Dear Colleagues, We have just published a HMC Special Issue on "Mediatization and Human-Machine Communication", which may also be of interest to the AoIR community. More information can be found at the end of the mail. Best wishes, Andreas Hepp HMC SPECIAL ISSUE ON "MEDIATIZATION AND HUMAN-MACHINE COMMUNICATION" Communicative AI is currently associated with one of the most drastic changes in social communication. Against the background of such transformation processes, research on mediatization and on human-machine communication raises a variety of new connections and intersections. The Special Issue examines what research on communicative AI at the interface of mediatization research and HMC can look like. Contributions are: EDITORIAL Mediatization and Human-Machine Communication: Trajectories, Discussions, Perspectives Andreas Hepp, Göran Bolin, Andrea L. Guzman, and Wiebke Loosen https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hmc/vol7/iss1/1/ ARTICLES Smoothing Out Smart Tech’s Rough Edges: Imperfect Automation and the Human Fix Christian Katzenbach, Christian Pentzold, and Paloma Viejo Otero https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hmc/vol7/iss1/2/ A New Family Member or Just Another Digital Interface? Smart Speakers in the Lives of Families with Young Children Giovanna Mascheroni https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hmc/vol7/iss1/3/ Communicative AI and Techno-Semiotic Mediatization: Understanding the Communicative Role of the Machine Göran Bolin https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hmc/vol7/iss1/4/ Artificial Sociality Simone Natale and Iliana Depounti https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hmc/vol7/iss1/5/ The Perturbing Mediatization of Voice-based Virtual Assistants: The Case of Alexa Leopoldina Fortunati, Autumn P. Edwards, and Chad Edwards https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hmc/vol7/iss1/6/ --- Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp Mastodon: https://sciences.social/@Andreas_Hepp Recent publications: Hepp, A., Loosen, W., Dreyer, S., Jarke, J., Kannengießer, S., Katzenbach, C., . . . Schulz, W. (2023). ChatGPT, LaMDA and the hype around Communicative AI: The automation of communication as a field of research in media and communication studies. Human-Machine Communication, 6, 41-63. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.6.4 Hepp, A., & Couldry, N. (2023). Necessary entanglements: Reflections on the role of a “materialist phenomenology” in researching deep mediatization and datafication. Sociologica, 17(1), 137-153. Retrieved from https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/download/15793/16634 Hepp, A., Schmitz, A., & Schneider, N. (2023). Afterlives of the Californian Ideology: Tech movements, pioneer communities, and imaginaries of digital futures – An Introduction to the thematic issue. IJoC, 17, 4142-4160. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/21405 Hepp, A. (2022). Agency, social relations and order: Media sociology’s shift into the digital. Communications. The European Journal of Communication Research, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2020-0079 Universität Bremen, ZeMKI Zentrum für Medien-, Kommunikations- & Informationsforschung Centre for Media, Communication & Information Research Linzerstr. 4 D-28359 Bremen, Germany Tel.: +49 421 218-67620 http://www.zemki.uni-bremen.de http://www.kommunikative-figurationen.de https://mesoftware.org