Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information (SC&I) was the primary host of the 17th ACM Web Science Conference (WebSci’25), held May 20–23, 2025, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The conference convened scholars from around the world to explore the theme: “Maintaining a Human-Centric Web in the Era of Generative AI.”

SC&I faculty held key leadership roles in organizing the conference: Professor of Communication Matthew Weber and Associate Professor of Communication Katya Ognyanova served as General Chairs; Associate Professor of Library and Information Science Vivek K. Singh was Program Chair; Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science Kiran Garimella served as Workshop & Tutorial Chair; Assistant Professor of Communication Jianing Li co-chaired the Ph.D. Symposium; Associate Professor of Communication J. Sophia Fu was Awards Chair; Assistant Professor of Communication Sarah Shugars was Publicity Chair; and doctoral student Sudhamshu Hosamane served as Web Chair. Their leadership underscored SC&I’s commitment to interdisciplinary research at the nexus of technology, society, and ethics.

As Weber remarked, “The conference was a great success. We welcomed more than 100 scholars from around the world to Rutgers, including a large number of graduate students and young faculty who represent the future of this field. It’s exciting to see Rutgers emerging as a leader in this space.”

The conference featured workshops and tutorials that explored the challenges and opportunities of a human-centric web in the AI era, including sessions such as “Human-Centric Web Research,” “Ethical Web Science,” “Beyond APIs: Collecting Web Data for Research,” and “Meta Content Library as a Research Tool.”

WebSci’25 featured keynote addresses from distinguished scholars Mor Naaman, the Don and Mibs Follett professor of Information Science at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech; Lee Giles, emeritus David Reese Professor at the College of Information Sciences and Technology at the Pennsylvania State University; Jenn Wortman Vaughan, Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research; and Dame Wendy Hall, Regius Professor of Computer Science, Associate Vice President (International Engagement) and is Director of the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton.

The conference also hosted a Ph.D. Symposium on May 20, offering doctoral students a platform to present and discuss their research. Co-chaired by Jianing Li, the symposium emphasized interdisciplinary collaboration and mentorship, reinforcing Rutgers’ commitment to cultivating the next generation of web science researchers.

WebSci’25 highlighted Rutgers’ leadership at the intersection of technology and society. By convening global experts to address how to maintain a human-centered web amid rapid AI advancement, SC&I is helping shape the conversation around ethical and inclusive digital futures.

Learn more about the Communication Department at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information on the website. 

Photo credit: John O'Boyle.