Dear colleagues, With apologies for cross posting - Jernej and I are pleased to share the Cultural Commons special issue of the European Journal of Cultural Studies on 'Brainrot, AI Slop and the Enshittification of the Internet,' which has now been released in the online first section of the journal. The special issue takes these terms seriously as vernacular concepts for making sense of contemporary platform cultures, particularly in the wake of generative AI. The contributions approach these transformations through a range of perspectives, examining the affective experience of doomscrolling, exhaustion and abjection; the labour, political economy and environmental infrastructures of generative AI; the emergence of AI “slopaganda”; and the strange aesthetic and operational logics of brainrot and slop. Please find links to the individual pieces below, with thanks to the editors and our contributors! Tina Kendall + Jernej Markelj, Brainrot, AI Slop, and the Enshittification of the Internet<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13675494261468648?_gl=1*p1p8mr*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTc1MzI2ODcxNy4xNzg1ODUwMDk1*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3ODU4NTAwOTUkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODU4NTAwOTgkajU3JGwxJGgxNTY1MzYzNTUy> <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13675494261468648?_gl=1*p1p8mr*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTc1MzI2ODcxNy4xNzg1ODUwMDk1*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3ODU4NTAwOTUkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODU4NTAwOTgkajU3JGwxJGgxNTY1MzYzNTUy> Tony Sampson, The Exhaustion of User Experience: The Business of spam, slop, and other infrastructural bugs<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13675494261487093?_gl=1*1wog3dr*_up*MQ..*_ga*NzgwMjQ5Nzk0LjE3OTAyNjA5NDk.*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3OTAyNjA5NDkkbzEkZzEkdDE3OTAyNjEwMDMkajYkbDEkaDE5NzQwMzIxNDE.> Adrienne Evans, Doomscrolling for Hope<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13675494261468634?_gl=1*9pjulr*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTQ4NTU4MTkyMC4xNzg1ODUxMDg3*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3ODU4NTEwODYkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODU4NTEwOTgkajQ4JGwxJGgxNjkxNTIxMzM1> Xichen Liu, Flushed but not Gone: Brainrot and AI Slop as Abject Excess in Data-Intensive Capitalism<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13675494261468640?_gl=1*1mdvqsg*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTEyNzk0MjMxMi4xNzg1ODUxMTMw*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3ODU4NTExMjkkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODU4NTExMzgkajUxJGwxJGg5NDQ0MTA1Njk.> Daniël de Zeeuw, Computational Gallerte: Compressions of Culture<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13675494261468651?_gl=1*1nvddrf*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTc1MzI2ODcxNy4xNzg1ODUwMDk1*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3ODU4NTAwOTUkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODU4NTAwOTgkajU3JGwxJGgxNTY1MzYzNTUy> Robert Topinka, Feed them Slop: Alignment, Attunement, and the Affective Lure of Slopaganda<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13675494261468632?_gl=1*1nbnyun*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTc1MzI2ODcxNy4xNzg1ODUwMDk1*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3ODU4NTAwOTUkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODU4NTAwOTgkajU3JGwxJGgxNTY1MzYzNTUy> Mél Hogan, Rotting Empires<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13675494261468636> Ludmila Lupinacci + Idil Galip, Degenerative AI: AI Slop, Brainrot and the Gimmick of Generative Culture<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13675494261468638?_gl=1*qw9yeg*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTc1MzI2ODcxNy4xNzg1ODUwMDk1*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3ODU4NTAwOTUkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODU4NTAwOTgkajU3JGwxJGgxNTY1MzYzNTUy> Jernej Markelj + Jakko Kemper, Doing the Numbers: The Operational Aesthetics of AI Slop<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13675494261468647?_gl=1*1nvddrf*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTc1MzI2ODcxNy4xNzg1ODUwMDk1*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3ODU4NTAwOTUkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODU4NTAwOTgkajU3JGwxJGgxNTY1MzYzNTUy> [ARU THE University of the Year 2023 | UK Social Mobility Awards University of the Year 2023 | TEF Gold 2023] -- Please click here to view our e-mail disclaimer https://www.aru.ac.uk/email-data-statement