Hype Studies Conference 10-12th September 2025 - Programme Guide

Programme HYPE STUDIES CONFERENCE 10 — 12th September 2025 Universitat Oberta de Cataluny Barcelona (Don’t) believe the hype! 2 .................................................................................................................................................... 3 ....................................................................... 3 ...................................................................... 4 ............................................................................................................................ 5 ............................................................................................................ 6 ...................................................................................................... 7 .................................................................................... 9 ...................................................................................... 9 .............................................................................................................. 10 .......................................................................................... 10 ...................................................................................................................... 11 ................................................................................................ 11 ............................................................................................. 12 ...................................................................................... 13 ....................................................................................................... 13 ............................................................................................................................... 13 ........................................................... 15 ................................................................................................................. 17 ............................................................................................................. 17 .............................................................................................................. 18 ............................................................................................................. 19 3 The Hype Studies Conference is an experiment in collective thinking and doing. As researchers, designers, and practitioners, we are all curious about hype, not just as exaggeration, but as a force that composes and directs attention, markets, politics, emotions, and imaginations. We're here to share our ideas about how hype shapes technologies, economies, and cultures, with real consequences for how the future is imagined and acted upon. As you'll see, the programme brings together a heady mix of talks, a keynote, a plenary panel session, workshops, video art, and installations. Through these sessions (as well as through informal moments and exchanges), we hope you'll be able to explore hype as a performative force, reflect on its mechanisms and effects, and share ways of understanding (and intervening in) the politics of hype. The idea of this event is to provide an open space, whether you’re an academic, student, artist, policymaker, technologist, journalist, student, or just hype-curious: We welcome you to join in, connect, contribute, and experiment with us. This document is here to serve you as a general conference guide. It includes some words on the philosophy of the conference, housekeeping, conference and party venue information, as well as tips on where to eat and hang out, and key contacts should you require any assistance. For a quick overview of the full schedule, go to page 17! For a deep dive, make sure to download the booklet of abstracts. 4 This gathering is going to be a little bit different from your usual academic event. Built on a DIY spirit, it’s a primarily volunteer-run, a little experimental, and sometimes delightfully improvised. The programme organizers run the conference on minimum funding. This gives everyone participating great academic and creative freedom - but bear with us: things may not always go exactly to plan. We rely on a common spirit to make this a fruitful, insightful and fun conference. Our motivation to host this conference under these principles also comes from an observation of crisis. The organizers felt alienated by the contemporary academic conference business which asks for high participation fees and huzzling 7-min pitches piled up one after the other. We do not believe that these are sustainable conditions for fruitful and inspiring exchange. The Hype Studies Group strongly believes that our generation can do better. With this conference we want to create an inspiring off-space. (Don’t) believe the hype?! is a non-commercial, not-for-profit event. It is completely free for everybody as we want to aim for maximum inclusivity. We are committed to horizontal, inclusive and transparent decision making practices - and of course: Want to be playful and have fun. When we disseminated the call for papers we were overwhelmed by the great creativity, quality (and quantity!) of contributions. We dearly hope to have crafted a programme that reflects this diversity in backgrounds and different experiences and we look forward to spending three exciting days together. The success of the Hype Studies Conference depends on the energy, generosity, and creativity of everyone involved. Let’s make this a space where we can learn from one another, try things out, and enjoy the unexpected! We are grateful to each of you for being part of this. 5 For general inquiries, please contact us over [email protected]. For urgent matters, please contact the following people (all of us are on Telegram, some are also available over WhatsApp). We also have a Telegram channel where you can chat with us and the other people attending the conference (open for both virtual and in person attendees). Building orientation / tech & equipment onsite: Andreu Belsunces (+34645791744). Accessibility / inclusion support / awareness: Jascha Bareis (+491632152169) and Ola Michalec ([email protected]). Registration; schedule, workshops and art installations logistics: Isa Luiten (+31649956280). Social media and the panel: Vassilis Galanos (+447506887026). Telegram Channel communication: Wenzel Mehnert (+4366478588501) and Pierre Depaz. Coffee breaks logistics and the keynote: Dani Shanley (+31611409083). Please note that photography and video will be taken throughout the conference. If you wish to be excluded from any photography or footage, please let any member of the organising team know, ideally at the registration desk. 6 (Don’t) believe the hype?! is a hybrid conference. Each room has its hybrid equipment and the online links can be accessed below. We work with google meet as it is for free and stable (no, we do not like to rely on BigTech but we do not have the money to buy open source alternative licenses). Telegram: Join the conversation on Telegram to exchange and discuss with peers during the conference: hypestudies.org/telegram. Wi-Fi: Eduroam connection is provided for existing and guest users across the premises of the University. For instructions, please consult relevant posters at the venue or ask any member of the organising team. Day 1 - 10th september DotCom Room - U1.1: https://meet.google.com/ytg-veen-xiw Nanotechnology Room - U1.14:https://meet.google.com/vhy-tctu-ptn Internet of Things Room - U1.5: https://meet.google.com/rpb-hpvy-jbe Metaverse Room - U1.6: https://meet.google.com/roi-eygn-jyh Web 3 Room - U1.7: https://meet.google.com/ufy-mbak-mir Keynote: https://meet.google.com/mcb-qmsi-cxx Day 2 - 11th september DotCom Room - U1.1: https://meet.google.com/ytg-veen-xiw Nanotechnology Room - U1.14:https://meet.google.com/vhy-tctu-ptn Internet of Things Room - U1.5: https://meet.google.com/rpb-hpvy-jbe Room - U1.6: https://meet.google.com/roi-eygn-jyh Room - U1.7: https://meet.google.com/ufy-mbak-mir Day 3 - 12th september DotCom Room - U1.1: https://meet.google.com/ytg-veen-xiw Nanotechnology Room - U1.14:https://meet.google.com/vhy-tctu-ptn Internet of Things Room - U1.5: https://meet.google.com/rpb-hpvy-jbe Metaverse Room - U1.6: https://meet.google.com/roi-eygn-jyh Web 3 Room - U1.7: https://meet.google.com/ufy-mbak-mir 7 The conference will take place at the U building of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), in the city of Barcelona. The Address: Can Jaumandreu Building (Building U), Calle Perú, 52, 08018 Barcelona Front entry to the conference venue 8 Easiest way to get to the UOC: Follow the factory building “Can Jaumandreu”, which leads you to the conference venue. You can also take tram T4 and get off at the station ‘Pere IV’ 15 Andreu Belsunces Gonçalves is a sociologist of design, technology, and imagination. His research practices engage empirical, speculative, design-led and artistic methods to explore how material futures emerge through the interplay of technology, industry, policy and finance, particularly in relation to uncertainty, hype and fiction. He is a lecturer in Science and Technology Studies, as well as critical and speculative design, across several BA and MA at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), ELISAVA and ESCAC among others. He is co-founder of the design futures studio Becoming and member of the ecosocial transition design cooperative Holon. He is currently a PhD candidate at the research group Tecnopolítica/CNSC at UOC, where he develops the notion of sociotechnical fiction and explores its agencies in relation to cyberlibertarianism. His artistic research is presented at engineering-fiction.org. Jascha Bareis is a Political scientist, STS and Media scholar. His passion lies at the crossroads of questions of normativity, political communication and futures. Currently, he analyzes and comments on the politics of AI, tech oligarchy, and the field of autonomous weapons. Other fields of expertise include technology assessment, trust in technology, and democratic theory. He is senior researcher at the University of Fribourg, joining the HUMAN-IST institute to research the performativity of AI. Further, he is scientific staff at the Institute of Technology Assessment and Systems Anlaysis (ITAS), research group Digital Technologies and Societal Change. Pierre Depaz is a researcher and programmer with backgrounds in political science, game design and comparative literature. His work gravitates around software—how it represents the world and how it redistributes agency to its environment, with a specific focus on source code, programming languages and protocols as mediating forces in human discursive interactions. He is a researcher in media philosophy at the HfG Karlsruhe after defending a PhD thesis at Paris-3 Sorbonne Nouvelle on the aesthetics of source code. Vassilis Galanos, SFHEA is Lecturer in Digital Work at the University of Stirling, investigating historico-sociological underpinnings of AI and internet technologies, and how expertise and expectations are negotiated in these domains to generate profit out of hype. Recent projects explore risks of Generative AI in journalism and its role in Higher Education, artist-data scientist interactions, and community-led digital innovation. Vassilis co-founded the AI Ethics & Society research group and the HaPoC’s Working Group on Data Sharing and acts as Associate Editor of Technology Analysis and Strategic Management. Abstains from meat and has jammed with the Sun Ra Arkestra. More info Isa Luiten is a research assistant at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). She is currently 16 pursuing a master's in Science and Technology Studies at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, building on her background in Cultural Anthropology. Her research explores the intersection of infrastructure studies and policy, with a focus on how governmental organizations structure emerging technologies. In her thesis, she examines policy as infrastructure in the European space sector, analyzing the ways in which conferences, funding schemes, and institutional networks shape the development of the 'hyped up' NewSpace imaginary. Wenzel Mehnert is a futurologist focusing on the imaginaries of new and emerging technologies. He researches, writes and teaches experimental methods of futurology. In his work, Wenzel Mehnert focuses on the intersection between speculative fictions and the evaluation of new and emerging sciences and technologies (e.g. A.I., SynBio, Internet of Things, etc.). He worked as a researcher at the Berlin University of the Arts, cofounded the Berlin Ethics Lab at the Technical University of Berlin and currently lives in Vienna, where he works at the Austrian Institute of Technology and the ethics of new and emerging technologies. Ola Michalec is a Lecturer in Digital Futures at the Bristol University Business School and Bristol Digital Futures Institute. Ola’s research interests revolve around understanding how experts from diverse fields resolve tensions between maintaining and innovating critical infrastructures, with a particular focus on energy systems. Her current project explores the ebbs and flows of hype in the context of developing digital twins in the UK. Ola plays an active role in several communities such as the Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security or the Advisory Board for the Alan Turing Institute Digital Twin Network+. Dani Shanley is an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Dani's expertise is mainly within science and technology studies (STS) and the philosophy of technology, with a particular focus on reflexive, participatory design methodologies (or, responsible innovation), such as social labs and value sensitive design (VSD). Dani currently works on AI and robotics, thinking with and through the lenses of responsibility, hype, and bullshit. Illustrations by Alex Wifi - alexwifi.com Graphic Design by Maria Antunes - mariaantunes.com @maria.v.antunes 17 9.30 - 13:30: Registration desk open 10:00 - 11:00: Welcome and programme presentation (DotCom Room) 11:00 - 11:30: Coffee break 11:30 - 13:30: Panel session 1 1. DotCom Room: AI Hype: Between Power and Resistance 2. Nanotechnology Room: Energy Hype: Green Futures and Controversies 3. Internet of Things Room: Commodification, Libido and Emotions in Hype 4. Metaverse Room: Internet of Things Room: Hype, Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital, and Emerging Technologies 5. Web 3 Room: Hype in Science and its Histories 13.30 - 15:00: Lunch 15:00 -16:30: Workshop (and Panel) session A 1. DotCom Room: After Hype (hybrid book presentation) 2. Nanotechnology Room: Shitpublishing Workshop (in person workshop) 3. Internet of Things Room: A Quantum of Hope: putting quantum science & tech on the theater stage (in person workshop) 4. Metaverse Room: Hype, Human FlourishingTM and its Discontents" (online workshop) 5. Web 3 Room: (STARTS AT 14:00!) Exploring metaphors of AI: Visualisations, narratives and perception (online panel) Virtual Reality Room: Arts Exhibition 16:30 -17.00: Coffee break 17.00 -18.30: Keynote by Gemma Milne: Hype and the Age of Badness (in room U0.2, ground floor) 18 9:00 - 13:30: Registration desk open 9:00 - 11:00: Panel session 2 6. DotCom Room: Socio-Ethical Dilemmas and Health Hype 7. Nanotechnology Room: Political Communication and Disinformation 8. Internet of Things Room: Decoding Scripts and Rituals of Hype 9. Metaverse Room: Hype, Emotions and Panics 10. Web 3 Room: What Hype Obscures: Hidden Labour and Environmental Impacts 11:00 - 11:30: Coffee break 11:30 - 13:30: Panel session 3 11. DotCom Room: Materiality and Infrastructure of Hype 12. Nanotechnology Room: Awards, Fashions, and Social Dynamics 13. Internet of Things Room: Hype, Culture & Identity 14. Metaverse Room: Music, Aesthetics and Theatre 15. Web 3 Room: Governing through hype: Politics & Legitimacy 13.30 - 15:00: Lunch 15:00 -16:30: Workshop session B 6. DotCom Room: Locating Hype: Digital qualitative methods across sites and forms (an in person open discussion) 7. Nanotechnology Room: Humbling Tech Hype: Assessing Change and Continuity (in person workshop) 8. Internet of Things Room: A collective critical cartography of hype (in person workshop) 9. Metaverse Room: Investigating Datasets - The underbelly of the AI Hype (hybrid workshop) 10. Web 3 Room: Hype Was Here: Tracing the ghosts of collective excitement (in person workshop) Virtual Reality Room: Arts Exhibition 16:30 - 17.00: Coffee break 17:00 - 18.30: Plenary Panel discussion with Christo Buschek, Ola Michalec, Oksana Dorofeeva, Jack Stilgoe and Gemma Milne. Moderated by Vassilis Galanos. (DotCom Room) 19 19:00 – Party warm-up: informal gathering for food at Plaça Osca 20:00 - Whoop: Party at Sala Taro! 9:00 - 10:00: Registration desk open (Reminder: grab your own coffee for this morning!) 10:00 - 12:00: Panel session 4 16. DotCom Room: AI in Daily Life: Affective and Everyday Interventions 17. Nanotechnology Room: Hype, Education, and Public Communication 18. Internet of Things Room: Intervening with the AI Hype 19. Metaverse Room: Hype and Resistance: Alternative Futures 20. Web 3 Room: Towards New Theorizations of Hype 12:15 - 13:00: Video screening (DotCom room) 13.30 - 15.00: Lunch 15:00 -16:30: Workshop session C 11. DotCom Room: Queering Hype: A Playable Workshop for Trans/forming Predictive AI (in person workshop) 12. Nanotechnology Room: When Hype breaks the City (online workshop) 13. Internet of Things Room: Detectives of Hype: Surfacing Bias and Worldviews in Our Sensemaking Processes (in person workshop) 14. Metaverse Room: I want to be a Caring Trickster! An Emo Hype with Potential? (online workshop) 15. Web 3 Room: Digging into Hype: Multiplayer Mining for Meaning (online workshop) Virtual Reality Room: Arts Exhibition 16:30 -17:00: Coffee break 17:00 - 18:00: Closing of the conference (DotCom Room)