ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

AI & Society Journal

Deadline: June 30, 2025

Since the unprecedented agreement that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) managed to negotiate in relation to the use of generative AI in the workplace in 2023, cultural workers—in sectors such as music, film and television, journalism, social media content creation and gaming have been in the spotlight as one of the main exponents of how workers, individually and collectively, have responded to the development of generative AI around the world. These issues range from questions of workforce replacement and the reshaping of labor processes, working conditions, forms of building collectivities (e.g. unions, associations, cooperatives, guilds) and how cultural workers have understood the meanings and practices of AI (e.g. culturally, discursively and politically).

Themes:

This topical collection of AI & Society (AI&S) focuses on how workers in the cultural sector—understood as actors, writers, musicians, game performers, journalists, content creators, etc.—are engaging with generative AI in the workplace. It aims to analyze, on the one hand, the ways that cultural labor is being reshaped by AI in terms of labor process and cultures of production, and, on other hand, the ways that cultural workers are collectively fighting back against AI, through bargaining, co-operative formation or refusal. We are looking for articles that centre workers and work experience in relation to AI around the world. The collection will include empirically-grounded articles with original arguments covering different geographies and sectors. Topics and themes will include:

• Labor Processes: How generative AI is reshaping labor processes in the cultural sector, both within and beyond the point of production, including the role of social reproduction.
  
• Cultures of Production: How generative AI is reshaping the cultures of production and creative practices in cultural industries.
  
• Working Conditions: Experiences of everyday work with generative AI in the cultural sector around the world, and in different sub-sectors of the cultural industries.
  
• Identities: The ways that social and global hierarchies and intersectional inequalities (e.g. gender, sexuality, race, ability, nationality, class, etc.) embedded in generative AI models intersect with uses, experiences and organizations of power in the cultural industries.
  
• Data Work: The role of AI data work (Miceli & Posada 2022) in cultural industries. Who are the data workers feeding the machine (Muldoon, Graham & Cant 2024) for the cultural sector, and what are the conditions and politics of their labor?
  
• Worker Organizing: The ways that cultural workers are organizing for and against generative AI in the workplace. How are workers bargaining, campaigning, protesting and mobilizing in relation to AI? How do cultural workers intervene in policies through collective action? How do they collectively learn about and come to understand generative AI?
  
• Worker-Led Reappropriations: How cultural workers are reappropriating AI in non-dominant work arrangements, e.g. cooperatives and collectives, in terms of “computing otherwise” (Amrute & Murillo 2020)?
  
• Geographies and Value Chains: The commonalities and differences of cultural workers’ experiences in relation to generative AI. The role of global dependencies in the cultural sector in relation to AI (e.g. a fair agreement for an actor in one country can badly affect voice actors in another country). How to connect the AI value chains in the cultural industries.
  
• Industry Changes: How is generative AI changing cultural sectors at the industry level? What are the impacts of Big Tech’s increasing involvement in cultural production, especially their investments in generative AI? Who are the tech workers behind these projects on generative AI in cultural production? How is the political economy of cultural production transforming due to the introduction of generative AI?
  
• Intimacies: How generative AI is transforming the nature of relationships between cultural producers and their audiences and fans, for example through the introduction of personalized chatbots trained on the data of (micro)celebrities and through the emergence of AI-generated influencers.

Guest Editors:

• Dr Rafael Grohmann, University of Toronto, Canada, rafael.grohmann@utoronto.ca
  
• Dr Daphne Idiz, University of Toronto, Canada, daphne.idiz@utoronto.ca
  
• Dr Zoë Glatt, Microsoft’s Social Media Collective, United States, zoe.glatt@microsoft.com 
  

Contribution Types:

We welcome contributions in the format of research papers (max 10K words) with substantial theoretical, methodological, and empirical interventions. Original papers will be double blind peer-reviewed by two reviewers and the editorial team.

Firstly, send a 500-word abstract to rafael.grohmann@utoronto.ca, outlining a) the main argument; b) the theoretical background; c) methods; d) main findings. If your abstract is accepted, you will be invited to submit the full manuscript.

Important Dates:

• Abstract submission: 30th June 2025
  
• Manuscript submission: 31st October 2025
  
• Notifications: 28th February 2026
  
• Revised papers due: 30th April 2026

Submission:

You can find more information about formatting under the section “Submission guidelines” ​https://www.springer.com/journal/146. 

For inquiries and to submit your abstract, please contact: rafael.grohmann@utoronto.ca  with the subject “AI&S Special issue on Cultural Workers and Generative AI.”

After approval of the abstract please do submit your manuscript via the 'Submit your manuscript' button available on https://www.springer.com/journal/146. 

June 23-27, 2025

Gränna Campus, Jönköping University

Deadline (extended): April 17, 2025

Annette Hill and Joke Hermes

https://ju.se/academicwritersretreat

Writing Retreat Theme: Research Spices

What kinds of savoury and sweet spices do you add to your research practice? This academic writers’ retreat takes the metaphor of spices to explore research craft. 

We consider the seeds, roots, bark and fruits in our writing and analysis. And we reflect on layering of empirical and conceptual thinking, from whole to ground spices, toasted and roasted spices, and subtle and strong fragrances.

The retreat starts with a choice of spices and then we try out, write and reflect on the flavours and fragrances we want to create in our research craft. Each day we spend time in workshops, private writing time, go on walks by the lake and mountainside, and we cook together.

To find out more about registration, fees and the programme go here: https://ju.se/academicwritersretreat

Karlstadt University

The advertised doctoral studentship (fully funded for 4 years) is tied to the research project Beyond Fact-Checking: Detecting Frames and Disinformation in News and Social Media Content with Computational Methods(PI: Dr. Peter Maurer). The project has an interdisciplinary specialisation and will apply advanced methods for digital (computational) text analysis to identify frames  and opinions in political texts. The project also includes a comparative perspective where texts in different languages (English, Swedish, German, etc.) are analysed.  Applicants with a background in Media and communication, journalism, political science as well as computer/data science (or a related discipline) are welcome to apply.

Apply here: https://kau.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:806004/ 

May 14-15, 2025

Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Deadline: April 17, 2025

The Faculty of European Studies – Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, The Centre for African Studies – BBU, The uOttawa-IBM Cyber Range and The University of Johannesburg, have the pleasure of announcing the organization of the 5th edition of the international conference Crisis Communication and Conflict Resolution. Dealing with Uncertainties in the New Global Political Era, which will be held on May 14th-15th, 2025.

In crisis situations, effective communication and conflict resolution strategies are important aspects that cannot be disregarded. In order to address these challenges, this international conference aims to support academics, researchers, PhD and postgraduate students, by offering them an opportunity to present their latest research results in the fields of:

• Crisis and Risk Communication
  
• Conflict Transformation and Resolution
  
• The United Nations and Conflict Resolution
  
• The European Union and Conflict Resolution
  
• Dealing with Ethnic and Religious Conflicts
  
• Political Communication
  
• Institutional and Corporate Communication
  
• Environmental Communication
  
• Mass-media Communication
  
• Cybersecurity in Politics
  
• AI in Crisis Communication
  
• Discourse Analysis
  
• Education and Learning
  

The 2025 edition will be held in a hybrid format, both onsite and online. Accepted papers will be published in a post-conference volume (e-book with ISBN).

Supporting journals: Synergies Roumanie and Studia Europaea UBB

Conference languages: English and French

Venue: Faculty of European Studies (1 Em. de Martonne St., Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

Important deadlines:

• April 17th, 2025 – deadline for title and abstract submission
  
• April 19th, 2025 – notice of acceptance
  
• October 2025 – deadline for paper submission (optional)
  

All paper proposal forms should be submitted to both e-mail addresses below:

delia.flanja@ubbcluj.ro & laura.herta@ubbcluj.ro

Appel à communications – Communication de crise et résolution des conflits

Organizing committee:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Delia Pop-Flanja – BBU

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Laura-Maria Herța – BBU

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adrian-Gabriel Corpădean – BBU

Dr. Iosif-Viorel Onuț – uOttawa-IBM Cyber Range

Prof. Dr. Bhaso Ndzendze – UJ

Prof. Dr. Sergiu Mișcoiu – BBU

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Paula Mureșan – BBU

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elena Grad-Rusu – BBU

Lect. Dr. Roxana-Maria Nistor – BBU

Lect. Dr. Andreea-Bianca Urs – BBU

Lect. Dr. Gianina Joldescu-Stan – BBU

Assist. Dr. Ramona-Alexandra Neagoș – BBU

Platforms & Society (special issue)

Deadline: May 23, 2025

Editors: Rianne Riemens, Donya Alinejad, Judith Keilbach, Anne Helmond (Utrecht University)

Call: https://journals.sagepub.com/page/pns/callforpaper 

Rationale:

Digital technologies, including cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI), are often framed as indispensable allies in the fight against climate change. At the same time, these technologies have an enormous negative environmental impact through their high demands for energy, water, and their reliance on critical raw materials. In recent years, tech companies have increasingly positioned themselves as environmentally responsible actors, working towards decarbonizing their businesses. However, these same companies have reported rising emissions linked to their AI products, still depend on fossil fuels, and continuously expand their infrastructures. Meanwhile, as knowledge brokers, they fail to address climate disinformation circulating on their platforms. Nevertheless, sustainability scholarship has a demonstrated tendency to celebrate platforms as drivers of sustainable societal change (Kuntsman and Rattle 2019; Mouthaan et al., 2022).

We invite contributions that critically engage with the complex and often contradictory relationship between platform companies, the climate crisis, and the pursuit of just, sustainable futures. We seek papers that explore the role of platform companies in the challenge of greening the digital society.

This special issue asks: How does the role of platform companies—ranging from Big Tech firms to AI startups, chip manufacturers, and cloud infrastructure providers—in the climate crisis call for new perspectives on platform power and its environmental impact? How can we analyze the infrastructural, political, and cultural power of the “new conglomerates” (Srnicek, 2024), particularly in their roles as knowledge brokers or energy intermediaries? Can we speak of a “platformization” of the climate crisis (Helmond, 2015), and if so, what does that entail? And how do these changes occur in different geographical contexts or parts of the supply chain?

We invite contributions from a diverse group of authors using a range of methods, working in different regional and institutional contexts, and focusing on a variety of case studies. Possible topics include:

  *   Methods and approaches for studying the environmental impact of digital platforms;

  *   Sustainability and waste across data infrastructures and the stack;

  *   Tech companies and CEOs as environmental actors;

  *   Theorizations of green platform capitalism and “green extractivism”;

  *   Digital platforms and the production, dissemination, and control of climate knowledge;

  *   The political economy of Big Tech and energy provision/distribution (wind, solar, geothermal, nuclear, fossil fuels) across different scales;

  *   Sustainability as a “hype” and platforms’ corporate greenwashing;

  *   Corporate environmentalism of Big Tech versus state politics (e.g. national public–private partnerships, friction in local contexts, lobby practices);

  *   Big Tech and climate justice movements (including local and Global South resistance);

  *   Visions and imaginaries of a green platform society.

Deadlines: Interested authors are invited to submit abstracts (400-500 words excl. references) to r.riemens@uu.nl<mailto:r.riemens@uu.nl> until May 23rd. After acceptance, authors will be asked to discuss first full drafts of papers during a hybrid workshop in January 2026, with official submissions due in March 2026. We aim to publish the special issue in Platforms & Society in winter 2026/2027.

You can find more information here:https://journals.sagepub.com/page/pns/callforpaper 

We look forward to receiving your abstracts.

University of Amsterdam

We are hiring: For the project "Ideology, Emotion Detection AI, & the Propagation of Social Inequality" we are looking for a post-doc (application deadline April 15th). The project examines how AI emotion detection models may perpetuate political ideology by reinforcing gender and ethnic stereotypes. A key concern is that these models are trained on datasets labeled by human annotators, whose political ideology may shape how they categorize emotional expressions—often in ways that align with stereotypes. When AI systems learn from these biased labels, their outputs can further influence human decision-making, unintentionally reinforcing existing inequalities. To investigate these dynamics, the project will hire a post-doc for 12 months, starting this spring.

See the vacancy: https://werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies/postdoc-investigating-human-sources-of-bias-in-ai-face-classification-models-netherlands-13907

Deadline (EXTENDED): May 6, 2025

Editors: Dr. Emma Heywood, Dr. Richard Berry, Prof. Tanja Bosch and Prof. Kim Fox

Publisher: Peter Lang

Overview

This edited volume seeks to explore the evolving landscape of global audio production and use, with a particular focus on moving beyond Western-centric narratives. The book will bring together contributions from academics, practitioners, and organizations to highlight diverse perspectives on the theory and practice of radio, podcasting, and other audio media. It aims to foster a dialogue between practice and theory, engaging voices from the Global North and South and showcasing underrepresented practices, technologies, and cultures.

Call for Contributions

We invite submissions from scholars, practitioners, and organizations to contribute original chapters that reflect on the production, use, and impact of audio media globally. Contributions may explore the intersections of practice and theory, offer case studies, or provide evidence-based insights into audio production in diverse contexts.

Chapters may be theoretical (5,000–6,000 words) or shorter reflections by practitioners or organizations (1,000–3,000 words). Submissions from underrepresented regions, particularly the majority world, are highly encouraged.

Themes and Topics

We welcome proposals on (but not limited to) the following themes:

1. The Universality of Listening:

2. Global Perspectives on Production and Technology:

3. The Producer:

4. The Place:

5. The User:

6. The Purpose:

7. Audio and Podcasts in Global Markets:

Submission Process

Please submit an abstract of 300–500 words along with a brief bio (150 words) detailing your background and expertise. Abstracts should clearly state the chapter’s objectives, methodology, and contribution to the field.

Deadlines

● Abstract Submission Deadline:  Tuesday 6th May 2025 

● Notification of Acceptance:  Friday 23rd May 2025

● Deadline for submission of first draft:  Monday 6th October 2025

● Full Chapter Submission Deadline:  Monday 8th January 2026

Contact Information

Please send your submissions and any inquiries to theglobalaudiobook@gmail.com.

About the Editors

The book is edited by Dr. Emma Heywood, a senior lecturer and researcher at the University of Sheffield with expertise in radio journalism in conflict and humanitarian settings; Dr. Richard Berry, a scholar specialising in radio and podcasting as audio media; Prof Tanja Bosch, National Research Foundation Chair in the Digital Humanities at the University of Cape Town; and Prof Kim Fox who is an award-winning professor of practice in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at The American University in Cairo. 

We look forward to your contributions to this exciting exploration of global audio practices!

International Journal of Games and Social Impact 

Deadline: June 15, 2025

Guest Editors:  Hugo Barata (Lusófona University, CICANT) & Rui Antunes (Lusófona University, CICANT) 

This special issue of The International Journal of Games and Social Impact invites contributions that delve into the role of artistic practices in shaping game experiences and social narratives. In the same way, it aims to contribute to a multidisciplinary dialogue that examines the convergence of art in game design through its theoretical, practical, and methodological dimensions.

Submissions may address (but are not limited to) the following questions:

• In what ways can games be considered a legitimate form of artistic expression?
  
• How can interdisciplinary approaches enhance our understanding of the relationship between Games and Art?
  
• What potential exists for collaboration between artists and game designers to create innovative and socially impactful experiences?
  
• What role do emerging technologies, such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence, play in shaping the future of games as an art form?
  
• How have advancements in technology transformed the horizon of game design and artistic expression?
  
• In what ways can games challenge stereotypes and promote inclusivity?
  
• How do the mechanics of games contribute to their potential as a medium for cultural critique?
  
• How have historical games been influenced by artistic practices?
  

Publication Timeline

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Dates are indicative.

Full Paper Submission Deadline: 15-06-2025

Notification of Acceptance for Full Paper Submissions: 16-10-2025

Publication Date: First semester of 2026

For more information: https://revistas.ulusofona.pt/index.php/ijgsi/announcement/view/231.

The Children, Youth & Media Section of ECREA invites proposals from its members to organize and host the 2025 Mid-Term Conference. We welcome institutions or research groups within the section to submit proposals to host this event. 

Interested members should submit their proposals by May 2nd.

Read more: https://cymecrea.wordpress.com/2025/03/17/call-for-organizers-host-the-mid-term-conference-for-ecreas-children-youth-media-section/

April 15, 2025

Online

The Audience and Reception Studies (ARS) section of the ECREA [European Association of Comunication and Education Research ] and YECREA [ Young Scholars Network of ECREA]; invites everyone to an insightful online discussion about the diverse experience of doing audience and reception studies in diverse contexts.

Reserve a spot in this event for free to receive the link to access the event. You can also get in touch with the organisers mentioned below for more information :

Nivedita Chatterjee (n.chatterjee@surrey.ac.uk )

Paulo Cauraceiro (Paulo.couraceiro@obercom.pt)

Register HERE.