DIGSUM is pleased to announce its 2026 symposium, Generated/-ive Futures, taking place at Umeå University on 6–7 October 2026. The symposium forms part of the centre's tenth anniversary programme, marking a decade of interdisciplinary research on digital technology and society at Umeå University.
As AI and large language models increasingly shape digital environments, they are also transforming how societies imagine, organise, and experience the future. Generative technologies do not merely produce content; they participate in the construction of social realities, knowledge practices, and cultural expectations. The symposium explores "the generative" as both a technical capacity and a broader societal condition, asking how generative systems influence what is seen as possible, desirable, or inevitable, how they reconfigure power, labour, and expertise, and how knowledge production and cultural imaginaries are reshaped in generative environments.
The two-day programme, held at the P5 conference centre in Umeå, brings together international scholars across disciplines for keynote lectures and curated themed sessions on platforms, work, human–AI relations, the far right, the Anthropocene, and more. Keynotes will be delivered by Sarah Pink (Monash University) and Gabriele de Seta (University of Bergen).
A full programme and registration details will follow. For now: save the dates!