ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

December 10-12, 2026

University of Perugia & University for Foreigners of Perugia, Italy

Deadline: September 16, 2026

https://www.compol.it/eventi/convegno/convegno-2026/

In recent years, the social sciences have explored the process of fragmentation of the cultural field and of public discourse, associated with polarization, distrust in institutions, and with the crisis of mediating functions, including those of parties and journalism. However, it seems that contemporary society, facing the contradictions and uncertainties of the global context, is looking for pathways of renewed belonging defined by political-cultural and affective affinities. Such tendency may be helped by the sharing practices in the hybrid media environments. Rather than as elements of disintegration, such processes can be investigated as new forms of belonging, capable of producing recognition, connection, and coordination, and therefore as processes of re-aggregation.

This perspective does not exclude dynamics of conflict or perceived incompatibility. Values and interpretations are redefined through new criteria of legitimation to express strategies of reaction to contemporary complexity or resilience in response to global crises.

Within this tendency, a relevant process seems to be shaped by a shift toward pre-political ideas, practices, and experiences rooted in everyday life, lifestyles, local contexts, and cultural consumption. This implies a personalization of social participation, often assuming a collective dimension. The perception of community ties is increasingly important, so that identities and sub-cultures acquire higher relevance. These forms of belonging redefine the way influence and leadership are enacted and become able to aggregate meanings, exploiting the multiple possibilities offered by social and media arenas, also linking different contexts and environments.

Such processes call for a closer examination of language, understood not simply as word or image, but as a more general device for identity construction, legitimation, and agency. Languages are practiced as markers of belonging and shared feelings, and as resources for defining group boundaries. The search for a common ground appears capable of producing or revitalizing various types of community which, in addition to internal cohesion, are oriented toward participation in the public sphere. They can be seen as nodes in socio-cultural networks whose cohesion is played out within the interaction between social territories and media environments, including the digital platforms and artificial intelligence systems, which help shape visibility, social relationships, access to content, and may foster processes of symbolic aggregation.

The conference therefore welcomes theoretical and empirical contributions on the following themes:

-          Transformations in political cultures and in party organizations.

-          The role of values in political cultures and political communication.

-          Pre-political dimensions of citizenship, agency, and participation.

-          The affective dimension of political cultures and political communication.

-          Changes in political and government communication strategies, election campaigns, and voting in national and international contexts.

-          Emerging political subcultures.

-          Symbolic content and communicative forms of online communities.

-          Journalists and journalism as aggregators of communities.

-          Forms and actors of an alternative news ecosystem.

-          Readership, news use, and forms of community around informational content.

-          Disinformation, polarization, and incivility in contemporary forms of political and cultural belonging.

-          Redefinition of the public agenda in the European space.

-          Methodological proposals, approaches and techniques for the analysis of the cultural transformation.

-          Strategies and experiences of connection among movements and subcultural entities.

-          Innovative and/or alternative experiences of political-cultural and volunteer associations.

-          Local movements, unconventional movements and association networks.

-          Local belonging as political cultures.

-          Cultural consumption and art experiences as forms of civic engagement.

-          The technological infrastructure of political participation.

-          Platforms and social media as environments of political empowerment and civic engagement.

-          Social understanding of technology, of the opportunities and risks linked to artificial intelligence.

Paper proposals must include:

• Title
  
• Author(s), including the affiliation and institutional email address of each author
  
• Extended abstract (5000 characters, space included)
  
• Reference
  
• 3 keywords
  

Useful information on how to write an abstract for AssoComPol conferences is available in the “Abstract Instructions” section of the AssoComPol website: https://www.compol.it/eventi/convegno/convegno-2026/

Relevant deadlines:

·         Deadline for uploading proposals on the websitehttps://compol.confnow.eu/: 16 September 2026

·         Notification of acceptance: 10-12 October 2026

·         Full papers must be uploaded by 30 November 2026 to the conference paper room (accessible after login)

Scientific Committee: Cristopher Cepernich, Matteo Gerli, Paolo Mancini, Rita Marchetti, Rolando Marini, Giampietro Mazzoleni, Marco Mazzoni, Augusto Valeriani.

Local Organizers: Selena Mariano, Roberto Mincigrucci, Susanna Pagiotti, Grazia Enerina Pisano, Anna Stanziano, Giovanni Daniele Starita.

Conference Secretariat: Junio Aglioti Colombini, Alice Fubini, Antonio Martella, Melissa Mongiardo, Celeste Satta.

Digital Futures for Children centre

The Digital Futures for Children centre is hiring a Research Officer for our project DigiPulse: Real-time Ecological Momentary Assessment of children’s smartphone engagement and mental health.

The project is funded by the Huo Family Foundation and led by Professor Sonia Livingstone. Over the next three years, across Brazil, UK and Kenya, we are bringing together passive smartphone tracking, Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and longitudinal surveys to measure 750 children, aged 10 to 17, to study how smartphone use impacts their mental health and wellbeing.  

DigiPulse gathers a multidisciplinary, multi-country team of researchers and child rights advocates across the three project countries to deliver innovative methods and produce novel, comparable data, while employing a child rights approach to engage children in project design and analysis across the project lifecycle. We are now looking to expand our team. 

Eligible candidates will:

• Develop and refine the EMA instruments at the heart of the study
  
• Shape our hypotheses and contribute to the research literature
  
• Run participatory work directly with children and young people
  
• Conduct the statistical analysis and help produce findings that partners across three continents will build on 

Eligible candidates should have:

• A completed PhD in a relevant field
  
• Experience developing surveys or questionnaire instruments
  
• Experience running longitudinal studies 
  
• Hands-on experience with EMA, experience sampling or equivalent

Apply here: https://jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/2504/0/471333/15539/research-officer-digipulse-digital-futures-for-children-centre/Referral

Read more about the project here: https://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/our-work/Digipulse

Closing date for applications: 22 July 2026

Expected starting date: 1 September 2026

If you have any questions please reach out to Project lead Dr Kim R. Sylwander k.g.ringmar-sylwander@lse.ac.uk

November 26-27, 2026

University of Bucharest, Romania

Deadline: July 31, 2026

Venue: Department of Communication Studies, Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest (RO sessions on-site; English track fully online, Friday; free of charge)

Deadline for abstracts: 31 July 2026

Notifications: 7 August 2026

Submission: letters_commconf@litere.unibuc.ro

You can find attached the CfP here.

It’s a focused conference on how digital media, AI, archives, and platforms reshape communication, space, intimacy, death, and social life. English track is fully online, held on a Friday, free of charge. We welcome humanities and social sciences perspectives. Abstracts (250–500 words) by 31 July 2026.

Alessandro D’Arma, Andrea Esser, Jeanette Steemers

Screen Encounters with Britain explores how global streaming platforms are reshaping viewing patterns and audience encounters, using the circulation, consumption and reception of British films and TV shows in European markets as a case study.

Focusing on young audiences in Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, the book provides original audience insights drawing on a wide range of methods, including a survey, digital diaries and interviews and offers a critical perspective on the evolving nature of young audiences' engagement with longform screen content. The evidence presented points towards re-asserted Anglo-American dominance, driven by the power of large US-owned platforms and English as the language of advantage. Building on these findings, the book challenges established theory around the ‘home advantage’ of domestic media and rethinks linguistic and cultural proximity. 

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

PURCHASE HERE

DOWNLOAD HERE

September 15-17, 2026

Hamburg, Germany 

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to share that the preliminary programme for SEASON 2026 is now available. 

SEASON (the Search Engines and Society Annual Conference) is an interdisciplinary conference series examining search engines as cultural, societal, political, and technical artefacts, and their role in everyday practices.

On behalf of the Search Engines and Society Network, we invite you to join us for the 2026 edition, to be held at HAW Hamburg, Germany, from 15–17 September 2026.

Following the success of SEASON 2025, which brought together an engaged and diverse international community of researchers, practitioners, and students, this year's edition continues SEASON's mission as a dedicated conference series for critical and interdisciplinary research on search engines and their societal implications. 

The three-day programme features keynotes, paper presentations, posters, and interactive sessions, including: 

- Political bias and elections

- Everyday practice and communities

- Literacy and education

- AI overviews and trust

- Health and high-stakes information

- AI answers, podcasts, and behaviour

- Methods and infrastructure

- SEO, GEO, and visibility

- Critical and theoretical perspectives

The programme also includes a poster session, conference dinner, a SEASON community meeting, a film screening, and a dedicated workshop day on 17 September covering tools and methods for search engine research.

Keynote speakers:

- Prof. Dr. Thomas Höppner (Geradin Partners) : "Impact of Search Engines on Society: Lessons from Antitrust Cases"

- Prof. Dr. Katrin Weller (GESIS: Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences & Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf) :"From Regulation to Research: Navigating the Digital Services Act's Article 40 in Search Studies"

Now that the programme is out, registration is open, with early bird rates available until 1 August 2026 (€200 regular / €100 student). From 2 August 2026, standard rates apply (€250 regular / €150 student).

Please find the full programme here: https://easychair.org/smart-program/SEASON2026/

Register for SEASON 2026 via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=season2026 

SEASON 2026 Website: https://searchenginesandsociety.net/season-2026/

We look forward to welcoming you in Hamburg.

With best regards,

The SEASON 2026 Organizing Team

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (Special issue)

Deadline: October 1, 2026

Guest Editors: Yingwen Wang (London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, UK); Dr. Hui Lin (King’s College London, UK); Dr Zoetanya Sujon (London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, UK); Dr Rafal Zaborowski (King’s College London, UK)

Full CFP: https://journals.sagepub.com/page/con/call-for-papers/algorithmic-sociality?_gl=1*1grcp7y*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTkxODIwMTg4Ny4xNzgzNDk4OTMz*_ga_60R758KFDG*czE3ODM0OTg5MzIkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODM0OTkwMzEkajU3JGwxJGgxMjE5MjI2ODMx

Across the social media landscape, platform architectures are increasingly organised around algorithmic recommendation systems. Platforms such as TikTok, Douyin, Instagram, X, Spotify, YouTube, Tinder and Substack curate users’ experiences through algorithmic recommendations of content, people and cultural objects decoupled from users’ networks and explicit choices. This marks a significant departure from earlier forms of social media centred on self-presentation, the social graph, mutual following and networked publics (boyd, 2010). In recommendation-driven environments, encounters with unfamiliar others are generated, ranked and governed through platform systems, transforming the conditions under which social ties form and are maintained.

This special issue proposes algorithmic sociality as a concept for understanding how recommendation systems reconfigure social relations. Building on scholarship on programmed sociality, the algorithmic self, platformed connection and the contested meaning of “the social” in social media, the issue asks what happens to social relations when the pathways through which others become visible, encounterable and consequential are algorithmically organised. Rather than treating recommendation systems only as content-filtering technologies or behavioural optimisation tools, the special issue approaches them as relational infrastructures that shape who meets whom, under what conditions, and with what social, cultural, economic and political consequences.

The concept of algorithmic sociality also helps distinguish recommendation-driven human–human relations from the increasingly prominent discussion of artificial sociality, which often centres on human–machine attachment, AI agents, chatbots and synthetic companions. Algorithmic sociality foregrounds intersubjective relations between people, while examining how those relations are structured, filtered and made possible through platform logics, interface design, metrics, governance arrangements and monetisation systems. Recommendation systems do not replace the social other; they reorganise the conditions under which social others become visible and meaningful. As such, the special issue aims to expand existing debates on platforms, algorithms and sociality beyond questions of visibility and engagement.

We invite contributions that test, refine, extend or critique algorithmic sociality across different platforms, national contexts, social groups and methodological traditions. The issue is particularly interested in work that moves beyond short-video platforms; examines underexplored platform ecologies such as music streaming, dating apps, newsletter networks, livestreaming, gaming, messaging or professional platforms; addresses creative production and media industries under recommender logics; or brings perspectives from the Global South and other non-dominant platform contexts. We strongly encourage submissions from early career researchers and researchers from historically underrepresented groups and regions, including ethnic minority, disabled, queer and Global South scholars.

Potential Topics:

• The shift from social-graph-based to recommendation-driven platform architectures
  
• Human-algorithm relations and their implications for human-human communication
  
• Recommendation systems as relational infrastructure
  
• Theoretical and conceptual approaches to algorithmic sociality, including programmed sociality, algorithmized selfhood and disconnected sociability
  
• Opportunities and challenges that algorithms introduce to social relations, such as platform-bounded relationships, cross-platform friending and the organisation of social distance
  
• The reconfiguration of content production, relational labour, distributed sociality and modular connection through algorithmic platforms
  
• Algorithmic curation, optimization, recommendation bias, (in)visibility, unequal distribution and prioritization
  
• The role of inequality, age, migration, gender, sexuality, class, race and other structural dimensions in shaping algorithmic sociality
  
• The regulation of social behaviour on algorithmic platforms, including governance, moderation, surveillance and compliance
  
• Affective, embodied and economic dimensions of algorithmically mediated connection
  
• Comparative studies of TikTok/Douyin, Instagram, YouTube, X, Spotify, Tinder, Substack, WeChat, RedNote, Bilibili and other platforms
  
• Global North/Global South comparisons and studies of non-Western or regionally specific platform ecosystems
  
• Generative AI, conversational agents and emerging systems that extend or reconfigure algorithmic sociality beyond feed-based architectures
  

Please submit an extended abstract of approximately 500 words, including references, together with a short author biography of approximately 100 words for each author.

Abstracts should clearly identify the research question or problem, argument, theoretical framework, methodology or source materials, and the proposed article’s contribution to the special issue theme.

Please send proposals to algorithmicsociality.cnmt28@gmail.comby 1st October 2026.

Authors of accepted abstracts will be contacted on 1st November 2026 and invited to submit full manuscripts by 15th March 2027.

Time, focus and community for your research on the societal impact of digital transformation

A fellowship at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) provides the freedom to dedicate yourself to your research and the opportunity to join a vibrant interdisciplinary community. Step away from daily work routines to gain new perspectives and build lasting connections.

As a fellow, you can spend either six or three months in Bochum, Germany. During this time, we will cover your sabbatical leave from work through financial compensation (e.g. for a teaching substitute) or provide grants of up to 2.000 € per month. In addition, we will provide a fully furnished apartment free of charge. You can invite guests for collaboration and receive financial support for research expenses. Private offices and meeting rooms with modern facilities offer optimal working conditions.

The funding program is open to excellent scholars and practitioners, to all career stages, disciplines and areas of investigation, as well as to pure research and to projects that are more applied in orientation.

You can apply for our regular open call, or for our special call “Futures of Work”.

The next deadline for applications is 31 August 2026. The earliest possible starting date for new fellowships is October 2027. Please use the application form on our website.

Find out more: https://cais-research.de/en/cais-college/fellowships/

Further questions? Please contact esther.laufer@cais-research.de

ESSACHESS – Journal for Communication Studies (Special Issue, Vol. 19 No. 1 (37))

https://essachess.com/3/index.php/jcs

• Introduction - Media, Democracy, and Citizen Perspectives in Contemporary Europe
  

Elisabetta RISI, Giulia FERRI, Andrea MICONI (Authors)

Dossier

• Democracy in Question, Media in Doubt: Citizen Perceptions of Media Autonomy in Slovenia
  

Brankica PETKOVIĆ, Mojca PAJNIK (Author)

• Journalists and Audiences in Portugal: Dissonant Perceptions
  

Nuno Cintra TORRES, Tatiana CHERVYKOVA, Manuel José DAMÁSIO (Authors)

• Digital Trust and Authority: Political Communication Practices and Participation Among Italian Citizens
  

Elisabetta RISI, Giulia FERRI, Andrea MICONI (Authors)

• “A Part of Me Will Always Be Suspicious”:Citizens, Media, and Democratic Trust in France
  

Morgane LE GUYADER, Inna LYUBAREVA, Romain BILLOT (Authors)

• Assemblages of Trust: A Discursive-Material Analysis of Czech Citizens’ Perceptions of Media and Democracy
  

Karolína ŠIMKOVÀ, Jeffrey WIMMER (Authors)

• Mediated Contact with Politicians and Citizens’ Experiences of Democracy
  

Kristiina RAUD, Alessandro NANÌ (Authors)

• Exploring the Whole Picture: A Contemporary Perspective on Democracy, Societal Change, and Europe`s Information Environments
  

Maren BEAUFORT (Authors)

(About MeDeMAP, see https://www.medemap.eu/)

Varia

• Critical Minds, Tolerant Voices: Media and Information Literacy as a Tool against Hate Speech
  

Reem AL-ZOU’BI (Author)

• Les dynamiques de contre-pouvoir dans le discours contestataire numérique des étudiants en médecine au Maroc : cas des contestations de 2023
  

Anas MOUTIA (Author)

• Effect of Information Quality, Ease of Use, and Digital Public Communication on Local Taxpayer Compliancewith Trustin Government as Mediator
  

Rangga Galura GUMELAR, Iman MUKHROMAN, Daffa Leroy GALURA GUMELAR (Authors)

Research notes/Book reviews

• La spiritualité numérique, la sacralité de l’IA et la vie religieuse dans le métavers: hypostases du nouveau matérialisme religieux
  

Nicu GAVRILUTA (Author)

Deadline: August 31, 2026

The ICA Communication History Division Book Award, sponsored and managed by the Division, invites nominations for academic books in media and communication history published in 2024, 2025, or 2026. Books should align with one or more of the scopes of the Division. Only ICA members may submit nominations, and books nominated by Communication History Division members will be given priority. Books can be single-authored or co-authored, while edited books are not eligible. Submissions open on 5 June 2026 and close on 31 August 2026.

Specific rules need to be followed to nominate a book. All information can be found here: https://www.icahistory.org/awards.html

Women*in AI, Humanities, & Social Sciences (WAIHSS) is a global initiative created by and for women* across the humanities and social sciences whose research focuses on artificial intelligence.

The initiative launched on June 23 and is organised by Nadja Schaetz, Sejin Paik, Anna Schjøtt, and Dieuwertje Luitse. As female scholars we firsthand witness the enduring barriers that limit equal participation in academia and are increasingly concerned about the sweeping cuts to education and scholarship funding that compound them. In response, WAIHSS aims to facilitate community building to counteract these developments by creating a platform and support structure dedicated to female social sciences and humanities scholars researching AI.

Creating space for critical research into AI from a multitude of perspectives is particularly crucial now, as AI development remains male-dominated and academic freedom is increasingly under threat. 

We are launching this fall with an online launch event on September 1, followed by an online dialogue series and our first hybrid event -- a preconference workshop at the Association of Internet Researchers 2026.

Visit our website, www.waihss.com or follow us on LinkedIn, to learn more about the initiative and our upcoming events. Here you can also find out more about how you as an individual scholar or institution can join us in this work and become part of the WAIHSS community.

* WAIHSS uses self-identification as a guiding principle. We honor each person's understanding of their own gender identity. We recognize that gender exists on a spectrum and that the barriers WAIHSS addresses affect people across diverse identities. We welcome all individuals who feel aligned with our mission and community.