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Reposted by Union for Democratic Communications

Stine Eckert @stineeckert.bsky.social · Jul 8

Telling Labor's Story: Workers, Media & Politics. Aug. 18 Conference @ Wayne State U with Hamilton Nolan-The Hammer; Kim Kelly-Fight Like Hell; Jonathan Kissam-UE News; Dave Elsila-UAW’s Solidarity Magazine &
Annemarie Strassel-UNITE-HERE. events.wayne.edu/2025/08/18/t... @uniondemcomm.bsky.social

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 26

CFP Revised and Call Extended for DC Special Issue on Labor and Unionization!!

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Reposted by Union for Democratic Communications

Yasemin Beykont @yaseminbeykont.bsky.social · Jun 25

It was such an amazing time at #UDC2025 last week! I got to meet and reconnect with amazing people!

Also presented part of my dissertation where I offer adopting the term “memesque” to address the commodification practices targeting memes and meme culture.

@uniondemcomm.bsky.social

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Reposted by Union for Democratic Communications

Lauren Tokos @ltokos.bsky.social · Jun 24

It was such a privilege presenting my archival research at the UDC conference in Tacoma, WA, this weekend 🙌🏻 Can’t wait to continue investigating how Robert A. Brady impacted our field. Thank you @uniondemcomm.bsky.social for putting on a great conference!

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Sydney L Forde @sydneyforde.bsky.social · Jun 22

Unsurprisingly, #UDC2025 was an absolute blast.

It was a huge honour to win the Brian Murphy award this year - it will forever live on my bookshelf with pride!

Already counting down the 18 months until the next one @uniondemcomm.bsky.social @miccenter.bsky.social @bellisariograded.bsky.social

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Nick Couldry @couldrynick.bsky.social · Jun 22

I am both deeply honored by the prize and thrilled for the first time to experience the warmth and SOLIDARITY that is UDC @uniondemcomm.bsky.social . This is the place to be and to connect!!

Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

At each conference, UDC confers the Dallas Smythe Award to honor a critical media scholar/activist whose work exhibits the spirit of engagement, democracy, teaching, and feistiness to which the UDC is committed. We're thrilled this year to present @couldrynick.bsky.social with that honor #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Stay in the conversation with the UDC 2025 Starter Pack! Missing from the list? Let us know!
go.bsky.app/Fv6xH4y

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Illinois at UDC ‘25
@victorpickard.bsky.social Janet Wasko @christina-ceisel.bsky.social @mandytroeger.bsky.social @johnnyrico.bsky.social Brian Dolber @andrew-kennis.bsky.social

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Penn State at UDC ‘25

Bellisario Grad Ed @bellisariograded.bsky.social · Jun 22

Bellisario at #UDC2025! @uniondemcomm.bsky.social @iamapghfan.bsky.social @tccorrigan1.bsky.social @aaronhere.bsky.social @abbysimmerman.bsky.social @ryanlizardi.bsky.social @yaseminbeykont.bsky.social @sydneyforde.bsky.social

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

That’s a wrap! Huge thanks to our amazing attendees for sharing their fantastic work and engaging in generative conversation, to our Steering Committee, and most importantly to our Local Organizing Committee at U WashTacoma for their dedication to the org and their incredible work.

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Smythe Lecture: we must bear the costs of not accepting AI’s inevitability. We must insist on holding open debate on what it means to make it work toward social ends & community goals Let’s not abandon the too bold and too risky the ideas of facing down corporatization of social life. #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Smythe Lecture: How ever much we are told the digital future is necessary and invisible and we can’t do anything about it, it’s a lie. We don’t need to retrofit the present for the inevitable future. Lets cooperate with each other to achieve a non-cooperation with corporate power. #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Smythe Lecture: platforms even, when we love them, produce the social for capital. If we want to change how the world is for us, its necessary to resist--head on--the corporatization of how we interact socially #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Smythe Lecture: our social world is a Leviathan in fragments from expansion of pure environmental extractivism; social extractivism from social media platforms allowed to build the wrong kind of social will; increasing role of commercial AI in capturing the forces of cognitive production #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Smythe Lecture: I don't trust oversimple recipes for change that can be read out of a rule book, but I also refuse to give up on change #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Smythe Lecture: my avoidance of oversimple links to practical politics is because while I hope for a better configuration of everything compared to where we are now, I am skeptical that the path is obvious or easily acceptable #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Smythe Lecture: effective theory is a tool for everyday life and everyday resistance. To regard the abstraction of theory with suspicion is to miss the power and practicability of theory #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

At each conference, UDC confers the Dallas Smythe Award to honor a critical media scholar/activist whose work exhibits the spirit of engagement, democracy, teaching, and feistiness to which the UDC is committed. We're thrilled this year to present @couldrynick.bsky.social with that honor #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Huge congrats to @sydneyforde.bsky.social for winning UDC's 2025 Brian Murphy Student Paper Award for her paper is "The Dialectics of Broadband" #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

No better way to end #udc2025 than with the Dallas Smythe Lecture from this year's awardee @couldrynick.bsky.social

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Paulus: workers identify working conditions (job security, labor rights, decreased in freelance work) and collective organization (ability to fight the system that incubates sexual assault in a more systemic way) can go a long way toward protection #udc2025

Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Paulus: the "why" may be more understood, but the "what" has a lot of gaps and doesn't address systemic analysis or issues #udc2025

Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Now: Paulus on making safer work environments in German cultural and media industries. Despite progress, sexualized power is alive and well, so asking why are cultural and media industries so vulnerable to abuses of power and what can be done? #udc2025

Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

Stoltzfus & Flores: in our current moment Amish people are seen as public health heroes - a white, hyper-reproductive, and antivaxed ideal #udc2025

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Union for Democratic Communications @uniondemcomm.bsky.social · Jun 22

UDCers: be sure to stop the by the registration table before leaving tonight to get a special discount code for Smythe Award Winner @couldrynick.bsky.social new book THE SPACE OF THE WORLD

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