In The Loop January 2026

7 minutes read | First published: January 29, 2026

ℹ️📚💪Overwhelmed by tech’s impact on the world? Get informed. Get inspired. Take action.

As we begin 2026, we face both familiar and emerging challenges created and intensified by digital technologies and the powers behind them. These include information disorder, growing social polarisation, the impacts of climate change, global conflicts, and increasing threats to democracy worldwide.

Now more than ever, we need to stay informed, have meaningful conversations, and create spaces to build the knowledge and gain the tools needed to respond. In 2026, Tactical Tech will deepen its commitment to empowering individuals, communities, and organisations through creative experiences and toolkits, training programmes, and tailored strategic advice.

🤝 Educational, interactive experiences for your next event

As polarisation narrows spaces for dialogue, Tactical Tech designs creative experiences, exhibitions, and interventions that invite people to explore technology, artificial intelligence, and their societal impacts—playfully and critically. Planning an event, conference, or festival? Our portfolio of interactive experiences is designed to engage and surprise your audiences. More information about our exhibitions here

Image from a Tactical Tech-designed event in Romania

🤹 Training and professional development for organisations and teams

Responding to the challenges created by technology and AI requires new knowledge and skills. Our customisable training programmes equip audiences with practical tools and critical perspectives—from To AI or Not to AI? to masterclasses on information crises, privacy, and security. We offer ready-to-run trainings and can design bespoke programmes for your needs. Learn more about our training program here

💼 Strategic advice: from AI policies to engaging decision-makers

In a rapidly evolving tech landscape, we support organisations in navigating technological challenges internally and externally. Whether you’re developing AI policies and guidelines or creating interactive formats and toolkits to engage audiences and decision-makers, our expert team offers strategic advice tailored to your goals. More information about our work here

Interested in collaborating? Reach out to us at:partnership@tacticaltech.org

🌱📱DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND CLIMATE ACTION

🔍📖The RePlaybook: the first-of-its-kind field guide to the Climate and Information Crisis, Now in Print!

We are facing a climate and information crisis that fuels confusion and division, putting climate action at risk. The urgent question is: what can be done? Launched in September 2025, the RePlaybook is our response, and now it’s available in print. Featuring insights from 30 journalists, researchers, technologists, climate communicators, creatives, and NGOs, the RePlaybook is packed with practical tools and methods to help you understand climate-related information disorder, challenge dominant tech narratives, and create meaningful spaces for dialogue that support climate action.

Be sure to grab a copy of this guide, an indispensable resource for anyone working at the intersection of climate and disinformation. Edited by Stephanie Hankey, co-founder of Tactical Tech, and supported by the Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation. Order your cop(ies) here.

👩‍💻💭TECH, MEDIA AND INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM: CHECK OUT OUR NEW LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

\📢 Apply to get one of the travel grants to attend the event "International reporting practices and AI guidelines" in Perugia, Italy.

Calling all Europe-based journalists and media professionals! Tactical Tech is offering travel and subsistence support to attend a skill-sharing, mutual-learning, and networking event on April 15–16, 2026, in Perugia, Italy. Participants will explore the critical use of AI in reporting and innovative approaches to media development. The event is organised by the EU-funded project MOST (Media Organisations for Stronger Transnational Journalism).. Apply by 18 February 2026, 17:00 CET. Details here.

\💡 Apply to join Online Mastercourse: “Climate and Political Influence in The Age of Information Crises”. March 17 to 19, 2026.

We’re inviting journalists and other media professionals, researchers and civil society investigators to join us for a 3-day Online Mastercourse on methods in which you will:

💡 Learn methods and tactics to navigate, investigate and expose climate misinformation.
💡 Learn tools that you can apply to your investigations.
💡 Participate in skill-sharing and networking sessions

Apply by 20 February 2026, midnight CET. Details here.

📡👥YOUTH AND TECH

🧠 Book one of the free-of-charge Quantum Paths, a free creative workshop and experience designed for young people aged 15-18, and their teachers in Berlin.

Are you an educator working with teens aged 15–18 in Berlin or the surrounding areas? You can now book one of our Quantum Paths workshop experiences, taking place within Liminals, Pierre Huyghe’s large-scale art installation at Halle am Berghain, Berlin, presented by the LAS Art Foundation. You and your students will explore the basics of quantum computing, reflect on how technologies shape our lives, and gain tools to reimagine the technologies we use. The workshop includes:

✅ Free exhibition entry for students and educators
✅ Free 100-minute workshop (in German or English), including all materials
✅ Interactive activities that spark critical thinking, reflection, and creativity
✅ Take-home Data Detox Kit: Quantum Connections with tools and tips to help young people shape their relationship with technology
✅ Educational materials for educators to support multidisciplinary discussions about technology in classrooms or learning environments

Book a workshop now at partnership@tacticaltech.org

💘🍫 THIS VALENTINES, BEFORE FALLING IN LOVE READ THE FINE PRINT

As all aspects of our lives, including romance, settle firmly in the digital realm, too much of our personal data passes onto companies who store and sort it into neat profiles that they can sell to the highest bidder. With our freedoms at stake, we cannot afford to be fools in love, or in data. Here are a few hits for your Valentines playlist, courtesy of Tactical Tech:

🔊🔊 OPEN CALLS

\🏆 Submit your entry for the 38th One World Media Awards! Deadline: February 9, 2026.

During challenging times for media and documentary filmmaking, the One World Media Awards celebrate bold, authentic storytelling that highlights under-reported stories and voices from the Global South. They are now inviting journalists, filmmakers and global storytellers to their work to be reviewed across 14 categories by a distinguished panel of 60+ commissioners, editors and industry leaders. More details can be found here

📚📱WHAT ARE WE READING?

[📰ARTICLE] He called himself an ‘untouchable hacker god’. But who was behind the biggest crime Finland has ever known? - How would you feel if your therapist’s notes – your darkest thoughts and deepest feelings – were exposed to the world? For 33,000 Finnish people, that became a terrifying reality, with deadly consequences Go to The Guardian
[💬OPINION] Ed Zitron on big tech, backlash, boom and bust: ‘AI has taught us that people are excited to replace human beings Go to The Guardian
[📰ARTICLE] UK study to examine effects of restricting social media for children Go to The Guardian
[🔍REPORT] From 'Googling' to 'Asking ChatGPT': Governing AI Search Go to AI Forensics
[🔍REPORT] What Workers Really Want from Artificial Intelligence Go to Stanford.edu
[✍️BLOG] AI Slop Report: The Global Rise of Low-Quality AI Videos Go to Kapwing
[📰ARTICLE] Meet the team that investigates when journalists and activists get hacked with government spywareGo to TechCrunch
[🔧GUIDE] Signal, the secure messaging app: A guide for beginners Go to Freedom of the Press
[🎤PODCAST] Attachment Theory and AI Go to Your Undivided Attention
[📰ARTICLE] ‘Digital sovereignty’: why the EU may be shifting from internet regulation to building homegrown tech Go to The Conversation
[📰ARTICLE] Data is control’: what we learned from a year investigating the Israeli military’s ties to big tech Go to The Guardian
[🔍REPORT] ICE Using Palantir Tool That Feeds On Medicaid Data Go to EFF
[🔍REPORT] Grok generated an estimated 3 million sexualized images, including 23,000 of children, based on our sampling Go to Center for Countering Digital Hate