Dear AoiR community, Happy to share that the Special Section of the International Journal of Communication on big data discourses and their societal implications is out and free to download. Edited by Charlotte Knorr and Christian Pentzold. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc Big data discourses are integral to how we come to understand and engage with datafication. This Special Section explores the semantics of big data in contemporary society, weaving together three central themes: materiality, emerging technologies, and sensemaking around datafication. Across the contributions, the section interrogates how communication, imagination, and social practices shape—and are shaped by—the expanding landscape of data-driven innovation. The Special Section brings together the following contributions: • A Model of Frame Categories for Analyzing Media Discourse of Emerging Technologies Emma Kaylee Graves-Sandriman • Reframing Datafication: News Media Discourses on Big Data and AI Maria Cristina Paganoni & Gastón Becerra • Ask Me Anything! ◕‿◕ – How ChatGPT Got Hyped Into Being Jascha Bareis • Curating AI Into Being: Hacks/Hackers as Amplifiers of Journalism’s Digital Futures Andreas Hepp • Data Feelings: Everyday Affects and Sensory Dimensions of Personal Digital Data Ash Watson & Deborah Lupton • Aesthetics of Boundless Insight: On the Scalar Ideology of the Data Imaginary Magdalena Krysztoforska & Oliver Kenny • A New Source of the Self? A Critical View on the Domestication of Data Jun Yu • Deceptive Stories About Scale: Digital Technology, Public Services, and the Promise of Efficiency Alison B. Powell • Data in India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): A Deliberative Policy Ecology Approach Preeti Raghunath • Toward Disability Data Justice: A Critical Discussion of Disability and Big Data Discourses Kuansong Victor Zhuang & Gerard Goggin • Cultural Motifs of Big Data in User-Generated Content: A Semiautomated Analysis of 10 Years of Discourse Charlotte Knorr, Andreas Niekler & Christian Pentzold Together, the articles offer interdisciplinary perspectives grounded in empirical research and critical theory, illuminating the evolving relationship between technology, discourse, and meaning-making in the digital age. All best, Christian — Professor Dr. Christian Pentzold Geschäftsführender Direktor | Managing Director Institut für Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft | Department for Communication and Media Studies Universität Leipzig | Leipzig University Nikolaistrasse 27-29, D-04109 Leipzig christian.pentzold@uni-leipzig.de https://www.sozphil.uni-leipzig.de/institut-fuer-kommunikations-und-medienwi...