[Air-L] Call for papers: Navigating Algorithmic Society: Audiences’ tactics to understanding the world

[Stina Bengtsson]

 Dear AoIR colleagues,

I'm writing to bring your attention to a the ECREA Audience and Reception Section’s Mid-Year Conference that will take place at Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden, on 30-31 October 2025. The theme of the conference is Navigating Algorithmic Society: Audiences’ tactics to understanding the world and the submission deadline is 1 May 2025. Our confirmed keynote speakers are Professor Stine Lomborg, University of Copenhagen, Associate professor Tiziano Bonini, University of Siena, and Professor Andra Siibak, University of Tartu.


ECREA Audience and Reception Section

Mid-Year Conference



30-31 October 2025

Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden



Conference theme: Navigating Algorithmic Society: Audiences’ tactics to understanding the world



Call for papers

Social media platforms have dramatically changed the ways that people of all ages encounter and engage with news and information, as well as manage vital aspects of everyday life. The algorithmically governed media landscape of today, likewise, not only situates media users in a ‘world of information plenty’ but shapes our daily practices and impacts on how we think, learn, and socialise.



This entanglement of media technologies and everyday life is challenging for a variety of reasons, not least as the structure of platforms is ephemeral and fluctuating. A notable example is how Twitter was swiftly turned into X, while the outcome of the American election pushed many users to leave the platform for less politicised alternatives. New platforms, similarly, emerge for the management of people’s professional networks, just as young people and children in many parts of the world rapidly gather around TikTok as a key source of information and entertainment.



The ephemerality of “the space of the world” of platforms is particularly pertinent to discuss in politically turbulent times, as the need for stable and predictable spaces for exchange of information and organisation of daily life is crucial – and increasingly threatened. Understanding the role and consequences of the shifting digital landscape for society and human life is an urgent task for scholars of varied fields related to media audiences, with a need to discuss the altering relationships between media technologies, audiences’ practices, and the use of content and information on social media. How do media users – across Europe and beyond – navigate and develop tactics to stay informed and socially connected in this rapidly shifting media landscape – and what does it mean for the spread of information, for social cohesion and for everyday life?



Main topic

Navigating algorithmic society



Subtopics

  *   Algorithms and datafication
  *   Cross European research
  *   Social media and information
  *   Platforms and everyday life
  *   Decolonization of the field
  *   Participatory media
  *   Popular culture
  *   Audiences and news
  *   Media use and socialization
  *   Media literacies
  *   Information disorders
  *   Theoretical reflection and future perspectives of the field
  *   Methodological discussions



Keynote speakers

  *   Stine Lomborg, Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  *   Andra Siibak, Professor of Media Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia
  *
Tiziano Bonini, Associate Professor, University of Siena, Italy

Read more and submit your abstract here:

https://www.sh.se/english/sodertorn-university/calendar/events/2025-10-30-ecrea-audience-and-reception-studies-2025