In the 10th chapter of Bridging Design and Fandom, Matt Hills (@matt-hills.bsky.social) explores theories of fan cultural capital through two case studies of fan-designed, paratextual Doctor Who merchandise. Read the open access chapter here! doi.org/10.1108/978-...

Designing Fan-Created Doctor Who Merchandise: Forms of Capital and Unlicensed Design Adventures in Capitalist Realism

Abstract. Strands of fan studies and design research have shared a Bourdieusian focus and can be brought into dialogue. However, prior work on unlicensed f

doi.org

I am over the moon excited and honored to work with this fantastic group of people on shifting our understanding of conspiracy theories, why people share and consume them- beyond calling those who do merely "crazy", but with a curious mind aimed at contributing to understanding 🤓🥰

DFG-funded Research Unit "Beyond Crazy"@beyond-crazy.bsky.social · yesterday

We are delighted (and soooooo happy) that the DFG will fund the first four years of our Research Unit “𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝘇𝘆: 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳𝘀”. We will seek 8 Ph.D. candidates and a postdoctoral coordinator to start in Spring 2027.

I talked to Arielle Pardes at the Guardian about deepfake ads and scams where influencers' likenesses are used without their consent to hock all sorts of nonsense: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Deepfakes are wrecking influencers’ credibility, one fake ad at a time

Influencers aren’t just battling competitors for brand deals. They’re now battling AI versions of themselves

theguardian.com

The Saddle Lake Cree Nation is standing up against the Canadian Province of Alberta’s gender-affirming care ban by positioning itself as a safe haven for transgender people seeking medical care.

A First Nation Is Making Itself a Safe Haven From Alberta’s Trans Youth Care Ban

them.us

Delightful work by the staff and editors at @wikipedia.org. You can see all 230 feet of the Bayeaux Tapestry, all within its Wikipedia page!

With no thanks to Slideshare's issues, I've finally posted my own presentation from the DigiWorld #ECREA2026 pre-conference on the blog. This is on behalf of a much larger @qutdmrc.bsky.social research team, and is our first attempt to use the Meta Content Library properly. snurb.info/node/3687

Towards a Cross-Platform Analysis of Election Debates, Using Practice Mapping in the Meta Content Library | Snurblog — Axel Bruns

My own presentation, on behalf of a much larger team at the QUT Digital Media Research Centre, co

snurb.info

As always, music is essential. And this is absolutely DELIGHTFUL on its own merits too (h/t @cherrypoppunk.bsky.social who brought this to my feed.)

Crimson Mayhem@crimsonmayhem.bsky.social · 2w ago

Introducing the BEEP BEEP Choir from Coyote vs ACME!!

If this seems like a strange or random direction for MAGA hate speech, read @adriennemassanari.bsky.social's work. Online gaming culture was the crucible where MAGA hate speech was first brewed.

Nancy Levine Stearns@nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · 2w ago

The White House uses SEGA logo to unveil new video games on the White House website where players can deport and terrorize families with ICE. I’ll ask SEGA for comment.

This Finnish guy has been teaching himself Sumerian, and sent a cuneiform tablet to the British Museum to check his progress. They just emailed him that they've sent him something in the post. I'm now thrilled and excited for a total stranger! Clay tablet mail! www.reddit.com/r/Cuneiform/...

Hey fellow #fanstudies folks, I’ve been thinking about researching AI as a polarising topic for a while and focussing on fans Doing some deep ethnography to understand this topic. But I don’t want to accidentally step on someone’s toes or snipe ongoing research. So is anyone doing this already?

🆕 Ahead of the next conferences I've updated the blog with some new journal articles. Just out today is a new massively multiauthored position piece in @natcomms.nature.com, outlining the current state of polarisation research and led by the great Max Falkenberg:

Another Update from the Road: New Journal Articles, and Upcoming Conferences | Snurblog — Axel Bruns

I'm on the road again for a trip that will take me to the ECR

snurb.info

"Smart, extremely well-informed, and highly recommended." — @couldrynick.bsky.social @aramsinn.bsky.social and Jesse Gilbert's "The Secret Life of Data," the 2025 Nancy Baym Book Award winner, is now available in paperback: mitpress.mit.edu/978026204881... @aoir.bsky.social

Without saying you are, what is your favourite movie that came out when you were 2 years old? A surprisingly ok year! But it has to be:

Trainspotting: Choose EverWing - Iconic Run Scene

ALT: Trainspotting: Choose EverWing - Iconic Run Scene

static.klipy.com

Kimberly Hirsh@kimberlyhirsh.com · 2w ago

Without saying your age, what is your favorite movie that came out when you were 20 years old? Okay now that I'm doing this correctly...

Pride Month - Celebrating Queer History QUT Centre for Justice and DMRC invite you to a special Pride Month event celebrating the people, stories and acts of courage that have shaped queer history at QUT and across Queensland. 10AM - 12PM | Thursday 24 Sept www.eventbrite.com.au/e/pride-mont...

PRIDE Month 2026

Celebrating Queer History at QUT and in Queensland

eventbrite.com.au

A team of DMRC researchers, led by Kateryna Kasianenko, have conducted research into AI Overviews - the generative AI summaries that appear at the top of search engine results - and whether they support conspiratorial information seeking practices. journals.sagepub.com...

Well done to Daniel Angus and Ashwin Nagappa on their new article in The Conversation today. This piece looks at the pros and cons of the idea idea that Australians can take social media into their own hands and choose what they see on their feed. Check it out below!

Australians could soon be able to choose what appears in their social media feed. How would this work?

People should have meaningful choices about the systems organising their attention.

theconversation.com

Most of what Meta committed to in this settlement was already available, and what's new still just delegates the conflict — and the responsibility — to families. But that's not even the worst part. The worst part is that by framing this as a measure for "teens"

Still no takers. I don't *understand*, and it's killing me. LOOK AT THESE FACES.

Shecky@shecky.bsky.social · 4w ago

ORPHANED CATS NEED FOREVER HOME IN NORTHEAST (PLEASE READ *ENTIRE* THREAD) My wife's childhood friend died Thursday, leaving his two *mildly* special-needs cats. The elder, Wally, is about 13. ABSOLUTELY affectionate cat; GLORIOUSLY dim. His only issue is that he poops in bathtubs if given a chance

A great read from Dr Ned Watt (Ned Watt) and Associate Professor Michelle Riedlinger (Michelle Riedlinger), discussing the decline in factchecking from large platforms, and the systems that are taking their place such as Community Notes on X.

The collapse of trust in facts: Fact-checking in retreat - The Klaxon

The modern fact-checking movement launched 25 years ago but is now in retreat — just as it’s needed more than ever. Ned Watt and Michelle Riedlinger report.

theklaxon.com.au

Tim Curry and Dolly Parton have taught us not only that you should be bigger, weirder, gayer, and freakier, but also that those qualities are what people will love about you. The things that make you strange and amazing are the things that will resonate with other strange and amazing people

If Dolly was our constant reminder that it was Good to be Good, Tim Curry was our reminder that it was Good to be Weird. Embrace your strangeness, sing with Muppets, wear your lingerie with a leather jacket, and fuck with uptight people who hate anything that makes them remotely uncomfortable.

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra.bsky.social · 3w ago

RIP to a motherfucking icon.

I have really enjoyed the experience of reading story after story about how good and selfless and beloved a recently deceased famous person was

Dolly Parton's family asked that, in lieu of flowers, fans make a donation to the singer's Imagination Library. Here's what the charity does ⬇️ www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Turning Pages: Inside Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Core team of 15 staff and thousands of volunteers and partners help the country-music philanthropist deliver books to kids around the world.

rollingstone.com

Art by Pat Bagley @bagleycartoons.bsky.social

Jeff Buckley released his debut album ‘Grace’ 32 years ago on August 23, 1994 | Listen to the album + revisit our tribute here: album.ink/JBGrace

DMCA strike on a personal Google Drive. DMCA strike. On a PERSONAL FUCKING ACCOUNT holy shit I cannot stress this enough the anti-trans fucks are comfortable lighting every single right and protection you have on fucking fire. They do not care about your freedom or rights they just want control.

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · last mo.

I've never seen such an effort to censor a document as I have the Amnesty International report on gender critical groups because of JK Rowling. They removed the report from the Wayback Machine and now I got a DMCA strike on my Google Drive for having it. It was deleted and removed from my account.

University Rankings are bad. Even the ranking that puts your workplace in the Top10 European Universities for #ComputationalSocialScience (and in the top 50 worldwide). cssrankings.org#metric=weigh... Jokes aside, rankings are seriously bad and problematic.

A new Conversation article from Stephen Harrington, Ella Chorazy, and Timothy Graham This article talks about the idea of 'sanewashing' in the media, using Donald Trump as a case study. A link to their full paper on this idea can be found in this thread.

The media has made Donald Trump look more coherent than he is. It’s called ‘sanewashing’

The US president often provides meandering non-answers and strange speeches, but news reports omit the weirdness. Does it matter?

theconversation.com

Many years ago, when I first started writing for The Dark Side (Britain's oldest horror mag) we had a bit of a friendly pub quiz rivalry with Empire magazine for a while. We kept losing though. Until one week we discovered a secret weapon. /1

priscilla page@priscillapage.bsky.social · last mo.

that's right, Bruce Campbell www.mensjournal.com/entertainmen...