[Commlist] Call for abstracts for seminar on extremism on social media

/Call for abstracts/

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The insurrection against the US Capitol on January 6th 2021 marked a 
culmination of online conspiracy theories, including PizzaGate and 
QAnon, and different strands of misinformation about election results, 
COVID-19 vaccines, and climate change, persistently circulating on 
social media. Significantly, insurrectionists did not come together 
under the banner of a single ideological cause. Instead, today’s 
landscape of extremism is shaped by what researchers and intelligence 
services variably call ‘salad bar extremism’, ‘fused extremism’, ‘DIY 
extremism’ or ‘hybridized extremism’.

The algorithmic and transmedial infrastructure of social media plays a 
significant role in the development and spread of many conspiratorial 
and extremist narratives online and enables them to enter the mainstream 
public discourse, accelerated by intense news reporting in legacy media. 
Under these conditions, seemingly everything can be adopted into 
conspiracy narratives which cater to both nationalist right wing 
extremists, religious fundamentalists, New Age bohemians, “yoga mums” 
and anti-authorities skeptics across the political spectrum.

This seminar invites presentations that consider the hybridity of this 
contemporary landscape of conspiracy theories, misinformation and 
extremism theoretically and/or empirically, e.g., through case studies 
of specific online communities and narratives, memetic media, 
influencers and celebrities on social media.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

-Extremism and memetic culture

-Extremism on different platforms (Facebook, X, TikTok, 4Chan, Telegram 
etc.)

-The relationship between conspiracy theories, fandom and popular culture

-Algorithms and the spread of hate and false information

-     Genres and aesthetics of extremism and conspiracy-content

-     Platform policy and content moderation

-     Anonymity online and ‘secret’ or hidden online spaces

-     Digital affordances and digital practices in communities engaged 
with conspiracy theories, misinformation and extremism.

Please submit your abstract of max 200 words and an author bio of max 
100 words to organizers Associate Professor Line Nybro Petersen and 
Postdoc Mikkel Bækby Johansen at (socialmediaextremismseminar /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(socialmediaextremismseminar /at/ gmail.com)> before March 1, 2024. 
Participants will be notified by March 15, 2024.

The seminar is part of the ongoing Horizon Europe-project (2023-2026): 
SMIDGE: Social Media Narratives: Addressing Extremism in Middle Age led 
by UCPH and Du Monfort University, Leicester. Follow the SMIDGE-project 
at: www.smidgeproject.eu <http://www.smidgeproject.eu>

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