SEASON 2025 Conference – Search Engines and Society Network (Hamburg, 24-25 September 2025) ====================== CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS ====================== SEASON is an annual conference that explores the multifaceted role of search engines in today’s culture and society. SEASON brings together researchers from different fields and fosters interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration to deepen our understanding of search engines as cultural, societal, and technical artefacts, as well as how they are used in various practices. SEASON 2025 will be held as an in-person conference in Hamburg, Germany, from 24-25 September 2025. Submission for all categories via EasyChair: 30th of April 2025. For the full Call for Contributions, see https://searchenginesandsociety.net<https://searchenginesandsociety.net/> We welcome submissions on topics such as: · Social and cultural aspects of relevance · Epistemic implications of search-engine use · Search engines and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) · Search engines and information disorders (e.g., data voids, disinformation…) · AI and changing patterns of search engine use · Search and search engines and environmental crises (e.g., climate change) · The political economy of search and search engines · Search engine providers’ responsibility and accountability · Search engines as multi-sided platforms · History of web search and web search engines · Search engine bias and fair search · Ethical considerations related to search engines · Affect and emotional aspects of search engine use · Media and Information literacy related to search engines · Search engines and specific groups or communities (children, elderly, …) · Search engines and studies of ignorance and information avoidance · Search engines in everyday life and in social practices · Search engines in educational settings · Alternative approaches to concepts of indexing in search engines · Negotiations of search results (search engine optimization, paid search advertising) · Search engine comparisons (e.g., comparing results tailored to different locations, comparing results from different search engines) · Methods for search engine research · Data collection for search engine studies · Approaches to “opening the Black Box of search engine rankings” We welcome conceptual and empirical submissions from a broad range of disciplinary backgrounds, including the humanities, social sciences, and technical disciplines. We welcome approaches transgressing disciplinary boundaries and submissions from individuals from outside academia. Submissions discussing work in progress are welcome. We also encourage students to submit contributions. ============================ KEYNOTE SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED ============================ Prof. Anne Beaulieu, University of Groningen, The Netherlands: Search engines beyond search: questions for a critical knowledge infrastructure Matthias Spielkamp, AlgorithmWatch, Germany: AlgorithmWatch: Algorithmic Accountability Reporting Revisited ==================== REGISTRATION IS OPEN =================== Register at https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=season2025 ================== SEASON NEWSLETTER ================== Subscribe to the SEASON newsletter at https://searchenginesandsociety.us18.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=3e5f814ba8e... =============================================== ABOUT SEASON, the Search Engines and Society Network =============================================== SEASON, The Search Engines and Society Network, brings together researchers and others interested in the diverse roles of search engines in today’s culture and society. After a series of workshops held across Europe, SEASON was set up in 2024 by a group of researchers from different fields and disciplines. Their goal is to highlight search engines as cultural, societal, and technological artifacts that increasingly effect many aspects of society across more and more domains, including politics, education, the economy, health, and the environment. SEASON serves as a forum promoting dialogue and collaboration across different disciplines and sectors, and a hub for expertise and research-based knowledge on search engines and society. Additionally, SEASON organizes an annual conference on search engines and society. Website: https://searchenginesandsociety.net<https://searchenginesandsociety.net/>