[Air-L] Call for Abstracts: Open Research Infrastructures and Resources for Communication and Media Studies

[Christian Strippel]

Last chance to submit your abstract! (Deadline: 15 Sept 2025)


Special Issue @ Media and Communication 
"Open Research Infrastructures and Resources for Communication and Media Studies"

https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/issue/futureissues#i504 

Academic Editor(s): Silke Fürst (University of Zurich), Johannes Breuer (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences), Erik Koenen (University of Bremen), Dimitri Prandner (Johannes Kepler University of Linz), Christian Schwarzenegger (University of Bremen), and Christian Strippel (Weizenbaum Institute)

Submission of Abstracts: 1-15 September 2025
Submission of Full Papers: 15-31 January 2026
Publication of the Issue: July/December 2026

Many scholars and initiatives in communication and media research have called for a "cultural shift" in our discipline toward more open, reproducible, and replicable research practices and better access to infrastructures and shared research resources. However, when we look at the main forums in our field, we still see a lack of opportunities to share information on and experiences with such infrastructures and resources. Typically, this information is limited to brief references in articles, documentation scattered across the web, and informal exchanges among colleagues. A growing, but still limited number of journals have started to provide dedicated space for in-depth presentations or discussions of tools, datasets, or other resources.

This thematic issue aims to contribute to these efforts by providing a forum for debate and exchange on open research infrastructures for communication and media research, with a focus on non-commercial resources following open science principles. Hence, we particularly welcome submissions which:

Present, compare, or evaluate datasets, databases, and archives that provide research material and instruments for data analysis or data collection in the field of communication and media research;
Present, compare, or evaluate research software, models (e.g., classifiers), training data, dictionaries, or other resources, taking into account the specific requirements in the field of communication and media research;
Assess the extent to which open research infrastructures and resources are created and (re)used in communication and media research, discuss the factors that enable or constrain their adoption, and provide suggestions for ways forward;
Discuss the implications of creating, maintaining, and using reusable research data, archives, and tools for both quantitative and qualitative research practices in communication and media studies with regard to research inequalities between the Global North and the Global South or the English language hegemony.


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Weizenbaum Institute, Berlin (Germany)
Group Lead "Weizenbaum Panel" and "MethodsLab"
https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/en/portrait/p/christian-strippel/
https://panel.weizenbaum-institut.de/en/
https://methodslab.weizenbaum-institut.de/


Recent Publications:

– Ethics of Data Work: Principles for Academic Data Work Requesters <https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/media/Publikationen/Weizenbaum_Discussion_Paper/Weizenbaum_Discussion_Paper_48.pdf>
– Weizenbaum Report 2025: Political Participation in Germany <https://doi.org/10.34669/wi.wr/6.1>
– Data, archives, and tools: Introducing new publication formats on infrastructures and resources <https://doi.org/10.1007/s11616-023-00806-7>
– “The Boundaries are Blurry…”: How Comment Moderators in Germany See and Respond to Hate Comments <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2021.2017793>
– From Insult to Hate Speech: Mapping Offensive Language in German User Comments on Immigration <https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/3399>