2026 Theme: CARE

Moderation is a form of care work. It involves protecting people, setting boundaries, responding to harms, and sustaining meaningful participation — while also navigating enforcement, risk management, compliance, and organisational or platform demands.

ATIM 2026 invites submissions that explore how this work is done in practice, with care as a central lens, and power shaping the conditions under which decisions are made. We’re particularly interested in how diverse ideas and experiences of care move — and sometimes clash — across policy, product design, moderation and community labour.

From high-level rules and regulatory frameworks to platform tooling and everyday judgement calls, care is interpreted, translated, and enacted in different ways. ATIM 2026 looks at how these layers interact, where gaps and tensions emerge, and how people carry this responsibility under pressure.

If your work sits at the intersection of community, moderation, governance, safety, policy, tooling, or compliance, it belongs here.

What we’re looking for

We welcome submissions on topics including (but not limited to):

• Community or social media governance and moderation in practice, across different models and contexts

• Balancing enforcement, risk management, and organisational or platform demands

• How power shapes decision-making, authority, and accountability in moderation?

• How can/does AI support care (or work against it) in governance, moderation, and trust and safety?

• Can care practices mitigate online harms such as misogyny and racial hate?

• Compliance, regulation, and operational pressure in online communities

• What care-informed regulation could look like in practice?

• How ideas of care are translated between policy, product, and frontline work?

• Moderation across different cultural, regional, and governance contexts

• Sustainable approaches to workload, boundaries, and responsibility

Note: Submissions DO NOT have to engage with the theme of CARE - all ideas will be reviewed and considered.

Global perspectives matter

ATIM actively seeks perspectives beyond dominant Global North frameworks. We encourage submissions from people working in the Global South and in any contexts where governance, moderation, and safety are shaped by different cultural, political, economic, or infrastructural realities.

We’re especially interested in:

• Local or community-led governance models

• Moderation in low-resource or high-risk environments

• Work that challenges default assumptions built into mainstream platforms and policies

Who can submit

While many ATIM contributors are professionals, you do not need to be a recognised professional or hold a formal role to take part. ATIM is about humans who do the work — including volunteers, peer moderators, community organisers, activists, members, product operators, policy workers, and others with lived experience of governing online spaces.

If you help keep an online space functional, fair, or safe — formally or informally — your contribution is welcomed.

Session formats

We welcome proposals for:

• Case studies and practical walkthroughs

• Experience-led talks and reflections

• Panels and facilitated discussions

• Workshops and skills-based sessions

• Research paper presentations (at any stage of progress)

• Something creative we haven’t thought of or don’t know about!

Remember that ATIM is online (to ensure more equitable access), so your format must work in this setting.

A quick reassurance

Many ATIM sessions come from people sharing practical experience rather than presenting expertise. If you’ve done this work and have something others could learn from, your submission is welcome. We are happy to support selected speakers to shape their session, and offer active mentorship for less experienced contributors.

FILL OUT THE FORM BELOW TO SUBMIT!

We’ll be in touch to confirm receipt of your contribution, and will advise outcomes as soon as possible.