When social media came of age, in the late noughties, a sense of upheaval was hard to avoid. As

the internet took its mobile turn, social media were fast transitioning from the web to smart phone

apps. Everyday life as well as extraordinary moments were chronicled, made visible and

distributed online by a rapidly expanding contingent of people connected across the world.

Enabled by the technology, their connections were not imminent. Yet, concerns with gaping

inequalities, economic hardship, political repression or the climate emergency brought people

out onto the streets in places as far apart as Tunisia, Brazil, the United States, Romania or Hong

Kong. Personal accounts of poignant experiences circulated at pace and at scale among

intersecting networks of friends, family, community and campaign organisations, media and

political actors, many of whom coalesced into social movements. This was the time of the Green

Revolution in Iran, the Arab Spring, the Indignados and the Occupy Movement. Many more

protests have followed in their wake, many observed for insights into the social and psychological

mechanisms implicated by the use of social media, the ramifications for politics, political

socialisation and civic engagement of the networking and content-sharing platforms turned

social infrastructures.

There has been much scepticism about the transformative capacity of social media, the events,

the cultural practices or the politics of those social movements incubated at the cusp of the first

and the second decades of this century. Social media have become unapologetic algorithmic

machines geared towards profit-making, devoid of any previously assumed democratic mission.

Much of the content circulating on them is manipulative, divisive and is rapidly su􀆯used with AI

slop. From fictitious protest events on culturally sensitive issues to corporate ads sowing doubt

about opposition to their practices, social media are the mainstage where competition for the

scarce resource of the current age, attention, is playing out. In this highly distributed but

increasingly fraught communication environment, inquiries into how people continue to adapt

and respond to ongoing changes in socio-cultural practices and technological innovation remain

decidedly topical.

Hosted at Babes-Bolyai University by the international team of researchers on the TakePart

Project (https://www.takepart.ro/the-team/), this two-day conference invites paper submissions

grappling with the meaning and significance of persistent socio-technological transformation on

civic and political participation. We encourage submissions addressing questions to do with

adaptation, learning, resilience and resistance among citizens and myriad communities

mobilising in support of democracy but also in opposition to democratic elites and institutions;

in solidarity with people experiencing war and deprivation but also with those who feel left behind

or sidelined; carried out by people who are innovating with, challenging and repurposing

platforms, algorithms or AI prompts and agents; of those who instigate or actively oppose social

and political change.

We welcome papers on these aspects, but not limited to them, as well as on kindred questions

such as:

• What is the future of activism, social movement and civic participation in the fastdeveloping

age of artificial intelligence?

• How are social media and artificial intelligence implicated in the social learning of civic

participation—ranging from protesting to petition signing and volunteering and with what

consequences?

• How are fake news and AI slop filtering into protest communication and with what

consequences?

• In what ways do artificial intelligence and social media platforms reproduce or challenge

existing gendered and racialized power structures in civic engagement, from visibility in

protest movements to access to organizing tools?

• What is the latest evidence on the relationship between the use of social media or

artificial intelligence, support for protests and protest participation? What longitudinal

trends can be observed? What are the implications of any such links for protest success?

• How do marginalized groups, particularly women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and racial

minorities experience and navigate digital activism in a communication environment

marked by heightened cultural and a􀆯ective polarization?

• How do activists negotiate the intricate communication environment where social media

algorithms, generative artificial intelligence and evolving media organisations shape

exposure and interpretation of grievances and collective action? How do they mobilise

supporters and participants? How do they engage opponents and policymakers and with

what success?

We invite 400-500-word abstracts outlining empirical, theoretical or policy-oriented papers that

address these or cognate topics. The abstract should summarize the research and provide some

insight into even the most preliminary conclusions. It should be accompanied by a 100-word

biography of the presenter(s) together with contact details. Additionally, we will consider panel

proposals as long as they seek to address one or more of the conference questions. Panel

abstracts should similarly be 400-500 words in length and, in addition, should include the list of

papers to be presented and the author biographies.

Abstracts/panel proposals/biographies/contact details should be emailed to victor.cepoi@ubbcluj.ro.

All papers presented at the conference will receive comments from a discussant. In the run-up to the

event, the organisers will seek to assemble a special issue of either Information, Communication &

Society or another high-ranking international journal dedicated to the conference proceedings. They will select a collection of conference papers and will invite participants to submit their manuscripts for publication in the special issue.

Authors of accepted papers will have to register their participation and pay a conference fee of 50EUR upon registration. The fee will be waived for PhD students and candidates as well as for independent researchers. Participants will be asked to make their own travel arrangements, but the organisers will offer affordable accommodation in university residence halls for all interested. More information about accommodation will be provided upon registration.