[Commlist] Call for book chapters - “Cyber Events. Journalism, Narratives and Technocriticism”

*Call for Book Chapters / Edited Volume*
**
*“Cyber Events. Journalism, Narratives and Technocriticism”*
Editors: Dr. Philip Di Salvo (Universität St. Gallen) and Dr. Paolo Bory 
(Politecnico di Milano)
Under contract in the “Frontiers in Journalism Studies”, published by 
Peter Lang
**
*_Book rationale:_*
**Journalism has been central to shaping public understanding of the 
economic, political, and cultural impacts of digital technologies. It 
has also served as a key arena where competing visions of emerging 
technologies are negotiated. Media narratives often oscillate from early 
utopian or dystopian excitement to more grounded critique as 
technologies become embedded in society.

The edited volume will examine journalism’s role in key moments and 
controversies in the recent history of digital technologies, exploring 
both how it has shaped and disseminated narratives and how it has been 
influenced by these events. The newsworthiness of certain events and 
technologies has at times pushed journalism toward speculative or 
sensational accounts, drawing on unreliable sources or projecting the 
future impact of emerging technologies. Such narratives, as shown by 
scholarship in media and journalism studies, have the capacity to 
influence technological trajectories by shaping perceptions among a 
broad audience, including readers, stakeholders, institutions, and tech 
companies. In other cases, particularly over the past two decades, 
journalism has actively contributed to shaping narratives through scoops 
and revelations. Events such as the Snowden disclosures or the Cambridge 
Analytica scandal, while centered on technological issues, carried 
broader social, political, and ethical implications. By reporting on 
these events, journalists have elevated critical topics, such as 
surveillance, data justice, and the datafication of citizens and media 
users, into the public sphere, reaching audiences that were previously 
limited to experts, academics, or activists. Overall, the volume aims to 
provide a comprehensive overview of journalism’s dual role in both 
reflecting and influencing the development, perception, and societal 
impact of digital technologies, highlighting its power to shape public 
understanding and the course of technological change.

To join the dots of these narratives and debates and address the impact 
they have had on our contemporary societies, this volume aims at 
bringing together the critical view of scholars on some key events in 
the recent history of digitization and on how journalism has played a 
part in reporting them to the public. More importantly, it will broaden 
the focus on these events from addressing their coverage to also reflect 
on how journalism actively played a part in the shaping these events and 
how, wherever possible, journalism was also influenced by these events. 
Cyber events refer to media events of international significance that 
put the role and socio-historical changes that a given technology, or a 
specific interaction with it, can bring about at the centre of public 
discourse. The concept of the /cyber event/ serves here as a theoretical 
anchor to identify those moments when the status quo of the 
socio-technical landscape has been challenged.

A number of contributions have already been allocated, and we are now 
seeking up to seven chapters that address, but are not limited to, the 
following themes: the launch of ChatGPT-3; the Snowden case a decade 
later; the rise and implications of “the Techlash”; the Pegasus spyware 
scandal; the development and impact of the AI Act; and Gamergate. 
Proposals that approach these themes from interdisciplinary perspectives 
are especially encouraged. The book is not intended to be limited to 
content, framing, or discourse analysis. While such approaches may 
certainly be incorporated within individual chapters, the overarching 
aim is to engage with broader meta-discourses, critically examining how 
journalism has interpreted and made sense of these cyber events, how it 
has been shaped by them, and how it has, in turn, been affected or 
transformed by their occurrence. We particularly welcome contributions 
that widen the geographical, methodological, and conceptual scope of the 
volume. As we are committed to assembling a diverse and inclusive 
authorship, we strongly encourage submissions from scholars of varied 
gender identities, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and especially from 
researchers based outside Europe and the United States.

      Interested authors are invited to submit an abstract of maximum 
500 words by January 11th. The abstract should clearly outline the scope 
of the chapter, its methodological approach, and the main narrative or 
argument. Please include a brief author bio with your submission. 
Abstracts should be sent via email to: (_philip.disalvo /at/ unisg.ch) 
<mailto:(philip.disalvo /at/ unisg.ch)>_ and (_paolo.bory /at/ polimi.it) 
<mailto:(paolo.bory /at/ polimi.it)>_. Selected authors will be notified by 
January 31st, and the deadline for full chapters (maximum 6,500 words) 
is May 31st. For any questions about the edited volume, please reach out 
to the editors.

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