With best regards, Massimo Terenzi & Fabio Giglietto (Session organizers, RC51 Sociocybernetics)

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Re: Air-L Digest, Vol 272, Issue 2
by Caroline Pelletier 25 Aug '26

25 Aug '26

[like] Caroline Pelletier reacted to your message: ________________________________ From: air-l-request(a)lists.aoir.org <air-l-request(a)lists.aoir.org> Sent: Tuesday, 25 August 2026 00:15:54 To: air-l(a)lists.aoir.org <air-l(a)lists.aoir.org> Subject: Air-L Digest, Vol 272, Issue 2 ⚠ Caution: External sender Send Air-L mailing list submissions to air-l(a)lists.aoir.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to air-l-request(a)lists.aoir.org You can reach the person managing the list at air-l-owner(a)lists.aoir.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Air-L digest..." Today's Topics: 1. CFP - Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area (2027 SWPACA Conference) (Judd Ruggill) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:15:08 -0700 From: Judd Ruggill <jruggill(a)gmail.com> Subject: [Air-L] CFP - Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area (2027 SWPACA Conference) To: air-l(a)lists.aoir.org Message-ID: <CALrpngju=LcS6sQQxxAD1sQ1Z2VZkwdkjyirZoTSOFQn=r=8Pg(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="000000000000153a780659d4013a" Hi all: This may be of interest to some on the list. Cheers, Judd _____ Call for Papers Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area Southwest Popular / American Culture Association (SWPACA) 48th Annual Conference, February 17-20, 2027 Marriott Albuquerque Albuquerque, New Mexico https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fswpaca.or…<https://swpaca.org/> Submissions open: September 1, 2026 Proposal submission deadline: October 31, 2026 Proposals are now being accepted for the 48th annual SWPACA conference. One of the nation’s largest interdisciplinary academic conferences, SWPACA offers nearly 70 subject areas. For a full list of subject areas, area descriptions, and Area Chairs, please visit https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fswpaca.or…<https://swpaca.org/subject-areas/> The Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area invites papers, panels, and other proposals on games (digital and otherwise) and their study and development. Proposals are welcome from any and all scholars (including graduate students, independent scholars, and tenured, tenure-track, and emeritus faculty) and practitioners (developers, artists, archivists, and so forth). Unusual formats, technologies, and the like are encouraged. Possible topics include (but are in no way limited to): Advertising (both in-game and out) Archiving and artifactual preservation ARGs Artificial Intelligence Design and development Educational games and their pedagogies E-Sports and competitive gaming Fan studies Foreign language games and culture Game art/game-based art (including game sound) Game development education Game engines and entertainment Game genres/types Game streaming Games and health Gender and sexual identity Haptics and interface studies Hardware/platforms Histories of games Industry studies International/non-US game studies Localization Mobile gaming MOGs, MMOGs, and other forms of online/networked gaming Performance Pornographic games Religion and games Representations of race and class Representations of space and place The rhetoric of games and game systems Serious games Table-top games and gaming Technological, aesthetic, economic, and ideological convergence Theories of play Transmedia and games The Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area is international in scope and emphasizes diversity, an openness to innovative approaches and presentations, and the energetic practice of post-conference collaboration and publication. The Area was established in 2005 as a division of the Computer Culture Area, and became a standalone area in 2010. In addition to organizing conference panels, roundtables, and workshops, the Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area offers formal and informal mentoring, organizes outings, and hosts evening social events. - Chair: Judd Ruggill (jruggill(a)arizona.edu <jruggill(a)email.arizona.edu>) - Research Coordinator: Jennifer deWinter (jdewinter(a)illinoistech.edu) - Social Media Coordinator: Michael Anthony DeAnda (mdeanda(a)depaul.edu) - Special Events Coordinator: Carly Kocurek (ckocurek(a)illinoistech.edu) - Graduate Student Mentor: Chris Hanson (cphanson(a)syr.edu) All proposals must be submitted through the SWPACA Conference Portal at https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fswpaca.or…<https://swpaca.org/app> For details on using the submission database and on the application process in general (including submitting proposals for roundtables and preformed panels), please see the FAQS & Resources tab on https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fswpaca.or…<https://swpaca.org/> Individual proposals for 15-minute presentations must include an abstract of approximately 250 words and a brief bio. For information on how to submit a proposal for a roundtable or a multi-paper panel, please view the above FAQs and Resources tab. The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2026. SWPACA offers monetary awards for the best graduate student papers in a variety of categories. Submissions of accepted, full papers are due January 1, 2026. More details are here: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fswpaca.or…<https://swpaca.org/graduate-student-paper-awards/>. SWPACA also offers travel fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students as well as contingent faculty: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fswpaca.or…<https://swpaca.org/travel-awards-students-faculty/>. Registration and travel information for the conference is available at https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fswpaca.or…<https://swpaca.org/albuquerque-conference/> In addition, please check out the organization’s peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy, at https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalco…<https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dialogue/> If you have any questions about the Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area, please contact jruggill(a)arizona.edu. If you have general questions about the conference, please contact support(a)swpaca.org, and a member of the executive team will get back to you. This will be a fully in-person conference. If you’re looking for an online option to present your work, keep an eye out for details about the 2027 SWPACA Summer Salon, a completely virtual conference to take place in June 2027. -------------- next part -------------- A message part incompatible with plain text digests has been removed ... Name: not available Type: text/html Size: 31537 bytes Desc: not available ------------------------------ Subject: Digest Footer _______________________________________________ The To unsubscribe send an email to air-l-leave(a)lists.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Faoir.org%2…<http://aoir.org/> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: Join the Association of Internet Researchers: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aoir.o…<http://www.aoir.org/> ------------------------------ End of Air-L Digest, Vol 272, Issue 2 *************************************

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CFP - Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area (2027 SWPACA Conference)
by Judd Ruggill 25 Aug '26

25 Aug '26

Hi all: This may be of interest to some on the list. Cheers, Judd _____ Call for Papers Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area Southwest Popular / American Culture Association (SWPACA) 48th Annual Conference, February 17-20, 2027 Marriott Albuquerque Albuquerque, New Mexico https://swpaca.org Submissions open: September 1, 2026 Proposal submission deadline: October 31, 2026 Proposals are now being accepted for the 48th annual SWPACA conference. One of the nation’s largest interdisciplinary academic conferences, SWPACA offers nearly 70 subject areas. For a full list of subject areas, area descriptions, and Area Chairs, please visit https://swpaca.org/subject-areas/ The Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area invites papers, panels, and other proposals on games (digital and otherwise) and their study and development. Proposals are welcome from any and all scholars (including graduate students, independent scholars, and tenured, tenure-track, and emeritus faculty) and practitioners (developers, artists, archivists, and so forth). Unusual formats, technologies, and the like are encouraged. Possible topics include (but are in no way limited to): Advertising (both in-game and out) Archiving and artifactual preservation ARGs Artificial Intelligence Design and development Educational games and their pedagogies E-Sports and competitive gaming Fan studies Foreign language games and culture Game art/game-based art (including game sound) Game development education Game engines and entertainment Game genres/types Game streaming Games and health Gender and sexual identity Haptics and interface studies Hardware/platforms Histories of games Industry studies International/non-US game studies Localization Mobile gaming MOGs, MMOGs, and other forms of online/networked gaming Performance Pornographic games Religion and games Representations of race and class Representations of space and place The rhetoric of games and game systems Serious games Table-top games and gaming Technological, aesthetic, economic, and ideological convergence Theories of play Transmedia and games The Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area is international in scope and emphasizes diversity, an openness to innovative approaches and presentations, and the energetic practice of post-conference collaboration and publication. The Area was established in 2005 as a division of the Computer Culture Area, and became a standalone area in 2010. In addition to organizing conference panels, roundtables, and workshops, the Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area offers formal and informal mentoring, organizes outings, and hosts evening social events. - Chair: Judd Ruggill (jruggill(a)arizona.edu <jruggill(a)email.arizona.edu>) - Research Coordinator: Jennifer deWinter (jdewinter(a)illinoistech.edu) - Social Media Coordinator: Michael Anthony DeAnda (mdeanda(a)depaul.edu) - Special Events Coordinator: Carly Kocurek (ckocurek(a)illinoistech.edu) - Graduate Student Mentor: Chris Hanson (cphanson(a)syr.edu) All proposals must be submitted through the SWPACA Conference Portal at https://swpaca.org/app For details on using the submission database and on the application process in general (including submitting proposals for roundtables and preformed panels), please see the FAQS & Resources tab on https://swpaca.org/ Individual proposals for 15-minute presentations must include an abstract of approximately 250 words and a brief bio. For information on how to submit a proposal for a roundtable or a multi-paper panel, please view the above FAQs and Resources tab. The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2026. SWPACA offers monetary awards for the best graduate student papers in a variety of categories. Submissions of accepted, full papers are due January 1, 2026. More details are here: https://swpaca.org/graduate-student-paper-awards/. SWPACA also offers travel fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students as well as contingent faculty: https://swpaca.org/travel-awards-students-faculty/. Registration and travel information for the conference is available at https://swpaca.org/albuquerque-conference/ In addition, please check out the organization’s peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy, at https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dialogue/ If you have any questions about the Game Studies, Culture, Play & Practice Area, please contact jruggill(a)arizona.edu. If you have general questions about the conference, please contact support(a)swpaca.org, and a member of the executive team will get back to you. This will be a fully in-person conference. If you’re looking for an online option to present your work, keep an eye out for details about the 2027 SWPACA Summer Salon, a completely virtual conference to take place in June 2027.

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Invitation - The Label Paradox: Can AI Transparency Create More Distrust? | 10 September
by Tom Divon 24 Aug '26

24 Aug '26

Dear community, Come discuss GenAI, transparency, and trust with us at our event: *The Label Paradox: Can AI Transparency Create More Distrust? * 10 September 2026 | 10:00–11:30 CEST | Online Hosted by the AI, Media & Democracy Lab at UvA, the event will focus on AI transparency labels and what they actually mean as the flood of synthetic content takes over our feeds. Across journalism, politics, activism, advertising, and everyday platform culture, labels are being positioned as a key mechanism for restoring trust. But what can a simple “Generated with AI” label really solve? And what happens when the label itself starts generating suspicion? Our panel will ask whether AI labels might produce unintended consequences: eroding trust in accurate content, giving unlabeled material an unwarranted aura of authenticity, or becoming strategically mobilized in already polarized information environments. The timing is particularly relevant as, under the EU AI Act, professional users of GenAI, including content producers, advertisers, political actors, governments, and public institutions, are required to disclose AI-generated content, raising broader questions about what transparency can actually achieve in complex information ecosystems. Our fantastic line-up: - Jean Burgess, Queensland University of Technology - Anja Bechmann, Aarhus University - Anders Søgaard, University of Copenhagen - Laurens Naudts, University of Amsterdam - Tom Divon (me!), Hebrew University of Jerusalem The discussion will be moderated by Natali Helberger, University of Amsterdam, and the co-director of the AI, Media & Democracy Lab at UvA. More information and registration: https://www.aim4dem.nl/events/ Would be lovely to see some familiar faces there! <3 Tom -- *Tom Divon* Creators & Platforms R*esearcher* Dept. of Communication & Journalism, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Sammy Ofer School of Communications, IDC, Herzliya Tel: +972-547-532681 [image: Twitter] <https://twitter.com/TomDivon>[image: Instagram] <https://www.instagram.com/divon.tom/>[image: Facebook] <https://www.facebook.com/tom.divon> Website: https://tomdivon.com/ Co-Founder: The Content Creator Scholars Network <https://www.ccsn.site/> *Publications*: >> Playful Activism: Memetic Performances of Palestinian Resistance in TikTok #Challenges <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20563051231157607> >> #JewishTikTok: The JewToks' Fight against Antisemitism <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359548581_JewishTikTok> >> Serious TikTok: Can You Learn About the Holocaust in 60 Seconds? <https://reframe.sussex.ac.uk/digitalholocaustmemory/2022/03/24/can-you-lear…> >> Playful Trauma: TikTok Creators and the Use of the Platformed Body in Times of War <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20563051241269281> >> Platform gaslighting: A user-centric insight into social media corporate communications of content moderation <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/29768624241303109> >> The unsolicited algorithm: unveiling gendered harms and (non)consent in apple iOS features <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09589236.2024.2433683?src=> >> The sound of disinformation: TikTok, computational propaganda, and the invasion of Ukraine <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14614448241251804?icid=int.sj-full…> >> Youthful Platform Commemoration: TikTok as a Frontier for Holocaust Education and Memory <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383957738_Youthful_Platform_Commem…>

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Deadline Extended - Call for Participation: Game of Tech Winter School "Hallucinate, unbox, restart" (Naples, 27-29 October 2026)
by Camilla Volpe 24 Aug '26

24 Aug '26

Dear AoIR community, We are writing to let you know that we have extended the application deadline for our winter school "Hallucinate, unbox, restart: a winter school for slowing down inside the synthetic everyday" (Naples, 27-29 October 2026). The new deadline is September 7th. We look forward to reading your applications! In brief: the winter school offers a three-day path to critically engage with the "black box" imaginary of generative AI, combining autoethnography and art-based research to explore uses, counter-uses, and practices of appropriation of generative technologies. It welcomes PhD students, early-career researchers, artists, independent scholars, and anyone interested in the topic, from both humanistic and technical/ICT perspectives. Participation is free (limited to 20 places), though travel and accommodation costs are not covered The full call is below and here<https://www.gameoftech.eu/eventi/winterschool2026/>. Hallucinate, unbox, restart: a winter school for slowing down inside the synthetic everyday The recent proliferation of generative AI systems has been accompanied by the entrenchment of a particular imaginary – one that frames and accept AI as a black box. This has a twofold implication. On one hand, it legitimates the design of AI structures, codes, and networks as hyper-opaque, restricting full comprehension of its operations and naturalizing this failure. On the other hand, this embedded opacity also makes it harder to look into another fundamental dimension of generative AI, stemming from the appreciation of the latter as a sociotechnical assemblage: its uses and counter-uses, practices of appropriation, deviation and renegotiation. The black box operates as a powerful narrative that erodes human agency. If machines are somehow shaping the future in ways that elude our understanding, no space is left to resist this trajectory. In such a framing, any possibility of unpredictable more-than-human interactions instantly collapses, along with any desertion from intended prescriptions and shared assumptions. And yet people keep engaging with AI in ways its producers never anticipated: pushing back, resisting, appropriating, redesigning, dismantling. Along with tangible uses, everyday habits and practical adaptations, what is at stake is the construction of imaginaries and the very possibility of trusting one own’s perception, senses and impressions. In the cities we inhabit, through our mobiles and the countless screens colonizing intimacy, offices, universities, public spaces and homes, we are relentlessly overexposed to an endless stream of synthetic images and fabricated worlds – a condition unevenly distributed, yet structurally intertwined across geographies. The explosion of generative AI, with its alleged democratizing power over content production, adds yet another layer to this saturation, blurring truths and hallucinations, probability and actuality, warping reality and gradually reshaping the very perceptive structures of the real. Two questions hold this framing together: * How can we engage with technologies whose authority rests on the claim of being inherently unknowable and that produces unstableness of sensed and perceived reality itself? * How do we navigate an increasingly opaque, enshittified and hallucinatory digital environment without losing sight of the material reality of its infrastructure and of its asymmetries? Our winter school sets out to pause on these questions: not to offer solutions, but to immerse ourselves in the contradictions, speculations, and alternatives such pause generates. We do so through a deliberate slowing-down: a collective pause in which observing our own gestures becomes a way of observing the world, and decomposing the everyday becomes a way of deconstructing the systems that frame it. To do so, it engages in a two-sided methodological intervention. Two modes of unboxing The school advances this exploration along two intertwined methodological lines: auto-ethnography and art-based research. First, we propose autoethnography as one mode of unboxing: a chance to slowly inhabit the ephemeral nature of using, interacting with, fighting against, and making kin with, generative AI. With autoethnography we will retrace our daily practices and mediated behaviours, reflecting on our positionality with intelligent (?) machines, and investigating our embodied, tangible, material experience in the so-called cloud. Second, to bring out the thickness of sociotechnical assemblages and engagements, we then propose to draw on art-based research: sound-works, multimedia installations, performances, speculative design iterations and narrative provocations are a way to voice, spatialize and process our affective interactions with AI. Unlocking the black box should therefore not be understood as a merely technical gesture. We conceive it instead as a process of deconstructing the standardized paradigm of use, through the exploration of the interstices within human-machine systems – an exploration that encompasses the appreciation of minute, granular, more-than-human interactions, as well as the grand picture that lies behind them. Eventually, this inquiry could become the generative site for redesigning both. We invite PhD students, early-career researchers, artists, independent scholars both from Humanities and ICTs, technology’s (un)enthusiasts, tech workers, hackers, and anyone curious to explore these concerns and to engage with such resources to apply for our winter school. The winter school will take place in Naples, Italy, from 27 to 29 October 2026. Over these three days, we will bring together seminars with scholars and artists, autoethnographic sessions and art-based workshops, and artistic re-enactments in a collective, convivial (some would say: fun) moment: * Situated and post-disciplinary approaches to digital inquiry * Artistic, speculative, and collaborative methodologies * Humanistic approach to technological affordances * ICT approach to social impacts of technology * Collectively hacking the code(s) Camilla Volpe Postdoctoral Researcher University of Milan Department of Social and Political Sciences Via Conservatorio 7, 20122 Milan, Italy Thinking about platforms, AI, and power – with Game of Tech<https://www.gameoftech.eu/> collective Siamo nati per chiederci perché. Il tuo 5xmille all'Università degli Studi di Milano Codice fiscale 80012650158 [https://sites.unimi.it/loghi/5x1000/5x1000.png]

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Join Us in Lancaster! Registration & Travel Scholarships Open: LIS Bibliometrics 2026
by Behrooz Rasuli 20 Aug '26

20 Aug '26

Apologies for cross-posting! Dear bibliometrics and research evaluation scholars, practitioners, and students, We are pleased to invite you to *register for the LIS Bibliometrics Conference 2026 <https://lisbibliometrics.wordpress.com/c-2026-registration>*, bringing together researchers and professionals to exchange ideas and explore emerging developments in bibliometrics and research evaluation. While hybrid options will be available, we strongly encourage you to join us in person at Lancaster University. Nothing quite replaces the face-to-face networking, vibrant coffee-break conversations, and discussions with peers from around the world. Furthermore, our workshops are in-person. This year’s conference theme is: *AI Meets Bibliometrics: Advancing Metrics for a Complex Research World* We are delighted to welcome our keynote speakers, *Professor Cinzia Daraio* and *Professor Mike Thelwall*, alongside a full <https://lisbibliometrics.wordpress.com/c-2026-program>programme <https://lisbibliometrics.wordpress.com/c-2026-program> of research presentations and posters exploring bibliometrics, AI, responsible research evaluation, and scholarly communication. 📅 *Date:* 24 September 2026 📍 *Venue:* Lancaster University 🎟️ *Register here:* https://lisbibliometrics.wordpress.com/c-2026-registration/ *More information: *https://lisbibliometrics.wordpress.com/c-2026-about2026/ *🎓 Travel Scholarships Still Open!* To help make in-person attendance as accessible as possible, there is still time to apply for a travel scholarship <https://lisbibliometrics.wordpress.com/c-2026-travel-scholarship/>. Don't miss out—applications are open until Friday, 31st August 2026. We would be delighted to welcome you. Please feel free to share this invitation with colleagues and others in your networks who may be interested. Best wishes, *LIS Bibliometrics Conference 2026 Organising Committee <https://lisbibliometrics.wordpress.com/c-2026-about2026>* -- *Behrooz Rasuli* Ph.D. in Information Science Department of Society and Information Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology <http://irandoc.ac.ir/irandoc-english/irandoc-english.html>

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[AoIR HQ] Announcing the AoIR2026 Dissertation Award Winner
by Association Coordinator 19 Aug '26

19 Aug '26

Dear AoIR members, We are pleased to announce the winner of the AoIR2026 Dissertation Award: Dr. Dominique Carlon of the Queensland University of Technology for "Bots and Other Platform Inhabitants: Stories of Inter-Bot Governance, Automated Play, and Pretest on Reddit" Dr. Carlon produced this excellent dissertation at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society in the Digital Media Research Center within the School of Communication at the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice of the Queensland University of Technology. This novel digital ethnographic dissertation recognizes the bots on Reddit as active co-creators and cohabitants: “the thesis reveals how bots are agents of culture that enact, contribute to, enforce, and challenge the norms and expectations of digital communities” (Carlon). The significant contributions of the work build on past research and provide a firm foundation for future explorations of bot-inhabited digital spaces. And announcing our two honorable mentions, in no particular order, Dr. Abel Goncalves Guerra and Dr. Breigha Adeyemo Dr. Abel Goncalves Guerra, from London School of Economics, wrote our first honorable mention, "Chasing Cites: Platforms and Knowledge-Making between Datafication and Lived Urban Histories". Using Uber as its primary case, Guerra develops an understanding of the relationship of networked cities in the global south providing a “critical understanding of how institutional actors and platform workers in a particular socio-historical context actively shape platformisation” (Abel). The dissertation reveals the operations of knowledge regarding the platformization of our lives in its contexts through an engaging set of methods. Dr. Breigha Adeyemo, from the University of Illinois Chicago, wrote our second honorable mention, "System Override: A Critical Virtual Ethnography of Women of Color’s Digital Praxis in Horizon Worlds". Her study of women of colour in virtual worlds contributes significantly to the field and helps to, “bridge the gap between marginalized users' lived experiences and the design of virtual environments” (Adeyemo). Her work combines a variety of ethnographic methods, excellent research and solid literature reviews to provide a firm foundation for future work that will improve virtual worlds for women of colour and thus for everyone. Please join us in sharing a big congratulations to Dr. Carlon, Dr. Guerra, and Dr. Adeyemo! About This Year's Committee and Selection Process We extend a huge thank you to this year's committee for all their work over the last few months. The international committee was comprised of Drs. Jeremy Hunsinger (Chair), Tanja Oblak Črnič, Alessandro Gandini, Lynn Schofield Clark, Admire Mare, Guobin Yang, and Bjørn Nansen. We followed a three stage process in which each nominated dissertation was read by two different members. Those members chose one or more as the best, leading to six dissertations proceeding to the second stage, from which each reviewer provided a ranked list. From those ranked lists, we reached a consensus decision about our winner and honorable mentions. The committee members were instructed to choose the best dissertations, focusing on the quality of scholarship and contribution to internet research/internet studies. Best, Emerson (she/her) AoIR Communications and Membership Coordinator ac(a)aoir.org<mailto:ac@aoir.org> Looking for Michelle? After nine years, Michelle has officially stepped down from her position at AOIR. I'm Emerson, and I'll be stepping in to continue her work. As I'm sure anyone familiar with Michelle knows, I have big shoes to fill, and I appreciate your patience as I get up to speed!

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