[Commlist] CFP Problemi dell’informazione Special Issue: “Beyond Boosterism: New Questions and Approaches regarding AI and Automation in Journalism”

*Problemi dell'Informazione*

*Call for Papers _Special Issue - n. 1/2024*

*‘/ Beyond Boosterism: New Questions and Approaches regarding AI and 
Automation in Journalism/’.*

*Guest editors*: Colin Porlezza, Aljosha Karim Schapals & Laura Pranteddu

*Description*


With the launch of ChatGPT, artificial intelligence (AI) has yet again 
become a trending topic marked by a sense of boosterism. Particularly in 
news organizations, AI and automation came with great promises and 
expectations, to the point that the technology has actually become 
pervasive in the newsmaking process. The advanced application of 
computing, algorithms, and automation to the gathering, evaluation, 
composition, presentation, and distribution of news - sometimes referred 
to as computational, automated, robot, or algorithmic journalism - is 
commonly regarded as helpful to support newswork. However, these tools 
not only support journalists in their everyday work, but they change the 
nature, roles, and workflows of journalism, forcing journalists to find 
themselves more often than not in interactions with technologies and 
technologists around the purpose of re-designing and innovating news.

While the scholarly investigation into the different impacts of AI and 
automation on journalism and journalists have been pushed forward quite 
a bit, other areas such as the ethical risks, the responsible use, as 
well as the governance of AI in journalism - in particular since 
institutions like the European Union or the Council of Europe have 
started to tighten their regulatory grip around the technology - are 
only beginning to attract more attention from the academic community. 
The same applies to the changing relationships between humans and 
machines, since the increased use of automation requires news 
organizations to implement new structures and processes; first, to allow 
for a collaboration between technologists and journalists for tool 
design and development purposes; and second, to allow for hybrid 
human-computer news production without undermining editorial oversight. 
In addition, how is automation impacting journalistic epistemology, and 
to what extent is the need for an increased AI and data literacy in 
newsrooms being tackled? Overall, the excitement over the technology 
comes with many unresolved contradictions about the potential 
consequences and challenges.

For this special issue of Problemi dell'informazione, we are looking for 
papers that empirically and theoretically engage with the issue of AI 
and automation in journalism, offering new and alternative approaches in 
one or more of the following dimensions. Possible topics include, but 
are not limited to:

- *The governance of AI* (e.g. to what extent are regulators including 
news and journalism in reflections on how to regulate AI? At what level 
are regulatory frameworks currently sought or implemented? What kind of 
implications do regulatory frameworks such as the AI Act or the 
guidelines for responsible use of AI in journalism by the Council of 
Europe have on news organizations and journalism? What kind of legal 
challenges does automation entail?)

- *Ethical issues related to the design and use of automation in 
journalism* (how can we ensure a responsible use of AI in journalism; to 
what extent have Codes of Ethics been adapted, and do they need to be 
adapted in the first place; what kind of ethical risks and societal 
threats come with the technology?)

- *Issues regarding human-computer interaction* (what kind of 
interactions occur between human and non-human producers, distributors, 
and consumers of news; how are hybrid human-AI workflows that reflect 
domain values designed; how and by what kind of processes are automated 
systems implemented in newsrooms)?

- *The design of AI and automation tools in newsrooms* (how can 
journalists and technologists collaborate in interdisciplinary ways; how 
are these innovation processes structured within the news organizations; 
what kind of workflows do co-design processes include?)

- *To what extent are AI and automation changing and challenging the 
epistemologies of journalism* (e.g. in terms of knowledge production and 
dissemination, but also in terms of the field’s borders?)

- *The need for AI and data literacy* (what is currently being done to 
foster AI and data literacy in news organizations; how should future 
generations of journalists be educated to be able to collaborate in the 
co-design, develop, and use AI-driven media tools responsibly? What kind 
of responsibility do news organizations have in terms of fostering AI 
and data literacy among the audience?)


*Submission of proposals*
- *Deadline for abstract submissions: April 30, 2023*
- Decision by issue editors sent by: May 15, 2023
- Full paper submissions: August 30, 2023
- First round of reviews completed by: October 30, 2023
- Resubmissions of papers: December 15, 2023
- Second round of reviews completed by: January 15, 2024
- Submission of final manuscripts: February 15, 2024

Abstracts (300/500 words plus references) in English or in Italian 
should be submitted at:
https://submission.rivisteweb.it/index.php/pdi 
<https://submission.rivisteweb.it/index.php/pdi>

Abstracts should be proposed for the section “Saggi”. Please indicate 
that the proposal is for the special issue edited by Porlezza, Schapals, 
Pranteddu in the box “Comments for the editor”.

For further information about the submission process, please 
contact:(laura.pranteddu /at/ usi.ch) <mailto:(laura.pranteddu /at/ usi.ch)>

There are no APC (article processing charge) for authors.


*About the venue*

Established in 1976, Problemi dell’Informazione (PdI) has been the first 
Italian scientific journal focusing specifically on journalism and 
communication studies. Since then, PdI has represented a dedicated venue 
for the development of a vivid debate on these topics, fueled both by 
academic research and by contributions from professionals. More recently 
PdI has expanded its aims and scope by broadly considering all forms of 
communication, also to keep pace with the latest transformations in the 
field of journalism and of journalism studies. PdI publishes 
contributions in Italian and in English after a rigorous double-blind 
peer review process.


*Principal Editor*: Carlo Sorrentino.

Here (https://www.mulino.it/riviste/issn/0390-5195 
<https://www.mulino.it/riviste/issn/0390-5195>

<https://www.mulino.it/riviste/issn/0390-5195 
<https://www.mulino.it/riviste/issn/0390-5195>>) its national and 
international board.

Problemi dell'Informazione is A-class rated journal by ANVUR (Italian 
National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research 
Systems) in Sociology of culture and communication (SPS/08).


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