Autumn School: Synthetic Social Media: Studying Platform-Embedded AI (2026)
Siegen, 22.09.2026 – 25.09.2026
→ Register here
About the Autumn School
We are delighted to announce the programme for the forthcoming Autumn School, Synthetic Social Media: Studying Platform-Embedded AI, taking place at the University of Siegen, 22–25 September.
The programme is organised around three themes: AI Slop / Slopification (Day 1), Chatbot / Appification (Day 2), and Persona / Affective Infrastructure (Day 3), featuring presentations by Stijn Peeters, Marloes Geboers, Salvatore Romano, Carine Roos, Giorgia Arbuti, Natalia Stanusch, Tanja Sihvonen, Jimmy Mäkelä, Natalia Sánchez-Querubín, Nuppu Pelevina, Lilli Sihvonen, Elena Pilipets, and Marcus Bösch.
The three themes are brought into conversation through keynotes by Gabriele De Seta, Esther Weltevrede, Sara Messelaar Hammerschmidt, and Carolin Gerlitz, followed by collaborative method-mapping workshops in breakout groups supported by data designers Ángeles Briones and Riccardo Ventura.
Reflecting on synthetic/human-machine co-created data, participants will brainstorm ways to combine different methodological pathways, analytical techniques, and research tools to study platform-embedded AI through qualitative inquiry and critical technical practice. The workshops integrate hands-on data exploration and visual mapping on Miro boards, using methodological prototyping as a mode of inquiry. Each workshop is tailored to the day’s theme, exploring questions of field access/data collection, research tool inscriptions, sense-making/sensing, methodological frictions, and the ethical challenges posed by synthetic data and AI-mediated environments. The specific affordances of the media phenomena at hand are central. Our main interest is to explore how these affordances inform the method(s).
The Autumn School concludes (on Day 4) with a collective reflection on the outcomes of the method mapping workshops, bringing together the insights and questions that emerged over the course of the programme.
Program
Tuesday, 22. September / AI Slop / Slopification – AH-A 217-18
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9:30 |
Welcome & Introduction |
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10:00-12:00 |
Presentations and Q&A 10:00-10:30 Natalia Stanusch, Martin Degeling & Salvatore Romano “The Human Economy Behind Platform-Ready AI Slop” 10:30-11:00 Tanja Sihvonen, Jimmy Mäkelä & Lilli Sihvonen “Why does “slopaganda” work so well? 11:00-11:30 Nuppu Pelevina & Tanja Sihvonen, “Join me in Viking blood: Imaginary Nordicness through Propaganda Vortex” 11:30-12:00 Q&A |
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12:00-13:30 |
Lunch Break |
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13:30-15:00 |
Keynote Gabriele De Seta “We have a situation: Generative AI eats social media” |
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15:00-17:00 |
Workshop I: Collaborative Method Mapping in Breakouts Participants divide into small groups and use Miro boards to reflect on mixed-methods approaches to studying AI slop/slopification across different types of data: human-machine co-created, platform-embedded, and ethnographic. |
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17:00-18:00 |
Discussion |
Wednesday, 23. September / Chatbot / Appification – AH-A 217-18
|
9:30 |
Welcome & Introduction |
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10:00-12:00 |
Presentations and Q&A 10:00-10:30 Stijn Peeters “The Observability of Generative Search: Navigating Epistemic Obfuscation in Google’s AI Answers” 10:30-11:00 Marloes Geboers “Probing AI Epistemologies – Confronting ChatBots” 11:00-11:30 Giorgia Arbuti: “fan_tact.stick.ai: an epistemic device for studying platform-embedded generative AI” 11:30-12:00 Q&A |
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12:00-13:30 |
Lunch Break |
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13:30-15:00 |
Keynote Esther Weltevrede “Appification: How AI creeps into our daily lives through apps” |
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15:00-17:00 |
Workshop II: Collaborative Method Mapping in Breakouts Participants divide into small groups and use Miro boards to reflect on mixed-methods approaches to studying AI Appification across different types of data: human-machine co-created, platform-embedded, and ethnographic. |
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17:00-18:00 |
Discussion |
Thursday, 24. September / Persona / Affective Infrastructure – AH-A 217-18
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9:30 |
Welcome & Introduction |
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10:00-12:00 |
Presentations and Q&A 10:00-10:30 Carine Gomes Roos „Affective Infrastructures“ 10:30-11:00 Natalia Sanchez Querubin „Persona-Based Walkthrough Method for Chatbot Research“ 11:00-11:30 Elena Pilipets & Marcus Bösch „FYP: A sloppy research persona“ 11:30-12:00 Q&A |
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12:00-13:30 |
Lunch Break |
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13:30-15:00 |
Keynote Sara Messelaar Hammerschmidt and Carolin Gerlitz “TBA” |
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15:00-17:00 |
Workshop III: Collaborative Method Mapping in Breakouts Participants divide into small groups and use Miro boards to explore persona-based approaches to studying generative AI as affective infrastructure, drawing together human–machine co-created, platform-embedded, and ethnographic data. |
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17:00-18:00 |
Discussion |
Friday, 25. September / Method Mapping / Synthesis – AH-A 217-18
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9:30-12:00 |
Synthesis and method map assembly Participants reconvene in plenary to assemble and refine a shared method map, integrating persona-based, computational, and ethnographic approaches to studying platform-embedded AI across the dimensions of slopification, appification, and affective infrastructure. |
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12:00-13:30 |
Wrap-Up and Lunch |
Call for Proposals
The event is free of charge, though attendees are responsible for arranging and covering their travel and accommodation in Siegen.
Contact
Dr. Elena Pilipets
elena.pilipets[at]uni-siegen.de
Venue
Universität Siegen | Campus Herrengarten
AH-A 217/18 | Herrengarten 3 | 57072 Siegen
