AI Ethics and Cultural Engagement: Global Achievements and China’s Innovations

CALL FOR PAPERS

In Routledge Book Series Digital Humanities and Intelligent Computing

 

The biennial Open Access book series, Digital Humanities and Intelligent Computing, is published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. It is organised by Intelligent Computing Laboratory for Cultural Heritage (ICLCH), Wuhan University. The ICLCH, established in 2021, is dedicated to organising cutting-edge research on the digital and intelligent activation and utilisation of cultural heritage. The book series offers a global perspective on the latest advancements and trends in digital humanities (DH) and intelligent computing of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, covering both academic research and case studies within cultural institutions. Following the release of the first volume on Intelligent Computing for Cultural Heritage in 2024 and the second volume on AI and Smart Data for Cultural Heritage in 2026, the next volume calls for contributions on the theme of AI Ethics and Cultural Engagement.

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into research, education, cultural production, heritage interpretation, and everyday digital infrastructures has raised fundamental questions that extend beyond technical performance. Discussions around AI ethics have largely converged on principles such as fairness, transparency, accountability, and bias mitigation. While these remain vital concerns, they often operate at a level of abstraction that insufficiently addresses the cultural situatedness of AI systems. A DH perspective offers a complementary line of inquiry grounded in the recognition that AI is never culturally neutral. It insists that the design, evaluation, and use of AI require ongoing critical attention to the values, interpretive frameworks, and social responsibilities embedded in its operations.

This volume adopts a broad understanding of AI, covering both emerging generative models and large language models (LLMs), as well as the longer-standing techniques that have long underpinned DH and cultural heritage research. These include natural language processing, computer vision, classification, clustering, semantic technologies, knowledge graphs, and recommendation systems, all of which are approached as complementary rather than hierarchical tools. By cultural engagement, we refer to a deliberate and ongoing process of embedding cultural values, ethical reflection, and social accountability into the full lifecycle of AI-driven systems, from data curation, model design, and human-AI collaboration to deployment and critique. The volume is thus concerned not merely with the latest technologies, but with the sustained relationship between intelligent computing, cultural data, and humanistic interpretation. 

We welcome contributions on a range of topics, including but not limited to:

  • AI ethics in DH and cultural heritage
  • AI-assisted interpretation and cultural understanding
  • Human-AI collaboration in cultural research
  • Responsible AI for archives, libraries, museums, and heritage institutions
  • Virtual reconstruction of cultural heritage
  • Digital representation/revitalisation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage
  • Digital curation, digital storytelling, and public engagement

 

Editors

  • Xiaoguang Wang, Dean and Professor, School of Information Management, Wuhan University, China
  • Marcia Lei Zeng, Professor, School of Information, Kent State University, USA
  • Jin Gao, Lecturer in Digital Archives, Department of Information Studies, University College London, UK
  • Ke Zhao, Research Fellow, School of Information Management, Wuhan University, China

 

Scope and Contents

The volume is divided into two main parts: Global creative approaches and Innovative practices in China. Within each country or region, contributors can provide an overall overview or analyse a specific topic with case studies.

  • Global creative approaches. This part contains papers written by overseas authors to present the latest theoretical frameworks, methodological innovations, and critical case studies on AI ethics and cultural engagement.
  • Innovative practices in China. This part focuses on the AI ethics and cultural engagement research in China and best practices from leading libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions. 

Contributors are encouraged to write a paper specifically for the book. Significantly extended version of already published works and conference or workshop papers (essentially 30% novel content) are welcome. Contributors need to obtain any required permissions when the manuscript is ready for delivery.

 

Submission formats

Abstract

  • 100-300 words
  • Written in the third person e.g. “this chapter discusses”, rather than “I discuss”
  • Self-contained, without abbreviations, footnotes, or incomplete references
  • Contributors list
    • To include name, affiliation, country, brief (50 words) professional sentence biography
    • ORCID number
    • Email

Full paper

  • 6000-12000 words
  • APA Style (7th edition)
  • In English
  • Further details will be provided later

 

No AI-based tools and technologies for content generation

Please do not use AI-based tools and technologies for chapter/book content generation, e.g. LLMs, generative AI, and chatbots (e.g. ChatGPT), which is not in line with Routledge authorship criteria. For more information, please see AI policy from Taylor & Francis.

 

Provisional schedule

  • 10 October 2026: Submit an abstract of your paper to Ke ZHAO (kezhao@whu.edu.cn)
  • November 2026: Notification of acceptance of abstracts
  • 10 April 2027: Full papers due. Submit manuscripts to Ke ZHAO (kezhao@whu.edu.cn)
  • May 2027: Notifications of acceptance of manuscripts and revision requests
  • September 2027: Revised manuscripts due
  • October 2027: Final version confirmation
  • 2028: Publication