Bringing the world of internet research to Sheffield

Written by Dr Tim Highfield and Dr Lianrui Jia

Between 30 October and 2 November 2024, Sheffield will be host to the 25th annual Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) conference, bringing over 500 local and international delegates to discuss critical internet studies under the overarching theme of ‘Industry’. Co-hosted by the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, the Department of Sociological Studies has provided key leadership roles within the organising team, with Dr Ysabel Gerrard leading the event coordination as Local Chair and Dr Lianrui Jia and Dr Tim Highfield acting as co-Programme Chairs. The submission process is currently open, with paper proposals due by 1 March 2024.

Formed in 1999, the Association of Internet Researchers is an interdisciplinary body which promotes and supports internet-oriented research from around the world, including scholarship from media and communication, law, game studies, gender studies, history, and many more fields. Its annual conference brings together leading scholars to critically examine the place of the internet and digital technologies within social, political, and cultural contexts (among others), crossing academic fields and approaches. Academic staff and PGR students from the Department of Sociological Studies are regular attendees at the conference, along with other colleagues from the Faculty of Social Sciences. 

Chosen in response to the industrial heritage and legacy of Sheffield, this year’s conference theme is an opportunity to critically reflect on the relationship between the internet and industry in all its facets, from the rise of digital and data industries to the industriousness of creative practice online and considerations of academia as industry. The call for papers asks: how does industry shape, support, and limit digital technologies? What industries have arisen – and disappeared – through the use of digital technologies? And what does the individual and collective industry of the people using digital technologies mean for the development of digital cultures, practices, and futures? A particular focus of the call for papers is awareness of how industry is understood and approached differently in different parts of the world, and accordingly how submissions might critically expand and challenge our understandings of internet industries, the industrial and the digital, and being industrious online, especially from global perspectives. As such, the 2024 AoIR conference addresses the place of industry within internet research, and as a research site, subject, and partner.

Potential submissions might then engage with the following themes, or with other interpretations of industry and the internet:

• The industry and infrastructure underpinning the internet
• The creation and sustainability of online / digital industries
• The industriousness behind creative practice and community online
• The impact of the industrial on the digital / (post-)industrial legacies within digital contexts
• The industries that emerge from digital contexts (especially locally or regionally)
• Resistance towards digital industries
• Explorations of and reflection on relationships and collaborations between academia and industry
• Making the internet, making with the internet, and/or making on the internet
• The political economy of digital industries
• Labour and digital contexts
• Histories of industry that contributed to the digital/data industries

We also welcome submissions on topics that address social, cultural, political, legal, aesthetic, economic, and/or philosophical aspects of the internet beyond the conference theme. Submissions are especially welcomed from PGR and early-career scholars, both for the conference itself and for events specifically targeted to these groups.

Hosting the 2024 AoIR conference is a great honour for the Department, University, and the city of Sheffield. The conference has not been held in the UK since 2012, and the choice of Sheffield as host reflects the global profile of internet research here, particularly through the Department’s Digital Media and Society team. With the world’s leading internet scholars coming to Sheffield, there are also huge opportunities for us and our students to see cutting-edge research, meet with international colleagues, and to develop new collaborations and partnerships.

For more information about the conference, please see the AoIR website. Any questions about submitting to the conference should be directed to the Programme Chairs (AoIRConfChair [at] aoir [dot] org) in the first instance. There will also be some volunteer opportunities around the conference itself for other ways to get involved with the event – details about these will be released later in the year.