Call for Papers:

Online Conference: Media Technologies and Future Storytelling
December 16, 2025
http://commlist.org/archive/calls/2025-all/msg00936.html

Deadline for submission of abstracts: November 14, 2025

We are pleased to announce an online one day conference exploring the evolution of storytelling in the wake of advancements in media technologies. This event will investigate how emerging technologies are reshaping the way we tell, preserve, and reimagine our stories. We live in a world where stories are not just read and watched but physically felt through technologies like (VR/AR/XR). As technologies like VR, AR, and XR make the user’s body an integral part of the narrative, we must ask: How does embodiment change our psychological and emotional connection to a story? How Generative AI is reshaping the roles of the writer, artist, and designer in narrative creation? Asking such questions makes it essential to keep keen attention to the political economy of media technologies and their impact on storytelling.

Another key shift is driven by algorithms. From “For You” pages to personalized streaming recommendations, our story diets are increasingly tailored by data. As we focus on the future impact of technologies, the speculative abilities of the tech to reimagine our past and present can also not be ignored. For example, the use of VR to recreate lost civilizations and using AI to give voice to historical figures etc. But above all, what are the ecological costs of such media technologies and immersive storytelling? While the media technologies have advanced in ways more than we could imagine before, investigating the ecological footprint of these immersive tech is one of the core concerns of critical discourse.

Following is the list of the guiding questions for this conference:

• AI AS THE CO-AUTHOR – How is generative AI reshaping the roles of the writer, artist, and designer in narrative creation? Where does “authorship” lie in a story co-created with a non-human intelligence, and what are the ethical and legal implications?
• STORYTELLING IN IMMERSIVE REALITIES – How does embodiment in VR/XR change our psychological and emotional connection to a narrative? What new narrative structures and techniques are required when the audience can literally look, move, and interact anywhere?
• ALGORITHMIC AUDIENCE AND THE STREAMING MEDIA – How does algorithmically-driven personalization enhance or limit our exposure to diverse narratives and perspectives? In what ways the audience perceives these technologies to tailor their online experience on streaming platforms.
• SPECULATIVE TECH: REIMAGINING PAST AND PRESENT – How can technologies like AI and VR function as tools for critical and counter-historical storytelling, challenging dominant narratives? What are the ethical responsibilities involved in using speculative technology to represent real historical events, traumas, or figures?
• IMMERSIVE MEDIA AND THE ECOLOGICAL COST – How does one explore the  paradox of creating virtual worlds while incurring real-world environmental impacts and seek narratives and practices that promote digital sustainability. How can storytellers and developers quantify, mitigate, and communicate the environmental impact of creating and distributing immersive media experiences?

Please submit a 200-300 word abstract here on the above mentioned themes. You can also submit abstracts for your creative works such as Speculative Fiction, Art Projects, Photo-essays, films etc.

Selected papers as best presentations will be considered for publication in Lacuna Journal (https://lacunajournal.org/).

No APC [Article Publication Charges] for participants.

Deadline: 14/11/2025

Language: English

For any queries write to this email: (conferencemtfs /at/ gmail.com)

Organizers:
Critical Media Studies Masters’ Students
HSE University Moscow [https://www.hse.ru/en/]