[Commlist] CfA: Datafied Welfare for Human Flourishing

Call for Abstracts
Datafied Welfare for Human Flourishing: People-centered perspectives on 
automation and communication from Europe

Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research

Guest edited by: Christian Pentzold, Leipzig University, Germany; Anne 
Kaun, Södertörn University, Sweden; Stine Lomborg & Sille Obelitz Søe, 
both Copenhagen University, Denmark.

Much is at stake: The welfare sector across the EU faces growing demands 
and dwindling resources, with automation expected to bring about 
significant changes. Automated decisionmaking (ADM) is being proposed as 
a solution to improve efficiency in the provision of public goods and 
services by leveraging data-driven processes and reallocating resources 
to better support citizens’ well-being. Recent academic work, especially 
within the humanities and social sciences, has critically examined 
algorithms, datafication, and AI. These studies often emphasize the need 
for accountability in technical systems, focusing on data ethics, 
transparency, and regulatory oversight to safeguard human justice within 
ADM systems. Yet, real-world examples abound of human rights violations, 
including privacy breaches, biases in automated systems, and 
discriminatory outcomes. Cases such as the use of data for fraud 
detection, welfare distribution, and profiling vulnerable populations 
illustrate these issues globally. Consequently, concerns about the 
potential adverse effects of automation on various aspects of 
life—healthcare, welfare, labor, and the functioning of public 
spheres—have been raised by researchers, public figures, and the general 
public.

Stories about the implications of ADM for the welfare of citizens 
sometimes come to public scrutiny, such as a recent WIRED piece on the 
Danish welfare system turning into a ‘surveillance nightmare’. When 
these stories surface, they relay ADM as extraordinary and scandalous. 
But in fact, ADM for welfare provision is becoming ordinary, widespread, 
and is fundamentally changing the nature of public goods provision and 
public services, and thus the conditions for human flourishing. Some 
argue that ADM is critically altering European welfare states from being 
based on trust, equity and solidarity to being based on efficiency, 
control, and discrimination of vulnerable populations. This 
transformation is largely happening under the public radar. As 
governments try to ride the waves of automation and drive the 
exploitation of technological potentials and vast registers of data on 
citizens, we argue that it is urgent to have a critical and informed 
debate to shape the use of ADM in the interest of public values, and for 
the people. Indeed, this call comes at a moment when automation is 
changing the very notion of what communication and information is. 
Rather than being mainly about the rights and processes of creating and 
distributing messages, of speaking and being heard, data streams become 
significant assets and objects of interest no matter what they contain.

This Special Issue seeks to explore the impact of ADM on welfare and 
well-being from European perspectives. It starts from the position of 
those directly involved: the engineers and designers, the case workers 
who collaborate with these systems in welfare and service provision 
decisions, and the people whose data fuel the systems and are affected 
by automation efforts. The Special Issue aims to address the digital 
transformation of the citizen–state relationship by examining the 
development, data work, and human-machine collaboration within ADM, 
alongside the technological, social, and cultural dynamics that either 
facilitate or impede progress in automating welfare for the public good.

A people-centered approach builds on the idea that welfare in societies 
is fundamentally about fostering the conditions for the flourishing of 
everybody. Hence public goods and services provision becomes a question 
of justice and equity. When welfare is increasingly automated this 
consequently has implications for social justice for the people more 
generally and must be addressed through the lens of the people 
implicated in the process of automation.

The Special Issue is open to theoretical and empirical approaches. It 
invites senior as well as emerging scholars. Contributions can address, 
but are not limited to, the following aspects:

·      Conceptualizations of automation, datafication, and communication
·      Reflections on human flourishing in datafied and automated 
citizen–state relationships
·      Public communication and discourses around datafication and 
automation for the public good
·      Communicative and media practices around automation, datafication 
and artificial intelligence
·      Case studies of ADM implementation in public administration and 
public service provision, including public service broadcasting
·      ADM’s and AI-powered tools in newsrooms and their implications 
for journalistic practices and the public’s right to information
·      Policies, norms, and regulations of ADM deployment and development
·      Human rights perspectives on automation and public goods
·      Resistance and civic actions against automated processes
·      Impacts of ADM on employability in the media sector and beyond, 
and the shifting roles of human labor
·      Environmental and climate impacts of ADM and AI deployment for 
public service provision and media production

There will be no publication fee.

Timeline and procedure
500 to 700 word abstracts should be sent to 
((christian.pentzold /at/ uni-leipzig.de) 
<mailto:(christian.pentzold /at/ uni-leipzig.de)>) by March 30, 2025. The 
abstract should articulate: 1) the issue or research question to be 
discussed, 2) the methodological or critical framework used, and 3) the 
expected findings or conclusions. Feel free to consult with the Special 
Issue Editors about your article ideas and potential angles or approaches.

Decisions will be communicated to the authors by April 30, 2025. Invited 
paper submissions will be due August 31, 2025 and will be submitted to 
(christian.pentzold /at/ uni-leipzig.de) 
<mailto:(christian.pentzold /at/ uni-leipzig.de)>. They will then undergo peer 
review through Communications: The European Journal of Communication 
Research following the journal’s standard double-blind procedures. The 
invitation to submit a full article does not guarantee acceptance into 
the Special Issue. The Special Issue is scheduled for publication in 
summer 2026.

This call for abstracts is also accessible via
https://www.degruyter.com/publication/journal_key/COMM/downloadAsset/COMM_Datafied%20Welfare%20COMMUNICATIONS.pdf 
<https://www.degruyter.com/publication/journal_key/COMM/downloadAsset/COMM_Datafied%20Welfare%20COMMUNICATIONS.pdf>

Contact
Prof Christian Pentzold
Email: (christian.pentzold /at/ uni-leipzig.de)


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