May 2026 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

CFP - Conspiracy Theories in the Wake of Disaster
by Zachary M Loeb 13 May '26

13 May '26

Greetings, I hope you are all doing well! I believe this CFP may be of interest to some members of this listserv. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out! Best, Zachary Conspiracy Theories in the Wake of Disaster deadline for submissions: May 15, 2026 Matthew N. Hannah Associate Professor Department of Communication Arts University of Wisconsin—Madison mhannah2(a)wisc.edu<mailto:mhannah2@wisc.edu> Zachary Loeb Assistant Professor Department of History Purdue University zloeb(a)purdue.edu<mailto:zloeb@purdue.edu> In late September, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the continental United States, churning its way up the Atlantic seaboard. The storm devastated North Carolina with massive rainfall and flooding of towns such as Asheville. All told, the damage from Helene totaled over 50 billion dollars and the loss of entire communities. But Hurricane Helene inadvertently produced another storm in its wake, a deluge of conspiracy theories about the “true” cause of the hurricane and about the response from the Federal government. Even as the Biden administration rushed to respond to the destruction, conspiracy theories began circulating on X.com<http://x.com/> (formerly Twitter) about Biden ignoring the destruction due to senility, about the government using the hurricane as a pretext for nefarious deeds, and, perhaps most bizarre of all, about Federal agencies using secret weather technology to steer the hurricane into conservative parts of the country to dampen electoral turnout. Donald Trump, then candidate for president, circulated some of these conspiracy theories himself on Truth Social, claiming that President Biden steered disaster aid to illegal immigrants, among other lies. (Waldman and Aton, 2024). The spread of these conspiracy theories forced the Federal Emergency Management Agency, long a villain in conspiracy theory discourse, to publish a fact-checking website to deal with public outrage (FEMA.gov<http://fema.gov/>). These false claims hindered disaster relief efforts and impacted the 2024 elections as Americans responded in outrage to perceived incompetence by the Biden administration (Gollom, 2024). The story of Hurricane Helene’s aftermath is not new. Conspiracy theories circulate in the wake of disasters because these events are such traumatic and sensational eruptions in media coverage that alternative narratives about their “true” causes are almost inevitable. If disasters are events that render the unthinkable thinkable (Cerulo, 2006), then conspiracy theories twist this revelatory moment into a warped attempt to think about something else. They provide a context for disaster that provides a distorted simulacrum of an explanation of the destruction and death and loss by offering a convenient villain whose shadowy machinations are to blame for the tragic event. They turn what could be explained as an unfortunate but "normal accident” (Perrow, 1999), into proof of nefarious agents. Shifting the focus from the human role in creating and exacerbating disastrous conditions (Erikson, 1995), to a way of blaming a secretive cabal. And because many disasters are caused by human error or negligence or complicated historical trajectories, conspiracy theories may seem plausible even when they are not. Conspiracism offers a satisfying explanation for the spectacle of destruction, rooted in narratives about evildoers who cause such pain and anguish (Rice, 2020). While at the same time providing a comforting assurance that the skeptics, unlike the supposed experts, are the ones who know the real explanation for what has happened (Murphy, 2006; Buhs, 2009). Such conspiracy theories are detrimental because they produce suspicion, fear, and anger toward the very agencies responsible for responding to these disasters, while undermining efforts to understand the decisions that have been made over decades (if not centuries) that generated the risks that eventually turned into disasters. And in the age of social media, conspiracy theories can circulate with incredible speed and scope, fueled by recommendation algorithms and the attention economy which ensures that the most sensational content is incentivized (Valaskivi, 2022; Popken, 2018). While thinking about worst case scenarios plays an important role in disaster preparedness (Clarke, 2006; Thomas, 2021; Wuthnow, 2010), events such as Hurricane Helene demonstrate that today even as organizations like FEMA try to manage crises on the ground they find themselves bogged down combatting conspiracy theories online. Conspiracy Theories in the Wake of Disaster will combine conspiracy theory research with disaster studies to launch a new horizon for research focused on the relationship between disasters and conspiracy, which we see as an understudied and fruitful area of study. Contributions can include multiple authors from various disciplines and methodological approaches, including work from sociology, history, communications, philosophy, information studies, data science, and other relevant disciplines, and we are especially interested in approaches from science and technology studies, extremism and conspiracism studies, and disaster studies. Abstracts of 250-300 words and biographical statements will be due by May 15th, 2026. Please send materials to both Matthew N. Hannah at matthew.hannah(a)wisc.edu<mailto:matthew.hannah@wisc.edu> and Zachary Loeb at zloeb(a)purdue.edu<mailto:zloeb@purdue.edu>. While we are still working on identifying a press, but we are currently in discussion with editors about publishing the book. Possible topics of interest include: * Hurricanes, conspiracism, and recovery efforts * Wildfire and water/forest management conspiracy theories * Mysterious technologies as cause of disasters * Analysis of social media discussions following disaster (Telegram, X, Truth Social) * Conspiracy theories about Federal disaster agencies such as FEMA or NOAA * Disaster preparedness efforts and public conspiracism * Anthropogenic disasters (Fukushima, 3-Mile Island) and conspiracy theories * False-flag operations and disasters (September 11) * The impact of conspiracism on civil society in the wake of disasters * Geoengineering and disasters * Climate change conspiracy theories References Aton, Scott, and Adam Waldman. 2024. “Trump’s Strategy: Turn Hurricane Lies into Election Victory.” E&E News by POLITICO, October 11. https://www.eenews.net/articles/trumps-strategy-turn-hurricane-lies-into-el…. Buhs, Joshua Blu. Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2009. Cerulo, Karen A. Never Saw it Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006. Clarke, Lee. Worst Cases: Terror and Catastrophe in the Popular Imagination. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006. Gollom, Mark. 2024. “Rampant Conspiracy Theories Are Hindering Hurricane Relief Efforts, Say Officials.” CBC News, October 9. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/hurricane-helene-misinformation-1.7346969<https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/hurricane-helene-misinformation-1.7346969>. Erikson, Kai. A New Species of Trouble: The Human Experience of Modern Disasters. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1995. “Hurricane Rumor Response.” FEMA.Gov. 2025. January 11. https://www.fema.gov/disaster/recover/rumor/hurricane-rumor-response<https://www.fema.gov/disaster/recover/rumor/hurricane-rumor-response>. Murphy, Michelle. SIck Building Syndrome and the Problem of Uncertainty. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006. Perrow, Charles. Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies. Princeton: Princeton University Press,1999. Popken, Ben. 2018. “As Algorithms Take over, YouTube’s Recommendations Highlight a Human Problem.” NBC News. Accessed May 12, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/algorithms-take-over-youtube-s-re…<https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/algorithms-take-over-youtube-s-re…>. Rice, Jenny. Awful Archives: Conspiracy Theory, Rhetoric, and Acts of Evidence. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2020. Thomas, Lindsay. Training for Catastrophe: Fictions of National Security after 9/11. Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 2021. Valaskivi, Katja. 2022. “Circulation of Conspiracy Theories in the Attention Factory.” Popular Communication 20 (3): 162–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2022.2045996<https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2022.2045996>. Wuthnow, Robert. Be Very Afraid: The Cultural Response to Terror, Pandemics, Environmental Devastation, Nuclear Annihilation, and Other Threats. Oxford: University of Oxford Press, 2010. Zachary Loeb Assistant Professor Purdue University Department of History, Beering Hall 6116 672 Oval Drive West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 zloeb(a)purdue.edu

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Computer History Museum Event, June 23, 7pm Pacific, "Out Online"
by DCBROCK 11 May '26

11 May '26

I wanted to bring to your attention this upcoming event from the Computer History Museum with Avery Dame-Griff about his book “The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet.” More information and registration links here: https://computerhistory.org/events/out-online/ +++++++++++++++ David C. Brock dcb(a)dcbrock.net 40 Russell Street, Greenfield, MA 01301 Mobile: 413-522-3578 Pronouns: he, him, his

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CfP - Unicode Technology Workshop (due June 1)
by Anushah Hossain 08 May '26

08 May '26

Please consider participating in the Unicode Technology Workshop this year, taking place Oct 20-23 in Nancy, France! The event brings together an interdisciplinary group of technologists, policy makers, and academics interested in language technologies. Historians are very welcome - last year we had an excellent keynote by Marc Weber from the Computer History Museum. Best, Anushah -- [image: UTW2026.gif] *Call for Proposals Now Open!*Unicode’s annual conference is leaving the Bay Area for the first time in over twenty years, taking place this year in Nancy, France. The event is being organized in partnership with the Missing Scripts collaborative, which includes the Script Encoding Initiative at UC Berkeley, the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique in Nancy, and the Institut Designlabor Gutenberg in Mainz. Our theme this year is *Unicode in the World* <https://www.unicode.org/events/utw/2026/>. This can stand for many things – the role of Unicode’s standards, algorithms, and data as used across various technology stacks, or perhaps the diverse experiences with text technologies by internet users around the world. We invite you to submit proposals to be part of this exciting program. *The deadline for submissions is June 1st, 2026.*Two types of submissions are possible: – *Tutorials: *one or more 90-minute slots for interactive, workshop-style classes meant to build relevant skills – *Sessions: *a 45-minute slot for a delivered talk, encompassing research seminars, case studies, and more Please take a look at the key dates below, and share widely with your networks! *May 15: Early Bird Registration opensJune 1: Call for Submissions closesJune 23: Session hosts notifiedAugust 1: Early Bird Registration closesAugust 2: Regular Registration opensOctober 20-21: UTW 2026 —TutorialsOctober 22-23: UTW 2026 —Sessions* *Submit a proposal here: https://www.unicode.org/events/utw/2026/sessions/ <https://www.unicode.org/events/utw/2026/sessions/>* -- *Anushah Hossain* Research Director, Script Encoding Initiative Department of Linguistics, UC Berkeley sei.berkeley.edu

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EXTENDED: Nominations for 2026 SIGCIS Mahoney Prize now due *Friday, May 8*
by Charles Luke Stark 06 May '26

06 May '26

Hi folks, We have extended the deadline for nominations for the 2026 SIGCIS Mahoney Prize to EOD Friday, May 8th. The Mahoney Prize recognizes an outstanding article in the history of computing and information technology, broadly conceived. The Mahoney Prize commemorates the late Princeton scholar Michael S. Mahoney, whose profound contributions to the history of computing came from his many articles and book chapters. The prize consists of a $500 award and a certificate. For the 2026 prize, articles published in the preceding three years (2025, 2024 and 2023) are eligible for nomination. The Mahoney Prize is awarded by the Special Interest Group in Computers, Information, and Society (SIGCIS). Please email copies of articles being nominated to the 2026 Prize Committee by May 8, 2026. Self-nominations are welcome, as are nominations from the SIG’s membership. Committee members’ names and emails are included below. Luke Stark (Chair) Assistant Professor Faculty of Information and Media Studies University of Western Ontario cstark23(a)uwo.ca David Murphy Senior Lecturer Digital, Tech, Innovation & Business Staffordshire University david.murphy(a)staffs.ac.uk Janet Toland Adjunct Professor School of Information Management Victoria University of Wellington janet.toland(a)vuw.ac.nz Information on previous winning essays may be found on the SIGCIS website: https://www.sigcis.org/mahoneyprize. And please forward this call widely to your scholarly networks! All the best, Luke Luke Stark he/him/his Assistant Professor, Faculty of Information & Media Studies (FIMS) Western University, London ON https://www.fims.uwo.ca Co-Director, Starling Centre for Just Technologies and Just Societies https://starlingcentre.ca/ Meetings: https://calendly.com/lukestark Website: https://starkcontrast.co/ Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Chonnonton, Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee and Lenaape Nations, connected through the London and Sombra Township Treaties, and to the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum. I ask we pay respect to their Elders, past, present, and future, acknowledging the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory.

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Upcoming Talk: "Misread Signals. How History Overlooked Women Codebreakers " -- by Sir Dermot Turing
by Dag Spicer 02 May '26

02 May '26

Hello SIGCIS Friends! Here is an upcoming lecture I thought might be of interest. Talk given by Sir Dermot Turing, nephew of ALAN TURING. (He is the son of John Ferrier Turing, who was Alan Turing's elder brother). See you there! Dag +++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Fellow Members The next meeting of the Computer Conservation Society for the 2025/26 season is on Thursday May 21st 2026 at 2.30pm. The subject is a Misread Signals. How History Overlooked Women Codebreakers. Our speaker is an old friend of the CCS, Dermot Turing. It will be a hybrid meeting with the lecture being given at the BCS London meeting room which is at 25 Copthall Avenue, London EC2R 7BP (near Moorgate tube) with an option for interactive participation via Zoom. The Zoom link for the lecture will be https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87490007950<https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fus06web.zoom.us%2Fj…>. A waiting room will be in operation. About the seminar Bletchley Park is remembered as a land of male intellectuals who were supported by a staff of women in menial roles, with figures such as Alan Turing, William Tutte and John Tiltman taking centre stage. These are the men who helped sway the course of the war in the Allies’ favour. But, as is often the case in the historical record, this is not the whole story. Women were not just secretaries and assistants: they had serious full-on codebreaking roles. Somehow, when the histories were written, these women were left out. Who were they? What did they achieve? How did they ‘vanish’? In Misread Signals, codebreaking historian Dermot Turing turns his attention to these long-ignored women and puts their contributions back in the spotlight where they belong. .About the speaker Dermot Turing is the award-winning author of X, Y and Z – the real story of how Enigma was broken and Enigma Traitors, which reveals the failings of Allied cipher security during World War II. His most recent book is Misread Signals – how History Overlooked Women Codebreakers, which was published in August 2025. He has written numerous other books relating to his famous uncle Alan Turing, codebreaking and computing history. He began writing in 2014 after a career in law, principally at the international law firm Clifford Chance. As well as writing and speaking, Dermot is a trustee of the National Museum of Computing and a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, Oxford. Please pre-register for the event. To do so, follow this linkhttp://www.computerconservationsociety.org/lectures/current/lecture.htm<https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Flinkprotect.cudasvc…> and click on the “Book” symbol. Please indicate if you intend to participate in person or remotely. Remote participants will be notified of the URL for the Zoom link a few days in advance of the meeting. Our meetings are open to all free of charge so do pass on this invitation to others who may be interested in this meeting or other CCS activities. This is the final lecture of the year we will be back in September with the 2026/27 session. Good wishes Roger Johnson CCS London Programme Secretary +++++++++ ----- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing ACM History Committee 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View CA 94043 “History is a vast early warning system.” — Norman Cousins, American journalist (1915-1990). Join our Mailing List here: https://info.computerhistory.org/subscribe

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