Terminally online: A Symposium on Vibes

“And if you gaze for long into an algorithm, the algorithm gazes also into you”

On social media, "vibes" are increasingly shaping how we navigate our online experiences. These carefully curated "aesthetic feelings" are amplified by algorithms, tapping into our emotions. In this symposium, we will explore how new forms of ambient media, such as ASMR, Femcel Pinterest moodboards, and Spotify mood playlists, are influencing online culture and politics.

Date: 25 April 2025
Time: 15:00 -18:45
Location: BG 3
Room: VOX-POP, ground floor

We will delve into the affective and sonic turns in media studies and discuss how researchers can engage with these non-verbal and subconscious aspects of digital sociality. The symposium is organized by the Terminally Online initiative with (r)MA students from Media Studies.

Programme Overview

15:00-15:15 Introduction
15:15 - 16:00 Keynote “The Vibes are Immaculate: Towards a critical phenomenology of vibes” by Dr. Ludmila Lupinacci, Lecturer in Digital Media, School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds.
16:00-16:15: Break: Vibes Exhibition
16:15-17:45 Student Presentations
1. Eden Tweedie: “’Everything-core’: How the contemporary cross-media landscape shapes identity-building and identity-branding practices
2. Luc Huijgens: “Feed Me & See More!”
3. Ray Dolitsay: “Computer Lust, Toxic Pollen, and Still Landscapes of Desktops”
4. Richard-Josephine Weichert: “Rationing the Vibe, Aur(e)alising a soundscape: Close Listening to ‘This Heat’ (2006)”
5. Gabriel Oliveira Pereira: “VibeSearch (Or: How I learned to vibe with code and vector embeddings)”
17:45-18:00 Break: Vibes Exhibition
18:00-18:45 Closing Panel

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Keynote Speaker dr. Ludmila Lupinacci

Dr. Ludmila Lupinacci (she/her) is a lecturer in digital media at the University of Leeds (UK). She holds a PhD in Media and Communications from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE, 2022). Her work on topics such as liveness, algorithmic temporality, and mindless scrolling has been published in leading journals such as New Media & Society and Media, Culture & Society. Her research interests include critical approaches to social media in everyday life and phenomenology of mediation, and she is currently studying the platformisation of cultural feelings such as moods and ‘vibes’.