That's a wrap on IC2S2 2026... we'll see you next year in Milan! 😍

Voting is open! Select your favorite #ic2s2 posters, lightning talks, and parallel talks. Voting will be open until our closing session on Friday when winners will be announced. complexforms.uvm.edu/ic2s2/

Here bright and early for the second in-person day of #IC2S2 and excited to give the opening remarks in a bit. Pop quiz: the majority of this year’s conference attendees are from institutions the US, Canada you guess what the second most represented country is?

Super excited for the first in-person day of @ic2s2.bsky.social in beautiful Burlington, VT. I’ll be at the opening reception tonight and I’d love to chat (seriously, don’t be shy!) Have we converged on a hashtag for this thing? #IC2S2 #IC2S226 #IC2S22026

It’s the 6th anniversary of the publication of #HashtagActivism. Much has changed about social media since @moyazb.bsky.social @foucaultwelles.bsky.social and I started researching the site formerly known as Twitter over a decade ago. Forever grateful we were on the ride together.

The IC2S2 deadline is right around the corner! We really need more reviewers to make this conference work. I know (I KNOW) you all get a lot of requests but please consider signing up, especially if you submit. It’s just a few abstracts, we’ll keep the review load light. Promise!

International Conference on Computational Social Science@ic2s2.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Abstract submissions close on March 3rd! We are also extending a ✨ call for mentored reviewers ✨ if you advise excellent graduate or postdoctoral researchers you are welcome to recommend them to review for IC2S2 2026. Email IC2S2@uvm.edu to nominate mentored reviewers (or faculty colleagues)

Our new paper (w. @foucaultwelles.bsky.social ) shows how Asians online created new vocabularies for subversive humor and "everyday activism" that defy both Western propaganda and Asian hypernationalism. Link: doi.org/10.1080/1071...

Bluesky data now on @icpsr.bsky.social -> "A Blue Start: A large-scale pairwise and higher-order social network dataset" by Smith, Amburg, @diesagar.bsky.social, @foucaultwelles.bsky.social, @nwlandry.bsky.social. arxiv: arxiv.org/abs/2505.11608 Social Media Archive: socialmediaarchive.org/record/78

A Blue Start: A large-scale pairwise and higher-order social network dataset

Large-scale networks have been instrumental in shaping the way that we think about how individuals interact with one another, developing key insights in mathematical epidemiology, computational social...

arxiv.org

Please boost! The NOEL PRIZE, in memory of the great and good and much-missed Will Noel. Celebrate your (or any) open access library project. No project too small, or too big. Full details here, deadline 8/1, extremely low-effort Google Form: pacscl.org/what-we-do/f...

Possibly useful if you’re the victim of a cancelled grant! www.spencer.org/grant_types/...

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program

In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

spencer.org

I am so heartened to this seriously AWESOME #SaveNSF website go up today!!!! Has a take action toolkit with: 1. Press outreach templates 2. Social media toolkit 3. Elected official outreach 4. Talking points Check it out and share widely!!!! Likely more to come. www.savensf.com

First they came for humanitarian aid, Then they came for health, Then they came for education, Then they came for culture, Now they come for truth.

Mike Wagner@prowag.bsky.social · last yr.

Friday Night Massacre of accurate information. A devastating day for the USA as tens of millions of dollars of grants seeking to combat the spread of false information were terminated. We have a federal govenrment that does not consider the verifiable truth a priority. www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...

Church bells ring across Massachusetts to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution and people gather on the lawn to defend our fragile democracy. No kings in 1775 and no kings in 2025.

Superb news. There are numerous modern-day Vavilovs stepping up. Dark times always bring out the best in people, too. www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...

The inspiring scientists who saved the world’s first seed bank

The long read: During the siege of Leningrad, botanists in charge of an irreplaceable seed collection had to protect it from fire, rodents – and hunger

theguardian.com

Henrik Schönemann@lavaeolus.bsky.social · last yr.

Crying some tears of joy and of released pressure/stress: One of the large repositories in Germany started safeguarding datasets from #NOAA, officially. www.linkedin.com/posts/gloeck... pangaea.de This is the culmination of weeks of work 💖 #SafeguardingResearch @safeguardingdata.bsky.social

What if Elon is the first autistic person RFK has ever actually met and that’s why he assumes we don’t pay taxes or go on dates

My heart goes out to every international student in the United States. Foreign students have helped make American universities the best in the world. Without them America will suffer.

The precedent set here is the end of Congress, which I don't think Congress will even notice

Politico@politico.com · last yr.

Breaking: The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to cancel $65 million in teaching grants.

If your NEH grant was terminated, please share that information with @humanitiesall.bsky.social via the form below.

Chris Cantwell@cdc29.bsky.social · last yr.

The National Humanities Alliance is collecting information on canceled NEH grants to share with congressional leaders. This is legit fact finding in support of competent lobbying. If you've had your grant canceled, do let them know. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

@modernlanguage.bsky.social is working with many orgs in the face of ongoing attacks on higher education and the humanities. Let MLA know what you need and what strategies you’d like to share with others. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Call for Strategies Responding to State and Federal Encroachment on Higher Ed

If you would like to share how your department or campus is responding to state and federal encroachment on higher education, please respond to the questions below. Responses can be anonymous, but ...

docs.google.com

Modern Language Association@modernlanguage.bsky.social · last yr.

Speak out against these attacks: tell your representative you support the NEH. p2a.co/DdtlGIT

Good to see you here altNEH, we know it’s a risk. Humanities and culture are worth fighting for!

If you/your grant admin receive/received an official looking email last night or today from NEH (letterhead, correct names), make sure you check the domain it was sent from. Official emails from NEH go through eGMS Reach and would have neh.gov as the domain. Check in with your grant admin today.

Jason Rhody@jasonrhody.bsky.social · last yr.

A few tips for NEH grantees: 1) if you've spent money on an awarded grant but have not yet drawn down the funds, make sure to submit the paperwork to drawn down funds ASAP. 2) the NYTimes article suggests that "DOGE" might cancel awards. If you receive an email from DOGE cancelling your NEH award,

A sliver of good news in the dumpster fire of this week—new paper shows how amplification on social media rewires information networks and permanently shifts attention. Most of us have long assumed this is true (it’s why we repost/reskeet/etc) but now we have proof 😊

Alyssa Smith@cetaceanneeded.bsky.social · last yr.

If you study networks, or have been stuck listening to people who study networks for long enough (sorry to my loved ones), you may have heard that open triads – V shapes – in social networks tend to turn into closed triangles. But why does this happen? In part, because people repost each other.

So let me get this straight - they cut funding for DEIA, gender, climate, misinformation, the arts and public health research and they think that’ll make us shut up about stuff that makes them feel uncomfy? Lol ok. We don’t have anything left to do but scream.

Groups across the country have received letters notifying them that their grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities have been canceled, raising alarms about serious harm to museums, historical sites, and a wide range of community projects.

No news organization should ever use the words "third term" without the word "unconstitutional" preceding it

Building the biggest talent pipelines and retaining top talent is good for business, full stop. Study after study after study shows this, it’s literally management 101.

Zahr K. Said@zahrsaid.bsky.social · last yr.

"the biggest sham is that we have somehow identified these types of goals with not being meritocratic… Those of us who've been out here building multibillion-dollar companies with an eye towards having diversity, equity, and inclusion, we're hiring for greatness. That never stopped."

For folks who don’t know, ethnic studies programs like African American/Africana Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicano Studies and the like come directly from civil right era campus activism. Attempts to disempower such programs should be framed as attacks on civil rights same as much else rn.

Over here watching my friends compile tips about how to safely enter my country … … and I’m so proud of my friends for helping … … and I’m so sad for my country.

Is your PhD research on game design, game production, HCI, or design theory? I've got three 2-year postdoc positions in my ERC StG project to investigate what makes theory useful and usable in game design / interaction design. Reposts much appreciated. Thx! candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

Postdoc positions in HCI and Videogames Theory at IT University of Copenhagen

The IT University of Copenhagen invites highly motivated individuals to apply for a Postdoc position in HCI and Videogames Theory at IT University of Copenhagen

candidate.hr-manager.net