March 19-20, 2026 

Hybrid: Lublin, Poland & Online

Deadline: January 20, 2026

Organizers: Institute of Social Communication and Media Science

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin 

Polish Communication Association, Mediatization Section

This year the keynote speech will be given by Professor Martin Johannes Riedl, representing School of Journalism and Media at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Resuscitated at the deathbed? GenAI as challenge and opportunity for journalism

For more information please visit the conference website: https://www.umcs.pl/en/ms-cfp.htm

Forms of participation: personal and online; languages of the conference: English and Polish; conference site: Institute of Social Communication and Media Science, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Głęboka Street 45.

Accompanying event: Workshop: From data to interpretation: NLP techniques in digital discourse analysis (onsite event).

Important dates:

• Abstract submission: 20 January, 2026 
  
• Abstract acceptance: 30 January, 2026
  
• Conference program announcement – first draft: 6 February, 2026
  

Conference fee for the personal and online participation: PLN 200 (PTKS/Polish Communication Association members: PLN 150; plus 60-100 PLN [for the Workshop participants, depending on their number); 

The conference concept:

Mediatization and Artificial Intelligence: Values, Principles, and Practices of AI-zation?

When observing the constant deepening of the mediatization process, one can ask what comes after mediatization? Is this term still relevant or should we look for an alternative, such as 'AI-zation', to describe and explain the transformations driven by Large Language Models witnessed by people in different fields and sectors of their private and public lives? These questions concern the accelerators, obstacles and disruptors introduced by AI technologies and the kinds of transformations or breakthroughs they bring about when human dependency on media is considered. At the same time, we may feel lost when trying to determine the principles that should organize the media and AI worlds, and the values that they should reflect. In particular, discussions about the AI-related principles and values face us with the problem of obsolescence, need for updates or new rules and ideals, as well as their commonality and applicability in different societal and national contexts.

When asking these questions, we would like to invite media and communication scholars, as well as researchers interested in technology, the humanities, psychology, and other disciplines, to discuss the topics, we believe, will help us to consider the current and future stages of media- and AI-related phenomena wisely and visionary.

The list of expected topics includes, but is not limited to:

• What comes after deep mediatization? Does AI technologies introduce the next phase of mediatization (AI-zation)?
  
• What are the features, principles and consequences of human-machine communication, especially in the current era of LLMs proliferation?
  
• Which values are of paramount importance and should be preserved first in human-machine communication?
  
• Are generative AI tools merely intermediaries in media communication, or are they the authors, creators and broadcasters of messages? To what extent can they be perceived as having agency and/or subjectivity?
  
• Given the vast application of generative AI tools, can we trust media materials, including journalistic content, in terms of their veracity and factuality?
  
• What can technological approach to mediatization teach us about human-machine communication? Is AI technology similar to any other invention, e.g. the internet, or is it a game changer unlike anything we have ever seen before?
  
• What role do machine participants play in the meaning-making process, and who or what do they represent? The European and national laws and regulations on AI (e.g. AI Act 2025) and the ethics of human-machine communication?
  
• Originality and creativity in media production in the face of generative AI application. Affective artificial communication (e.g. AI-driven emotion recognition, relationships and intimacy in the age of AI, technological forms of empathy, affective computing).
  

Accompanying event: Workshop: From data to interpretation: NLP techniques in digital discourse analysis (onsite event): Kamil Filipek, Michał Błaszczykowski, Center for Artificial Intelligence and Computational Modeling.

The aim of the training is to familiarise social communication researchers with modern natural language processing methods used to analyse texts obtained from digital platforms. Participants will learn how to prepare data, select appropriate analytical techniques (e.g. embedding models, classification, topic analysis) and interpret results in the context of discourse theory. The training also aims to develop competencies that allow for critical assessment of both the potential and limitations of NLP methods in communication research.

On behalf of Scientific and Organizational Committee

Ewa Nowak-Teter, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

Karolina Burno-Kaliszuk, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

Dr hab. Ewa Nowak-Teter, prof. UMCS