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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260922T150000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260922T170000
DTSTAMP:20260910T145108Z
CREATED:20260910T144027Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T145108Z
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SUMMARY:Queer and Feminist Digital Futures: Intimacy\, Affect and Community-led Future-Making
DESCRIPTION:Please join us for this international seminar\, which inaugurates the new academic year and has been co-organised by the Digital Society Research Group in the School of History\, Politics and Philosophy and the Postfoundational Futures Research Group in the School of Education. \n\n\n\nThe seminar will feature a panel of three papers\, with the abstracts provided below: \n\n\n\nPaper #1- Reimagining the ChatGPT5 Upgrade Through a Queer and Post-Digital Intimacies Lens\n\n\n\nAmelia Johns\, DISC Visiting Fellow and an Associate Professor in the School of Communication\, Faculty of Design and Society at UTS\, Sidney\, Australia \n\n\n\nIn this paper I use a queer and post-digital intimacies lens (Evans & Ringrose\, 2025; McGlotten\, 2013) to reimagine ChatGPT and other GenAI conversational agents beyond current dystopian/utopian discourses that regard humanity as either being at risk or liberated by AI. This paper will engage with a messier reality\, paying attention to the everyday\, intimate relationships users form with ChatGPT and other Conversational AI: as a friend who doesn’t judge and has time to listen\, a guide able to answer questions on relationship and health-related topics\, and a stand in therapist while users are in-between-sessions. In other words\, as a source of emotional care and support. We explore these themes through a close reading of user-responses to Open AI’s controversial update of its ChatGPT 4o model to Chat GPT5\, triggering a backlash in OpenAI forums\, Tik Tok and subreddit communities\, with users expressing grief and distress that their “best friend” had turned “cold”. The scale of the backlash was such that OpenAI quickly made the legacy model available for pro-tier users until finally the more “friendly” model was retired in April 2026. I will argue that this “off label” (Duguay\, 2017) use of conversational AI is challenging normative concepts of intimacy\, introducing sites of tension and possibility that are indicative of queer engagements with emerging technologies.  \n\n\n\nBio: Amelia Johns is a DISC Visiting Fellow and an Associate Professor in the School of Communication\, Faculty of Design and Society at UTS. Her research engages with young people’s civic and cultural connections formed through social and digital media and addresses the challenge of digital safety and misinformation.  \n\n\n\nPaper #2- Bodies that “glitch”: Binary AI systems and Queer Resistances\n\n\n\nOnur Kilic is a DISC Visiting Fellow and a postdoctoral reseacher at Umea University\, Sweden \n\n\n\nAI systems such as facial analysis and mocap often rely on labelled datasets to classify bodies into rigid categories\, frequently reproducing cisnormative\, racial capitalist\, and ableist assumptions. The use of bodily data in automated systems has intensified forms of undesirable identification\, such as AI-driven surveillance\, reducing bodies into identity markers to be (mis)detected. In this talk\, engaging with Legacy Russell’s “glitch feminism\,” I explore the affective role of bodies in glitching and resisting AI systems’ classificatory regimes and the role of queer resistance as a speculative force. \n\n\n\nBio: Onur Kilic is a DISC Visiting Fellow and a postdoctoral researcher at Umea University\, Sweden\, focusing on queer and decolonial perspectives on AI within Humlab. \n\n\n\nPaper #3- Community-led approaches to making fairer digital futures: Researcher-in-residence as creative feminist methodology\n\n\n\nRebecca Coleman (University of Bristol)\, Carolyn Hassan (Knowle West Media Centre) and Martha King (Knowle West Media Centre) \n\n\n\nCo-creation methodologies have proliferated across the arts\, humanities and social sciences over recent decades as researchers\, universities\, funders\, industry and policymakers seek to make research matter beyond the academy\, sometimes with different priorities. However\, such principles have long been central to feminist and other minoritarian practices attentive to questions of power\, politics and ethics and invested in making better worlds. In this article\, we argue that\, understood as a creative feminist methodology\, the Researcher in Residence (RiR) has much potential for exploring and supporting the imagination and building of fairer digital futures. We explore a RiR between a university researcher (Coleman) and arts centre and charity (Knowle West Media Centre) on developing community-led digital future-making. We suggest that future-making is an everyday practice\, including how communities negotiate existing and make new technologies\, but that it can be difficult to imagine and create futures that deviate from seemingly inevitable\, corporate trajectories. We argue that a collaborative\, creative\, feminist RiR can produce a sensibility and approach that intervenes in business as usual and supports community-led digital future-making. In particular\, we focus on how it can support experimentation which opens up seemingly closed practices while grounding them in particular situations\, interests and desires.  \n\n\n\nBio: Rebecca Coleman is Professor in the Bristol Digital Futures Institute (BDFI)\, ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures (CenSoF) and School of Sociology\, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS)\, University of Bristol. She was the first Researcher in Residence at Knowle West Media Centre\, an arts centre and charity\, in 2023-2025.
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/queer-and-feminist-digital-futures-intimacy-affect-and-community-led-future-making/
LOCATION:Brooks Building – BR 4.65\, Brooks\, 53 Bonsall St\, Hulme\, Manchester\, M15 6GX
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260611T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260611T190000
DTSTAMP:20260514T134530Z
CREATED:20260514T134345Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260514T134530Z
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SUMMARY:Critical AI Literacies: Roundtable Discussion & Exhibition
DESCRIPTION:Overview \n\n\n\nJoin MMU’s Digital Society (DISC) research group for a roundtable discussion and exhibition exploring the political\, social and cultural impacts of AI and digital technology. In 2024\, members of DISC launched a new initiative – the AI literacy working group – to address the urgent need to understand our engagement with AI in various areas of our lives. \n\n\n\nIn 2025\, DISC formed the AI Literacy Lab\, dedicated to developing AI Literacy toolkits across different disciplines (sociology\, criminology\, media studies\, philosophy\, fashion\, education). These toolkits were made in collaboration with the South Asian illustrator and graphic recorder\, Sonaksha Iyengar. \n\n\n\nDISC will explore the risks and responsibilities that come with adopting AI tools into education; new challenges that come with automating major political and business decisions; the impact of AI on creativity; its environmental impact and much\, much more. \n\n\n\nCome along to Chorlton Library during this year’s Festival of Libraries to learn more about the rapidly changing world of Artificial Intelligence. The roundtable discussion will take place on the 11th June\, and the exhibition will be on display from 10th-12th June. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbout the Digital Society Research Group (DISC) \n\n\n\nDISC is led by Adi Kuntsman\, Dan Joseph and Jessica Elias\, exploring all things digital from a range of social science and humanities perspectives. Their members take part in pioneering work on platform governance\, visual digital research\, game studies\, health informatics\, digital harms\, digital environmental sustainability\, AI literacy\, and qualitative digital methods. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister on Eventbrite
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/critical-ai-literacies-roundtable-discussion-exhibition/
LOCATION:Chorlton Library\, Manchester Road\, Chorlton-cum-Hardy\, M21 9PN
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260609T140000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260612T153000
DTSTAMP:20260605T223242Z
CREATED:20260605T181251Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260605T223242Z
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SUMMARY:Digital Politics Summer School 2026: Critical Approaches to AI Policy
DESCRIPTION:Organised and led by Jessica Elias\, Florence Chee\, Daniel Joseph\, Adi Kuntsman \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAre you a humanities or social science researcher\, student or practitioner\, interested in understanding and challenging current policies around generative AI? Please join us at our online Digital Politics Summer School 2026\, Critical Approaches to AI Policy. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe School is organised by the Digital Policy Observatory: a new\, visionary initiative\, to address digital policy through critical\, global and interdisciplinary lens. The Observatory is a partnership between CDEP (Center for Digital Ethics & Policy)\, Loyola University\, Chicago and DISC (Digital Society Research Group)\, Manchester Metropolitan University.  \n\n\n\nThe School takes place entirely online\, on 9-12 June 2026. Attendance is free but registration is required. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProgramme\n\n\n\nAll  times are in UK time zone\, please  check your time zone conversion here. \n\n\n\nDay 1: Tuesday 9 June\n\n\n\n\n2-3 pm Welcome notes: Jessica Elias\, Florence Chee\, Daniel Joseph\, Adi Kuntsman\n\n\n\nKeynote: “Policy at Play: Designing Critical AI Systems in Times of Polycrisis”\, Florence Chee\n\n\n\n3-4pm Discussion panel with André Brock\, Florence Chee  and Todd Harple\, chaired by Kyla Williams Tate\n\n\n\n\nDay 2: Wednesday 10 June\n\n\n\n\n1-2pm  Critical approach to AI policy:  Accountability. Presentations by Critical AI Policy Virtual Fellows\n\n\n\n3-4pm  Critical approach to AI policy:  Dignity. Presentations by Critical AI Policy Virtual Fellows\n\n\n\n\nDay 3: Thursday 11 June\n\n\n\n\n2-3pm Critical approach to AI policy:  Sustainability\, Equity\, Trust. Presentations by Critical AI Policy Virtual Fellows\n\n\n\n6pm A roundtable on Critical AI Literacies @Manchester Festival of Libraries. Taking place in hybrid format\, in Chorlton\, Manchester and online. Led by Jessica Elias\, Adi Kuntsman and DISC AI Literacies Lab.\n\n\n\n\nDay 4: Friday 12 June\n\n\n\n\n1-2pm Engaging Policymakers in/through Creative Practice. Workshop led by Jessica Elias\n\n\n\n2.30-3.30pm Concluding Event and launch of CDEP+DISC Virtual Policy Observatory\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister on Eventbrite
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/critical-approaches-to-ai-policy/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260508T123000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260508T150000
DTSTAMP:20260501T113007Z
CREATED:20260414T144353Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T113007Z
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SUMMARY:Searching for Fatness In and Through Digital Technologies
DESCRIPTION:ℹ️ Please note that the event will be held in a hybrid format (Grosvenor East and Online). \n\n\n\nOverview \n\n\n\nThis panel brings together three scholars exploring how fatness is represented\, constructed\, mediated\, and contested through digital technologies. This seminar will draw upon three separate bodies of work that converge on the critical politics of the representation\, historicisation\, and datafication of fat people. \n\n\n\nDr Kirsty Fife researches how fatness and fat people are represented – and misrepresented – through digital archival catalogues\, digitised collections\, and archival practices. This research identifies both challenges associated with finding\, archiving\, and interpreting records that represent fat people\, and emergent and liberatory alternatives that counter rather than reaffirm patterns of stigmatisation and erasure. \n\n\n\nDr Gemma Gibson traces the history of the body positivity movement in the UK and North America through memoirs\, life writing and her own personal recollections. Her research highlights the importance of the movement\, alongside its limitations and ultimate political dilution.  \n\n\n\nFinally\, Dr Aisha Sobey’s work examines how generative AI image models represent body size\, identifying how these representations reinforce normative bodily ideals\, fail to generate images of fat people or reproduce patterns of stigmatisation of fatness within society.  \n\n\n\nTogether\, the panellists open up a critical conversation about embodiment. They trace histories of stigmatisation\, resistance\, and fat politics from the archive to our current\, data-driven world. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeakers \n\n\n\n\nDr Gemma Gibson\, University Teacher in Digital Sociology\, School of Sociological Studies\, Politics and International Relations\, The University of Sheffield\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Aisha Sobey\, Acting Curator of Works of Art\, Jesus College Cambridge\, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence\, University of Cambridge\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Kirsty Fife\, Senior Lecturer in Digital Information and Curatorial Practice\, Manchester Metropolitan University\n\n\n\n\nCollaborative event between DISC and Media and Digital Culture (MDC). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLocation \n\n\n\nGrosvenor East (GE) Room 4.05 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister on Eventbrite
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/searching-for-fatness-in-and-through-digital-technologies/
LOCATION:Grosvenor East (GE) Room 4.05\, Cavendish St\, Manchester\, Manchester\, M15 6BG
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260429T150000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260429T160000
DTSTAMP:20260324T152052Z
CREATED:20260324T151958Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T152052Z
UID:2143-1777474800-1777478400@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Rent\, Style\, and Automation: Generative AI in the Platformisation of Culture
DESCRIPTION:Overview \n\n\n\nℹ️ Please note that the event will be held in a hybrid format. \n\n\n\nPlease join us for a talk with Dr Guido Anselmi – University of Catania. \n\n\n\nThe platformisation of society\, how digital platforms reshape economic\, social\, and cultural life\, has become a key topic in recent scholarship. Central to this process is the extraction of value through intermediation and the shaping of user behaviour by enabling certain actions while restricting others. This dynamic is particularly evident in the production and circulation of cultural content. With the rise of generative AI (Gen AI)—platforms specifically designed to produce cultural objects—and the stagnation of traditional platforms like social media and search engines\, we must reconsider how platform affordances influence cultural production. In earlier work (Caliandro & Anselmi 2021)\, we argued that platforms like Instagram enable a “memetic logic” by standardizing content creation through visual formulas (e.g.\, selfies\, outfits) that act as a communicative grammar. Platform power lies in balancing standardization with enough variation to sustain discourse. \n\n\n\nThis paper examines how this dynamic evolves with Gen AI. We analyse over 2 million Stable Diffusion prompts (2022) and nearly 1 million Midjourney prompts (2023) using natural language processing\, thematic clustering\, and TF-IDF. Our contribution is twofold: first\, we offer a research protocol to study visual Gen AI outputs; second\, we provide empirical evidence of platformisation at work in Gen AI. Our findings show that prompts cluster not by subject (e.g.\, cats\, women) but around anchor keywords referencing styles or specific artists. This reveals Gen AI’s role in magnifying existing cultural trends and supports a broader theory of platformisation. Furthermore\, Gen AI platforms emerge as monopolistic actors that facilitate rent-seeking in the cultural industry\, reinforcing the logic of platform capitalism. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBio \n\n\n\nGuido Anselmi studies how digital platforms reshape culture\, economics\, and power. Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Catania\, he teaches cultural\, digital\, and globalization sociology\, and has devoted his research to platform capitalism\, the imaginaries that sustain it\, and the digital and computational methods applied to sociological inquiry. He is the author of two books: one on the political and epistemological implications of platforms\, the other on the platformization of consumer culture. His current projects focus on the political economy of generative artificial intelligence and on the role of platform imaginaries as symbolic resources that consolidate their monopolistic power. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLocation \n\n\n\nThis event will take place in a hybrid format. Please select the relevant ticket option on the next page. If you choose to attend online\, you will be sent the MS Teams link. Please check your spam/junk folder. \n\n\n\nThe in-person location is Grosvenor East Building\, Room 3.02 at Manchester Metropolitan University. The venue is fully step-free and accessible for all visitors. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nParking \n\n\n\nParking is available nearby at the University’s Booth Street West car park and the Circle Square multi-storey. Limited on-street pay-and-display bays operate on Grosvenor Street from 8 am–8 pm. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister on Eventbrite
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/rent-style-and-automation-generative-ai-in-the-platformisation-of-culture/
LOCATION:Grosvenor East Building\, Manchester Metropolitan University\, Arts and Humanities Building\, Cavendish St Room 3.02 Manchester\, Manchester
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260324T160000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260324T173000
DTSTAMP:20260305T125317Z
CREATED:20260305T125030Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260305T125317Z
UID:2096-1774368000-1774373400@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:XR Meets Cybersecurity - An Immersive Game for Cybersecurity Training
DESCRIPTION:Guest seminar by visiting scholar\, Tonia San Nicolas-Rocca\, co-organised by the MGC and DISC.\n\n\n\nℹ️ Please note that the event will be held in person – Geoffrey Manton GM229. \n\n\n\nAbstract: Cybersecurity education is critical to ensuring the safety of individuals online and protecting sensitive information and digital resources. As cyber threats grow in complexity and frequency\, there is an urgent need for accessible\, engaging training solutions that effectively reach learners across diverse educational backgrounds and geographic locations. This presentation introduces the design of an extended reality (XR) immersive training game that integrates foundational cybersecurity concepts. The proposed system is aligned with the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity and the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (NCAE-C) guidelines. By leveraging XR technologies\, the training game seeks to enhance cybersecurity awareness\, strengthen workforce readiness\, and foster broader interest in careers within the cybersecurity field. \n\n\n\nBiography: Tonia San Nicolas is the Faculty Associate Dean in the College of Information\, Data and Society at San Jose State University\, and serves as the Co-director of San Jose State University’s Center for AI and Cybersecurity. Her research interests include cybersecurity\, artificial intelligence\, health information systems\, and knowledge management. Dr. San Nicolas-Rocca has published her work in peer-reviewed research journals and conference proceedings. She earned her doctoral degree in Information Systems and technology from Claremont Graduate University. \n\n\n\nThis is in collaboration with Manchester Game Centre. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister on Eventbrite
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/xr-meets-cybersecurity-an-immersive-game-for-cybersecurity-training/
LOCATION:Geoffrey Manton – GM229
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260318T093000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260318T110000
DTSTAMP:20260206T212149Z
CREATED:20260206T211813Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260206T212149Z
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SUMMARY:Book Launch - Doxxed: How Privacy Abuse Harms
DESCRIPTION:Overview\n\n\n\nPlease join us for the launch of Dr Briony Anderson’s book ‘Doxxed: How Privacy Abuse Harms’ published by Bristol University Press. \n\n\n\nThis event will share Dr Anderson’s key findings and theoretical insights into the abuse of personal information through doxxing\, and will outline the potential of informational autonomy for victim-survivors of privacy abuse. A roundtable with Dr Jessica Elias (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Sarah Simms (Privacy International) will bring insights from digital zemiology and privacy rights\, followed by a Q&A session chaired by Professor Nicole Westmarland. Doxxed is now available for pre-order from Bristol University Press\, and will be released on 19 February 2026. \n\n\n\nWhat happens when your personal information is weaponized against you online?Doxxed: How Privacy Abuse Harms offers a novel examination of doxxing—the malicious sharing of private\, identifiable and sensitive information—through a feminist and post-humanist lens. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 18 victim-survivors\, Dr Briony Anderson reveals the deeply gendered harms of privacy abuse\, from public shaming and reputational damage to the erosion of informational autonomy.Challenging conventional understandings of digital abuse\, the book foregrounds the lived experiences of those affected and calls for urgent\, victim-centred reforms and reimagines data rights in a digital world increasingly shaped by surveillance and control. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nBio\n\n\n\nDr Briony Anderson is a Career Development Fellow (Criminology) in the Department of Sociology at Durham. She is a digital criminologist specialising in research on privacy abuse\, gendered-harms\, and technology-facilitated violence and abuse. Briony uses narrative\, creative interviewing and critical techno-cultural discourse analysis to consider how technologies contour experiences of digital abuse\, as well as the capacity to resist against them. Briony engages posthumanist and new materialist theoretical frameworks in her work with victim-survivors\, and is interested in feminist and queer pedagogies of research and praxis. She also researches on police-perpetrated domestic and family violence\, with a focus on the role of independent commissions of inquiry in addressing systemic violence. \n\n\n\nDr Jessica Elias is a Digital Zemiologist\, Lecturer in Criminology at Manchester Metropolitan University and co-lead of the Digital Society Research Group (DISC). She is the co-lead of the AI Literacies and Digital Policy Observatory initiatives as part of DISC. Her research interrogates the intersection of digitalisation and harm production\, investigating the implications of digitality for human identity\, autonomy\, and cognition. She is a theorist of digital power and harm\, developing a framework of Digital Zemiology\, and specialising in interdisciplinary research\, bringing together Surveillance Studies\, Postphenomenology\, and Zemiology. Jessica’s current work explores the role of generative AI in the undermining and obstruction of human knowledge and autonomy\, focusing on images of war and conflict\, digital intimacies and personhood\, and digitised identities. \n\n\n\nSarah Simms is a senior policy officer at Privacy International where she leads on PI’s projects on ‘health’ and ‘resisting authoritarian tech’. She has a LLM Human Rights and has worked across the public and NGO sector on various human rights issues. Previously she has worked at the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission where she worked on gender\, access to reproductive healthcare and rights and domestic abuse. She also has worked in police oversight and on conflict related issues in Northern Ireland. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nThe event will take place in a hybrid format. Please select the relevant ticket option on the next page. If you choose to attend online\, you will be sent the MS Teams link. Please check your spam/junk folder. \n\n\n\nThe in-person location is Room 454\, Mill Hill Lane\, Durham \, DH1 3LB. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister on Eventbrite
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/book-launch-doxxed-how-privacy-abuse-harms/
LOCATION:Millhill Lane\, Durham DH1
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260211T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260211T160000
DTSTAMP:20260114T142413Z
CREATED:20251221T213858Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260114T142413Z
UID:1471-1770814800-1770825600@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Be My AI Valentine: Digital Intimacies\, Online Dating & AI Relationships
DESCRIPTION:ℹ️ Please note that the event will be held in a hybrid format.A session in collaboration with the Contemporary Intimacies\, Sexualities & Genders (CISG) research group. \n\n\n\nParking \n\n\n\nParking is available nearby at the University’s Booth Street West car park and the Circle Square multi-storey. Limited on-street pay-and-display bays operate on Grosvenor Street from 8 am–8 pm. \n\n\n\nLocation \n\n\n\nGeoffrey Manton Building\, Lecture Theatre 7\, Manchester Metropolitan University. This venue is fully step-free and accessible for all visitors. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister on Eventbrite
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/be-my-ai-valentine-digital-intimacies-online-dating-ai-relationships/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/462/2025/12/be_my_ai_valentine-1.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260128T160000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260128T190000
DTSTAMP:20260114T142836Z
CREATED:20251210T124923Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260114T142836Z
UID:1447-1769616000-1769626800@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:How to film “visual trust”? A practical and methodological approach
DESCRIPTION:In this session\, I will share some theoretical and methodological reflections on how to conduct experimental research cinema about “visual trust”. To do so\, I will introduce the principle of “studying images through images” and I will comment on the importance to critically connect theoretical approaches with practical\, aesthetic\, and ethical choices. To illustrate these debates\, I will screen some fragments of some of the films made within the ERC project VISUAL TRUST. I will also show the first cut of the on-going film A Matter of Facts\, that I co-direct with the anthropologist and filmmaker Mihai Andrei Leaha. This film aims at exploring how visual disinformation works in contexts of electoral processes marked by logics of polarization and of raise of the extreme right. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister on Eventbrite
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/how-to-film-visual-trust-a-practical-and-methodological-approach/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260127T150000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260127T170000
DTSTAMP:20260114T142319Z
CREATED:20251210T124530Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260114T142319Z
UID:1444-1769526000-1769533200@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Visual Trust. An ERC project on ethics\, images\, and visual experimentation
DESCRIPTION:ℹ️ Please note that the event will be held in a hybrid format.In this talk\, I will present the key principles and preliminary findings of the ERC project\, ‘Visual Trust’. Reliability\, accountability and forgery in scientific\, religious and social images (2021-2027\, PI: Roger Canals). This comparative project aims to investigate\, through visual and experimental methods\, how individuals from different socio-cultural milieus relate to and through images in terms of trust and mistrust. The project brings together a variety of images\, including photojournalistic pictures\, digital fakes\, religious icons\, AI-generated images\, astronomical images and medical imaging. The session will include a screening of some of the project’s visual outcomes. I will also provide definitions of key project concepts such as ‘visual trust’\, ‘eclectic assemblage’ and ‘visual assessment’. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister on Eventbrite
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/visual-trust-an-erc-project-on-ethics-images-and-visual-experimentation/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260121T160000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260121T170000
DTSTAMP:20260114T141752Z
CREATED:20260108T144802Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260114T141752Z
UID:1856-1769011200-1769014800@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:“How do we?....”: a conversation with Sanjana Paul
DESCRIPTION:ℹ️ Please note that the event will be held in a hybrid format. \n\n\n\nOverview\n\n\n\nSanjana Paul discusses data centres\, public health\, environmental justice\, and how policy can respond. \n\n\n\nThe rise of generative AI has resulted in a rapid expansion of data centres globally. While data centres are mostly presented as a need and a progress\, they lead to a tremendous impact on the environment\, social inequalities\, and human and planetary health. Seeing how the growth of AI is celebrated\, while its social and environmental harms are overlooked or ignored\, can feel demoralising. How can we instead focus on positive action and proactive thinking? In this new event series\, we are going to explore the question of “How do we?..”\, with regards to research and policy on digital technologies. In our first event in the series\, in conversation with Sanjana Paul\, we shall discuss the following: How do we consider data centres from the perspective of health and environmental justice? How do we engage with and challenge policy around digital innovation\, AI and data centres\, to centre the needs of people\, communities\, and the planet? \n\n\n\nSanjana Paul is an engineer\, environmental justice researcher\, and systems thinker working at the intersection of infrastructure\, climate\, and technology. She is a PhD student at MIT\, where her research focuses on renewable energy\, energy justice\, data centres\, and the electric grid. She is the co-founder of Rooted Futures Lab\, a research and action collective advancing environmental justice in technology\, and Earth Hacks\, a nonprofit harnessing hackathons as a form of climate action. Sanjana’s work has ranged from atmospheric science software engineering at NASA to passing decarbonization policy at the local level. She holds a BS in electrical engineering and physics from VCU and a Master’s in City Planning from MIT. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegister on Eventbrite
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/how-do-we-a-conversation-with-sanjana-paul/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251210T140000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251210T150000
DTSTAMP:20260105T182629Z
CREATED:20251114T233923Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260105T182629Z
UID:1343-1765375200-1765378800@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:AI Waste: Thinking through the Ecology and Politics of Digital Discards
DESCRIPTION:This talk confronts an evident truth about contemporary generative text and image systems (so-called ‘artificial intelligence’): much what they make is trash. These systems produce both informational and environmental pollution at an unprecedented clip\, sacrificing water\, energy\, informational commons\, social trust\, human cognitive skills\, and carbon budgets in order to win some very questionable benefits that accrue disproportionately to certain kinds of people (namely managers\, plagiarists\, and underskilled dabblers). These outcomes merit refusal\, resistance\, and also explanation. Using a discard studies approach\, we will attempt to analyse the current state of affairs through its wasting practices and explore the political coalitions that make trash AI the dominant form today. \n\n\n\nAnne Pasek is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Media\, Culture\, and the Environment at Trent University. She studies the cultural politics of climate change\, the environmental politics of the big tech\, and the prospects of ‘small tech’ in contrast. Her books include Digital Energetics (Meson 2023) and Low-Carbon Research Methods (Goldsmiths 2025). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWatch recording
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/ai-waste-thinking-through-the-ecology-and-politics-of-digital-discards/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251114T110000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251114T120000
DTSTAMP:20260101T175333Z
CREATED:20251028T210238Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T175333Z
UID:1157-1763118000-1763121600@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Public Talk on Games with Dr. Florence M. Chee
DESCRIPTION:Beyond the sandboxes and magic circles: Conversations on the pleasure and pain of what it means to engage in the study of games \n\n\n\nIn this talk\, Prof. Dr. Florence Chee will provide an overview to essential debates in games/gaming as they intersect with ethics\, law\, and policy–along with what it means to research games through academia\, industry and government in today’s global regulatory landscape. Through her studies on game culture\, to ethics and data\, to AI and governance\, she tells a story of navigating an industry as it struggles to define itself locally and globally while those in it advance the narrative of pleasure and play across domains. Looking ahead\, she asks the audience to consider the ways constituencies may reclaim what it means to truly play meaningfully and ways to resist “getting played.” \n\n\n\nFlorence M. Chee is Associate Professor of Digital Communication in the School of Communication\, Affiliate Faculty in the Department of Computer Science\, and Director of the Center for Digital Ethics and Policy (CDEP) at Loyola University Chicago. Internationally and nationally sought out as a speaker\, writer\, and advisor\, her sociotechnical interventions inform and influence decisions made in design\, development\, and policy arenas. This year\, she has been named to the Fulbright Specialist Roster for 2025-2028 and has recently focused on the US and Swiss game industries while serving on grant funded work in Switzerland. Florence Chee is founding director of the Social & Interactive Media Lab (SIMLab) based in Chicago\, USA. \n\n\n\nLoyola University Chicago Faculty website – https://www.luc.edu/soc/about/facultystaff/profiles/cheeflorence.shtml \n\n\n\nCenter for Digital Ethics & Policy – https://www.luc.edu/digitalethics \n\n\n\nThe Social & Interactive Media Lab (SIMLab) – https://simlabchicago.com/
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/public-talk-on-games-with-dr-florence-m-chee/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251113T140000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251113T160000
DTSTAMP:20260101T175251Z
CREATED:20251025T205732Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T175251Z
UID:1052-1763042400-1763049600@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Book Launch: Influencer Creep by Sophie Bishop
DESCRIPTION:Dr Sophie Bishop\, in conversation with Scottee\, will discuss her forthcoming book Influencer Creep \n\n\n\nJoin the Digital Society Research Group (DISC)\, the School of Sociology and Criminology and the School of History\, Politics and Philosophy to celebrate the launch Sophie Bishop’s book ‘Influencer Creep: How Optimization\, Authenticity and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture’ (University of California Press. The book draws from in-depth ethnography and interviews with influencers and professional artists. Bishop argues that looking to the shifts within influencer culture can help us understand contemporary changes to labour conditions\, compensation and representation within creative industries. Taking seriously the motivations that drive more and more people into the contest for online visibility\, Influencer Creep documents a creative workforce nervously conforming to the monopoly power of social media platforms—and occasionally resisting it. Early praise for the book includes “those in the art world will find plenty to chew on” (Publishers Weekly) and “both a page turner and thorough academic study” (Professor Thomas Poell\, UVA). \n\n\n\nSophie Bishop is an expert in influencer culture and an Associate Professor at the University of Leeds in Media and Communications who has been researching the social and cultural implications of the influencer industry for a decade. Sophie\, has advised policy makers in UK Parliament and the European Union on influencer culture and has written for academic journals New Media & Society\,Social Media + Society and Media\, Culture & Society and has been interviewed in Paper\, Real Life\, Financial Times\, BBC and The Atlantic. Sophie lives in Manchester\, England with her husband\, daughter\, and two cats. Influencer Creep is her first book. \n\n\n\nLocation: Grosvenor East Building\, Room 3.01\, Manchester Metropolitan University \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOrder your copy
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/book-launch-influencer-creep-by-sophie-bishop/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251112T100000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251112T120000
DTSTAMP:20260101T175144Z
CREATED:20251028T211417Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T175144Z
UID:1165-1762941600-1762948800@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Masterclass on AI Ethics with Dr. Florence M. Chee
DESCRIPTION:AI Ethics in Play: A Masterclass exploring ethical dilemmas\, policies\, and governance through the lens of games and everyday life \n\n\n\nIn this Masterclass on AI Ethics\, we will take an inquiry stance through the lens of games to examine how ethical dilemmas\, policies\, and governance solutions have taken effect both at individual and institutional levels. The issues in AI Ethics that require the most urgent action implicate systems and regulations that are already in place and affect us in everyday life. We will discuss ways that attendees may apply the insights derived from this session towards fostering more ethical engagement in their respective contexts of work\, rest\, and play. \n\n\n\nFlorence M. Chee is Associate Professor of Digital Communication in the School of Communication\, Affiliate Faculty in the Department of Computer Science\, and Director of the Center for Digital Ethics and Policy (CDEP) at Loyola University Chicago. Internationally and nationally sought out as a speaker\, writer\, and advisor\, her sociotechnical interventions inform and influence decisions made in design\, development\, and policy arenas. This year\, she has been named to the Fulbright Specialist Roster for 2025-2028 and has recently focused on the US and Swiss game industries while serving on grant funded work in Switzerland. Florence Chee is founding director of the Social & Interactive Media Lab (SIMLab) based in Chicago\, USA.Loyola University Chicago Faculty website – https://www.luc.edu/soc/about/facultystaff/profiles/cheeflorence.shtml Center for Digital Ethics & Policy – https://www.luc.edu/digitalethics/The Social & Interactive Media Lab (SIMLab) – https://simlabchicago.com/
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/masterclass-on-ai-ethics-with-dr-florence-m-chee/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251106T120000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251106T130000
DTSTAMP:20260101T175108Z
CREATED:20251104T194359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T175108Z
UID:1284-1762430400-1762434000@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:CDAC Seminar: Reimagining the World from Above: The Semiotics of Drone Visuals (Dr Elisa Serafinelli)
DESCRIPTION:Reimagining the World from Above: The Semiotics of Drone Visuals\n\n\n\nDr Elisa Serafinelli (Manchester Metropolitan University) \n\n\n\nThis presentation examines the transformative role of drones as emerging visual technologies that reconfigure our perception\, representation\, and understanding of the world. Drones extend human vision by capturing perspectives that were previously inaccessible\, offering novel ways of seeing that defamiliarise the familiar and reveal overlooked dimensions of landscapes\, infrastructures\, and social spaces. Drawing on research conducted through the AHRC Leadership Fellowship project Drones in Visual Culture: Developing a New Theory of Visual Mobile Communication\, this work advances a critical framework for theorising drone visuals\, interrogating the semiotics of aerial perspectives. Through analysis of users’ and developers’ perspectives\, as well as visual case studies\, this presentation explores how drone imagery generates new visual cultures and practices. It also reflects on the broader implications of drones for visual culture\, emphasising their potential to disrupt existing visual regimes\, and outlines future directions for scholarship on the social\, cultural\, and ethical life of drone visuals. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nAbout the speaker: \n\n\n\nElisa Serafinelli is Senior Lecturer in Digital Media and Communication at Manchester Metropolitan University. She received her PhD in 2015 from the University of Hull (United Kingdom) in Media\, Communication and Society with a research project titled Digital Life on Instagram: Social Communication of Photography\, which was published by Emerald in 2018. She is the author\, most recently\, of Theorising Drones in Visual Culture: Views from the Blue (Palgrave Macmillan\, 2024) and the editor of Drones in Society: New Visual Aesthetics (Palgrave Macmillan\, 2024).This seminar talk is hosted by the Centre for Drones and Culture (CDAC)\, University of Cambridge\, and sponsored by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/cdac-seminar-reimagining-the-world-from-above-the-semiotics-of-drone-visuals-dr-elisa-serafinelli/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251106T100000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251113T220000
DTSTAMP:20260101T175029Z
CREATED:20251028T212408Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T175029Z
UID:1171-1762423200-1763071200@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Between the Winds\, Amongst the Roots: Bio-Sensing the City
DESCRIPTION:Between the Winds\, Amongst the Roots: Bio-Sensing the City’ features two video works by Gregory Herbert and Shelly Knotts\, which explore what we can learn about cities from natural data. The exhibition articulates alternative propositions for the ‘smart’ city\, which emphasise the interconnectivity between humans and the environment and foster a more balanced relation between natural and technological ways of knowing.Artists: Gregory Herbert\, Shelly Knotts. \n\n\n\nCurator: Polina Chizhova-WrightExhibition times: 10:00–12:00\, 13:00-16:00; 18:00-22:00 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCredit to Gregory Herbert.
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/between-the-winds-amongst-the-roots-bio-sensing-the-city/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251015T110000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251015T120000
DTSTAMP:20260101T174850Z
CREATED:20251025T220800Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T174850Z
UID:1090-1760526000-1760529600@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Apple Intelligence and Oral History Transcripts: Digitization\, Ethics & AI
DESCRIPTION:Exploring the relations between digitisation\, Apple OS and questions of research ethics \n\n\n\nPlease join us at this seminar\, which explores the relations between digitisation\, smartphone operating system\, AI\, and questions of research ethics\, delivered by Dr Alison Slater\, and organised jointly by DISC (Digital Society Research Group) and our “AI Literacies” programme; the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Ethics Team; and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Doctoral Training Programme. \n\n\n\nPlease note that this event page is for joining the talk remotely. If you wish to attend the event in person\, please join us at Geoffrey Manton Building\, room 225.
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/apple-intelligence-and-oral-history-transcripts-digitization-ethics-ai/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20251010T110000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20251010T120000
DTSTAMP:20260101T174702Z
CREATED:20251025T215723Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T174702Z
UID:1084-1760094000-1760097600@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Young people and teachers use of generative AI to support literacy
DESCRIPTION:The event celebrates the new report by the National Literacy Trust on the use of AI to support literacy \n\n\n\nPlease join DISC and our AI Literacies working group\, in conversation with Irene Picton from the National Literacy Trust\, to celebrate NLT’s new report\, Young people and teachers’ use of generative AI to support literacy in 2025 \n\n\n\nIrene’s presentation will share findings based on data from young people (13–18) taking part in the National Literacy Trust’s 2025 Annual Literacy Survey\, focusing on 32\,757 who used generative AI\, with insights complemented by a survey of 2\,908 UK teachers. The findings demonstrate growing concerns around how generative AI is affecting how literacy skills are valued and enacted\, with AI tools bringing issues around academic integrity\, critical thinking and intrinsic motivation to learn to the fore. We highlight the need to balance AI’s potential with the enduring value of strong literacy skills. \n\n\n\nIrene Picton will be joined by members of the AI Literacies Group from Manchester Met Digital Societies Research Group (DISC)\, to disuss the report. \n\n\n\nIrene Picton is a Senior Research Manager at the National Literacy Trust . Her research focuses on children and young people’s experiences of literacy in a digital world\, exploring reading for pleasure alongside critical\, digital and media literacy\, and she sits on the Ofcom Research\, Evidence and Evaluation working group. \n\n\n\nAI Literacies working group is a sub-gorup of DISC\, bringing together researchers from across Social Sciences\, Humanities and teh Arts\, to address the urgent need to understand and theorise our engagement with AI in all spheres of social\, cultural and political life. “AI literacy” (or even “literacies”) extends far beyond the technical understanding of how artificial intelligence and associated technologies work. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWatch recording
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/young-people-and-teachers-use-of-generative-ai-to-support-literacy/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250627T090000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250627T113000
DTSTAMP:20260101T174356Z
CREATED:20250520T002459Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T174356Z
UID:948-1751014800-1751023800@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Visual AI politics/politics of visual AI: a roundtable
DESCRIPTION:Location: online \n\n\n\nThis roundtable brings together experts on digital media\, visual cultures and politics\, misinformation\, political violence\, and generative AI. Curated by Adi Kuntsman and Jessica Elias\, the panel will explore the role of generative AI in contemporary politics through a range of theoretical and disciplinary lenses.  \n\n\n\nPanellists’ info \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProf Miriyam Aouragh\, Professor of Digital Anthropology\, CAMRI\, University of Westminster https://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/directory/aouragh-miriyam \n\n\n\nBio: Miriyam Aouragh studies the political role of new digital tools and spaces and the way colonial and imperial histories shape present computational infrastructures. She writes about these matters (Palestine Online (IB Tauris 2011); (with Hamza Hamouchene) The Arab Spring a decade on (TNI 2022); Mediating the Makhzan (r)evolutionary dynamics in Morocco (CUP) and (with Paula Chakravartty) Infrastructures of Empire (forthcoming) and organises community projects with  The Institute for Technology in the Public Interest. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProf Roger Canals \, Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Barcelona www.rogercanals.net  www.visualtrust.ub.edu \n\n\n\nBio: Roger Canals is a Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Barcelona (UB). He is currently the PI of the ERC-Consolidator project ‘Visual Trust. Reliability\, accountability\, and forgery in scientific\, religious and social images’ (2021-2026). Specialist in Visual Anthropology\, he is the author of many articles as well as of the books including A Goddess in Motion (2017) and The Image that Never Ends. A Journey through Visual Anthropology (forthcoming). As a filmmaker\, he has made several internationally awarded films like “A Goddess in Motion” (2016) and “Chasing Shadows” (2019). In 2016\, he received the Fejos Fellowship for Ethnographic Film from the Wenner-Gren Foundation of New York.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Donatella Della Ratta\, Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies John Cabot University\, Rome https://www.johncabot.edu/faculty/donatella-della_ratta \n\n\n\nBio: Donatella Della Ratta is Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at John Cabot University in Rome. She is a former Affiliate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Her research on generative AI earned her the Italian Ministry of Culture ‘Italian Council’ award 2024-25. She is currently developing her concept of ‘speculative violence’ into various formats\,  including the lecture performance Ask Me for Those Unborn Promises That May Seem Unlikely to Happen in the Natural \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Yoav Galai\, Department of Politics International Relations and Philosophy\, Royal Holloway\, University of London https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/persons/yoav-galai \n\n\n\nBio: Yoav Galai is a former photographer and current academic working in the field of visual politics. His recent publications explored racialised visualities and their ongoing political effect through technological imaginaries and within social-scientific epistemologies. He also teaches advanced visual methods as part of a course in visual politics at Royal Holloway\, University of London and you can this year’s student work here: http://visualwriting.org/exhibition/ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Nataliia Laba\, Assistant Professor in Digital and Multimodal Communication / Humane AI\, Communication and Information Studies\, University of Groningen\, the Netherlands. https://www.nataliialaba.com/ \n\n\n\nBio Nataliia Laba is an Assistant Professor in Digital and Multimodal Communication / Humane AI at University of Groningen. Her research focuses on multimodal generative AI and works at the intersection of critical data studies and discourse studies. Nataliia’s research projects address human-machine agency and a range of representational issues in the context of generative AI adoption and use. 
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/visual-ai-politics-politics-of-visual-ai-a-roundtable/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250626T100000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250626T120000
DTSTAMP:20260101T174130Z
CREATED:20250514T165728Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T174130Z
UID:919-1750932000-1750939200@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Seeing Through the Machine: Visual AI Tools for Research\, Creativity\, and Critical Practice- Masterclass with Dr Sam Martin
DESCRIPTION:Location: online \n\n\n\nWhat you’ll learn: \n\n\n\nThis interactive workshop introduces academics to the expanding world of visual generative AI tools. Led by Dr Sam Martin\, digital sociologist and AI artist\, the session explores how platforms such as MidJourney\, Leonardo.ai\, Krea.AI\, and Runway ML can be used critically and creatively in academic contexts—from visualising research findings and generating speculative visual data\, to interrogating AI bias\, aesthetics\, and misinformation. \n\n\n\nParticipants will gain: \n\n\n\n\nA practical understanding of key visual AI tools and interfaces\n\n\n\nCritical awareness of image generation bias\, AI aesthetics\, and ethics\n\n\n\nIdeas for integrating visual AI into research\, teaching\, or public engagement\n\n\n\nTips for prompt engineering and collaborative image creation\n\n\n\nA brief discussion of copyright\, attribution\, and academic use-cases\n\n\n\n\nWhether you’re curious about creative dissemination\, building speculative futures into your research\, or exploring the politics of AI imagery\, this session will help you navigate the rapidly evolving visual AI landscape. \n\n\n\nPre-requisites: \n\n\n\nNo coding experience required. A working laptop is preferred. \n\n\n\nIf you’d like to try generating images live\, please be ready to log in to provided workshop accounts on one or more of the following: MidJourney\, Leonardo.ai\, Krea.AI\, or Runway ML. \n\n\n\nAccess to these platforms will be provided on the day and for five days following the workshop.
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/seeing-through-the-machine-visual-ai-tools-for-research-creativity-and-critical-practice/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250625T090000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250625T170000
DTSTAMP:20260101T173921Z
CREATED:20250520T003822Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T173921Z
UID:957-1750842000-1750870800@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Launch of the Visual AI Literacy Toolkit
DESCRIPTION:We’re excited to launch our new web-based resource designed to help learners stay ahead of the AI misinformation curve. The Visual AI Literacy Toolkit introduces the fundamentals of visual generative AI and explores how AI-generated images are shaping public understanding — from fake protest scenes and deep-faked politicians to AI beauty filters and images spreading misinformation around war\, conflict\, and trauma. \n\n\n\nDesigned for learners of all backgrounds\, this comprehensive toolkit offers interactive modules and real-world case studies. Users will: \n\n\n\n\nLearn to identify and interpret AI-generated visuals\n\n\n\nUnderstand the social and political impacts of visual misinformation\n\n\n\nExplore how creative activism and marginalised voices are using AI as a tool for resistance\n\n\n\nTest their visual AI literacy with guided exercises\n\n\n\nReflect on their own experiences with AI-generated media\n\n\n\n\nWhether you’re new to this space or looking to deepen your understanding\, the toolkit equips users with practical\, critical\, and creative skills to navigate the fast-changing visual AI landscape. \n\n\n\nThe Toolkit will go live on June 25th. This is a remote event and the link will be shared on the day with the registered attendees. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nView toolkit
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/launch-of-the-visual-ai-literacy-toolkit/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250624T140000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250624T153000
DTSTAMP:20260101T173602Z
CREATED:20250516T172837Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T173602Z
UID:944-1750773600-1750779000@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Rethinking Representations: The Politics of Responsible AI Imaging. Keynote by Prof Liv Hausken
DESCRIPTION:Location: online \n\n\n\nIn recent discussions surrounding AI imaging\, the prevailing discourse often highlights the technology’s inherent risks. However\, notable examples\, such as the use of so-called deepfake technology in the documentary “Welcome to Chechnya” and the controversial yet well-intentioned AI-generated images from Amnesty International commemorating the victims of police brutality in Colombia\, reveal the potential for socially responsible and ethical applications of this technology. This presentation explores the question: What is necessary to cultivate a socially responsible use of AI-generated imaging? \n\n\n\nThis inquiry is complex and lacks straightforward answers. The presentation will outline responsible practices in AI imaging by examining both problematic and potentially beneficial applications. Among the challenges we face is the intricate relationship between photography and photorealistic AI imaging. Addressing problematic perceptions of photography will be essential for developing a more robust analytical framework regarding AI imaging. This presentation will highlight key strategies for enhancing societal competence in navigating this evolving landscape. \n\n\n\nThe goal is to create a comprehensive framework for responsible AI imaging that benefits the academic community\, practitioners\, and developers in various fields. This framework will be particularly valuable for journalists and editors covering conflict and humanitarian issues and policymakers overseeing digital literacy and governance in increasingly digital economies. This paper aims to contribute to informed practices and strengthen ethical considerations in visual representation by promoting a critical understanding of responsible AI imaging. \n\n\n\nLiv Hausken is a Professor at the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo (UiO). Her research\, teaching\, and supervision areas include photography\, AI imagery\, scientific imaging\, biometrics\, surveillance\, and aesthetics. She is part of the research project “PHOTOFAKE – Visual Disinformation\, the Digital Economy and the Epistemology of the Camera Image” and the Humanities-based AI hub “HumAIn” at UiO\, the “AI Media” Research Network at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)\, and the Scandinavian AI network “AIsthesis: network for research on the aesthetics of AI imagery” at Aarhus University. Relevant publications include “Photorealism versus photography: AI-generated depiction in the age of visual disinformation” (Journal of Aesthetics & Culture\, 2024) and “Untangling Photographic Manipulation: Exploring a Dual Concept and Its Societal Implications” (Journalism and Media\, 2024).
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/rethinking-representations-the-politics-of-responsible-ai-imaging-keynote-by-prof-liv-hausken/
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250624T000000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250627T235959
DTSTAMP:20260101T173427Z
CREATED:20250425T160023Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T173427Z
UID:845-1750723200-1751068799@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Digital Politics Summer School
DESCRIPTION:Location: online \n\n\n\nOur Digital Politics Summer School is celebrating its fifth anniversary! This year\, the school is focusing on visual generative AI. \n\n\n\nWhen AI image generators were first popularised in 2023\, they were perceived as leading to a new crisis of deepfakes and misinformation\, particularly dangerous in cases of reporting war and human suffering\, because of the dire consequences of war-time misinformation. Many media scholars view AI as a significant threat\, that can lead to a new scale of media manipulation\, an erosion of sense of truth\, and a crisis of visual evidence. Others suggest that visual generative AI leads to a new form of synthetic realism and a potentially powerful political storytelling. Between these polarising approaches\, much remains unexplored when it comes to visual AI politics and the politics of visual AI: the biases in representation; the absence of visual digital and political literacy; the lack of social justice considerations in both the techno-hype around AI-enabled possibilities and the fears around AI-induced harms; and the need for complex and interdisciplinary thinking around the rapidly expanding use of AI-generated images in political landscapes. \n\n\n\nThis summer school brings together established scholars\, early career researchers and PhD students\, to learn about\, discuss\, and experiment with visual generative AI\, combining insights from media and communication studies\, politics\, visual criminology\, AI art\, and computational science. \n\n\n\nProgramme \n\n\n\n24 June: Keynote by Liv Hausken\, 2:00-2.30pm BST. 25 June: Virtual launch of a Visual AI Literacy resource\, all day. 26 June: Masterclass with Sam Martin: Sing Through the Machine: Visual AI Tools for Research\, Creativity\, and Critical Practice\, 10:00am-12noon BST. 27 June: Roundtable: Visual AI politics/politics of visual AI. With Donatella Della Ratta\, Miriyam Aouragh\, Nataliia Laba\, Roger Canals Vilageliu and Yoav Galai\, hosted by Adi Kuntsman and Jessica Elias\, 9.30-11.30am BST. 27 June: Networking session: by invitation only\, 1.00-3.00pm BST. \n\n\n\nRegistration \n\n\n\nAttendance is free but registration is required. Please register separately for each event you would like to attend. Masterclass places are limited due to the interactive nature of the activity- please only register if you can commit to attending. Networking session is by application only (see below) – the call is now closed and we will be contacting all applicants shortly.  \n\n\n\nWe are inviting applications for participation in the networking session.  \n\n\n\nThis session is for you if: \n\n\n\n– Your research focuses on the use of visual generative AI in contexts of politics\, violence or social injustice– You would like to collaborate on a jointly produced map of ideas and concepts– You are interested in being part of an international research network on the politics of visual AI. \n\n\n\nTo be considered\, please send a 200 word description of your research and a short bio (no longer than 50 words) to digitalpoliticsmanmet@gmail.com by 19th May 2025. Applicants will be contacted before the end of May.
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/digital-politics-summer-school/
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250613T100000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250613T160000
DTSTAMP:20260101T173157Z
CREATED:20250513T145457Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T173157Z
UID:884-1749808800-1749830400@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:AI Literacies public launch
DESCRIPTION:Location: Brooks Building\, Room BR 2.18 and BR 2.19\, M156GX \n\n\n\nUnderstanding the impact of AI on social\, cultural and political life has been at the heart of our new initiative – the AI Literacy working group. “AI literacy” (or even “literacies”)\, as developed by DISC members\, extends far beyond the technical understanding of how artificial intelligence and associated technologies work\, and focuses instead on a critical evaluation of AI processes and outputs\, a recognition of its biases\, and an analysis of its benefits and challenges.  \n\n\n\nThe AI Literacies public launch celebrates our work on “AI Literacies” and presents the newest research and public engagement initiatives by our members\, in dialogue with invited speakers from academia\, the industry and the creative sector. The launch also features a keynote by Mark Carrigan from the University of Manchester\, the author of Generative AI for Academics. \n\n\n\nProgramme \n\n\n\n10-11am Why AI Literacy matters? A welcome panel\, with Niamh Donovan\, Ting Luo and Sam Martin. Introductions by Adi Kuntsman\, Daniel Joseph and Keeley Crocket. \n\n\n\n11-11.15 comfort break \n\n\n\n11.15-12.30 Session 1 \n\n\n\n\nLeanne Fitton\, What do educators think about generative AI? Initial insights from a mixed-methods study\n\n\n\nAbu Sadat Muhammad Sayem\, AI Literacy for Fashion Professionals\n\n\n\nAdan Cooke\, Algorithmic Assemblages: Young people and critical data literacy\n\n\n\nAdi Kuntsman\, Jessica Elias and Sam Martin\, Visual AI Literacy and global misinformation politics\n\n\n\nAdi Kuntsman\, Environmental AI literacy: the missing piece we all need\n\n\n\n\n12.30-1.30 lunch and networking \n\n\n\n1.30-2.30 Session 2 \n\n\n\n\nDaniel Joseph\, Towards a political economy of AI: the case of NVIDIA\n\n\n\nElisa Serafinelli\, Visual-AI imaginaries: “Reimagining Realities: The Transformative Impact of Visual-AI on Visual Culture”\n\n\n\nJessica Elias\, Digital Zemiology: Self-Relation\, Agency\, and Autonomy amid Generative AI\n\n\n\nPolina Chizhova-Wright\, Decoding AI’: investigating Gen AI in placemaking \n\n\n\nSusan O’Shea\, Opt in-opt out: AI in music and sound production\n\n\n\nMatthew Barnard\, Anthropomorphism or mechanomorphism? AI and concepts of the self\n\n\n\n\n2.30-3.00 – tea break and exhibition \n\n\n\n3-4 – Is it possible for academics to use LLMs in a responsible and ethical way? A keynote by Mark Carrigan  \n\n\n\nPanellists’ info \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNiamh Donovan\, Ecosystem Manager\, Sustainable Ventures \n\n\n\nWith a background in sustainable development\, Niamh currently holds the position of Ecosystem Manager at Sustainable Ventures in Manchester. Sustainable Ventures is a full service ecosystem for climate tech startups\, providing both pre-seed and seed investment\, as well as innovation support and access to non-dilutive funding routes such as grants and R&D tax credits. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTing Luo\, Associate Professor in Government and Artificial Intelligence\, Centre for AI in Government at the University of Birmingham \n\n\n\nDr Ting Luo is an Associate Professor in Government and Artificial Intelligence at the Centre for AI in Government at the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on the intersection of technology and governance\, with a particular emphasis on digital governance and AI governance. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSam Martin\, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Vaccine Group\, University of Oxford \n\n\n\nDr Sam Martin is a digital sociologist and generative AI artist. She specialises in Big Qual analysis of public health discourse and AI literacies. Alongside her research on visual misinformation\, she creates AI-assisted digital art and video\, including a current collaboration with Cincinnati Opera House. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKeynote info \n\n\n\nThe emergence of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools presents both opportunities and challenges for academia. While these technologies offer powerful capabilities to support scholarship\, their thoughtless adoption could undermine the very foundations of academic work. This talk introduces a framework for incorporating generative AI into academic practice in ways that enhance rather than replace human thought. Drawing on extensive practical experience\, it demonstrates how conversational agents can serve as intellectual interlocutors rather than mere productivity tools\, while examining the broader implications of these developments for the future of universities. There is an urgent need to establish what constitutes responsible and ethical use of LLMs for academics\, which means taking seriously the argument that this might not be possible. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMark Carrigan is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Manchester where he is co-lead of the Digital Education Manchester group. Trained as a philosopher and sociologist\, his research aims to bridge fundamental questions of social ontology with practical and policy interventions to support the effective use of emerging technologies within education. \n\n\n\n\nWatch recording
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/ai-literacies-public-launch/
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250530T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250530T143000
DTSTAMP:20260101T172028Z
CREATED:20250516T171440Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T172028Z
UID:939-1748610000-1748615400@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Ahead of the AI misinformation curve: let’s talk visual AI
DESCRIPTION:Location: online \n\n\n\nJoin us for Let’s Talk Visual AI\, where we’ll discuss all things related to AI-driven misinformation and visual AI literacy. \n\n\n\nRecent advances in visual generative AI have made it increasingly easy to produce convincing synthetic images and videos\, raising urgent questions about truth\, trust\, and perception in the digital age. To better deal with social and political effects of visual AI\, it is imperative to develop visual AI literacy – the ability to recognise and evaluate AI images\, understand the process of their creation and the biases it might involve\, and use such images critically and responsibly. \n\n\n\nTo learn more about what is needed to foster visual AI literacy\, join us at the online panel with National Literacy Trust– the UK’s leading organisation to support children and young people’s literacy including AI literacy; Full Fact– a UK based team of independent fact checkers\, using AI tools to combat misinformation; and Tactical Tech– a Berlin-based\, European non-profit organisation supporting digital literacy. \n\n\n\nPlease note this event will be recorded. \n\n\n\nThe panel is part of DISC (Digital Society) Research Group and its AI Literacies initiative\, and is led by Dr Adi Kuntsman\, Jessica Elias and Dr Sam Martin. It is part of the public engagement 2025 project\, “Ahead of the AI’s misinformation curve: let’s talk visual AI literacy”\, supported by AHEAD. \n\n\n\nAHEAD (Arts and Humanities Engagement And Dialogue) is the public engagement programme of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Manchester Metropolitan University. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWatch recording
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/ahead-of-the-ai-misinformation-curve-lets-talk-visual-ai/
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250509T103000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250509T120000
DTSTAMP:20260101T171548Z
CREATED:20250403T094807Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T171548Z
UID:782-1746786600-1746792000@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Talk on the weight of connectivity and the inescapable grip of digitality
DESCRIPTION:Kenzie Burchell and Adi Kuntsman in conversation about dis/connection\, dis/engagement\, and digital life. \n\n\n\nKenzie Burchell\, the author of Constant Disconnection: The Weight of Everyday Digital Life (Stanford UP) and Adi Kuntsman\, the co-author of Paradoxes of Digital Disengagement : In Search of the Opt Out Button (with Esperanza Miyake\, Westminster UP) will discuss compulsory connectivity\, disengagement and digital rights. Please join us to hear more about their two books\, and explore how digital communication shaped and was shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic\, global war and capitalism\, and the rise of generative AI. \n\n\n\nThe Speaker \n\n\n\nKenzie Burchell is a Media Sociologist working at the intersection of everyday life\, media practices\, labour and technological change. As an Associate Professor at University of Toronto\, his teaching and research span Journalism and Information Studies with additional focus on digital surveillance and identity in the context of disinformation\, lawfare\, and marketcraft. Over the last two years\, Dr. Burchell has led the “Beyond Disinformation” research network bringing together scholars from the Universities of Manchester\, Melbourne and Toronto to produce a recently published open-access policy document for the UK and Canadian governments. \n\n\n\nAdi Kuntsman is Reader in Digital Politics at Manchester Metropolitan University\, UK; author/editor of multiple monographs and edited collections; and a co-editor (with Erinma Ochu and Liu Xin) of a new book series\, “Digital Materialities and Sustainable Futures” at Emerald. Adi’s recent work focuses on the right to ‘opt out’ of digital communication; environmental impacts of digital technologies and the need for digital environmental literacy; and the use of generative AI in times of wars and political violence. Adi’s new book\, Digital Technologies\, Smart Cities and the Environment: In the Ruins of Broken Promises(with Liu Xin\, Bristol University Press) focuses on environmental harms of digital technologies and their use in smart cities. \n\n\n\nThe Books \n\n\n\nConstant Disconnection: The Weight of Everyday Digital Life \n\n\n\nOverflowing email inboxes\, deluges of mobile phone notifications and torrents of social media posts—the flow of communication in its abundance is today’s individualized interface for interpersonal and professional practices. Communication technologies and their use are both the needle and the thread of the wider social tapestry of everyday contemporary life. This ever-changing communication environment is where the neoliberal economic policies of the West and the commercial imperatives of the platform and data-mining industries meet. It is where the contradictions they produce can be felt day-to-day by citizens-turned-users. How does it feel to live at the pressure points of intersecting economic realities and why does it matter? Drawing on a decade of sociological research in the UK and Canada\, Constant Disconnection examines how individuals try to manage connection as participation in everyday life and how\, on a larger scale\, the ever-expanding knowledge\, communication\, and data-driven economies depend on the very pressures that result from our disparate communication needs. \n\n\n\nParadoxes of Digital Disengagement : In Search of the Opt Out Button \n\n\n\nLife is increasingly governed and mediated through digital and smart technologies\, platforms\, big data and algorithms. However\, the reasons\, practices and impact of how the digital is used by different institutions are often deeply linked to social oppression and injustice. Similarly\, the ability to resist these digital impositions is based on inequality and privilege. Challenging the ways in which we are increasingly dependent on the digital\, this book raises a set of provocative and urgent questions: in a world of compulsory digitality is there an opt out button? Where\, when\, how\, why and to whom is it available? Answering these questions has become even more relevant since the COVID-19 pandemic. In response\, the book puts forward the concept of ‘digital disengagement’ which is explored across six key areas of digitisation: health; citizenship; education; consumer culture; labour; and the environment.
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/talk-on-the-weight-of-connectivity-and-the-inescapable-grip-of-digitality/
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250226T120000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250226T140000
DTSTAMP:20260101T171352Z
CREATED:20250204T130042Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T171352Z
UID:745-1740571200-1740578400@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Workshop by Dr Katie MacKinnon on Early Internet Memories
DESCRIPTION:Have you ever wondered what happens to your data when a platform dies? Have you ever tried to find an old account? Have you ever deleted your website and regretted it?  \n\n\n\nIn this workshop\, participants will go on an archive promenade to search for their own forgotten or abandoned websites from the past 30 years in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine\, following the process outlined in the EARLY INTERNET MEMORIES zine(https://katiemackinnonxyz.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/early-internet-memories-6.pdf).  \n\n\n\nFor academics\, an archive promenade is a participatory approach to web archival research that is committed to producing a history of online community with members of that community\, for example\, by gathering\, curating\, and annotating archival material and data collaboratively. This method can be used in research contexts\, but also by individuals looking to explore their own internet histories\, as it grapples with the politics of data afterlives and contends with the ways that data is entangled through affect\, materiality and situatedness.
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/workshop-by-dr-katie-mackinnon-on-early-internet-memories/
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250220T120000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250220T130000
DTSTAMP:20260101T170938Z
CREATED:20250202T170850Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T170938Z
UID:729-1740052800-1740056400@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Talk from Dr Katie MacKinnon on Arctic Archives: Temporal politics of platform power
DESCRIPTION:Over the past couple years several deep time data archival projects have emerged\, and with them the politics of data loss in deep time archival processes reveal how platform centralization and control reshape the future of data preservation. The Arctic World Archive is a facility located in an abandoned coal mine Svalbard\, Norway. It stores data on offline using silver halide crystals on polyester film which is created\, operated\, maintained by the Norwegian company Piql. InFebruary 2020\, GitHub curated an algorithmically selected “greatest hits” collection of 17\,000 data repositories\, migrating them from GitHub servers to this deep time archival format known as Piql Film\, that claims to preserve data from somewhere between 500-1000 years. \n\n\n\nSimilarly\, Microsoft’s Project Silica is an archive media primarily for Microsoft Azure\, their cloud computing platform. Data inscribed on quartz glass is a “low-cost\, durable WORM media that is electromagnetic field-proof and offers lifetimes of tens to hundreds of thousands of years […] storing data for millennia.” Cerabyte\, a German company is developing ceramic nano memory that is a “new way to store data without media life limits […] with a 5000-year track record as a reliable data storage”. And Lonestar\, an American company\, is sending SpaceX rockets with data to the moon. Through an empirical examination of these various projects and theoretical engagement with the temporalities of platforms and archival technologies\, this paper expands on emerging work in STS\, media studies\, and critical data studies that attends to the politics of deep time data preservation. It contributes to these fields by foregrounding how platform-driven archival practices extend centralization into the future\, creating conditions in which the preservation of data paradoxically entails its stasis and potential obsolescence. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWatch recording
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/talk-from-dr-katie-mckinnon-on-arctic-archives-temporal-politics-of-platform-power/
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250206T100000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250206T120000
DTSTAMP:20260101T170359Z
CREATED:20250214T163956Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260101T170359Z
UID:468-1738836000-1738843200@digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Workshop from Dr Nataliia Laba on Beyond the algorithm: Creative agency in the age of AI
DESCRIPTION:Can generative AI be creative\, or is it merely a copy machine that recycles stolen data it has been trained on? Adopting a usage-oriented perspective\, this workshop invites a critical reflection on the disruptive impact of visual generative media on creative industries and professional practices. It does so by foregrounding the question of human-AI agency distribution\, highlighting the unresolved tension between innovation and imitation inherent in visual generative media. The structure is three-part.First\, a lightning talk will invite participants to consider perspectives of artists and professional designers – both those in favor of genAI and those against it – drawing on a thematic analysis of 604 YouTube comments to video titled “AI vs Artists: The Biggest Art Heist in History” on the @yesimadesigner channel.In the second part\, participants will reflect on current and potential applications of generative AI in their own practice\, to unpack four visions in relation to genAI integration – AI as a tool\, AI as a threat\, AI training seen as similar to inspiration and learning\, and AI training seen as akin to data laundering. Additional perspectives are expected to emerge from this discussion.In the last section\, participants will collectively construct and negotiate the conditions for the ethical integration of AI into networked image cultures and society at large. \n\n\n\nDr Nataliia Laba is an Assistant Professor in Digital and Multimodal Communication / Humane AI at University of Groningen. Her research focuses on multimodal generative artificial intelligence and works at the intersection of critical data studies\, discourse studies\, and techno-ethics. Her current research projects address human-machine agency and a range of representational issues in the context of visual generative media adoption and use. These include how gender bias becomes normalized through prompting practices\, the attitudinal stance-taking of non-human agents in AI-generated images of war\, the effects of prompt modifiers on AI video generation\, and the impact of visual generative media on the creative economy\, professional designers\, and artists.  \n\n\n\nNataliia is particularly interested in discourse structure relations between tech companies\, designers\, critics\, and users as a way of engagement with observable techno-cultural practices and activities considered essential for good AI stewardship. \n\n\n\n\nVisiting Fellowships
URL:https://digitalsociety.mmu.ac.uk/event/workshop-from-dr-nataliia-laba-on-beyond-the-algorithm-creative-agency-in-the-age-of-ai/
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