[Commlist] CfP Mobilization, Resistance and Learning in Times of Polarized Social Communication and AI Slop

*Call for Papers *

**

*Time to Take Part:  Mobilization, Resistance and Learning in Times of 
Polarized Social Communication and AI Slop *

A Two-Day Conference Organized by the TakePart Project 
<http://www.takepart.ro> at Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania

7-8 May 2026

Keynote speakers:

*Jennifer Earl*, University of Delaware

*Alice Mattoni*, University of Bologna

Deadline for abstracts: *18 January 2026*

When social media came of age, in the late noughties, a sense of 
upheaval was hard to avoid. As the internet took its mobile turn, social 
media were fast transitioning from the web to smart phone apps. Everyday 
life as well as extraordinary moments were chronicled, made visible and 
distributed online by a rapidly expanding contingent of people connected 
across the world. Enabled by the technology, their connections were not 
imminent. Yet, concerns with gaping inequalities, economic hardship, 
political repression or the climate emergency brought people out onto 
the streets in places as far apart as Tunisia, Brazil, the United 
States, Romania or Hong Kong. Personal accounts of poignant experiences 
circulated at pace and at scale among intersecting networks of friends, 
family, community and campaign organisations, media and political 
actors, many of whom coalesced into social movements. This was the time 
of the Green Revolution in Iran, the Arab Spring, the Indignados and the 
Occupy Movement. Many more protests have followed in their wake, many 
observed for insights into the social and psychological mechanisms 
implicated by the use of social media, the ramifications for politics, 
political socialisation and civic engagement of the networking and 
content-sharing platforms turned social infrastructures.

There has been much scepticism about the transformative capacity of 
social media, the events, the cultural practices or the politics of 
those social movements incubated at the cusp of the first and the second 
decades of this century. Social media have become unapologetic 
algorithmic machines geared towards profit-making, devoid of any 
previously assumed democratic mission. Much of the content circulating 
on them is manipulative, divisive and is rapidly suffused with AI slop. 
From fictitious protest events on culturally sensitive issues to 
corporate ads sowing doubt about opposition to their practices, social 
media are the mainstage where competition for the scarce resource of the 
current age, attention, is playing out. In this highly distributed but 
increasingly fraught communication environment, inquiries into how 
people continue to adapt and respond to ongoing changes in 
socio-cultural practices and technological innovation remain decidedly 
topical.

Hosted at Babes-Bolyai University by the international team of 
researchers on the TakePart Project (https://www.takepart.ro/the-team/ 
<https://www.takepart.ro/the-team/>), this two-day conference invites 
paper submissions grappling with the meaning and significance of 
persistent socio-technological transformation on civic and political 
participation. We encourage submissions addressing questions to do with 
adaptation, learning, resilience and resistance among citizens and 
myriad communities mobilising in support of democracy but also in 
opposition to democratic elites and institutions; in solidarity with 
people experiencing war and deprivation but also with those who feel 
left behind or sidelined; carried out by people who are innovating with, 
challenging and repurposing platforms, algorithms or AI prompts and 
agents; of those who instigate or actively oppose social and political 
change.

We welcome papers on these aspects, but not limited to them, as well as 
on kindred questions such as:

  * What is the future of activism, social movement and civic
    participation in the fast-developing age of artificial intelligence?
  * How are social media and artificial intelligence implicated in the
    social learning of civic participation—ranging from protesting to
    petition signing and volunteering and with what consequences?
  * How are fake news and AI slop filtering into protest communication
    and with what consequences?
  * In what ways do artificial intelligence and social media platforms
    reproduce or challenge existing gendered and racialized power
    structures in civic engagement, from visibility in protest movements
    to access to organizing tools?
  * What is the latest evidence on the relationship between the use of
    social media or artificial intelligence, support for protests and
    protest participation? What longitudinal trends can be observed?
    What are the implications of any such links for protest success?
  * How do marginalized groups, particularly women, LGBTQ+ individuals,
    and racial minorities experience and navigate digital activism in a
    communication environment marked by heightened cultural and
    affective polarization?
  * How do activists negotiate the intricate communication environment
    where social media algorithms, generative artificial intelligence
    and evolving media organisations shape exposure and interpretation
    of grievances and collective action? How do they mobilise supporters
    and participants? How do they engage opponents and policymakers and
    with what success?
We invite *400-500-word abstracts *outlining empirical, theoretical or 
policy-oriented papers that address these or cognate topics. The 
abstract should summarize the research and provide some insight into 
even the most preliminary conclusions. It should be accompanied by a 
100-word biography of the presenter(s) together with contact details. 
Additionally, we will consider panel proposals as long as they seek to 
address one or more of the conference questions. Panel abstracts should 
similarly be 400-500 words in length and, in addition, should include 
the list of papers to be presented and the author biographies.

**

*Abstracts/panel proposals/biographies/contact details * should be 
*emailed to **(victor.cepoi /at/ ubbcluj.ro)* <mailto:(victor.cepoi /at/ ubbcluj.ro)>*.*

All papers presented at the conference will receive comments from a 
discussant. In the run-up to the event, the organisers will seek to 
assemble a special issue of either Information, Communication & Society 
or another high-ranking international journal dedicated to the 
conference proceedings. They will select a collection of conference 
papers and will invite participants to *submit their manuscripts for 
publication in the special issue. *

**

Authors of accepted papers will have to register their participation and 
pay a conference fee of 50EUR upon registration. The fee will be waived 
for PhD students and candidates as well as for independent researchers. 
Participants will be asked to make their own travel arrangements, but 
the organisers will offer affordable accommodation in university 
residence halls for all interested. More information about accommodation 
will be provided upon registration.


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------