Call for Papers

Open Call for a Special Section – Autumn/Winter 2025

Norms, Power Relations and Injustices in Digitality: Global Perspectives

Guest Editors:
Christoph Böhm (Stuttgart Media University)
Oliver Zöllner (Stuttgart Media University & Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)

The internet and its applications are known to be full of undesirable, often inhumane content. For a number of years now, digital companies have been under regulatory obligation to delete certain content from their platforms that is deemed problematic (“content moderation”). This practice itself is in part problematic, as the normative basis for what is considered desirable or acceptable, and what is considered undesirable or unacceptable, is highly contextual and culturally dependent. Legal regulations can vary from country to country, often leading to accusations of illegitimate censorship. Furthermore, for economic reasons, the equally controversial design of deletion practices is often outsourced to relatively marginalized countries with lower wage levels. This results in ethically questionable and precarious working conditions, in which people have to carry out psychologically stressful work. This includes, for example, having to view, evaluate and, if necessary, delete depictions of violence, child pornography, hate speech and propaganda.

In a special section of the Global Media Journal – German Edition, we invite interested authors to submit contributions on this topic. Submissions may be written from the perspective of media and communication studies, sociology, cultural studies, and/or ethics and philosophy. Contributions with an interdisciplinary orientation are especially welcome in order to further initiate a dialogue between the disciplines and to enrich the discourse on power relations, the setting and enforcement of norms and questions of justice and injustice in digitality.

CfP: Norms, Power Relations and Injustices in Digitality: Global Perspectives

Archive

You can find our closed Call for Papers here.