In the present digital era, the public sphere, as defined by Jürgen Habermas—a space where citizens negotiate power through collective discussion and political participation—has shifted on digital platforms. 

As digital media have become deeply entangled with some of the most significant political, cultural, and social events around the world, questions of accessibility, digital infrastructure, algorithms, censorship, and the digital divide have become increasingly significant. At the same time, the longstanding question of canonization and the marginalization of communities, voices, and movements can also be extended to the digital sphere. If digital platforms have become today's public sphere, what determines digital visibility, and what produces its absence: digital marginalization? 

While digital platforms are spaces of resistance, participation, and self-representation, this seminar approaches the question from another perspective, as well. What factors keep certain movements, communities, hashtags, narratives, and political struggles marginalized despite the apparent accessibility of digital platforms? How do algorithms, platform governance, state censorship, and unequal digital infrastructures shape what becomes visible, what remains invisible, and whose voices continue to be excluded from digital public discourse? 

We welcome interdisciplinary papers that examine these questions from comparative and transnational perspectives across literature, media, cinema, communication, digital humanities, political theory, sociology, anthropology, history, area studies, and related fields.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Digital divide and digital marginalization
• Social media platforms and digital resistance
• Self-representation and marginalized communities on digital platforms
• Algorithms, platform governance, and digital visibility
• Digital surveillance and data governance
• Digital criminalization
• Platform censorship and digital sovereignty
• Hashtags, digital narratives, and political movements
• Digital canonization and inequalities between the Global North and the Global South
• AI and new forms of digital exclusion
• Connectivity disruption

This seminar welcomes papers that explore these and related themes from diverse disciplinary and methodological perspectives. By bringing together scholars from diverse disciplines and fields, we hope to create an interdisciplinary conversation and look forward to collaborations beyond the conference. 

Please contact the organizer at [email protected] for any questions.