Networked (in)justice: an introduction to the #AoIR17 special issue

Abstract

For the last 10 years, Information, Communication & Society has published a special issue including some highlights from the annual Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) conference. This, the 11th special issue, continues in the tradition of sharing rigorous, interdisciplinary, critical research from the event. #AoIR2017 was themed on ‘Networked Publics’ and took place from 18 to 21 October in Estonia in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. The conference was hosted by the programme chair Andra Siibak, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Tartu, and facilitated by the Institute of Social Studies and the Centre for the Information Society. Held at the Dorpat Convention Center in pic- turesque downtown Tartu, the conference drew together attendees from a broad range of national, disciplinary, and methodological backgrounds, and we present here a selection of papers reflecting this broadness and diversity of internet research.we propose a focus on networked (in)justice drawing attention to:. How mainstream scholarly conceptualizations of publics and platforms prioritize some networked publics and marginalize others. How networked publics are shaped as an assemblage of hardware, design, algorithms, discourse, bodies, collectives, and affect. How networked publics reflect and shape intersecting power relations of geography, gender, sexuality, race, and sexuality, among others. How networked publics are distinctively local, but simultaneously shaped by transnational and global dynamics.