✨ Rachel (she/her) ✨

CFP: ADM+S Generative Authenticity Symposium Call for Papers Authenticity, Generative AI and Synthetic Media: An ADM+S Symposium 6-7 May 2026, QUT Kelvin Grove, Brisbane Authenticity is often at the centre of concer...

🚨CFP: The ADM+S Generative Authenticity project is hosting a small scholarly symposium on Authenticity, Generative AI and Synthetic Media on 6-7 May at QUT Kelvin Grove (and hybrid node).

Short abstracts due 9 March.
All info and the submission form: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

M/C Journal logo

♾️ CFP OUT NOW: M/C Journal '#immortality' issue, edited by Angelique Nairn and Deepti Bhargava. Article submissions due 17 Apr. 2026; issue launch date 17 June 2026. #mcjournal ♾️

journal.media-cultur...

can people see how colonial this shit is bc whew buddy

Toitū Te Tiriti Toitū Te Tiriti is tupuna inspired, tiriti led, mana motuhake driven and mokopuna focussed. Our intent is to demonstrate the beginning of a unified Aotearoa response to the Government’s assault on tan...

Was looking for this website for a rellie and thought "maybe some people on bsky would like a car sticker or fence sign or whatever."
So here you go.
Also they look great!
toitutetiriti.co.nz?syclid=cc6e7...

A few days left to submit your 500-word abstract for the Trans-Asian Transcultural Fandom Symposium 🫰

Deadline 📆 Feb 1

Find out more ▶️ transasianfan.wordpress.com

We welcome your submissions 🫶

#CallForPapers #CFP #Fandom #FanStudies #AcademicSky #TransculturalFandom

I will be looking for an RA soon as my amazing postdoc has got a permanent role on our team. I will be looking for an emerging Māori researcher who has a social science background preferably :) dm me if you know of anyone or want to kōrero

Thanks, Kate!! ✨

Thank you, Seamus! ✨

Huge thank you to my amazing PhD supervisors Tama Leaver @tamaleaver.bsky.social and Crystal Abidin, as well as Eleanor Sandry @zigzaggery.space, and especially all of the friends and colleagues whose support helped me reach this dream milestone. 💖 Excited for what comes next!! ✨

In the thesis, I develop a grounded theory of "hyper-virtuality", arguing that the most successful virtual influencers are not those that seek to camouflage themselves as “real”, but rather those that embrace and celebrate the exceptionalism of their virtuality - ideas I intend to expand in future!

It combines a digital ethnography of 100+ virtual influencers across 11 platforms, interviews with their producers and industry stakeholders, and analysis of press, industry documents, and archival web, to chart virtual influencers' history, industry, and impact in the visual social media landscape.

My PhD project examines the phenomenon of "virtual influencers": fictional, animated characters that are native to social media, participate in visual social media cultures, and seek to accumulate the attention of online audiences, brands, and investors.

My PhD in Internet Studies was recently conferred by @curtinuniversity.bsky.social, so I'm thrilled to be starting 2026 as *Dr* Rachel Berryman! 🎓🥳 My PhD thesis, "Analysing Virtual Influencers", is now available online - you can download it here: hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937...

🧵Summary below:

Australia is about to ban under-16s from social media. Here’s what kids can do right now to prepare Download your data, make plans to stay connected to friends, and decide where you’re going next.

🇦🇺 Really important piece by my @qutdmrc.bsky.social colleague @antmandan.bsky.social in @aunz.theconversation.com on the ways that teenagers can protect themselves from the incredible damage to their lives that @albomp.bsky.social’s impending #SocialMediaBan will wreak.

This free online event hosted by @newcastleyouth.bsky.social is happening tomorrow (Nov 19) at 2pm AWST/5pm AEDT! Join this expert panel discussing young people's selfie cultures and the short documentary ‘Filtered Reality’ - registration via the link below! 🤳✨

📢 Call for Papers!

AJEC invites abstracts for a special issue on children’s perspectives in their digital childhoods 🌍💻

📅 Abstracts due: Fri, 31 Oct 2025
📧 s.danby@qut.edu.au Susan Danby, | i.silva@qut.edu.au Irina Silva

We're looking for a new colleague in Media and Creative Technologies at the University of Waikato (L or SL level). Feel free to ask me any questions you might have, and circulate to anyone relevant!

elhs.fa.ap1.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

tbh I think Microsoft is going to blink right before October 14, and if they don’t… well, that’s a very, very bad decision on their part.

and here we go: www.wsj.com/tech/ai/...

Book cover for "Girlhood Game: Gender, Identity, and Coming of Age in Video Games." A youthful feminine bedroom is depicted, centring on a computer desk setup with game accessories.

My book is out! 💗
Girlhood Games: Gender, Identity and Coming of Age in Videogames is a 6-year-long labour of love for young adult stories, teen heroines in videogames and unnoticed girly game histories.
Thank you @livvy.itch.io for the beautiful cover!

www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

Nearly 100 years after her death, Oxford’s first female Indigenous scholar honoured Mākereti Papakura died weeks before handing in her thesis at Oxford university documenting the life and customs of her tribe, work that is still used by Māori today

Nearly 100 years after her death, Oxford’s first female Indigenous scholar honoured

The New Patriarchs of Digital Capitalism: Celebrity Tech Founders and Networks of Power This book offers an original critique of the billionaire founders of US West Coast tech companies, addressing their collective power, influence, and ideology, their group dynamics, and the role they p...

"The New Patriarchs of Digital Capitalism:
Celebrity Tech Founders and Networks of Power" by Ben Little and Alison Winch (2021) 🙌 www.routledge.com/The-New-Patr...

QR code to be scanned with a question: “Do you own fandom-related makeup or beauty products

If you’re 18 or older, and have purchased makeup or beauty products based on your fandom (e.g licensed tie-ins or fan-run brands, small businesses, etc), my friend and colleague, Suzanne Scott is looking for you to answer a short survey with an opt-in for a follow up interview.

Enamoured Books Enamoured Books is a romantic bookstore haven created just for you. We pride ourselves on offering a diverse range of books where everyone can find a story they see themselves in - from relationship t...

There is a tiny independent bookshop that specialises in romance that’s opened in Remuera. Went there today with Ms 21, just delightful. A great selection & a lovely spot to visit. enamouredbooks.co.nz highly recommended in these trying times.

Our opening policy position reads: 1. Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Aotearoa New Zealand Diaspora Māori hold a distinct status as the indigenous people, or tangata whenua, of Aotearoa New Zealand. The particular rights of Māori living overseas, outlined by the articles of te Tiriti o Waitangi, must be fully explored and upheld, enabling Māori leadership in supporting the Māori diaspora. 1.1. Ensure all individuals with Māori whakapapa are eligible for Aotearoa New Zealand citizenship, regardless of country of residence or birth.

Our opening policy position reads:

I'm really excited that a collection of fascinating work on fandom, fans and AI that @suzannerblack.bsky.social and I co-edited is out today in the new volume of @journal.transformativeworks.org - and as the journal's first 'New Currents' section! Read our editorial here doi.org/10.3983/twc....

Call for Abstracts: 2026 CDCS Symposium

Call for Abstracts: 2026 CDCS Symposium

“Good Vibes Only? How Affects and Emotions Are Mediated for Justice in Digital Culture”

www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/...

Algorithms of Resistance: The Everyday Fight against Platform Power How global workers, influencers, and activists develop tactics of algorithmic resistance by appropriating and repurposing the same algorithms that control

And a reminder that _Algorithms of Resistance_ is fully #openaccess, so can be read by anyone, right now(!):

direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

✨I’m recruiting for a research project on game monetisation!✨
I’m keen to chat to game devs about how monetisation shapes the dev process. Interviews will be 60mins via Zoom. To learn more, head to bit.ly/40mOB3f

if you'd like to participate, shoot me a DM or email taylor.hardwick@sydney.edu.au 😊

Poster for the international conference React & Respond. Image Cultures under Platform Capitalism, October 2–4, 2025, in Zurich. The design features a bright blue background with layered white triangles and bold black text. White curved arrows connect the words across the poster. Logos of the University of Zurich and Zurich University of the Arts appear at the bottom.

How do platforms shape the way we see, share & react to images?
Join React & Respond, international conference on image cultures under platform capitalism, October 2–4.
Open to all, register now: www.zhdk.ch/veranstaltun...

@bildoperationen.bsky.social @zhdk.bsky.social @zkk-zurich.bsky.social