Information, Communication & Society

#OutNow in #iCS
This article examines how different media environments influence civic norms among U.S. Latinx communities. It highlights how media exposure helps shape political expression, dialogue and a sense of participatory belonging.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

#OutNow in #iCS
This article explores how AI futures are imagined across Asia. Analysing sociotechnical imaginaries in China, India, and Japan reveals how techno-developmentalism reflects divergent national ambitions, anxieties, and paths to modernity.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Build-a-face: homogeneity, racialisation and Eurocentric beautification in Instagram AR face filters Instagram filters are widely recognised for embodying unrealistic beauty standards, with scholars quick to isolate the way filters smooth skin, enlarge eyes and shrink the nose. Yet, the specificit...

#OutNow in #iCS
Instagram AR filters are not just playful tools. This article uncovers how they reinforce Eurocentric beauty ideals and racialised sameness, contributing to a digital culture where visual norms are shaped by platform design.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Can't stop the hype: scrutinizing AI's realities Recently, we have been inundated with reports about the revolutions brought about by AI. However, much of our knowledge about these ‘revolutions’ arises from media sensationalism and advertising cl...

#OutNow in #iCS
This article takes a sharp look at the politics of AI hype. Beneath bold promises lies a lack of scrutiny over regulation, equity and power—raising urgent questions about who benefits from dominant narratives.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

#OutNow in #iCS
Through the lens of Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict, this article examines how hashtags and hatetags are mobilised on social media. It shows how digital campaigns blur the line between activism and antagonism in contested political spaces.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Analysis of relevant games’ attributes and their relations with women’s values The area of Computer Science faces a gender gap in their courses and work field. There is a need for means and tools to address this gap. One possibility is to introduce women to the world of games...

#OutNow in #iCS
E-cigarette messaging on social media is anything but random. This new study maps how content spreads, linking actors, algorithms and formats through an integrated infodemiology framework that reveals key dynamics of online influence.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Cancer vlog community building for social support on YouTube: a social capital perspective Video blogging (vlogging) on YouTube allows cancer patients to invite viewers into their lives through vivid and authentic storytelling. Compared to online communities that operate based on user-to...

#OutNow in #iCS
Drawing on a social capital perspective, this article explores how cancer vlogs on YouTube become collective support spaces, where trust, empathy, and shared experience help build meaningful bonds between vloggers and viewers.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

#OutNow in #iCS
When politicians slam the media as “fake news,” does it stick? This study shows repeated exposure to such claims heightens media distrust, especially among audiences already primed to be sceptical.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Rhyme or reason: medium-term effects of heuristic and traditional media literacy interventions Media literacy interventions are at the forefront of anti-misinformation policy. Current interventions are often complex, time-consuming, and lack a clear theoretical basis, which might negatively ...

#OutNow in #iCS
What works better? Detailed lessons or quick tips? This article puts a shortcut-style media literacy tool to the test, showing it can build lasting resilience to misinformation using Protection Motivation Theory.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Demystifying hashtag hijacking in the public opinion game: attention, narratives, and social bots Hashtag hijacking has become a prevalent strategy of issue competition on social media. This study explores its attention dynamics, narrative strategies, and manipulation by social bots under the t...

#OutNow in #iCS
How do hashtags get hijacked? This study dives into narrative shifts and attention redirection in #MeToo and #COVID19 cases, showing how social bots help distort discourse and steer public opinion online.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Disability and digital inequality: understanding the impact of different disabilities and socio-economic factors on internet use in Ghana This paper examines the underexplored area of internet use among persons with disabilities, with a focus on Ghana, where mobile phone use is expanding access to online services, including governmen...

#OutNow in #iCS
Drawing on survey data from Ghana, this study shows how digital inequality is shaped by both disability type and income, highlighting how visual and physical impairments intersect with economic disadvantage to limit internet use.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

#OutNow in #iCS
Petronis, Roth & Olteanu show how during COVID-19, social and biomedical contagion were entangled. Tracing long COVID discourse, they call to move beyond “infodemic” framings to include affect, desire, and legitimisation via virality.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Economy of suffering and ethical visibility in the mpox crisis This study examines the ethical dimensions of health communication during the 2022 mpox outbreak, focusing on the interplay between social media and public health officials in shaping stakeholder r...

#OutNow in #iCS
Drawing on interviews from the 2022 mpox outbreak, this article explores how risk communication unfolded across social media, balancing urgent messaging with the ethical fallout of stigma and moral panic.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Twitter dreams of AI: understanding AI futurity through sentence embeddings This study uses a novel approach, Sentence BERT (SBERT) to examine Twitter (X) discourse around artificial intelligence (AI). As AI becomes increasingly prevalent, use, development, and conflict ha...

#OutNow in #iCS
Zhang applies Sentence-BERT to trace AI discourse on X, uncovering how narratives of futurity and expertise emerge through platform dynamics—shaping what AI is imagined to be, and by whom.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

#OutNow in #iCS
Immersive, addictive, therapeutic—this review of 44 studies shows how VR in the metaverse blurs lines between harm and healing. Bojić et al. call for frameworks that go beyond traditional models to govern this dual potential.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

#OutNow in #iCS
This article examines La Qi, a data annotation practice in China where mundane AI labour doubles as governance. It reveals how annotators help enact state-aligned regulation, blurring boundaries between compliance, control, and computation.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

#OutNow in #iCS
Song updates Hall’s encoding/decoding framework for digital platforms, introducing four new concepts—de/encoding, lincoding, affordecoding, and en/decoding—to show how ideology is reproduced and contested in the age of platform capitalism.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Trade-offs in a bigger pie: how the relationships between digital civic infrastructure and political participation vary across rural and urban communities – the case of Michigan This study draws on a survey sample of the U.S. state of Michigan, combined with public data, to test the interrelationships among local storytelling networks, broadband availability, and political...

#OutNow in #iCS
This article shows that digital civic infrastructure affects political participation differently in rural and urban areas, highlighting unique trade-offs related to broadband access and the flow of local information.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

The potential of ICT: reducing rural residents’ cognitive biases towards ecological policies Rural residents’ cognitive biases regarding ecological policy lead to suboptimal implementation in rural areas. This study empirically investigates how Information and Communication Technology (ICT...

#OutNow in #iCS
Can digital tools shift how rural residents view ecological policy? This paper finds that short video platforms are especially effective in reducing bias by boosting knowledge, attention, and risk awareness.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

How are mutual shaping approaches being applied to the study of social networks and gender? A systematic literature review of analytical frameworks, methodologies, and trends Constructivism and the mutual shaping of technology and society are approaches within the field of science and technology studies (STS) that offer a new way of understanding technology and its inte...

#OutNow in #iCS
Valencia, Domínguez-Serrano & Gálvez-Muñoz map how mutual shaping approaches are used to study gender and social networks. Their review highlights dominant methods and gaps, offering new directions for more reflexive scholarly research.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

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🚨New article out!
𝗖𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘆𝗽𝗲: 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜’𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀

What happens in the so-called AI revolutions? And what role does hype play in them?

This article proposes a methodological framework for studying AI and its hype.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/studyhype
🧵👇

ICS Book Review offers 2024

Book reviews keep #iCS at the heart of evolving debates. Want to shape the conversation?

🚨 Pick a title and join us. 📚

Contact Víctor Ávila Torres (Lincoln) after browsing:

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Worker-led AI governance: Hollywood writers' strikes and the worker power This article theorizes worker-led AI governance through the 2023 Hollywood writers' strike, arguing that workers can shape the governance of generative AI from below. Drawing on the power resources...

#OutNow in #iCS
The 2023 WGA strike marked a key moment in worker-led AI governance. Grohmann, Campos Rocha & Guilherme show how writers used collective power to frame generative AI as a labour issue—and secure contract protections.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Managing unwanted visibility: how transnational Korean women content creators experience and manage harmful algorithmic visibility on global social media In the creator economy, algorithmic visibility is widely regarded as an ideal and crucial for content creators’ success. In this context, many studies have focused on social media content creators’...

#OutNow in #iCS
Transnational Korean women content creators navigate algorithmic visibility that exposes them to harm. This article examines their strategies for managing unwanted attention and reclaiming agency on global platforms.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Can platform literacy protect vulnerable young people against the risky affordances of social media platforms? A qualitative study of young people with mental health difficulties sought to understand their digital experiences and identify whether their digital literacy helps them cope with online problems. ...

#OutNow in #iCS
Young users face hidden risks shaped by the design of platforms. This article asks whether platform literacy equips them to recognise and resist those risks, or if structural vulnerabilities demand more than individual knowledge.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Algorithmic discrimination: a grounded conceptualization This paper extends the literature on algorithmic discrimination to analyze the racialized harms and outcomes of online targeting. In addition to providing a genealogy, we argue that targeted ads ar...

#OutNow in #iCS
What counts as algorithmic discrimination? This piece develops a grounded concept rooted in empirical cases, revealing how unequal outcomes emerge from routine design and classification practices.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Anthropology of now: Love and technology: An ethnography of dating app users in Berlin Published in Information, Communication & Society (Ahead of Print, 2025)

#OutNow in #iCS
In her review, Nikoo Karimi reflects on Love and Technology, Fabian Broeker’s ethnography of dating app users in Berlin, praising its depth and attention to mediated intimacy, while noting space for further engagement with ambiguity.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Shifting platform governance: examining participatory content moderation on a Chinese platform Bilibili In China, digital platforms are held accountable for monitoring online content under current laws and regulations. Legal pressure and the sheer amount of user-generated content require platforms to...

#OutNow in #iCS
Based on a case study of Bilibili, this article explores how user-driven content moderation reshapes governance on Chinese platforms—blurring boundaries between platform control and participatory labour.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Seeing through the fake: how users detect and interpret deepfakes Deepfakes pose significant challenges to information credibility and user discernment. While public and scholarly interest in deepfakes has grown, little is known about the cognitive processes that...

#OutNow in #iCS
Can users reliably spot deepfakes? Shin’s study finds detection depends on media format and prior trust, raising questions about literacy, perception, and the limits of visual evidence.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

#OutNow in #iCS
This article examines how Europe’s Gaia-X project aims to reclaim digital sovereignty from US cloud dominance. It examines the challenges and implications of establishing a federated, secure data infrastructure that aligns with European values.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...