1/2 Great article by Noordenbos & Tuters: Russia is v.good at using digital platforms to narrate resistance to the West across the Global South. Its not just narrative content but how narrative elements circulate that creates effects - #ambient #parapolitics: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Wonderful that my friend and collaborator @profvaccari.bsky.social's #inaugural lecture will happen 11th March, Edinburgh, in-person. A great moment for Cristian and an urgent topic he addresses: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inaugural-...

X is hiring a creative writing specialist at $40 an hour to make Grok better at writing and a true LOL at the qualifications

I had a chat about what @profmiskimmon.bsky.social and I wrote recently about how many narratives used in politics are deliberately ambiguous - watch here, responses appreciated:

Today’s topic: spiritual warfare.

This sums a lot of what AI offers, some blurry vibes, and how its promise is part of a longer history of dealing with some pretty big dilemmas. By @tomdivon.bsky.social + Christian Pentzold: AI can make the dead talk – why this doesn’t comfort us: theconversation.com/ai-can-make-...

Thread 👇 on a new article by @profmiskimmon.bsky.social and I, Strategic narrative: its origins and evolution, its connection to public diplomacy, and some future paths. Read here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Researching how and why journalists are being targeted and killed in huge numbers today? Apply to attend our journal's event in Cape Town in June. 31 Jan abstract deadline: link.icahdq.org/discussion/c...

New book by @maydinger.bsky.social - Discourse, Voice, and the Politics of Participation in the Scottish Independence Referendum - important on the difficulty of creating inclusive #participation: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

New online: A PhD thesis exploring how Russia does #strategic #narrative work against the West, by @christierns.bsky.social [bias: I examined it ✋]. Adds historical perspective re: why certain actions to address Russia's efforts will or won't work today. Read here: cadmus.eui.eu/server/api/c...

Great time at the @psampg.bsky.social annual conference in Bournemouth. #AI #theory #discourse and #moderation discussed by our team me, Marco Guglielmo and @andreucasas.bsky.social. Thanks Dan Jackson and all the organisers.

2026 Statistic of the Year is already decided 🤷 Very interesting analysis here of how #Trump uses #shrugs to communicate several different things, by @chrishartlinguist.bsky.social and Steve Strudwick, here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...

How to help young people become full political agents? They want to be. The new 'civic mentoring model' from @jamessloam.bsky.social, based on what works or doesn't, in various cities. How to help local authorities make this pathway happen? Read in detail at: www.google.co.uk/books/editio...

The Vacancy is being written. @paulisci.bsky.social and I have caffeine and words to write.

A lovely MSc graduation day is over, and lovely to hear who has started PhDs elsewhere and to meet the parents who help it all happen. They also waived the one drink per person rule so some of them were very happy.

My article on #mythology is now open access. Carter, Porter, Herrera: Overcoming Mythology to Achieve Agency (Sometimes) Effectively. Read here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

PhD opportunity in Memory Studies: granduniondtp.web.ox.ac.uk/contested-hi...

I took my MSc students for a festive lunch. Much to talk about in the world 🎅 🤶 🎄

The new US National Security Strategy fits a lot of what I described just beforehand here: blogs.gwu.edu/ipdgcsmartpo...

In cellophane, a new issue arrives, a special issue Narrating War edited by @adamblerner.bsky.social @profmiskimmon.bsky.social & I, with great authors, available here: journals.sagepub.com/toc/mwc// cc @alexhlar.bsky.social @paulinesophieh.bsky.social @minseonku.bsky.social @jarrodhayes.bsky.social

The new US National Security Strategy mentions #softpower, a surprise. But I am not sure these paragraphs signal soft power in the eyes of much of humanity. www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

Students have bought pizza 🍕 to give to staff on my department corridor. This is a first, and should happen every day. They are lovely students.

I was asked to give a keynote on the future of soft power and strategic narrative, in a room in DC in 2025 where the intensity and stakes could not be higher. Please read here: blogs.gwu.edu/ipdgcsmartpo...

My MSc students today: “COP30 isn’t in the news because climate is a topic for peaceful times.” Discuss.

Excited our department seminar tomorrow is @duncanbell.bsky.social on #Socialism and #Telepathy: Group Minds and Freedom in Interwar British Political Thought. The talk takes place 1-2pm in McCrea 2-01, all welcome.

Who has control of the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings if survivors are now dead? AI #memorybots? Should there be moral worth for forgetting rather than assuming all memory is valuable? New by Luli van der Does and @andrewhoskins.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Big CfP: ICA preconference in Cape Town, 3 June 2026, for our Media, War and Conflict journal. Theme: Challenges to Contemporary Conflict Reporting bit.ly/mwcpreconfer... - any questions can be emailed to the organisers at: [email protected]. Thanks to @icahdq.bsky.social!

Big CfP: ICA preconference in Cape Town, 3 June 2026, for our Media, War and Conflict journal. Theme: Challenges to Contemporary Conflict Reporting bit.ly/mwcpreconfer... - any questions can be emailed to the organisers at: [email protected]. Thanks to @icahdq.bsky.social!

New book by @jamessloam.bsky.social: young people and politics ‘involves a move from citizens as simply voters, volunteers and consumers, to citizens as problem-solvers and cocreators of public goods’ (Boyte 2005: 536). Read intro for free: bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/turning-yout...

Three PhD studentships available if you want to work-study with @andrewhoskins.bsky.social on his brilliant new WARSHARE project on Telegram and the Russia-Ukraine war: www.sps.ed.ac.uk/study/prospe... #memory #trauma #participation

"Delusion is the solution. Be delulu." One of my students today.

Empire of AI by @karenhao.bsky.social. I'm fortunate to be leading a seminar on power next week, and this will be in it, as this basic, fundamental question has been bubbling under the surface with my students all term; it can go in many directions: www.penguin.co.uk/books/460331...

New by @nataliejester.bsky.social in Media, War and Conflict: Great Britain? Constructing great power status through online news reporting of foreign conflict -- our news thinks the UK has a duty to intervene, despite its hard power declining. Read here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Thread:

@andrewhoskins.bsky.social has a sense #AI won't be good for #memory, collective or otherwise. We are sharded and swimming alone in slop: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New special issue by @luissimonn.bsky.social and @danielfiott.bsky.social very much gets at the complexities over time of how great powers do wedging or binding, to themselves and others. Here: China, EU, US. A great analytical framework I hope others use: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Very much enjoyed talking to the smart folks @cvtrc.bsky.social. Was grateful to @benoloughlin.bsky.social for chairing & @akilnawan.bsky.social for inviting me. Was very pleased to get questions from distinguished scholars like @lizzypearson.bsky.social as well several undergrads.

How will advanced AI systems impact democracy? @summerfieldlab.bsky.social et al. 'AI may provide an opportunity to update the social contract underlying rep. democracy, by expanding the role of citizen input... including the design of democratic institutions and processes' arxiv.org/abs/2409.06729

If #AI develops values, will it realise some people don't value it, so it will commit suicide? James Meek in the LRB: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4... h/t @profmiskimmon.bsky.social

Hear me now! Well, soon...

Our article on the politics of AI prompts is out now @econsocjournal.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 1/n

My polcomm class today said emojis are what the previous generation used. They have a different comms toolkit. They are kissing bricks. A genuinely hilarious hour.

The insightful @andreamedrado.bsky.social is launching the Critical AI Centre @exeter.ac.uk - join for the launch debate here, Oct 8 2pm GMT: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-critic...

Want to do a PhD in social media and politics? We have a studentship here:

Generative AI might end up being worthless — and that could be a good thing, by Fenwick McKelvey: theconversation.com/generative-a...

Upcoming conference, Shifting Allegiances, Story-Telling, and the #Narrative of Values in the Black Sea Region. Date and Location: 1-3 May 2026, Batumi, Georgia. Organized by: Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University. Info here: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-j...

⚠️ For us, accessing platform data is central in enhancing online political safety research, particularly its credibility, validity and ethical standards! 📑 In fact, we have already produced a report on this topic! ➡️ osf.io/preprints/so... 🧵[2/3]

Our PhD student @katosborne5.bsky.social published a first book review! 🎉 The politics of preventing violent extremism: liberal democracy, civil society and countering radicalization, by Charlotte Heath-Kelly & Sadi Shanaah: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... cc co-supe @lizzypearson.bsky.social

New special issue: Can the European Union (EU) strive for Strategic Autonomy in an age of intensifying Sino-American competition? A mixed picture is found, led by @luissimonn.bsky.social and Daniel Fiott. Opening article here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

EAT THEIR FRAMES