[Air-L] CFP - EASST 2026, Krakow: Conceptualising "Waste" in the age of Digital Technologies and AI

[g. tavmen]

Dear colleagues,
I am organising a combined format open panel at the EASST 2026 conference in Krakow, Sept 8-11 titled "Conceptualising "Waste" in the age of Digital Technologies and AI". I invite you to send abstracts for a paper presentation as well as any other format beyond a traditional formats. Deadline is 9th March.

This panel explores how digital and AI technologies, often promoted as efficient and sustainable, generate material, economic, labour and ecological waste. By examining global inequalities, political economy and creative reuse practices, we rethink “waste” in the context of digital technologies and AI going beyond e-waste.

The aim of the panel is to broaden the notion of waste challenging essentialist approaches. In non-Western context, discard can also be a source of ‘making-do’ like in the case of so-called ‘frugal innovation’ that underpins Jugaad culture in India. In addition to the material waste disposed as a result of redundant infrastructures and hardware, we will also consider other forms of waste generated by the political economy of AI itself. For instance, the vast sums of venture capital invested in AI start-ups may represent not only financial waste but also the waste of time, labour, and resources, as a significant proportion of these ventures ultimately fail. In other words, such wasteful speculations end up ‘putting our economic/ecological’ future to waste. In summary, this panel seeks to consider digital (data) technologies from the perspective of waste in the pursuit of challenging dominant notions around it while also aiming to contribute to a roadmap for resilient futures. As well as traditional paper contributions, alternative formats of presentations are particularly welcome.

Please see the conference website for more information on how to submit proposals: https://easst.net/conference/easst2026/programme/#18299 


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You can also contact me directly.

Best wishes,Güneş

 

Dr Güneş Tavmen

Lecturer in Digital Infrastructures

Department of Digital Humanities

King’s College London