ComAI-Lectures

This talk discusses how data donation infrastructures can be used to study political behaviour on social media platforms. It introduces data donation as a way to access user-centric traces of political information exposure and engagement that are otherwise difficult to obtain, and reflects on key conceptual and methodological challenges such as sampling, validity, and ethics. Drawing on ongoing work, the presentation outlines how donated platform data can be linked to survey measures of attitudes and behaviour, and sketches opportunities for future collaborative projects in the broader field of political communication and platform research.

Abstract This presentation examines worker-led AI governance, understood as the collective ability of workers, through unions, cooperatives, grassroots collectives, and social movements, to shape how AI is used, managed, deployed, negotiated, or refused at work. Grounded in ongoing empirical research with cultural workers across the Americas, the talk analyzes one specific dimension of worker-led AI (…)

Abstract One of the paradoxes of AI is that it is a global phenomenon, but at the same time, it is always situated in specific, local contexts and cultures. While approaches that aim to study local cultures of AI are important, there is the risk of neglecting their insertion within the broader geographies and politics (…)

Abstract Generative AI has become a significant trend in visualization research and practice since the release of ChatGPT in 2022. Despite this, we do not know enough about how visualization professionals are actually using Generative AI, its benefits, and disadvantages. In this talk, I will present a series of projects that illustrate the current advances (…)

Bio Axel Bruns is an Australian Laureate Fellow and Professor in the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. His books include Are Filter Bubbles Real? (2019) and Gatewatching and News Curation: Journalism, Social Media, (…)

Abstract With over 300 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and with emergencies and climate disasters becoming more common, AI and data are being championed as forces for good and as solutions to the complex challenges of the aid sector. In this talk based on my new book, Technocolonialism: when technology for good is (…)

Abstract AI promises speed, efficiency, and seamless automation, yet in pursuing these ideals, we risk marginalizing practices and temporalities that matter: slowness, reflection, imperfection, and the capacity to linger. This talk reframes the conversation about AI futures by focusing not only on what is to come, but on what we risk losing in the process. (…)

Abstract This talk examines the shared implications of emerging AI technologies across media industries. Advancements in generative artificial intelligence are bringing rapid changes to communication industries. AI applications can perform increasingly human-like roles in the communication process and, as such, can augment and even automate human media work in profoundly different ways from predecessor technologies. (…)