During the fellowship, Dr. Bužinkić advanced her ongoing research on digital racial capitalism and AI-mediated migrant labor in Europe’s semi-periphery, examining how artificial intelligence and digital labor platforms are reshaping migration governance, labor exploitation, and racialized inequalities in Croatia as a productive periphery for the  transnational circuit of capitalism.

As part of the fellowship, she presented her research at the workshop “Social Reproduction and AI”, organized by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), contributing to interdisciplinary discussions on the social and political implications of artificial intelligence and platform capitalism.

Dr. Bužinkić also participated in the four-day Summer School on the “Political Economy of AI”, held at King’s College London, which brought together international scholars and researchers working at the intersections of artificial intelligence, political economy, labor, and social justice.

The fellowship further strengthened collaborative research on AI, migration, labor, and critical political economy, contributing to ongoing international dialogue on the implications of emerging technologies for workers and societies on Europe’s semi-periphery.

This research fellowship also marked the conclusion of Dr. Bužinkić’s work at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), where over the past three years she worked on research projects dedicated to migration, social inequalities, pandemic crisis governance, and transnational solidarities.

The post Dr Bužinkić’s Research Fellowship at Kings College of London appeared first on Kultura.

The post DEVELOPER Project Research Presented at the Srce Conference appeared first on Kultura.

The post IRMO at the 7th International Scientific Conference “European Realities: Peace” in Osijek appeared first on Kultura.

Interested parties can register by email: mandy.troeger@uni-tuebingen.de

More information about the book is available here: https://tinyurl.com/3urkhac9

The post Dr Paško Bilić will present the book Rethinking Media and Communication (DeGruyter Brill, 2026) to the international academic community (IAMCR book talk) appeared first on Kultura.

The post Members of the DEVELOPER project at the Faculty of Political Science workshop appeared first on Kultura.

First, the economic dimension. According to all relevant indicators, including the MPM results, the greatest risks to media freedom and pluralism in Croatia are found in the area of market pluralism. Put simply, regulation of the media market does not produce the expected effects in the public sphere. In economic terms, such a situation can be interpreted as market failure. This necessarily calls for well-designed and active public policies. Media and journalism cannot be treated merely as a creative industry dependent on project-based funding and unstable market revenues, but primarily as a public interest and a public good. At the same time, empirical data clearly show that large online platforms predominantly control the digital advertising market, with direct and harmful consequences for the economic sustainability of professional media. In such an environment, the race for advertising revenue often takes place at the expense of quality, fact-checking, and professional journalistic standards. The current draft law on the implementation of the EMFA should be expanded to include clearer regulation of the dominant position of platforms in the media market and, in particular, to further elaborate the media pluralism test as a tool in assessing media ownership concentration that also takes into account elements of editorial independence. 

Second, the political dimension. Structural economic problems cannot be addressed without strong, independent regulatory bodies and media outlets that are not primarily dependent on market mechanisms. Of particular importance is the existence of a public media service that enjoys both de facto and de iure a privileged social position, enabling it to represent the interests of the public independently of commercial and political pressures. Within the existing institutional framework, key regulatory and governing bodies—both in the case of the Agency for Electronic Media and within the public service broadcaster HRT—are to a large extent shaped through political appointment processes. In the preparation of the law on the implementation of the EMFA, discussion of possible alternative models for selecting these bodies was absent. The prevailing view within a large part of the professional community is that the existing models do not ensure a sufficient level of independence and that it is necessary to involve professional associations, civil society, and the academic community more strongly. 

Third, the socio-organisational dimension. Economic and political factors have very concrete consequences for the internal organisational culture of media organisations and their resilience to external pressures. It is precisely here that perhaps the most significant potential of the European Media Freedom Act lies: strengthening genuine editorial independence. In the Republic of Croatia, this area of regulation is extremely weak and largely declarative. Existing mechanisms, such as the so-called Media Statutes, are insufficient and rarely applied in practice. The system of self-regulation is fragmented, and various studies show that journalists identify advertisers as one of the main sources of external pressure, report commercial and political interventions in editorial decisions, and note that investigative journalists—especially at the local level—are exposed to campaigns of harassment and intimidation. These problems should not be viewed as isolated incidents, but as outcomes of structural economic and political relations. For this very reason, they should form an integral part of the so-called media pluralism test, particularly in procedures for assessing ownership concentration. 

The post Head of the Centre for Sociology of Media and Digital Society (CEMEDIG) participated in a round table of the Parliamentary Committee appeared first on Kultura.

More information about the book is available at this link: https://brill.com/display/title/64825

The post Edited volume in the Studies in Critical Social Sciences series (Brill Academic Publishing) appeared first on Kultura.

The report analyses the role of digital infrastructure in the socio-economic development of the European Union and the Republic of Croatia, in the context of digital sovereignty, the energy transition, and institutional capacities. It is based on the premise that digital infrastructure is a necessary but not sufficient condition for development, and that its effects depend on states’ ability to translate infrastructure investments into broader social and economic benefits. At the EU level, the report highlights the intense concentration of data centres and cloud capacity among a small number of global providers, alongside ongoing efforts by the European Commission to promote decentralisation, energy efficiency, and strengthen European digital sovereignty through the Digital Decade policy framework. The empirical part of the report is based on a cluster analysis of EU Member States, which reveals significant differences in infrastructural coverage, institutional quality, and the level of digital “spillover” effects.

The results confirm that countries with developed institutions, advanced digital skills, and active industrial policies achieve higher social and economic returns from digital infrastructure. Croatia is among the countries with below-average spillovers, indicating limited capacity to translate infrastructure investments into development outcomes. In the national context, the report provides a detailed analysis of the legislative framework, the structure of public and private data centres, and the sector’s economic dynamics, characterised by revenue growth amid intense pressures from energy costs. For Croatia, an integrated development approach is crucial, one that links digital and energy policy, strengthens state capacities, fosters advanced digital skills, and ensures systematic monitoring of the social and economic impacts of digital infrastructure.

intermediate STUDIJA_v08

The post Report Published within the DEVELOPER Project appeared first on Kultura.

The post Results of the HRZZ project DEVELOPER presented in Florence appeared first on Kultura.

Speakers included Sweta Pudasaini, Nepali translator and cook with many years of experience navigating precarity across different labor regimes; Nader Wahech, platform worker and organizer of the Re-WOLT initiative, which brings together delivery workers in the struggle for labor rights and dignity at work; and Semih Adigüzel, student and platform worker who shared first-hand accounts of precarious and insecure working conditions in the digital economy.

The audience also learned about the project DEVELOPER – Digital Data, Infrastructures, and Development, implemented by the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), as well as Building the City Together, a project by the Multimedia Institute (MaMa) that connects migrant platform delivery workers and the local community through the innovative use of QR codes in public space. The Transnational Solidarities series is facilitated by Emina Bužinkić and Lucija Mulalić.

The post Public discussion “Labor, Migration, and Digital Regimes through Workers’ Voices” held appeared first on Kultura.