ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences

We are seeking two post-doctoral researchers to conduct ethnographic studies of game production for the ERC grant GAMEINDEX: Politics and aesthetics of indexical representation in digital games and VR. The project is headed by Dr. Jaroslav Švelch and located at Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, within the Prague Game Production Studies research group. The starting date is in 2026 and the duration of the position is 2 years, with the possibility of extension to 3 years.

The deadline for applications is 30 September 2025.

Project focus:

GAMEINDEX focuses on indexical representation in games – both as traces of real-life objects or people in the simulated worlds of digital games and VR, and as references to physical locations. Besides games themselves, we are interested in analyzing indexical techniques such as motion capture, 3D scanning, voiceover recording, and others. The post-doctoral researchers will primarily contribute to the work package that analyzes the use of indexical techniques within the production practices of video games and/or VR, and explores the transformation of real-life objects and people into in-game assets. The GAMEINDEX project presupposes that material will be collected in game/VR production studios using ethnographic methods (studio ethnographies, participants observation, interviews). Within the scope of the GAMEINDEX project, described here, the applicant is free to come up with their own research project with more specific research questions.

Required qualifications:

• A completed Ph.D. degree or a document from home university confirming that Ph.D. will be awarded by the starting date of contract
  
• Documented experience in social scientific or humanistic research of digital games or other media
  

Recommended qualifications:

• Experience with studio ethnographies or other ethnographic methods of researching game or media production
  
• A Ph.D. from fields such as media studies, film studies, anthropology, or sociology
  
• A solid record of publishing academic research in the English language
  
• Knowledge of contemporary game production and familiarity with indexical techniques (technical experience with them is welcome but not required)
  

Required materials:

• An academic CV and a list of published works
  
• Two references from within academia (include name, title, institution, email address, and phone number); an additional reference from the game industry may be provided if applicable. No letters needed.
  
• A copy of a Ph.D. certificate or an official record of planned/completed defence
  
• Research project – a 2,000 word description of your intended project, which should fit the aims and scope of GAMEINDEX but may reflect the applicant’s personal research interests and previous experience. The project should include: a theoretical background and positioning, research questions, methodology, a list potential case studies, risk analysis, and a rough work plan for the 2 years (Gantt chart not needed).
  
• Two samples of academic writing – ideally from published articles, dissertation, or conference papers
  

Practical arrangements:

The incoming applications will be screened by the GAMEINDEX team and suitable candidates will be invited for an online or in-person interview. Successful applicants are expected to relocate to Prague and are eligible for a relocation fee from the project budget.

Successful applicants will become full-time employees of Charles University, with benefits and a competitive salary commensurable with experience (details provided upon request).

Once employed, the researcher can be granted funding from GAMEINDEX to cover costs of fieldwork and conference travel.

Submissions:

Applicants may submit their applications by September 30, 2025, via e-mail to:

kariera@fsv.cuni.cz, with the subject: “Postdoc ERC GAMEINDEX”. Applicants may approach the PI Jaroslav Švelch at jaroslav.svelch@fsv.cuni.cz to ask questions about GAMEINDEX and the postdoc positions.

By responding to this advertisement, you consent to the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, located at Smetanovo nábřeží 6, Prague 1, Postal Code 110 01, processing your personal data for the purposes of the selection procedure. The processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and Act No. 110/2019 Coll., on the Processing of Personal Data.

IAMCR

Lead a global network advancing media and communication research. IAMCR, with 3,500+ members in 85 countries, seeks a full-time, remote Executive Director to run a small virtual secretariat, support specialised thematic groups, drive membership growth and funding, and help shape our flagship annual conference. The role suits a highly organised, self-directed leader experienced with professional/academic associations; fundraising skills are an asset. Limited travel (2 trips/year). English required; French/Spanish/Mandarin an asset. Start as early as January 2026. Salary commensurate with experience.

Apply by 17 October 2025 with: CV, cover letter, references (with contact details), and a brief vision statement. Interviews in November.

Full announcement & how to apply: https://iamcr.org/vacancy-ed

November 22, 2025

Online

Deadline: September 30, 2025

Dear colleagues,

From algorithmic cultures to participatory trends, from narrative futures to inclusive innovation – RE: TREND – Culture in Motion is calling for your contribution. 

We want to invite you to submit a communication proposal to the III Trends and Culture Management Colloquium, hosted by ICNOVA/iNOVA Media Lab in collaboration with CEAUL/Trends and Culture Management Lab.

This edition focuses on digital transformations and cultural practices in motion, encouraging critical and creative reflection on the signals of change shaping today’s culture. We particularly welcome submissions from students and early-career researchers. Participation is free of charge.

We invite abstracts (250–300 words) for 10-minute online presentations in Portuguese or English, addressing one or more of the following themes (but not limited to):

• Living Intelligence & Algorithmic Cultures

• Culture in Beta: Labs, Prototypes and Experiments

• Trendspotting, Semiotics and Brand Strategies

• Narrative Futures and Sociocultural Anticipation

• Datafied Culture and Inclusive Innovation

• Fandoms, Microcultures and Participatory Trends

• AI and Trend Research

• Communication, New Media and Trends

Date: Saturday, 22 November 2025

Format: Online

Keynote speaker to be announced soon

Submit your abstract: https://bit.ly/trendscolloquium

Deadline for submissions: 30 September 2025

We look forward to your contribution.

For more details, please visit: https://trendsandculture.fcsh.unl.pt

Best regards,

Ana Marta M. Flores & Organising Committee

April 9-10, 2026

Copenhagen, Denmark

Deadline: December 1, 2025

The research projects Algorithms, Data & Democracy (the ADD-project) and Strategic Communication and Artificial Intelligence (SCAI) are pleased to announce the Controversies of AI society conference to be held at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, on 9-10 April 2026. We invite contributions across disciplines and hope to see you there.

With the accelerated implementation of algorithmic technologies, now broadly referred to as ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI), across all dimensions of society, it is imperative to consider how technological and societal developments shape each other: What social formations do AI systems invite? How do emerging uses of AI inform further developments across public, private, and third sectors? What social changes emerge out of these new technologies, and how are social dynamics embedded within their infrastructures? How do business models and consumption patterns enable some technological developments (and not others), and what relations of production and consumption are pushed by AI technologies? Can legal frameworks and political agendas influence the operations of the tech industry, and what are the alternatives to established actors, organizational forms, and ways of working? Can such alternatives influence technological developments, and how are public perceptions and collective actions informed by the material conditions of technological innovation, from venture capital through computing power to data centers? How, in short, might we understand the current constellation(s) of technocapitalism? 

To inquire into these issues, and the many that follow from them, please join us for an interdisciplinary conference on the controversies of AI society.

As no one perspective can fully capture the complex interplay between technology (in its various forms) and society (in its various forms), we invite participants to address this broad agenda from within, from outside, and from the intersections of relevant disciplines across the social sciences, humanities, and technical sciences. That is, investigations of the relationships and tensions that constitute AI society, such as, but not limited to:

• Civil society and democratic concerns
  
• Corporate strategies and business models
  
• Data, data sciences, and data practices in society
  
• Digital platforms and algorithmic publics
  
• Educational systems and approaches to learning
  
• Environmental sustainability and planetary crisis
  
• Ethics, (in)equality, and sovereignty in AI society
  
• Political imaginaries and forms of governance
  
• Public administration and state-citizen interactions
  
• Technological innovations and industry developments
  

Current trends and tendencies may be many things – consensual, collaborative, contentious, or even contradictory – but no matter how we see them, or what powers support them, they all help us see a little bit further. They may never fully line up, they may be messy, but this messiness is integral to how they exist in the world. For instance, some might argue that regulation stands in the way of innovation or that the interests of industry actors are always already misaligned with those of civil society. Others might claim that the interests of industry and democracy can be aligned only through policy, and that we need regulation to curb the excesses of unfettered competition. Yet others might claim that real technological innovation grows from grassroots communities, which need to be be politically and economically supported. Three competing narratives that contribute to the discussion, playing their part – along with multiple others – in narrating the messy whole of AI society, controversies and all.

In sum, we see the developments of what might be termed ‘AI society’ as by their very nature debatable and suggest such debates benefit from interdisciplinary perspectives. Consequently, we particularly welcome interdisciplinary contributions, but we also invite participants to shed light on ongoing practical and theoretical controversies from within specific disciplines – and from outside them. We wish for the conference to be an inclusive space for lively and robust debate, not only welcoming controversies but celebrating them.

We accept two forms of contributions: abstract-based presentations and full papers. Please, submit your abstract of no more than 500 words OR your paper of maximum 8000 words (including references) by 1 December 2025. We welcome both technical papers and position papers as well as conceptual, empirical, and methodological contributions. Author guidelines will be posted on this website shortly.

All submissions will undergo peer review, and a decision will be communicated by mid-January. Abstracts will be assessed on an accept/reject basis. Authors of full papers will receive reviewer comments, and those who are invited to participate, will be offered the chance of revising their manuscript towards publication in the conference proceedings. The proceedings be published through AAU OPEN.

Important dates:

• 1 November: Submission platform opens
  
• 1 December: Submission deadline (abstracts and papers)
  
• 19 January: Decisions (and reviews of full papers) sent to authors
  
• 9 March: Revised papers (for publication in the conference proceedings) due in camera ready format (guidelines on formatting to follow)
  
• 9-10 April: Conference

Read more here.

November 11-14, 2025

Lusófona University, Portugal

Deadline: September 26, 2025

The Media Literacy and Civic Cultures Lab – MeLCi Lab (Lusófona University, CICANT) is organising its V Autumn School from 11 to 14 November 2025 in the form of a bootcamp to boost research hands-on skills. 

The MeLCi Lab Autumn School invites applications from PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scholars for a four-day intensive online program focused on innovative research methods at the intersection of AI, Communication, and Media Studies.

The School combines practical workshops and keynote lectures, allowing participants to develop hands-on skills with classical and AI-driven methodologies.

In 2025, the school’s AI tracks are specifically designed to meet the needs of media studies and PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, and early-career scholars. Participants will explore case studies and practical examples directly relevant to media analysis, digital journalism, and content curation. The sessions will address unique challenges in media-related research, such as bias in content classification, audience segmentation, and the interpretative complexity of multimedia annotation. Interactive workshops and tailored exercises will enable participants to apply AI tools to media-specific datasets, ensuring immediate applicability and facilitating deeper understanding through experiential learning.

In this sense, contributions for the following tracks (not exclusively) will be considered.

Track 1: AI in Research Practice: Foundations, Methods, and Ethics

1. Foundations of current AI tools → Recent natural language processing (NLP) breakthroughs, particularly through large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini, have significantly transformed research methodologies across disciplines. The unprecedented accessibility and effectiveness of zero- and few-shot prompting techniques have led to widespread adoption, sometimes even replacing traditional human coders (Gilardi et al., 2023; Grossmann et al., 2023; Ziems et al., 2024). Yet, these powerful tools introduce critical concerns regarding reproducibility, transparency, and ethical use. Prompt stability and variability in LLM responses—affected by minor prompt adjustments—can challenge the replicability and accountability of research (Barrie et al., 2025). This subtrack equips researchers in communication science with essential knowledge of the theoretical foundations of contemporary AI tools, highlighting methodologies and best practices for their ethical and accountable use.

2. Accountable Literature Search Using AI Tools → AI-powered tools such as SciSpace and Litmaps have radically improved the efficiency and comprehensiveness of literature searches. However, the convenience of these tools requires heightened researchers’ accountability. This subtrack guides participants through strategies to validate AI-generated results, critically assess literature coverage, and maintain transparent documentation practices, ensuring methodological rigour and reliability in AI-assisted literature reviews.

3. AI-Assisted Data Annotation in Research Pipelines → Data annotation is a cornerstone in research pipelines, traditionally relying heavily on human coders. However, AI-based annotation tools are emerging as viable and highly effective alternatives, particularly for large datasets. Barrie et al. (2025) highlight that prompt stability—the consistency of AI-generated annotations across multiple semantically similar prompts—remains a significant challenge. This subtrack introduces participants to AI-driven annotation, focusing on practical approaches to enhancing annotation consistency through frameworks like Prompt Stability Scoring (PSS). Participants will gain hands-on experience in assessing and improving the reliability of AI annotations, integrating responsible AI practices into their research workflows.

Track 2: Communication, Audiences, and Civic Cultures in the Age of AI

1. Civic Cultures and Artificial Intelligence → AI can play a crucial role in how citizens engage with the digital world in contemporary times, and a set of opportunities and challenges emerge from it (Sarafis et al., 2025). This subtrack explores the impact of AI-driven platforms and recommendation algorithms on civic engagement, activism, and media literacy.

2. Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy in an AI-Mediated World → Leveraging AI and overcoming its challenges requires the development of broad and critical skill sets, the definition of which is still fuzzy (Chiu et al., 2024). This subtrack intends to explore critical media literacy skills in the era of misinformation, deepfakes, and algorithmic personalisation.

3. Data Ethics, Equity, and Inclusivity in AI Research → Different biases can emerge from the use of AIs, and the ethical implications of using different tools for knowledge production are still unclear. While AI is frequently represented as either a magical solution or a looming threat, our Autumn School aims to demystify AI, exploring its realistic capabilities, limitations, and responsible use (Ferrara, 2024; Ntoutsi et al., 2020). This subtrack will focus on responsible research practices, equity grants, and inclusive research design for underrepresented communities.

Participants do not require previous experience with AI or data science, as introductory modules will provide a foundational understanding.

The Autumn School will be conducted online and in English.

For inquiries, please contact: melci.lab@ulusofona.pt

Call for proposals deadline

Deadline: 26th September  2025

Notification of Acceptance: 13th October 2025

Registration: 27th October

See details about how to submit a proposal at the bottom of this page.

Format

Online

Dates

11 to 14 November 2025 – V MeLCi Lab Autumn School

TIME (Lisbon time zone)

V MeLCi Lab Autumn School Schedule

Check the website for details. 

How to apply 

Interested participants must send their application (in English) by 26 September 2025, including:

• Updated Curriculum Vitae (máx. 3 pages); 
  
• Candidate’s research statement that includes a description of their doctoral dissertation, research questions and methods (máx. 2 pages);
  
• Motivation letter describing your current perspective on AI, specific concerns or interests regarding AI’s role in media practices, and your preferred track/subtrack(s) máx. 1-2 pages;

Please send your application as a ZIP file to melci.lab@ulusofona.pt with the subject “Application for the V MeLCi Lab Autumn School”.

Target-group

PhD Students

Early Career Researchers (with a PhD obtained in the last five years)

Fee *

Lusófona University, CICANT PhD Students 70 euros

PhD students from other Institutions 100 euros

Others 150 euros

*The best participant will not pay the fee

Keynote Speakers

Joana Gonçalves Sá, Researcher at LIP – Laboratory of Particle Physics and at NOVA-LINCS

Massimo Ragnedda, Associate Professor/Reader in Media and Communication Studies at both Sharjah University (UAE) and Northumbria University, Newcastle (UK)

Mustafa Can Gursesli, Postdoctoral Researcher, Gamification Group, Tampere University

Saul Albert, Lecturer in Social Science (Social Psychology) in Communication and Media at Loughborough University

Simone Natale, Associate Professor in Media Theory and History, University of Turin

Tutors

Carla Cerqueira – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Carla Sousa – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Fábio Ribeiro – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Lúcia Mesquita – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Pedro Costa – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Rita Grácio – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Sofia Caldeira – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Sónia Lamy – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Teresa Sofia Castro – Profile | Ciência Vitae | ORCID

Vanessa Rodrigues – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Organisers

Bruno Saraiva – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Carla Sousa – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Lúcia Mesquita – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Manuel Marques-Pita – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Maria José Brites – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

Zuil Pirola – Profile | CienciaVitae | ORCID

The International Journal of Communication (SPECIAL SECTION)

Deadline: December 1, 2025

Few technological developments spark more debate today than artificial intelligence. From promises of human advancement to fears of existential risk, AI generates a multitude of visions, conflicts, and societal debates. This “imaginative landscape of AI” goes beyond technical issues, encompassing political struggles, social movements, and ideas about the future of communication and society.

The International Journal of Communication is launching a Special Section on The Imaginative Landscape of AI: Visions, Positions, Conflicts. The editors of this Special Section, Andreas Hepp and Nathan Schneider, invite submissions that empirically explore emerging imaginaries, ideological positions, and conflicts surrounding AI.

Key deadlines:

• Abstracts (500 words) due December 1, 2025
  
• Notification of acceptance by January 1, 2026
  
• Full manuscripts due May 1, 2026
  
• Publication in spring 2027

More information and the submission form can be found here:

View the Call for Papers (PDF):https://comai.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/CfP-Imaginative-Landscape-of-AI.pdf

Link to the submission form: https://nc.uni-bremen.de/index.php/apps/forms/s/ctFFdYg5X3XKpeBBjoEQSMGm

Special issue/edited volume

Deadline: November 17, 2025

When does the experience of watching a film truly begin? Could it start long before the movie theatre or the living room, but on a backstreet, a remote field, or a historical site where a local film shoot is taking place? These questions invite us to rethink spectatorship not as something that only happens in front of a screen, but as a lived, spatial, and participatory experience embedded in the making of the movies.

Set-going is a novel concept referring to the practice of visiting filming locations during the principal photography of a movie. This practice opens a rich and overlooked field of interaction between audiences and production cultures. Set-going is not merely a variant of fan studies or media tourism; it is a socially embedded experience transforming how spectatorship, spatial belonging, and film culture are understood. Unlike film tourism or film-induced tourism, which typically involves visits to sound stage studios or iconic shooting locations after a film gains popularity, set-going centres on the live presence of non-professionals during the filmmaking process itself, making it an immediate, participatory, and temporally bound engagement with cinema (Şavk et al., 2025). 

Rooted in the New Cinema History (NCH) paradigm—which emphasises the social and cultural dimensions of cinema through research on audiences, exhibition practices, and the lived experience of film consumption—set-going extends this approach upstream into the production phase. NCH has redirected attention from film texts to the contexts in which films are distributed and viewed, as seen in studies of cinema-going habits, neighbourhood theatres, and audience memories (see Maltby, Biltereyst & Meers, 2011). Rather than focusing solely on how films are consumed, set-going shows that spectatorship begins before exhibition and is co-produced through on-site encounters among publics, places, and industry labour. Set-going thus offers a fresh perspective on how cinematic meaning and participation are shaped not only in the theatre but also on the set.

This perspective resonates with and seeks to extend several key strands of media and cinema scholarship. Studies of production cultures have shown how the backstage dynamics of filmmaking reveal broader industrial reflexivities and critical practices (Caldwell, 2008), while research in spatial media theory has foregrounded the significance of place in the experience and negotiation of media (Jansson & Falkheimer, 2006; Reijnders, 2011). The concept of set-going also builds on work in audience memory and cultural geography that emphasises spectatorship as an embodied, affective, and place-bound activity (Kuhn, 2002). At the same time, it offers a necessary counterpoint to discussions of fan cultures and participatory media (Jenkins, Ford & Green, 2013; Hills, 2002) by focusing on forms of engagement that may be informal, improvised, or locally rooted rather than networked and transnational. By bridging these bodies of work, set-going enables a rethinking of how film cultures are lived, co-produced, and remembered across time and space.

Certain commonalities emerge across film industries and countries where set-going has developed as a component of cinema culture. Foremost among these is the practice of shooting on real locations rather than exclusively in sound stage studios. The partial or complete use of real settings is a key factor enabling local residents to become set-goers. Secondly, these cinema cultures tend to emphasise locality, making set-going a critical practice through which audiences engage with films at a community or regional level. When local identity holds significant cultural and economic value within a film culture, set-going gradually shifts from being tolerated to being a desired phenomenon. Thirdly, cinemas where set-going is prevalent often operate under lower-budget and more pragmatic production modes, rather than adhering strictly to high-end industrial standards. On-location shooting environments typically do not allow for, nor enforce, absolute control, thus making it difficult to prevent the presence of set-goers.  

We invite proposals that explore the concept of set-going across different cinematic traditions, historical periods, and geographic contexts. Submissions from scholars working in areas such as cinema history, fan studies, film tourism, production cultures, media studies, urban history, and cultural geography are especially encouraged.

We welcome abstracts on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

• Historical and contemporary case studies of set-going in various national and regional cinema contexts;
  
• Theoretical engagements with set-going as a form of audience-making, participatory spectatorship, or informal labour;
  
• Explorations of how set-going intersects with class, gender, place, memory, and the politics of access;
  
• Theoretical and cultural connections between set-going, fan studies and film tourism;
  
• Archival or oral history sources that offer insight into everyday interactions at film sets;
  
• Set-going practices in the context of TV productions and platform series;
  
• Set-going as an area of encounter and conflict between film professionals, the public and local authorities;
  
• Transnational comparisons of production visibility and on-location shooting within the context of set-going practices;
  
• Strategic use of set-going activities as part of marketing and publicity. 

Please send your abstracts of 300-500 words along with short bios (max. 100 words for each author) to serkan.savk@ieu.edu.tr  no later than November 17, 2025. These abstracts do not need to follow a rigid format, but are encouraged to include:

• A short and precise description of your proposed subject;
  
• Relevant methodological tools and resources are required for examining the subject;
  
• Current state of the proposed research: Have you already begun working on this topic, or is it something you relate to after reading the call but have not yet started? (This information will not prejudice the evaluation of your abstract);
  
• Tentative research plan (where necessary);
  
• 2-3 key references. 

Based on the number and content of proposals, this publication project will take the form of either a special issue of a reputable journal indexed by Scopus and/or Web of Science or an edited volume by a recognised academic or university publisher. Word count and citation format of the final manuscripts will be decided accordingly. Accepted papers will go through the peer-review process required by the journal/publisher. Please note that editorial acceptance does not guarantee publication. 

Timeline

• Abstract submission:  November 17, 2025
  
• Notification of acceptance:  December 22, 2025
  
• Full paper submission:   July 6, 2026 (peer-review process starts)
  

Scholars who are interested in rethinking where and how cinema is experienced and how such encounters might be written into the broader story of film culture are warmly encouraged to respond. No payment from the autors will be required for this publication. 

Editors

• Serkan Şavk
  

Gulf University for Science and Technology

Izmir University of Economics

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Serkan-Savk 

• Aydın Çam
  

Çukurova University

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aydin-Cam

Works cited

Caldwell, J. T. (2008). Production culture: Industrial reflexivity and critical practice in film and television. Duke University Press.

Hills, M. (2002). Fan cultures. Routledge.

Jansson, A., & Falkheimer, J. (Eds.). (2006). Geographies of communication: The spatial turn in media studies. Nordicom.

Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013). Spreadable media: Creating value and meaning in a networked culture. NYU Press.

Kuhn, A. (2002). An everyday magic: Cinema and cultural memory. I.B. Tauris.

Maltby, R., Biltereyst, D., & Meers, P. (Eds.). (2011). Explorations in new cinema history: Approaches and case studies. Wiley-Blackwell. 

Reijnders, S. (2011). Places of the imagination: Media, tourism, culture. Ashgate.

Şavk, S., Çam, A., & Şanlıer, İ. (2025). Set-going chronicles: Rethinking Turkish cinema through the lens of new cinema history. Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, 64(2), 126–147. 

December 10, 2025

MediaCity, University of Salford, Manchester, UK

Deadline: September 28, 2025

Conference Convenors

• Pete Deakin
  
• Rania Kosmidou

Keynote Speaker: Professor Kirsty Fairclough, School of Digital Arts (SODA), MMU 

Call for papers

In the 1970s Anglo-American feminist scholars in a variety of disciplines began to explore the problematic representations of women in Hollywood cinema, issues and concerns over female spectatorship, as well as the history of women’s cinema in Hollywood and beyond. Two seminal works Marjorie Rosen’s 1973 Popcorn Venus: Women, Movies and the American Dream, and Molly Haskell’s 1974 From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies, pointed to stereotypical portrayals of women mostly in Hollywood films. The conclusions were epitomised by Molly Haskell when she said, “You’ve come a long way baby … and it’s all been downhill.” Meanwhile in Britain several female scholars developed ideas grounded in psychoanalysis, semiotics and Marxist ideology. Claire Johnston (1973) discussed how cinema can construct a particular view of reality and stereotypical images of women from a semiotic point of view and proposed instead a counter cinema; Laura Mulvey (1975) used psychoanalysis to show how the female character in classical Hollywood cinema is made passive and powerless, is there to-be-looked-at, and proclaimed that there is no place for a female spectator in classical narrative cinema (ideas that she revisited later on). Others were not so pessimistic. Miriam Hansen (1986) demonstrated how the male character on screen can also be the object of desire for a female spectator; Johnston (1975) introduced the concept of masquerade in relation to female spectatorship, a notion explored further by Mary Ann Doane (1982/1991) who discussed masquerade not as cross-dressing, but as a mask of femininity among others. Such accounts raised questions about female spectatorship and the male gaze. They also questioned the female gaze and the male body. 

By end of the millennium, for cultural commentators like Susan Faludi (1999), it was curiously Western masculinity that had apparently reached an apocalyptic state. Its traditional markers – strength, a breadwinner status, social dominance, emotional self-efficacy and regulation – had been pathologised. In the wake of this sociocultural evolution, old jobs were lost; so-called masculine spaces once filled with miners, dockers and engineers were left barren or converted to penthouse homes and middle-management sites for the newly saturating white collar (so went the rhetoric), while the modern western male was increasingly under pressure to conform to commercial cultures of style, celebrity, and consumption. Ros Coward (1999) asked: when looking back on the achievements of feminism, “Is it now holding us back?” Is it demonising men and denying them the right to understanding and equality in a world that is perhaps far harsher for them than ever before? 

Many years later, and in wake of the #MeToo Movement and the current sociopolitical climate that has seen Andrew Tate’s brand of hypermasculinity, misogyny and anti-feminism poll favourably in and beyond the ‘manosphere’, we believe there is an urgent need to re-examine gender in contemporary cinema. From researchers and scholars, from outreach initiatives to practice-based research among others, we welcome a diversity of approaches from a broad variety of perspectives on how film is grappling with contemporary portraits of gender in cinema in and beyond Hollywood.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• The status of cinematic masculinity nowadays
  
• The status of cinematic femininity nowadays
  
• Challenging male or female dominance on screen
  
• The female spectator then and now
  
• The female gaze then and now
  
• The male gaze then and now
  
• The male spectator then and now
  
• The more recent appropriation of cinematic texts into the “manosphere” (by individuals such as Andrew Tate) and/or far- and alt-right communities
  
• Gender equality in contemporary cinema
  
• Gender in cinema and identity formation
  
• Gender bending in cinema
  
• Impact of gender stereotypes on screen
  
• The evolution of gender and sexual diversity in cinema
  
• Toxic masculinity as a cinematic theme
  
• Gender and empowerment on screen
  
• Gender and social change on screen
  
• Women’s and/or men’s weaknesses on screen
  
• Women’s and/or men’s strengths on screen
  
• The role of women filmmakers in shaping cinematic discourse
  
• The role of men filmmakers in shaping cinematic discourse

Please submit abstracts for individual papers (max 250 words) with presentation title, up to 5 key words, your full name, affiliation, 50 word biography, and email address to conferencesalford@gmail.com

Submission deadline: 28 September 2025. 

Notification of acceptance of papers: 5 October 2025.

We support the presentation of practice-as-research, with papers and screenings. We also welcome abstracts from early career and postgraduate researchers.

All or a selection of papers will be considered for publication.

No Registration Fee.

November 5th, 2025 at 8pm (CET) - 3pm (Buenos Aires) - 2pm (Ottawa) - 11am (Vancouver)

Online

Registration: https://forms.gle/ux8RFWQvYg6J9PV7A 

With this call, we invite practitioners, academics, and activists who work from and alongside Indigenous communities on digital media, most broadly conceived, to join us for an online workshop to share ideas, insights, and challenges with one another. We are non-Indigenous academics working alongside Quechua and Inuit communities in Argentina and Canada. It is our intention to create a space for forming reciprocal relationships across projects and locations. We would like to bring together people from diverse backgrounds to discuss shared concerns and interests in this field, join our forces, and raise awareness of each others’ work, positions, experiences, and uncertainties.

We believe that the concerns and practices of Indigenous peoples are not well represented in current discussions about the politics of digitization, although these standpoints are needed to understand its role in how people relate to each other and the world. While big tech fastens its grip on more and more areas of everyday life, and “data colonialism” (Mejias and Couldry 2024) and a push toward extractive AI technologies seems to be the sign of the times, this development is arguably not a new experience for many Indigenous peoples around the world who have been dealing with similar corporate colonialist strategies for centuries. Galloway (2012) argues that computers are “ethical machines” that make certain ideologies of objectification, individualization, calculability, and compartmentalization the very basis of everyday economic, social, and political processes. At the same time, Indigenous actors are at the forefront pushing for sovereignty over data and infrastructure to contend with extractivism that encroaches upon both data and land. In this situation, how are these multi-layered digital logics understood by Indigenous actors? How do they engage with digital technologies in the face of their colonizing tendencies? And how do Indigenous peoples leverage them to pursue their own cultural, economic, and political priorities?

In this workshop, we aim to create a space for collective reflection rather than privileging formal presentations. To that end, we are organizing an online meeting structured in two parts. In the first part, participants are invited to select an image as a starting point for a brief (10-minute) story related to their research, experiences, and/or concerns on the topic. This initial segment is intended to set the tone for the encounter and help identify shared issues. In the second part, we will revisit the questions that emerged, engaging in a collective discussion to exchange perspectives, articulate challenges, offer advice, and develop ideas collaboratively. The goal is to establish a set of common concerns that can serve as a basis for further work.

If you are interested in participating, please submit a short (e.g. 300 words) description of your intended story/presentation, a short biography, and a brief description of the themes and questions you would like to discuss with others (if any) before October 5th through this form: https://forms.gle/ux8RFWQvYg6J9PV7A 

We are inviting anyone who would like to be in conversation about themes surrounding Indigenous communities and digital media, including:

• Everyday realities and challenges of digital media in Indigenous communities
  
• Indigenous governance of media infrastructures
  
• Indigenous media-making practices
  
• Land relations and digital media
  
• Digital media in the context of Indigenous media histories
  
• Indigenous and tech temporalities
  
• Online sociality in Indigenous communities
  
• Arts, crafts, and culture in digital spaces
  
• Colonial tendencies of digital technologies in Indigenous communities
  
• Digital media and self-determination/sovereignty
  
• Indigenous online activism
  
• Digital media and Indigenous well-being
  
• Digital sovereignty and infrastructures

Organizers:

Jonathan Spellerberg - University of Groningen j.spellerberg@rug.nl  

Martina Di Tullio - University of Buenos Aires ditulliomartina@gmail.com

December 5-6, 2025

Porto, Portugal

https://videojogos2025.ipmaia.pt/

The call for full papers, short papers, posters, doctoral consortium papers, and games is now open for the 15th International Conference on Videogame Sciences and Arts (Videojogos 2025), organised by IPMaia (Porto) and Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências dos Videojogos.

All selected papers (short or full) must be submitted in English to be eligible for international publication. The top 40% of research papers—peer-reviewed and evaluated for originality, relevance, and presentation quality—will be published in the annual Springer proceedings volume (Communications in Computer and Information Science – CCIS series).

The conference will be held on the 5th and 6th of  December (2025) in Porto, and more information about keynotes and programme will be available soon.