Call for Papers

The 13th International Conference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2027)

invites scholars, researchers, practitioners, designers, activists, and

community organisers to contribute to this year’s theme: Communities of

Hope.

Communication and Media Studies scholars are warmly welcome to contribute.

Hosted by Delft University of Technology in Delft, The Netherlands, C&T

2027 brings together an interdisciplinary community to explore the role of

hope in shaping relationships between communities and technologies in a

time marked by overlapping socio-ecological crises, conflict, and

uncertainty.

Theme: Communities of Hope

Hope emerges in moments of fear and instability, yet unlike fear, it

connects rather than isolates. It invites us to imagine alternative

futures, our shared utopias, and to ground those visions in collective

action. Hope is not abstract. It is rooted in lived experience, in

struggle, and in everyday practices. As Paulo Freire reminds us, hope is a

human necessity, one that drives us to challenge injustice and enact change.

Positioned at the intersection of communities and technology, C&T 2027

moves beyond both techno-optimism and techno-pessimism. We critically

engage with dominant narratives that frame technology as either solution or

threat, and instead centre community-led, situated, and hopeful engagements

with technology.

We understand hope not only as a feeling, but as a collective practice of

resistance, care, imagination, and action. Likewise, we approach community

as “being in common”: shared practices, shared struggles, and shared

futures.

Topics and Areas of Interest

Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

1. Critical and Situated Perspectives on Technology

2. Designing, Developing, and Appropriating Technologies for Hope

3. Socio-Technical Imaginaries, Applications and Pedagogies

Contribution Types

We invite full, short, and exploratory papers. Accepted papers will be

published in the ACM Digital Library and are part of the ACM Open program.

No payment from authors will be required for paper submission or

publication.

Further calls for participation, including workshops, posters & demos, and

doctoral colloquium, will be published soon.