ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Neil Thurman

Media change is constant, but it is rarely straightforward. While some shifts in the media landscape are rapid and transformative, others unfold slowly, unevenly, or even stall and reverse. Media Change: Contemporary Cases, Consequences, and Conceptualizations examines this complexity through a series of contemporary, self-contained case studies. Each of the nine core chapters explores a specific example of media transformation, such as AI-driven content production, evolving regulatory landscapes, and media business models.

Situating media change within broader historical and conceptual frameworks, Neil Thurman reveals how today’s most pressing issues in media are part of longer trajectories of change, shaped by forces such as technological innovation, economic pressures, and cultural resistance. By combining rich empirical evidence with a long historical view, this book illuminates the social, industrial, and technological drivers of transformation and their impact on media practices, products, and audiences. Its nine case studies not only offer depth on contemporary issues, but also prompt reflection on broader patterns of continuity and disruption in media systems.

Drawing on an original ‘six Rs’ framework – revolution, remediation, resistance, rapidity, regulation, and reversals – Media Change offers an accessible and fresh insight into contemporary communication, balancing global perspectives, challenging common assumptions about the media environment, and demonstrating how change can be incomplete, uneven, and historically contingent.

Written in a clear and accessible style, Media Change: Contemporary Cases, Consequences, and Conceptualizations is an essential resource for those seeking to understand how media systems are transforming. Whether used in its entirety or as stand-alone chapters, it is ideal for undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students in media, communication, journalism, and cultural studies programs, offering discussion questions to stimulate crucial reflection.

Purchase here: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Media+Change%3A+Contemporary+Cases%2C+Consequences%2C+and+Conceptualizations-p-9781394293568

GI_Forum Journal (special issue)

Deadline: June 14, 2026

The Special Issue “Maps in/as Media - On the Mediated Production of Geographical Knowledge” takes maps as a central element of media ecologies and asks how geographic visualizations participate in the production, circulation and contestation of spatial knowledge. Maps are not only means, tools and instruments for the representation of spatial facts and relations; they function as mediating instances that stand between world and viewer and thereby constitute specific forms of spatial knowledge. As geomedia, maps actively produce spatial realities and enable - or prevent - certain ways of thinking, knowing and experiencing space.

In contemporary media environments, maps circulate within heterogeneous constellations: in journalistic formats, on digital platforms, in social media and in fictional media worlds. Embedded in complex media-technological assemblages, their epistemic, aesthetic and social functions shift: maps become dynamic interfaces in which human and non-human actors, data flows and algorithmic processes intertwine, and in which spatial knowledge is newly formed in relational, processual and situational configurations.

The Special Issue of the GI_Forum “Maps in/as Media” invites contributions that examine these configurations in depth and situate them within broader debates in critical cartography, media and communication, design studies, GIScience, human geography, and spatial theory. We are particularly interested in the role of cartographic visualizations within media ecologies: as epistemic tools, carriers of narration, visual arguments and affect amplifiers as well as sources of spatial imaginaries. 

Key Questions and Themes

We welcome theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions that address, among others, the following questions and themes:

• How does the role of cartographic visualizations change through its embedding in digital media environments (e.g. as map-mashups, platforms, dashboards, apps, XR environments)?
  
• Which new actors (platform companies, data providers, civic tech communities, AI systems, crowds) and production logics (datafication, platformization, automation, personalization) shape the (big spatial) data economies of maps in/as media?
  
• How do algorithmic processes, real-time data streams and Big Geo Data transform the production, circulation and reception of maps in and across media?
  
• Maps in journalistic formats: news cartographies, evidentiary functions of maps, epistemological foundations of data journalism, crisis and conflict mapping and the news, visual rhetorics of urgency and (un)certainty, Mappings of local news ecosystems
  
• Maps on digital platforms and in locative media: maps as navigational interfaces, underlying recommendation logics, platform governance, everyday navigation and the quantification of movement and mobility
  
• Maps in social media: virality, memetic cartographies, activist and antagonistic mappings, platformed counter-mapping.
  
• Maps in fictional and audiovisual media: imagined geographies, maps in digital and analogue games, speculative mapping, world-building and spatial storytelling.
  
• Affective, aesthetic and sensory dimensions of maps in/as media: atmospheres, styles, genres and design languages of cartographic representations.
  
• Critical and decolonial perspectives on cartographic representations in/as media: counter-publics, marginalized perspectives, Indigenous and community mapping, feminist and anti-racist cartographies.
  
• Critical accounts on strategic uses of maps for propaganda, disinformation and geopolitical narration, as well as practices of resistance, exposure and evidencing through counter-maps.
  
• Maps as infrastructural and epistemic interfaces: integration into data infrastructures, smart city systems, sensor networks and decision-support environments.
  
• Pedagogical and educational uses of maps as media, including their role in (geo)media literacy and critical spatial citizenship.
  

Submissions may engage with these topics from inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives, including (but not limited to) media and communication studies, GIScience, cartography, geography, design research, science and technology studies, urban studies, political science and education.

Types of Contributions

The Special Issue welcomes a range of contribution types, provided they align with the journal’s focus on innovation in education, science, methodology, technologies and communication in the spatial domain, and contribute to a more just, ethical and sustainable science and society. Possible formats include:

• Conceptual and theoretical papers (e.g. media-theoretical, infrastructural, critical cartographic or STS-inspired framings of maps as media)
  
• Empirical studies (qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods) of specific map-media constellations
  
• Methodological and design-oriented contributions (e.g. critical data visualization, participatory and counter-mapping approaches, experimental interfaces)
  
• Reflexive accounts of practice-based research, co-creation and collaboration across academia, civil society, public institutions or artistic practice
  

All submissions must be original, unpublished work and will undergo double-blind peer review according to GI_Forum’s standard procedures. Only English-language contributions can be considered for publication.

Important Dates

• Abstract submission deadline: 14 June 2026
  
• Notification of invitation to submit full paper: early July 2026
  
• Full paper submission deadline: end-November 2026
  
• publication planned for spring 2027
  

(Exact dates for full papers and subsequent review rounds will be communicated with invited authors.)

Submission Guidelines

Authors are invited to submit an extended abstract (max. 500–800 words) outlining: title, authors and affiliations, research questions, theoretical framework, methodology, empirical material (if applicable) and expected contribution to the theme of the Special Issue.

Based on the abstracts, selected authors will be invited to submit full papers through the GI_Forum online submission system. For full papers, the journal recommends a maximum of 5,000 words at initial submission so that there is sufficient room for revisions; in any case, manuscripts must not exceed 7,000 words (excluding references).

Detailed author guidelines, including formatting requirements, referencing style, and information on the Open Access policy (CC BY-ND), can be found on the GI_Forum journal website. GI_Forum implements a double-blind peer review process via its Open Journal System, with quality assured by an international team of established scholars. 

GI_Forum is published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences; article processing charges apply, but authors may apply for a fee waiver in cases where institutional or project funding is unavailable. https://www.austriaca.at/GI_Forum 

Submission and Contact

Please submit your abstract by 14 June 2026 via e-mail to the Editors of the Special Issue and indicate “GI_Forum Special Issue ‘Maps in/as Media’ – Abstract Submission” in the subject line. Invited full papers must then be submitted via the GI_Forum OJS platform (see “For Authors” on the journal website). https://www.austriaca.at/GI_Forum 

Editors for this special issue:

• Pablo Abend, https://pabloabend.de/ 
  
• Helena Atteneder, https://uni-tuebingen.de/de/206967 
  

For questions about the Special Issue’s scope or suitability of a contribution, please contact us via e-mail: kontakt@mediengeographien.de

We look forward to receiving your submissions and to collectively exploring how maps in/as media shape the epistemic, aesthetic and political conditions of spatial knowledge today.

About the Journal

GI_Forum Journal is an international, peer reviewed Open Access journal that provides a forum for the critical examination of spatial enquiry. It publishes high quality original research across the transdisciplinary field of Geographic Information Science (GIScience), Media Geographies and Geomedia Education. The journal provides a platform for dialogue among GI-Scientists and educators, technologists, social scientists, and critical thinkers in an ongoing effort to advance the field and ultimately contribute to an informed GISociety.

Submissions focus on innovation in education, science, methodology, technologies and communication in the spatial domain and their role towards a more just, ethical, and sustainable science and society. The journal explicitly welcomes contributions that emphasise efforts to address spatially relevant issues from an inter- and transdisciplinary, theoretical as well as empirical perspectives.

GI_Forum Journal is a journal of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. 

Comunicação e Sociedade, Estudos em Comunicação, Media & Jornalismo,  Observatorio (Special issue)

Deadline: September 30, 2026

Four Portuguese free-to-read and free-to-publish journals in the field of Communication Studies (published by public universities) – Comunicação e Sociedade, Estudos em Comunicação, Media & Jornalismo, and Observatorio (OBS*) – have decided to jointly launch a special issue with the aim of fostering reflection on the policies and logics of sharing scientific knowledge.

With the aim of charting a counter-trend path (and within an unprecedented collaborative initiative), we seek submissions that interrogate the material and institutional conditions of conducting research in Communication Studies, including the role of digital platforms in the circulation of knowledge, the limits and potential of open access, and the tensions between quantitative evaluation and the substantive quality of reflection and critical thought.

Suggested Topics

• Marketization of science and academic capitalism;
  
• Academic freedom and university autonomy;
  
• Forms of cultural and organizational resistance;
  
• The nature and reconfiguration of scientific reputation;
  
• Science and language policies;
  
• Academic and scientific rankings;
  
• Oligopolies and scientific publishing;
  
• Metrics, quantification, and impact;
  
• Open access policies and repositories;
  
• The impact of AI on scientific writing and review;
  
• Invisibility, bias, and inequality in scientific citations;
  
• Big Tech, platformization, and publishing ecosystems;
  
• Algorithmic regimes of visibility and classification;
  
• Research independence and innovation agendas;
  
• Research assessment, DORA, and alternatives.
  

Full manuscripts may be submitted in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

Submission Period: April 20 to September 30, 2026.

Publication Period: 1st Semester of 2027.

More information here:

https://obs.obercom.pt/index.php/obs/announcement/view/3 

https://impactum-journals.uc.pt/mj/announcement/view/352 

https://revistacomsoc.pt/.../revist.../announcement/view/128 

https://ojs.labcom-ifp.ubi.pt/ec/announcement/view/99 

November 5-6, 2026

Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, Kraljice Natalije 45, 4th Floor, Belgrade, Serbia

Deadline: June 5, 2026

Conference Fee: Free of charge (no participation fees). Participants cover their own travel and a.

Conference Dinner (optional): 40 EUR

Contact: emerge@ifdt.bg.ac.rs

Technological futures are not given. They are made, and they can be made differently. EMERGE 2026: Contested Futures takes place at a moment when AI systems have become central to the organization of economic power, political control, and social sorting, while democratic institutions struggle to keep pace and ecological costs mount. Rather than treating technological change as inevitable or neutral, the conference invites critical reflection on how emerging technologies are developed, governed, narrated, and contested.

As AI and digital infrastructures become increasingly embedded in everyday life, they reshape democratic processes, social relations, environmental conditions, education, design, media, and cultural production. These futures are shaped not only by technical innovation, but also by struggles over labor, resources, values, knowledge, and social organization. EMERGE 2026 therefore asks what is at stake, but also what is already being done, by whom, under which conditions, and what alternatives are being built, demanded, and practiced.

At the core of this year’s conference are several guiding questions. How are AI and emerging technologies reshaping power, governance, and public life? What forms of inequality, exclusion, and extraction do they reproduce, intensify, or obscure? How are technological futures narrated, legitimized, and contested across media, culture, platforms, and everyday life?

These questions extend to emerging methods, practices, and alternatives. How is synthetic research, understood as the use of AI-generated data, personas, and simulations to model human behavior, being used across disciplines, and what risks arise when its findings inform decision-making processes? What kinds of critical, speculative, and practice-based approaches might help us reimagine and enact more just, democratic, and sustainable alternatives? What alternatives are already being imagined, built, practiced, and defended, and whose work makes them possible?

EMERGE 2026 welcomes interdisciplinary contributions that critically examine dominant technological paradigms and engage with resistant, alternative, and transformative approaches. Submissions may come from philosophy, sociology, political theory, media and communication studies, cultural studies, art theory, education, design, computer science, and related disciplines, exploring how digital futures are shaped, contested, and reimagined. Contributions grounded in case studies, action research, policy analysis, and practice-based inquiry are especially welcome alongside theoretical and empirical work.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Digital democracy, governance, and technological power
  
• AI ethics, justice, and social inequality
  
• Environment, extraction, sustainability, and digital degrowth
  
• Art, culture, and critical AI practices
  
• Agency, resistance, and subjectivity in the age of AI
  
• Education, AI-assisted learning, and digital literacy
  
• Media and communication: platforms, algorithms, and technological imaginaries
  
• Synthetic research: methods, risks, and epistemic challenges
  
• Human-machine communication: power, design, and human-AI relations
  
• Speculative and alternative technological futures
  

Submission Guidelines

All abstracts must be submitted exclusively through the abstract submission form. Each submission should include:

• Title
  
• Abstract (500–600 words)
  
• 3–5 keywords
  
• Name, current position, affiliation, email address, and a short biography (no more than 200 words) of all authors
  

Authors are required to use the provided abstract template. Submit via: https://forms.gle/vTQBWAJCmU1vQnk38

For inquiries regarding submissions: emerge@ifdt.bg.ac.rs

Organizers

The 2026 edition is co-organized by the Digital Society Lab of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade and the Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Serbia. EMERGE is an event organized by the Digital Society Lab of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, dedicated to exploring the social, ethical, political, environmental, and cultural implications of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. Combining an annual forum with a biannual academic conference, it brings together scholars, researchers, artists, policymakers, and practitioners for critical interdisciplinary exchange.

Interdisciplinary Scope

The conference welcomes contributions from philosophy, sociology, political theory, media and communication studies, cultural studies, art theory, education, design, computer science, and related disciplines. Contributions grounded in case studies, action research, policy analysis, and practice-based inquiry are especially welcome alongside theoretical and empirical work.

We look forward to your submissions and to the conversations EMERGE 2026 will open.

Journal of Advertising (Special issue)

Deadline: July 31, 2026

Advertising regulation is becoming increasingly important as governments, industry bodies and international organizations respond to mounting concerns over online harms, misinformation, sustainability, and consumer vulnerability. With the rapid growth of social media, AI-generated content and advanced forms of data tracking, advertising is now woven into the fabric of daily life, often in ways that are not visible or well understood. These technological and market developments have moved faster than the regulatory systems intended to manage them, creating significant gaps in the protection of the public, particularly for children and other vulnerable groups.

Globally, regulators are rethinking how advertising should be governed in the face of a shifting digital landscape and rising pressure for more responsible corporate behavior (Dickinson-Delaporte et al., 2020; Stewart, 2019). The rapid growth of digital advertising has significantly complicated regulatory oversight, as traditional rules struggle to keep pace with real-time, algorithm-driven targeting, cross-border content flows, and platform-mediated ad placements. This complexity is heightened by the opacity of digital advertising supply chains, where intermediaries and platform algorithms operate with limited transparency, highlighting the need for more responsive and accountable regulatory approaches.

Advertising regulatory approaches vary across the globe, and typically include government regulation, where laws and public agencies enforce advertising standards; industry self-regulation, where advertising bodies develop and apply their own codes of practice; media-led regulation, where platforms or publishers set and enforce their own standards of practice; and the laissez-faire approach, which relies on market forces and consumer response to address advertising issues without formal oversight. There is often a hybrid approach in practice, with many countries combining elements of these models to suit regulatory, cultural, and market contexts (see Appendix 1 for advertising regulation models in top 10 ad-spending countries).

Increasingly, there is recognition of the need for stronger mechanisms and greater international coordination (Greer & Thompson, 1985) across different regulatory forms, in order to address the dynamic issues of the contemporary world, such as online safety (Ahmad et al., 2024; Diaz Ruiz, 2025), advertising fraud (Liang et al., 2024), the use of AI (Hardcastle et al., 2025), influencer advertising (Asquith & Fraser, 2020), environmental claims and greenwashing (Parguel et al., 2015; Schmuck et al., 2018), advertising of harmful products (Abernethy & Teel, 1986; Adams et al., 2012), and gender stereotyping (Antoniou & Akrivos, 2020; Knoll et al., 2011) (see Appendix 2 for examples of recent changes in advertising regulation).

At the same time, efforts to enhance consumer protections are meeting resistance. In contexts such as the United Kingdom and the United States, anti-regulatory sentiment is gaining traction, driven by concerns that increased oversight might restrict innovation and economic progress. This push and pull between protecting the public and preserving commercial freedom is making the regulation of advertising a more urgent and contested issue. Public distrust of digital platforms and unease about how personal data is used for advertising only sharpen the need for a re-evaluation of current frameworks. In this context, we highlight the crucial role advertising research plays in informing and shaping such regulatory frameworks (Kees & Andrews, 2019).

With this Special Issue, we focus on the systems that govern advertising, rather than on advertising content or ethical intention alone. Our interest lies in the legal, institutional, and procedural arrangements that support, or fail to support, ethical and socially beneficial advertising. We aim to draw attention to the conditions under which regulation can enable greater transparency, accountability, and harm reduction. Beyond analyzing what regulation currently does, we also seek to develop theory on what advertising regulation could become: how regulatory development might advance social wellbeing, shape markets more ethically, and position advertising as a force for social good. The purpose is not to promote one model of regulation over another, but to build a deeper understanding of how governance - in all its forms - shapes advertising’s societal influence and its capacity to address pressing societal issues.

We encourage submissions that theorize how regulatory approaches effect social change, and conceptual papers that propose new directions for research on advertising governance. We welcome empirical contributions that adopt multidisciplinary perspectives (Rotfeld & Taylor, 2009) and employ diverse methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks, including—but not limited to—work grounded in Transformative Advertising Research (Gurrieri et al., 2022), institutional theory, market shaping, and ethics. We are especially interested in scholarship that explores where regulation is falling short, how new interventions affect both industry and society, and theorizing that can help reimagine advertising regulation in light of contemporary challenges.

Key Themes and topics

We invite submissions that address regulatory questions across the following areas:

• Advertising and Institutional Change: How advertising regulation influences social norms, consumer rights, and the broader role of advertising in shaping public life, which may include examination of the role of consumer advocacy.
  
• Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Accountability: The use of regulation to support sustainable advertising, reduce greenwashing and strengthen corporate responsibility, which may include for example, how different jurisdictions address misleading sustainability advertising.
  
• Risk, Innovation and Regulatory Resilience: The effects of regulation on managing business risk, and how to design adaptable frameworks that remain effective in fast-moving digital environments.
  
• Regulation of Cross-Border Challenges, Geo-socio-political Contexts and Global Disparities: Comparative studies of regulatory approaches to particular challenges, including successful reforms, international coordination, and lessons for different contexts. How governmental structures, socio-political context, or culture influence forms of regulation and prioritization of regulatory issues across different geographical contexts.
  
• Industry Practice, Responsibility and Culture: The impact of regulation on advertising professionals, industry cultures, and legal responsibility for harmful advertising processes or outcomes.
  
• Online Harms and Safety, Surveillance and Algorithmic Systems: Regulatory responses to harmful online advertising practices, particularly concerning vulnerable populations. The role of advertising platforms in spreading or combating harmful content, for example online hate speech and misinformation.
  
• Advertising Fraud: The rise of advertising fraud, including deceptive programmatic ads, click fraud, and misleading financial promotions.
  
• Gender Stereotypes and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG): Evaluating the effectiveness of regulatory interventions in addressing gendered advertising harms.
  
• Social Media Influencers and Digital Advertising: Regulatory gaps in influencer marketing and sponsored content disclosures.
  
• Generative AI and Deepfake Advertising: Ethical and regulatory challenges posed by AI-generated advertising content.
  
• Harmful or Addictive Products: Regulatory approaches to advertising of HFSS foods, alcohol, gambling, and social media addiction.
  
• As advertising continues to shape consumer behavior and societal norms, regulation plays a crucial role in mitigating harm and fostering positive change. This Special Issue seeks to advance discussions on how regulatory frameworks can help to create an advertising ecosystem that prioritizes social good, consumer well-being, and ethical advertising practices.

(please contact Guest Editors for list of references)

Submission Instructions

Submissions should follow the manuscript format guidelines for JA found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?show=instructions&journalCode=ujoa20. The word count should be no longer than 12,000 words for Original Research Articles and Literature Reviews, and 6,000 words for Research Notes (including references, tables, figures, and appendices).

The submission deadline is July 31, 2026

All manuscripts should be submitted through the JA Submission Site. The link to the submission site can be found at this link (“Go to submission site”). Authors should select “Article Type” (e.g., research article, literature review) on the first page of the submission website. On the second page, authors will be asked if this is for a specific special issue or article collection. Select “Yes” and select “Social Change and the Role of Advertising Regulation” from the drop-down menu. Please also note in the cover letter that the submission is for the Special Issue on Social Change and the Role of Advertising Regulation: New Challenges and Opportunities.

All articles will undergo blind peer review by at least two reviewers.

The anticipated date for publication of the Special Issue is June 2027.

Any questions about the Special Issue can be sent to the guest editors: Drs. Karen Middleton, Kristina Auxtova, Lauren Gurrieri & Sean Sands at AdRegulationJA@gmail.com.

Tallinn University, Estonia

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to share an open PhD vacancy at Tallinn University in Estonia within RePIM, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network on Revisioning Public Interest Media (www.repimnetwork.eu). The project focuses on audience data management and performance measurement in the cross-media landscape, with a particular emphasis on public service media, data analytics skills, and advanced proficiency in Python or R, as well as familiarity with SQL.

The position is hosted at Tallinn University’s Baltic Film, Media and Arts School and will be co-supervised by Prof. Ulrike Rohn, Tallinn University, and Prof. Jannick Sørensen, Aalborg University in Denmark. It includes collaboration with the Estonian Public Broadcaster ERR.

Further information and application details are available here.

Submission period: 18 May to 29 June 2026.

October 2–3, 2026

University of Oviedo (Historic Building), Spain

Deadline for submission: May 15, 2026

The University of Oviedo, through the Department of Art History and Musicology, in collaboration with the R&D Project Music and Audiovisual Media: Intermedial Transits, Heritage and Cultural Dialogues (MUSIMA) (PID2023-147271NB-I00), announces the call for papers for the International Conference on Identities, Ideologies and Aesthetics in Subcultures, Music Scenes and Urban Tribes, to be held on October 2–3, 2026, at the Historic Building of the University of Oviedo.

This event builds on previous initiatives such as the Conference on Subcultures, Identities and Other Rhetorics of Participation (SUIPA, Complutense University of Madrid, 2024) and gatherings organized by Punk Scholars Iberia. It is conceived as a forum for academic exchange and discussion, bringing together researchers interested in subcultures, music scenes, urban tribes, and related sociocultural formations within popular culture.

The conference adopts an open academic approach, welcoming contributions from a wide range of disciplines, empirical contexts, and analytical perspectives. It aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue across fields such as Sociology, Cultural Studies, Musicology, Communication, Anthropology, Cultural Geography, and the Arts and Humanities.

Full call for papers and further details: https://congreso-subculturas-2026.webnode.es/

Thematic areas include:

• Concepts, categories, and theorization
  
• Digital cultures, video games, media ecologies, and platforms
  
• Creativity, emerging technologies, and artificial intelligence
  
• Spaces, territories, and urban and rural studies
  
• Situated, mixed, collaborative, and visual methodologies
  
• Memory, musical heritage, nostalgia, and revival
  
• Political economy, cultural labor, and alternative media
  
• Bodies, gender, queerness, and political action
  
• Photography, fashion, and other artistic media
  
• Popular music
  
• Audiovisual media
  
• Film, photography, and music festivals and live events
  

Submission guidelines:

Proposals should be sent to: congresosubculturas@gmail.com

Subject line: “PROPUESTA DE COMUNICACIÓN UNIOVI 2026”

Submissions must include a single PDF file containing:

• An abstract (max. 250 words)
  
• A short biographical note (max. 150 words)
  
• Indication of up to three thematic areas
  

Proposals may be submitted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or any of the co-official languages of Spain. Only in-person presentations will be accepted.

Contact: congresosubculturas@gmail.com

September 17-18, 2026

Online

Deadline (EXTENDED): May 30, 2026

ECREA 2026 Post-Conference

Organised by the ECREA Section Children, Youth and Media; ECREA TWG Aging and Communication; and CNSC – UOC research group

This post-conference explores intergenerationality in contemporary mediated lives, focusing on how different generations interact, learn, and communicate across evolving media environments. It brings together scholars and practitioners to reflect on research, practices, and policies related to intergenerational communication. Topics include intergenerational research approaches, media use across age groups, digital literacy and inclusion, family communication, and critical perspectives on ageism and generational stereotypes.

Call for Papers

Abstract deadline: 30 May 2026

Submission form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfKci7psWj6RDZqq1Qo6Sn8Hxwxag_2F58iZirLGJKR1bmEkQ/viewform?pli=1

More info: https://symposium.uoc.edu/149878/detail/connected-generations-media-communication-and-intergenerational-exchange-in-contemporary-lives-17-1.html

Deadline: September 30, 2026

Four Portuguese free-to-read and free-to-publish journals in the field of Communication Studies (published by public universities) – Comunicação e Sociedade, Estudos em Comunicação, Media & Jornalismo, and Observatorio (OBS*) – have decided to jointly launch a special issue with the aim of fostering reflection on the policies and logics of sharing scientific knowledge.

With the aim of charting a counter-trend path (and within an unprecedented collaborative initiative), we seek submissions that interrogate the material and institutional conditions of conducting research in Communication Studies, including the role of digital platforms in the circulation of knowledge, the limits and potential of open access, and the tensions between quantitative evaluation and the substantive quality of reflection and critical thought.

Suggested Topics

• Marketization of science and academic capitalism;
  
• Academic freedom and university autonomy;
  
• Forms of cultural and organizational resistance;
  
• The nature and reconfiguration of scientific reputation;
  
• Science and language policies;
  
• Academic and scientific rankings;
  
• Oligopolies and scientific publishing;
  
• Metrics, quantification, and impact;
  
• Open access policies and repositories;
  
• The impact of AI on scientific writing and review;
  
• Invisibility, bias, and inequality in scientific citations;
  
• Big Tech, platformization, and publishing ecosystems;
  
• Algorithmic regimes of visibility and classification;
  
• Research independence and innovation agendas;
  
• Research assessment, DORA, and alternatives.

Full manuscripts may be submitted in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

Submission Period: April 20 to September 30, 2026.

Publication Period: 1st Semester of 2027.

More information here:

https://obs.obercom.pt/index.php/obs/announcement/view/3 

https://impactum-journals.uc.pt/mj/announcement/view/352 

https://revistacomsoc.pt/.../revist.../announcement/view/128 

https://ojs.labcom-ifp.ubi.pt/ec/announcement/view/99 

September 4, 2026

Online

Deadline: June 1, 2026

Full call available at: https://ecrea2026brno.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/14.-ECREA-PHILCOM-PRECONF-BRNO-v2.docx.pdf

Short description: What does it mean to communicate authentically when the boundary between human and machine-generated content becomes increasingly porous? How do we theorise the ethical self when generative AI systems can predict, anticipate, and even construct our communicative preferences and behaviours?