Call for Abstracts: Doing Family with Digital Platforms

2025-03-04

Families are increasingly connected through digital platforms and are currently living in what has been referred to as ‘the platform society’ (Erstad et al., 2024; van Dijck et al., 2018). In the platform society, state and commercial platforms influence the organization of our lives. These new forces create new possibilities and challenges for families that must learn to use and navigate platforms as part of their family life; a life that is “increasingly structured according to platform logics” (Mannell et al., 2025, p. 95). Importantly, platformization and the family are ongoing mutually constitutive processes (p. 96).

In this special issue of MedieKultur, we invite researchers from across the globe to propose articles combining the study of digital platforms with the study of the family. As argued by van Dijck et al., (2018) understanding the platform society “requires a thorough analysis of the ecosystem’s dynamics and the techno-economic and sociocultural practices through which they take shape” (p. 5). Consequently, we ask that researchers submit contributions combining analyses of 1) techno-economic and/or sociocultural practices of digital platforms as well as 2) how ‘doing family’ in a platform society manifests itself, is under change, or interpreted.

The question of ‘doing family’ refers to how families are constantly created and recreated through daily interactions and routines. This perspective emphasizes that family is not just a static unit defined by structural or biological ties, but rather a social construction that is actively maintained through people's actions and relationships (Morgan, 1996; Finch & Mason, 1993). Bringing this sociological perspective on family practices and ‘doing family’ in contact with perspectives on digital platforms may provide a framework for understanding how family practices and relationships are developed and maintained in digital spaces, understanding the dynamics of family relationships in a digital age, as well as understanding how technology alters and sometimes enriches the ways families connect and interact.

We invite the contributions to go into dialogue with the research agenda proposed by Julian Sefton-Green and co-editors in a recently published book drawing up a research agenda for “The Platformization of the Family” (Sefton-Green et al., 2025). Specifically, we would welcome contributions focusing on “what platforms mean for family life” (Mannell et al., 2025, p. 104), “what families mean to platforms” (Mannell et al., 2025, p. 105) and/or “other forms of power at play in the platformization of the family” (Mannell et al., 2025, p. 106).

While we invite contributions focusing on various aspects of family life and platforms, we encourage articles that study novel and less represented aspects in the literature, such as multigenerational families, diverse families, or studies focusing on the grandparent (or great grandparent) generation.  

We welcome theoretical, methodological, or empirical contributions. For inspiration, we encourage topics including but not limited to the following:

  • How various platforms afford family doings and relational practices
  • Parenting and/or grandparenting through digital platforms
  • Media generations or other perspectives with a temporal focus
  • Multigenerational families and digital platforms
  • Being a grandparent/parent/child in the platform society
  • Family care through digital platforms
  • The design of platforms to meet family needs and/or wants
  • The reshaping of family traditions through or with digital platforms
  • Ethical aspects of platforms’ commercial profit from families’ behavior

The focus of the contributions can be on various platforms, or it can be on one or one certain kind of platforms (including but not limited to streaming platforms, gaming platforms, health platforms, communication platforms, social media platforms, shopping platforms, genealogy/family DNA platforms, education platforms, travel platforms, banking platforms, care platforms, and surveillance platforms).

Please submit a non-anonymized abstract of maximum 500 words (excluding references) by 14 May 2025 on MedieKultur’s website: http://www.tidsskrift.dk/mediekultur

Authors will be notified of their acceptance by 1 June 2025. The deadline for submission of full anonymized papers is 30 January 2026.

Articles that are accepted for further process by the editors will go into peer-review. Please note that this entails that abstract acceptance by the editors does not automatically imply that the full paper will be accepted as well.

The special issue will be published no later than December 2026.

Editors for this special issue are: Maja Nordtug (University of Oslo), Antonio Membrive (Universitat de Girona), Anette Grønning (University of Southern Denmark), and Kristinn Hegna (University of Oslo).

 

References

Erstad, O., Hegna, K., Livingstone, S., Negru-Subtirica, O., & Stoilova, M. (2024). How digital technologies become embedded in family life across generations: scoping the agenda for researching ‘platformised relationality’. Families, Relationships and Societies, 13(2), 164-180. https://doi.org/10.1332/20467435Y2024D000000023Finch, J., & Mason, J. (2003). Negotiating Family Responsibilities. Routledge.

Finch, J., & Mason, J. (2003). Negotiating Family Responsibilities. Routledge.

Mannell, K., Sefton-Green, J., & Erstad, O. (2025). Conclusion: Towards Further Research into the Platformization of the Family. In J. Sefton-Green, K. Mannell, & O. Erstad (Eds.), The Platformization of the Family: Towards a Research Agenda (pp. 93-109). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74881-3_6

Morgan D. H. J.  (1996). Family Connections: An Introduction to Family Studies. Cambridge: Polity Press

Sefton-Green, J., Mannell, K. & Erstad, O. (2025). The Platformization of the Family: Towards a Research Agenda. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74881-3van Dijck, J., Poell, T., & de Waal, M. (2018). The Platform Society. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190889760.001.0001

van Dijck, J., Poell, T., & de Waal, M. (2018). The Platform Society. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190889760.001.0001