ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

June 22-23 2026

Bournemouth University, UK

Media School, MST 

Deadline: February 16, 2026

Academics, practitioners and research students are invited to submit competitive abstracts for presentation at the 14th International History of Public Relations Conference (IHPRC) which will again be held at Bournemouth University.

Since 2010, IHPRC has been the premier international conference addressing the history of public relations and related disciplines. It has attracted papers from around the world and led to a major expansion of publishing on the public relations history field in academic journals and research books.

Conference themes

Among the themes IHPRC continues to promote are:

• The history of public relations and its developing or diverging relationships with other disciplines such as marketing, HR, legal and corporate governance
  
• The historiography of public relations and the application of historical theories and interpretations to the history of PR; alternative and unheard histories and herstories; archaeological methodologies and theoretical analyses
  
• Seminal personalities or events that shaped the formation of public relations as a discipline (This can also include challenges to the “Great Man” or “Great Woman” approach)
  
• History of the PR/Communication departments of organisations (companies, associations, political organisations, NGOs, etc.)
  
• History of PR instruments (press releases, press conferences, campaigns, social media, etc.)
  
• Alternative approaches to the history of public relations, e.g. on the basis of culture (personal networks and influence) or via definitions of public relations
  
• The evolving naming of the field from propaganda and press agentry to corporate and strategic communications
  
• The evolution of public relations in nations, government and industry
  
• The history of public relations in specific sectors (for example, consultancy, education, health, and politics)
  
• The public relations of dissent and activism; historical analysis of public relations in activist and non-profit campaigns
  
• The evolution of public relations theory(ies) over time; the history of schools of thinking in public relations
  
• The formation of industry and professional bodies and their impact on public relations practice and education; professionalisation of public relations
  
• The ethics of public relations and its discussion over time
  
• Oral histories of public relations; discussion of this methodology

Papers for presentation at IHPRC 2026 will be selected, after peer review, on the basis of abstracts. Authors are invited to submit a single Word document. The first page of the word document should include the title of the paper, author(s) name(s) and affiliations. Page two onwards will include the abstract. The abstract will be of no more than two pages total length, including references. The abstract should express the purpose, methodology, findings and implications of the research. Author and affiliation details are to be presented only in first page and should not be identified in the abstract.

Abstracts must be presented in Word format, 12-point font size, single spacing with a 1-inch (25mm) margin on A4 page size. Submissions and enquiries should go to atheofilou@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Information on conference registration and conference hotels follows.

Given that the IHPRC will be taking place as from now on biennially (ie every second year rather than every year) the conference will be held in person rather than any other format.

Submissions – Deadline for consideration: 16 February 2026.

We look forward to welcoming PR scholars to Bournemouth in June 2026.

Follow the conference on @historyofpr and Facebook.com/IHPRC

November 6, 2025

Online conference

Visual Cultures Section

https://visualculturesecrea.wordpress.com/2025/10/15/conference-programme/

Scholars from 15 different countries will examine entanglements of visual cultures with memory, identity, gender, technology, and truth-making at this online conference. It will be a day to reflect on research objects, methods and interdisciplinarity in visual social research. How do visual cultures both reflect and challenge the deepening crisis of trust in democratic, scientific, and journalistic institutions? What roles do AI-generated images and deepfakes play in amplifying or destabilising collective perception? How do images, visual narratives, and aesthetic practices participate in shaping collective experiences, identities, and histories? In what ways do visual cultures and regimes (re)mediate but also disrupt collective memories, ideologies and identities? What methodological innovations are needed to “see through” complexity in our research?

Deadline: November 3, 2025

The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors (ISWNE) and the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media at Kansas State University are seeking proposals for papers that provide insight and guidance on general issues and/or everyday problems that confront community newspapers and their newsrooms, with particular reference to weekly general-interest publications with circulations under 10,000.

This competition is an extension of the Center’s former “Newspapers and Community-Building Symposium,” co-sponsored for 20 years by the National Newspaper Association (NNA) and its foundation. The competition’s ultimate goal is to engage academicians and community newspaper journalists in productive “conversations about community journalism.”

Proposals will first be peer-reviewed by faculty with expertise in community journalism. Final selection of the papers to be written will be made by a panel of working and retired community journalists who will evaluate the proposals on the basis of their potential value to newsrooms.

Completed papers will undergo a final academic peer review prior to publication in an issue of ISWNE’s Grassroots Editor. The schedule has been set up to ensure publication of all accepted papers by January 2027 or sooner.

Proposals from graduate students are especially encouraged, as are proposals with an international focus, or reflecting an international perspective on community papers’ newsrooms.

One paper will be selected by the community journalists panel for presentation at the 2026 ISWNE conference tentatively scheduled forJuly 15-19 in Cardiff, Wales. ISWNE and the ISWNE Foundation will provide the author with a complimentary conference registration as well as $250 toward travel. The paper’s author will be expected to make whatever arrangements are necessary to attend this conference or to present on Zoom.

A second place paper also will be selected and the authors of both top papers will receive complimentary one-year memberships in ISWNE.

Focus: Papers should deal with topics relevant to the newsrooms of community weeklies, particularly those with small staffs and circulations under 10,000. The papers should provide useful guidance on general issues and/or everyday problems that such newsrooms may face.

Examples could include legal, political, or ethical issues; alternative print/digital integration models; or surveys to determine successful techniques for staff recruitment/retention, for boosting online presence or to elicit “best practices” for special editions. Roundups of how states handle Sunshine Law violations or how papers train young reporters to be alert for such violations would also be of interest. So would explorations of new ways to convey information to a local audience (e.g., using AI) and how to monetize them. These, of course, are only some of the many areas on which research could focus.

Note that ISWNE members have access to the organization’s Hotline, where topics of current interest to weekly newsrooms are regularly discussed. Non-members may request temporary access by contacting Executive Director Chad Stebbins at cstebbins@mopress.com. This is one way to focus Proposals and the resulting papers on issues of concern to community weekly newsrooms.

Most successful proposals will deal with applied research, although theoretical papers that provide the basis for further applied research also are acceptable, as are general research topics that establish a clear connection to newsroom issues.

Guidelines for Developing Proposals: Proposals should be limited to a maximum of two pages. These proposals should explain clearly and concisely how the final papers will be of practical use to community weekly newsrooms. They should note any prior work on which they will build or which they will assess critically.

Proposals will be evaluated on the relevance and importance of the topic and on its value to newsrooms. Other criteria include originality, clarity of the writing, appropriateness of the methodology to be used, the likelihood that valid conclusions will be reached and the choice of materials that will be used to document the paper’s conclusions/support its recommendations.

Suggested Length for the Paper: 2,500 to 6,000 words.

Logistics for submission: Proposals should be submitted electronically to Huck Boyd Center Director Sam C. Mwangi at scmwangi@ksu.edu. The proposal itself should contain nothing that would identify the author. It must be accompanied by a separate title page containing full author contact information (name, email-address, mailing address, university and/or professional affiliation and phone number). These two items must be emailed by Nov. 3, 2025.

Other Dates:

• Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by Dec. 1, 2025.
  
• Completed papers are due to scmwangi@ksu.edu no later than March 15, 2026.
  
• The author of the paper selected for presentation at the 2024 ISWNE conference will be notified by April 15, 2026; peer review comments will be provided as soon as possible.
  
• Changes suggested by the second peer review will be sent to all other authors by July 31, 2026 for use in preparing the final version of their papers.
  
• Final versions of the papers should be sent electronically to Chad Stebbins at cstebbins@mopress.com by Sept. 15, 2026.
  

ISWNE was founded in 1955 to promote high standards of editorial writing, facilitate the exchange of ideas and foster freedom of the press in all nations. It aims to help members of the weekly press improve their editorial writing and news reporting and to encourage strong, independent editorial voices. Chad Stebbins has been ISWNE’s executive director since 1999.

The mission of the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media, established in 1990, is to serve and strengthen local newspapers, radio stations, online media and other outlets that play a key role in the survival and revitalization of small towns in the United States. Gloria Freeland was the Center’s director from 1998 until her retirement in 2020. Sam C. Mwangi is the new director.

University of East Anglia, Faculty of Arts and Humanities

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities invites expressions of interest for Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships to be held at the University of East Anglia (UEA).  Early Career Fellowships aim to provide career development opportunities for those who are at a relatively early stage of their academic careers, who are yet to hold a full-time permanent post but who have a proven record of research. The expectation is that Fellows should undertake a significant piece of publishable work (but should not be a reworking or extension of the doctoral research project) during their tenure. Fellowships have to start between 1 September 2026 and 1 May 2027.

Each year the Faculty supports a limited number of applications for projects in: the School of Media, Language and Communication Studies; the School of History and Art History; the School of Literature, Drama, and Creative Writing; the School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies, Interdisciplinary Institute for the Humanities; the Sainsbury Centre; the Sainsbury Research Unit and the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Culture. 

UEA is fully committed to supporting the scholarship and career development of these fellows, and each will be assigned an academic mentor and will be fully integrated into the life of their host School / unit.

A candidate may submit only one application per year. Previously unsuccessful applicants may reapply. 

Each Faculty at UEA has its own process so please make sure you follow the one for the faculty you want to be considered in.

If you are interested in applying, please:

• Read the guidance about the scheme at: https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/grant-schemes/early-career-fellowships 
  
• Make sure you meet the Leverhulme Trust eligibility criteria. Please note we cannot assess EoIs from applicants who do not meet this criteria.
  
• Make contact with the Faculty of Arts and Humanities academic member of staff closest to your research area to ask if they act as your mentor if successful and provide advice on your application.
  

Unsupported applications will not be considered.

To find a mentor, please see: https://www.uea.ac.uk/about/faculties-and-schools/faculty-of-arts-and-humanities/research/fellowships

Expression if interest form can be found HERE.

Complete the expression of interest form and submit to hum.research@uea.ac.uk by 9am on Monday 17th November. 

International Journal of Communication (Special Section)

Deadline: May 31, 2026 (full papers)

Information overload and political and news fatigue are part of everyday life. Few of us can or want to stay up to speed on every issue or engage equally across all issues and arenas. This special section asks how citizens share, delegate, or even outsource the work of democracy, and when does this distribution empower citizens, and when does it deepen inequality. We invite contributions that rethink how contemporary democratic engagement is practiced, organized, and mediated. Theoretical, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method work are all welcome, and especially from underrepresented contexts. 

To help authors connect and refine ideas, we are also hosting a workshop in Bergen (Norway) in early March 2026. It will be a chance to meet, discuss, and develop work-in-progress together. Not mandatory but encouraged. 

Key dates:

Abstracts (for workshop): 15 December 2025

Workshop: Early March 2026, Bergen 

Full paper submission: 31 May 2026 

Expected publication: Summer 2027 

Read the full call and submission details here: https://www4.uib.no/en/research/research-projects/distributed-and-prepared-a-new-theory-of-citizens-public-connection/call-for-papers-special-section-on-distributed-citizenship   

For inquiries, feel free to contact us (details in the link). 

Guest Editors: Emilija Gagrčin, Hallvard Moe, Özlem Demirkol-Tønnesen, and Mehri Agai / Media Use Group, University of Bergen: https://www4.uib.no/en/research/research-groups/bergen-media-use-research-group 

Funded by the European Union (ERC, PREPARE, 101044464). 

June 1-2, 2026

Cardiff University in Cardiff, UK

Deadline: December 31, 2025

Host: Data Justice Lab

Although contested and multifaceted, the field of data justice continues to engage critical debates on the societal implications of datafication in all its iterations, from social media to platform capitalism to the current hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI). Much of this focus has been on the potential harm of such technologies on different communities and on the societal shifts associated with their uses by a diverse range of actors. Less focus, perhaps, has been on the way the advent of data-driven technologies has intermingled with and transformed the state. From high-stake uses, such as those revealed in the Snowden leaks, to crisis management as evidenced during the Covid-19 pandemic, to the mundane and everyday delivery of public services, platforms and AI systems are now deeply embedded within roles and functions associated with the state. At the same time, the state has been instrumental in the advancement of datafication and the role that technology, and its providers, now play in society. At a time when governments and technology companies are seen to be closer than ever, examining their relationship and its consequences seems pivotal for our understanding of data justice.

This two-day conference will therefore explore the role and transformations of the state in an age of datafication and what this means for social justice and resistance. It will examine the interrelations between data-driven technologies and government, the changing role of corporations, emerging popular responses, and efforts to democratise datafication. Hosted by the Data Justice Lab at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture (JOMEC) in the UK, it will bring together international scholars, practitioners and community groups to discuss the nature and implications of the datafied state.

Keynote Speakers include:

• Nick Srnicek, King’s College London, UK
  
• Sarah Myers West, AI Now, US
  
• Oriana Bernasconi, UC Chile, Chile

Submission of abstracts of max 500 words to DataJusticeLab@cardiff.ac.uk

Deadline for submissions of abstracts: 31st of December, 2025

Conference registration fees:

• £175 / £150  (early bird)
  
• £125 / £100 students (early bird)
  

Conference registration deadlines:

• 6th of March 2026 – early bird
  
• 17th of April 2026 – final deadline

We hope to see you there!

Internet Histories (Special Issue)

Deadline: May 1, 2026

All submitted and accepted articles will be considered for inclusion in a special issue “Interrogating Trust & Safety”

Special issue guest editors Amanda Menking and Toby Shulruff encourage authors to interrogate trust and safety from a range of perspectives, prioritizing academic rigor and historical dimensions.

Please see the full call for papers here: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/interrogating-trust-safety/ 

Kind regards of behalf of

The editors of Internet Histories and the guest editors

Asger Harlung,

Editorial Assistant, Internet Histories

Sinikka Torkkola, Anna Sendra Toset

How is digitalization transforming healthcare communication, and how is it reconstructing patienthood? Published by Routledge and co-authored by Sinikka Torkkola and Anna Sendra Toset, Healthcare and Patient Communication in the Digital Era: A Patienthood and Patient Perspective examines the digitalization of healthcare communication through empirical case studies from three viewpoints: illness or the perspective of patients, disease or the perspective of healthcare professionals, and sickness or the perspective of society. Overall, the book outlines how the sociocultural understanding of patienthood is altered by the ways digitalization is changing healthcare communication.

Healthcare and Patient Communication in the Digital Era: A Patienthood and Patient Perspective can be found in the following link: https://www.routledge.com/Healthcare-and-Patient-Communication-in-the-Digital-Era-A-Patienthood-and-Patient-Perspective/Torkkola-SendraToset/p/book/9781032857336  

New Media & Society

We are pleased to announce that the special issue Decoding Artificial Sociality: Technologies, Dynamics, Implications is now published in New Media & Society. 

Conducting conversations with artificial intelligence technologies such as ChatGPT is becoming an everyday experience for large masses of people. This special issue tackles a dimension of AI that is becoming increasingly relevant and ubiquitous: artificial sociality, defined as technologies and practices that construct the appearance of social behaviour in machines and stimulating humans who interact with them to project social frames and meanings.  

The issue includes outstandings contributions that offer empirical findings and theoretical insights by examining a broad array of AI technologies, ranging from ChatGPT to Replika. 

Special issue highlights:  

Decoding Artificial Sociality: Technologies, Dynamics, Implications 

In the introduction to the special issue, Iliana Depounti and Simone Natale discuss the dynamics and implications of artificial sociality and show how these technologies are increasingly incorporated and normalized within digital platforms. 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448251359217 

“Capacities for social interactions are just being absorbed by the model”: User engagement and assetization of data in the artificial sociality enterprise 

Jieun Lee analyzes ScatterLab’s use of user-generated language data to develop the Korean chatbot Luda, showing how data, even if harmful or abusive, may be repurposed for business interests.  

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14614448251338275 

Grooming an ideal chatbot by training the algorithm: Exploring the exploitation of Replika users’ immaterial labor 

Shuyi Pan, Leopoldina Fortunati and Autumn Edwards conducted a digital ethnography on a pioneer online community related to companion chatbot Replika. Their analysis revealed that Replika users invest a significant amount of intellectual and affective resources into the chatbot through algorithm training, driven by fascinating imaginaries of an ideal AI partner. 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14614448251338271 

The quasi-domestication of social chatbots: The case of Replika 

Gina Neff and Peter Nagy discuss how users adapt to changing AI companions, showing that re-domestication strategies are essential to re-integrate these technologies into everyday life.  

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14614448251359218 

‘I think I misspoke earlier. My bad!’: Exploring how generative artificial intelligence tools exploit society’s feeling rules 

Lisa M. Given, Sarah Polkinghorne, and Alexa Ridgway analyze how genAI bots mobilize social rules and gendered feeling norms to imitate emotional responsiveness. 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448251338276  

The sociocultural roots of artificial conversations: The taste, class and habitus of generative AI chatbots 

Ilir Rama and Massimo Airoldi explore how large language models inscribe class bias and reproduce sociocultural patterns of taste and habitus.  

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14614448251338273 

Meta-authenticity and fake but real virtual influencers: A framework for artificial sociality analysis and ethics 

Do Own (Donna) Kim examines the relationship between artificial sociality and authenticity through the case of CGI virtual influencers, proposing “meta-authenticity” as a framework to assess realness and inauthenticity.  

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14614448251338272 

The conversational action test: Detecting the artificial sociality of artificial intelligence 

Saul Albert, William Housley, Rein Sikveland, and Elizabeth Stokoe introduce a “Conversational Action Test” to assess how artificial agents achieve conversational competence.  

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448251338277 

In mobilizing the concept of artificial sociality, the issue stresses the importance of identifying and exploring the implications, potentials, and risks of AI technologies that create the appearance of sociality in a society increasingly shaped by encounters between humans and machines.  

Access the full special issue in New Media & Society here:

https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/nmsa/27/10  

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

Online

Deadline: October 19, 2025

Workshop was postponed to December 3rd. You can still sign up!

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