Neuigkeiten
SFB beteiligt sich an bundesweiter Aktion
Zahlreiche Hochschulen und Forschungsinstitutionen verkünden gemeinschaftlich, ihre Aktivitäten auf der Plattform X einzustellen. Die Universität Siegen schließt sich der Aktion an. Auch der SFB folgt dem Aufruf und friert seinen Account auf der Plattform X ein.
➞ Stellungnahme der Universität Siegen
➞ gemeinsame Pressemitteilung von insgesamt 63 Hochschulen und Forschungseinrichtungen
Der SFB bleibt auf seinen anderen Plattformen aktiv – Follow us!
Stellenausschreibung:
SHK/WHB-Stelle im SFB-Teilprojekt A04
Für das Teilprojekt A04 „Normale Betriebsausfälle. Struktur und Wandel von Infrastrukturen im öffentlichen Dienst“ im Sonderforschungsbereich 1187 „Medien der Kooperation“ suchen wir eine studentische Hilfskraft (SHK) (m/w/d) oder eine wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft mit Bachelor-Abschluss (WHB) (m/w/d) zum 01. Juni zu folgenden Konditionen:
- 9 Wochenstunden
- Befristet für 16 Monate
- Beschäftigung auf Grundlage des Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetzes
Ihr Profil:
- Immatrikulation im Studiengang BA oder MA Sozialwissenschaften oder Medienwissenschaften mit sozialwissenschaftlichem Schwerpunkt
- Interesse an einer Tätigkeit im wissenschaftlichen Umfeld
- Sicherer Umgang/selbstständiges Arbeiten mit MS-Office
- Strukturiertes Arbeiten, Freude an Teamarbeit, Eigeninitiative und Verantwortungsbewusstsein
➔ vollständige Stellenausschreibung
Wir freuen uns auf Ihre Bewerbung bis zum 30.03.2025.
Weitere Infos zu dem Projekt erhalten Sie hier: https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/de/projekte/a04/
Ihre Ansprechperson:
Damaris Lehmann, M.A.
damaris.lehmann[æt]uni-siegen.de
“Historiographer: An Efficient Long Term Recording of Real Time Data on Wearable Microcontrollers”
by Michael Brilka und Kristof van Laerhoven (both University of Siegen)
Gathering data in the wild with wearables made easy. Michael Brilka and Kristof van Laerhoven published their open source Historiographer application for the Bangle.js 2 Smartwatch at Ubicomp’24 in Melbourne, Australia. Interested?
Data collection is a core principle in the scientific and medical environment. To record study participants in daily life situations, wearables can be used. These should be small enough to not disrupt the lifestyle of the participants, while delivering sensor data in an accurate and efficient way. This ensures a long recording time for these battery-powered devices. Current purchasable wearable devices, would lend themselves well for wearable studies. Simpler devices have many drawbacks: Low sampling rate, for energy efficiency and little support are some drawbacks. More advanced devices have a high-frequent sampling rate of sensor data. These, however, have a higher price and a limited support time.
Our work introduces an open-source app for cost-effective, high-frequent, and long-term recording of sensor data. We based the development on the Bangle.js 2, which is a prevalent open-source smartwatch. The code has been optimized for efficiency, using sensor-specific properties to store sensor data in a compressed, loss-less, and time-stamped form to the local NAND-storage. We show in our experiments that we have the ability to record PPG-data at 50 Hertz for at least half a day. With other configurations, we can record multiple sensors with a high-frequent update interval for a full day.
Michael Brilka is a Research Associate in the project „P05 – Social Interaction in Semi-Automated Road Traffic“ at the Collaborative Research Centre 1187 –“Media of Cooperation”. Kristof van Laerhoven is professor for the Ubiquitous Computing at the University of Siegen and is principal investigator for the project „P05 – Social Interaction in Semi-Automated Road Traffic“ at the Collaborative Research Centre 1187 –“Media of Cooperation”.
Ubicomp is a premier venue for presenting research in the design, development, deployment, evaluation and understanding of ubiquitous computing systems. Ubicomp is an interdisciplinary field of research and development that utilizes and integrates pervasive, wireless, embedded, wearable and/or mobile technologies to bridge the gaps between the digital and physical worlds. Ubicomp will bring together top researchers and practitioners who are interested in both the technical and applied aspects of Ubiquitous Computing technologies, systems and applications. The Ubicomp program features keynotes, technical paper and notes sessions, specialized workshops, live demonstrations, posters, video presentations, and a Doctoral Colloquium.
“Voice Assistants in Private Homes – Media, Data and Language in Interaction and Discourse”
Stephan Habscheid (University of Siegen)/ Tim Hector (University of Siegen)/ Dagmar Hoffmann (University of Siegen)/ David Waldecker (TU Darmstadt) (Eds.)
Investigating the interplay of media, data, and language in domestic environments—now available as an open-access volume.
We are delighted to announce the publication of Voice Assistants in Private Homes: Media, Data, and Language in Interaction and Discourse, an interdisciplinary volume edited by Stephan Habscheid, Tim Hector, Dagmar Hoffmann, and David Waldecker from our CRC. This open-access book provides various contributions regarding voice assistant technologies and their integration into daily life.
The new volume examines voice assistants from different angles, including perspectives of linguistics, sociology, media studies, HCI-research and law, addressing issues such as media and data practices, surveillance, data capitalism, anthropomorphisation, privacy concerns, and the domestication of technology in households. The volume is freely available online through open-access publishing with transcript – you can download the ebook here.
Contributions include analyses of linguistic practices and conceptualisations, studies on capitalist practices and the negotiation of surveillance and privacy as well as reflections on the sociotechnical dynamics of voice assistants. The book also considers broader implications for data ethics and AI development with an outlook on the latest developments in the rise of Large Language Models. The compliation also includes an interview with Nikolai Horn, political advisor on ethical and legal aspects of the digital sphere, dealing with voice assistants and the GDPR.
This publication is essential reading for researchers dealing with human-machine-dialogs, platform technologies, issues of surveillance, privacy and data protection in linguistics, media studies, sociology, and related fields, in particular (but not limited to) those interested in the role of intelligent personal assistants.
The book is part of the Media in Action book series, edited by the Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation” at the University of Siegen.
About the researchers
Stephan Habscheid (Prof. Dr.) is a professor of German studies and applied linguistics at Universität Siegen. He is principal investigator of the interdisciplinary project B06 »Un/desired Observation in Interaction: Smart Environments, Language, Body and Senses in Private Homes« at the Collaborative Research Center 1187 »Media of Cooperation«, Universität Siegen (together with Dagmar Hoffmann). His research interests include media linguistics, linguistic praxeology, language in institutions and organizations as well as small talk and conversation. Tim Hector (Dr. des.) works as a research assistant at the Collaborative Research Center 1187 »Media of Cooperation« in the project B06 »Un/desired Observation in Interaction: Smart Environments, Language, Body and Senses in Private Homes« at Universität Siegen. He did a PhD in applied linguistics on the linguistic domestication of voice assistants. His research interests include media and cultural linguistics, conversation analysis linguistic domestication of media technologies and spoken language in human-computer-interaction.
Dagmar Hoffmann (Prof. Dr.) is a professor of media sociology and gender media studies at Universität Siegen, Germany. She is principal investigator in the interdisciplinary project B06 »Un/desired Observation in Interaction: Smart Environments, Language, Body and Senses in Private Homes«« at the Collaborative Research Center 1187 »Media of Cooperation«, Universität Siegen (together with Stephan Habscheid). Her research is focused on media and cultural sociology, digital literacy, and political participation. David Waldecker (Dr.) is a sociologist and an academic librarian in training at Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt. He was a post-doc at the Collaborative Research Center 1187 »Media of Cooperation«, Universität Siegen, and published his dissertation on Adorno in the recording studio in 2022.
About the Media in Action Series
The open access series Media in Action, conceived by the DFG Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation”, examines the history and present of networked, data-intensive media and their social implications at the interdisciplinary interface of social and media sciences. In the tradition of science and technology studies and actor-network theory, the German and English-language monographs, anthologies and dissertations in the series focus on the practices, (co-)operations and procedures in the use, production and analysis of old and new media. A central challenge facing the series is the development of appropriate ethnographic, digital, sensor-based and design-oriented methods for a new conception of the description of distributed ‚agency‘ between people, computers, bodies and environments. The Media in Action Series is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) – project number 262513311 – CRC 1187. The series is edited by Timo Kaerlein, Isabell Otto and Tristan Thielmann.
Stellenausschreibung:
Du bist kreativ, organisiert und hast Lust, in einem interdisziplinären Team in die spannende und abwechslungsreiche Welt der Wissenschaftskommunikation einzutauchen? Texte zu schreiben und Veranstaltungen mitzugestalten klingt nach deinem Ding und du möchtest Wissenschaft online und offline erlebbar machen? Dann suchen wir genau dich!
SHK/WHB-Stelle im SFB-Teilprojekt Ö
Im DFG-Sonderforschungsbereich 1187 „Medien der Kooperation“ suchen wir 1-2 studentische Hilfskräfte (SHK)(m/w/d) oder 1-2 wissenschaftliche Hilfskräfte mit Bachelor-Abschluss (WHB)(m/w/d) für das Teilprojekt Ö – Öffentlichkeitsarbeit: Kooperativ Forschen und Gestalten zum 1. April 2025 zu folgenden Konditionen:
- 8-19 Stunden/Woche, je nach Wunsch
- zunächst für 1 Jahr, mit der Möglichkeit einer Verlängerung
- Beschäftigung auf Grundlage des Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetzes
Was dich bei uns erwartet:
- Wissenschaftskommunikation: Du bringst Themen auf den Punkt. Deine Mithilfe beim Verfassen von Texten auf Deutsch und Englisch ist gefragt für News-Beiträge auf unserer Webseite, für unsere Social Media-Kanäle und für Pressemitteilungen.
- Deine Kreativität ist gefragt: Erstelle eindrucksvolle Poster, Flyer, Social-Media-Grafiken, Info- und Werbematerialien.
- Content-Management: Pflege unsere Webseite. Halte die Inhalte aktuell, pflege die Veranstaltungshinweise und veröffentliche Newsbeiträge.
- Hands-on bei Events: Deine Ideen und Hände sind gefragt. Hilf mit bei der Organisation und Durchführung öffentlicher Veranstaltungen des SFBs, z.B. am Tag der Offenen Uni
Was du mitbringen solltest:
- Du bist in einem der Studienfächer unseres SFB 1187 immatrikuliert (z.B. Medienwissenschaften, Ethnologie, Soziologie, Sozialwissenschaften, (Wirtschafts-)Informatik, Linguistik, Human
Computer Interaction, Ubiquitous Computing, Science and Technology Studies, Erziehungs-, Rechts- und Ingenieurswissenschaften). - Du hast Spaß daran, Dinge zu organisieren und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit kreativ mitzugestalten.
- Kommunikationsfähigkeit ist deine Stärke.
- Du arbeitest strukturiert, bist eigenständig und verantwortungsbewusst.
- Extra-Punkte gibt’s für Kenntnisse mit der Adobe Creative Cloud – insbesondere InDesign und WordPress (im Hinblick auf unseren neuen Wissenschaftspodcast: evtl. noch Fähigkeiten in Tonschnitt-Programmen wie ProTools, Audacity oder Adobe Audition).
Was wir dir bieten:
- Ein motiviertes, nettes Team und eine entspannte Arbeitsatmosphäre.
- Flexible Arbeitszeiten und Homeoffice-Möglichkeit – damit Uni und Job zusammenpassen.
- Spannende Einblicke in die Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Wissenschaftskommunikation.
- Freier Zugang zur Adobe Creative Cloud – lass deiner Kreativität freien Lauf!
➔ vollständige Stellenausschreibung
Klingt gut? Dann schick uns eine kurze Bewerbung bis zum 05.02.2025 und zeig uns, warum du perfekt in unser Team passt. Sende deine Bewerbungsunterlagen (Motivationsschreiben, Vorstellung der Person, Lebenslauf, ggf. Arbeitszeugnisse) in einer pdf-Datei an Dr. Karina Kirsten (karina.kirsten[æt]uni-siegen.de). Wir freuen uns darauf, dich kennenzulernen.
Deine Ansprechperson:
Dr. Karina Kirsten
+49(0)271 – 740-5252
karina.kirsten[æt]uni-siegen.de
A Workshop Summary (November 25 & 26, 2024)
written by Miglė Bareikytė, Julia Bee, Johanna Hiebl, Hannah Schmedes and Xenia Waporidis
Our workshop on the Politics and Ethics of Activist Research in November 2024 brought together scholars and activists to explore ways of doing activist research and the question of how academic research can collaborate with activist practice. In times of democracies being at risk of climate catastrophe and war in Europe, one of the meaningful ways of conducting research is to engage with the issues that are pressing and work alongside those experts from civil society who have the deepest understanding of them. Two CRC 1187 “Media of Cooperation” projects B09 – “Bicycle Media” and P06 – “War Sensing” – organised the workshop to bring together activists and researchers. The two-day event brought together approximately 60 international scholars and activists online to share their experiences, address challenges, and discuss ethical concerns related to activist research. Rooted in the interdisciplinary focus of the CRC “Media of Cooperation” with its praxeological approach to digital and data-based media, the workshop tackled key themes of collaborative knowledge production in an ethical way. It also addressed precarity and biases and advancing social justice through activist-academic collaboration.
As defined by scholars like Susan Strega and Leslie Brown, activist research is distinct from participatory methods in that it prioritises ethical co-production of knowledge and transformative action (Strega & Brown, 2015). The workshop’s goal was to explore and share how both researchers and activists can foster equitable collaboration and address the ethical complexities inherent in such work.
While activist research is always situated, it also follows global demands that allow it to intersect with the concerns, struggles and critiques of other cases that one is not directly involved in. Activist researchers aim to achieve particular situated goals that are oriented towards larger claims to power, such as improving the practice of justice or labour conditions. At the same time, activist research is embedded in old and new forms of controversy, involving the continuation of hierarchies between activists and scholars or the appropriation of struggles and their vocabularies. Activist research is thus an approach that goes beyond participation, demanding more resources for and analysis of ongoing cooperations between research and political struggles.
By critically engaging with concepts of activist research, the workshop aimed to move beyond traditional science communication with its focus on informing. Instead, it emphasised collaborative knowledge production with issue publics, such as mobility justice activists in the project B09 – “Bicycle Media” and civil society actors from Ukraine in the framework of the project P06 – “War Sensing”, both of which focus on working with activists.
These issues were addressed by two keynote speakers on the first day. Giancarlo Fiorella, the Head of Research from Bellingcat, elaborated on the potential of open science and open-source investigations to democratise research and blur the line between the researcher and the public, allowing for broader public participation in creating different forms of knowledge. Sevda Can Arslan, a media scholar from the University of Paderborn, made a strong case for the need to foster dialogue between academia and society in order to create knowledge that resonates beyond institutional boundaries. She also reflected on the tensions between applied research, public science, and science communication.
On the second day, the workshop was divided into three sessions, each looking at activist research from the perspective of case studies: 1. feminist archiving and editing practices, 2. mapping, and 3. collaborating with healthcare workers during the war in Ukraine. The case focus is important here because it illustrates how activist research is always embedded in particular communities and requires sustained attention in order to change the situation on the ground.
1
Chris Regn and *durbahn (bildwechsel/Who writes his_tory) hosted a session on feminist archiving and editing of Wikipedia, both of which emphasised the principles of inclusivity and shared knowledge production. Their activist practice aims to disrupt traditional archival practices by prioritising alternative, less represented narratives and amplifying voices that have been historically excluded from dominant historical accounts. Chris Regn and *durbahn illustrated how such archiving and editing practices challenge traditional epistemological hierarchies and call for a reflexive approach that acknowledges the researcher’s situatedness and positionality in knowledge production. A dynamic and lively discussion unfolded on the subject of integrating feminist archiving and web-editing methodologies into academic research practices. Inspired by practices such as Sweden’s Syjunta—a gathering of women to knit and talk—participants emphasised the value of creating alternative spaces for collaboration. Changing the physical environment was noted as a way of encouraging different forms of interaction. Two compelling metaphors emerged from this conversation: the sluice, representing the facilitation of collective practices, and weaving/knitting, symbolising the interweaving of diverse threads of knowledge and collaboration. These metaphors highlighted that activist research thrives on an ethic of sharing and collectivity, reshaping how knowledge is produced and disseminated to empower communities and challenge hierarchical norms.
2
The second session, led by Paul Schweizer (Kollektiv Orangotango), focused on collective mapping as a both research practice and a medium of cooperation practice. Examples from Indigenous land claims, urban housing crises, and pandemic-era mutual aid efforts demonstrated the dual nature of mapping in activism. Paul Schweizer identified key insights critical to the ethical use of mapping in activist contexts, distinguishing between internal mapping used as a community strategy and external mapping designed for public advocacy. He argues for mapping as a tool for activist issues. He also emphasised that research findings need be tailored to resonate with diverse audiences, ranging from legal courts to social media platforms, in order to maximise accessibility and impact. The discussion also highlighted the double-edged nature of mapping, where maps can empower communities, but also can expose vulnerable groups to risks. This prompted an examination of the necessity of discerning when mapping is not the optimal approach. The significance of reflexivity and ethical awareness was underscored, with researchers being urged to prioritise community safety and adopt context-sensitive practices to achieve a balance between the empowering potential of mapping and the ethical responsibilities it entails.
3
In a third session, Tasha Lomonosova (ZOiS), presented findings and insights from her collaborative research on nurses’ labor during wartime in Ukraine, exemplifying how activist research combines knowledge production with transformative action aimed at addressing and resolving social inequalities. Nurses from different parts in Ukraine actively participated in every stage of the research process, including conducting interviews with fellow nurses. This approach aimed to address and reduce power imbalances both within healthcare systems and between academic researchers and practising nurses who lacked formal research training. Tasha Lomonosova’s session highlighted the challenges of conducting activist research in wartime, such as the unequal power dynamics between Ukrainian and international collaborators, but also the resilience of collaborative research practices as transformative under conditions of war. Participants discussed practical dilemmas, such as how to navigate ideological differences within partner organisations and how to handle sensitive data that may conflict with activist goals, emphasising the need for researchers to be not only reflexive but also flexible. A key concern was to avoid the tendency to treat grassroots groups as monolithic entities, and instead to recognise their diversity and internal complexity.
Overall, the workshop provided a space to discuss the intersection of different approaches to activist research, including its practices, methods and ethical concerns, each drawing on specific cases. As organisers of the workshop, we want to thank everyone who joined this workshop for their mutual support and collaboration.
The project B09 – “Bicycle Media” investigates cooperative mobility practices of cycling. It contributes to a media-scientific concept of mobility against the background of the cooperative and sensory design of public spheres. Julia Bee is principal investigator in the project B09 – “Bicycle Media” at the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation” hoilds a chair in Gender Media Studies with special emphasis on diversity at the Ruhr University Bochum.
Hannah Schmedes and Xenia Waporidis are researchers in the project B09 – “Bicycle Media” at the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation” and are both doctoral researchers at the Ruhr University Bochum.
The project P06 – “ War Sensing” researches civilian documentary, archival and investigative media and data practices of war: War Sensing. The project thus makes a situated research contribution to the medial entanglement of the human and technical sensorium as well as to the knowledge politics of war. Miglė Bareikytė is is principal investigator in the project P06 – “War Sensing ” at the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation” and holds the Chair for Digital Studies at European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).
Johanna Hiebl is a researcher in the project P06 – “War Sensing” at the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation” and is a doctoral researcher at the European New School for Digital Studies in Frankfurt (Oder).
Neue Ausgabe des Forschungsmagazins future behandelt den Sonderforschungsbereich „Medien der Kooperation“
Die 6. Ausgabe des Forschungsmagazins future (in deutscher und englischer Sprache) der Universität Siegen behandelt unter dem Titel „Computer, wie geht es mir?“ Themen unseres Sonderforschungsbereichs (SFB).
→ Hier geht es zur aktuellen Ausgabe
Über die aktuelle Ausgabe
Über Menschen und Medien (S. 4)
Ein Beitrag über die neue Forschungsausrichtung auf KI und Sensormedien am SFB.
Vom Beobachter zum Handelnden: In immer mehr Bereichen treffen Algorithmen selbständig Entscheidungen (S. 11)
Ein Beitrag zur Forschung im Projekt B08 „Agentic Media: Formationen von Semi-Autonomie“.
Liveticker aus dem Krieg: Soziale Medien und Messenger-Dienste übermitteln täglich Nachrichten und Bilder aus der Ukraine (S. 18)
Ein Beitrag zur Forschung im Projekt P06 „War Sensing“.
Die Entgrenzung des Privaten: Leben im Smarthome (S. 25)
Ein Beitrag zur Forschung im Projekt B06 „Un-/erbetene Beobachtung in Interaktion: Smart Environments, Sprache, Körper und Sinne in Privathaushalten“.
Virtuelle Weidegrenzen: Sensoren passen auf, dass kein Tier verloren geht (S. 33)
Ein Beitrag zur Forschung im Projekt P04 „Precision Farming: Ko-operative Praktiken des Virtual Fencing“.
Das Forschungsmagazin future erscheint seit 2019 einmal jährlich in einer Auflage von 3.500 Stück. Alle Themen werden gemeinsam mit der Senatskommission für Forschung und wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs, dem Referat Forschungsförderung und Prof. Dr. Thomas Mannel, dem Prorektor für Forschung und wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs, diskutiert bzw. festgelegt. Das Hauptkriterium für die Auswahl ist, dass es sich um topaktuelle Forschung handelt, die in die Zukunft gerichtet ist. Alle Ausgaben erscheinen im Open Access.
Sie möchten gern ein oder mehrere Printexemplare erhalten, für sich selbst, für nationale oder internationale Partner*innen? Über future@presse.uni-siegen.de können Sie Printexemplare bestellen, auch Exemplare der vorherigen Ausgaben. Wir nehmen Sie gern in den Abonnement-Verteiler auf, selbstverständlich kostenfrei.
Über den Sonderforschungsbereich
Der Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 1187 Medien der Kooperation ist ein interdisziplinärer Forschungsverbund, bestehend aus 19 Teilprojekten und mehr als 60 Wissenschaftler*innen aus Medienwissenschaft, Ethnologie, Soziologie, Informatik, Linguistik, Ubiquitous Computing, Science and Technology Studies, Erziehungs-, Rechts- und Ingenieurswissenschaften.
Der SFB wird seit 2016 von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) gefördert. Im Zentrum der Forschung steht die Erforschung digital vernetzter Medien, die sich auf breiter Front als kooperative Werkzeuge, Plattformen und Infrastrukturen herausgestellt haben. In der ersten Förderphase (2016-2019) reagierte der SFB auf die Relevanz von sozialen Medien und Plattformen, in der zweiten Phase (2020-2023) standen datenintensive Medien und Datenpraktiken im Mittelpunkt. Phase 3 (2024-2027) widmet sich dem Zusammenspiel von Sensormedien und Künstlicher Intelligenz.
Die Erforschung digitaler, datenintensiver Medien ist im Kontext ubiquitärer Verdatung durch Sensortechnologien und semi-autonom operierender künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) auf neue Weise virulent werden. Sensormedien gestalten im Smart Home Alltagspraktiken, vermessen als Wearables Vitaldaten, erheben Umgebungsdaten und steuern semi-autonomes Fahren. Durch sie sinken Entscheidungen zunehmend in computerisierte Infrastrukturen ab. In öffentlichen Debatten werden Sensormedien und KI immer häufiger als Bedrohung der Datensouveränität und der menschlichen Agency kritisiert.
Der SFB Medien der Kooperation greift diese Entwicklungen und öffentlichen Diskurse auf und setzt ihnen einen Fokus auf die Wechselseitigkeit von Menschen, Medien und Umgebungen entgegen: Sensormedien und KI verschränken Körper und Daten, Medien und Environments, menschliche und nicht-menschliche Akteur*innen wechselseitig, aber nicht unbedingt symmetrisch miteinander. In diesem Spannungsfeld leistet der SFB digitale Grundlagenforschung, die zwischen Geschichte und Gegenwart vermittelt und zukünftige digitale Medien gestaltet.
Der SFB hat seinen Hauptstandort an der Universität Siegen. Weitere Verbundstandorte sind an den Universitäten in Köln, Hagen, Bochum, Frankfurt/Oder, Bonn, Konstanz, Paderborn und Luxemburg angesiedelt oder werden in Kooperation mit diesen geleitet. Zudem bestehen enge Zusammenarbeiten mit renommierten internationalen Wissenschaftler*innen und außeruniversitären Einrichtungen u.a. in Chicago, Warwick, Basel, Waltham und Lviv.
Zur Rolle von Sensortechnologien im privaten und öffentlichen Leben
→Weitere Informationen zur Jahrestagung
Über die Jahrestagung
Die diesjährige Jahrestagung des Sonderforschungsbereichs (SFB) 1187 „Medien der Kooperation“ beschäftigt sich mit dem Thema „Scaling Sensing – Sensing Publics: Landscapes, and Borders, Homes and Bodies“. Vom 13. bis 15. November diskutieren Wissenschaftler*innen an der Universität Siegen die Rolle von Sensortechnologien im öffentlichen und privaten Leben. Wie gestalten Sensoren und Erfassungspraktiken verschiedene öffentliche Bereiche? Welche Dynamiken lassen sich zwischen Sensing-Praktiken und Öffentlichkeit beobachten?
Das Interesse am Thema ist groß. Mehr als 60 Forschende aus Medienwissenschaft, Linguistik, Informatik, Kulturwissenschaft, Sozialwissenschaften, Ingenieurswissenschaften, Anthropologie, Erziehungswissenschaften und den Geschichtswissenschaften nehmen an der Veranstaltung in Siegen teil. Im Zentrum stehen Fallstudien zu Sensoren und Medien, sowie Sinneseindrücke aus verschiedenen Praxisfeldern.
Der Sonderforschungsbereich „Medien der Kooperation“ beschäftigt sich seit 2016 mit Phänomenen der digitalen Gesellschaft. Die Entwicklung ist rasant: In der ersten Förderphase (2016-2019) erforschte der SFB soziale Medien und Plattformen, in der zweiten Phase (2020-2023) standen datenintensive Medien und Datenpraktiken im Mittelpunkt. In seiner nunmehr dritten und letzten Förderphase (2024-2027) widmet sich der Forschungsverbund dem Zusammenspiel von Sensormedien und Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) und richtet mit der nun stattfindenden Jahrestagung seinen Blick auf das Verhältnis zwischen Sensormedien, künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) und Öffentlichkeit.
Sensormedien sind inzwischen alltäglich. Sie erfassen Bewegungen, gestalten Smart Homes, erheben Umgebungsdaten und steuern semi-autonomes Fahren. Sie verändern grundlegend die Art und Weise, wie wir wahrnehmen, spüren und Wissen produzieren und beeinflussen, wie wir Umgebungen – von Landschaften über Städte bis Privatwohnungen – erkennen und unsere Körper darin verorten. Doch dabei bieten sie nicht nur Lösungen für diverse soziale, politische, technologische, medizinische und ökologische Herausforderungen an, sondern werfen zugleich ethische und politische Bedenken auf. So untergraben sie die Privatsphäre, bedrohen unsere Datensouveränität und verstärken soziale Ungleichheiten. Die kritische Diskussion von Sensortechnologien und ihren Anwendungskontexten ist daher für die Öffentlichkeit von essenzieller Bedeutung.
Insgesamt vier Panels bieten bei der Jahrestagung Raum für 17 interdisziplinäre Vorträge von Siegener und internationalen Wissenschaftler*innen – unter anderem aus Paris, Genf, Eindhoven, Montreal, Basel, Waltham, US, Luxemburg und Texas. Am ersten Tag untersucht das Panel 1 „Sensing Landscapes“ verschiedene Wahrnehmungspraktiken in natürlichen Umgebungen. Am zweiten Tag stehen in Panel 2 „Sensing Borders“ und in Panel 3 „Sensing Bodies“ die soziopolitischen Folgen von Grenzziehungen und das soziale Zusammenspiel menschlicher und technischer Wahrnehmung im Fokus. Am letzten Tag diskutiert das Panel 4 „Sensing Homes“ unser Verständnis von Privatsphäre am Beispiel von Smart-Home-Technologien.
Besondere Highlights der diesjährigen Jahrestagung sind die Keynotes am Mittwoch- und Donnerstagabend von David Howes, Professor für Soziologie und Anthropologie an der Concordia University in Montreal, Kanada und Jürgen Streeck, Professor für Kommunikationswissenschaft, Anthropologie und Germanistik an der University of Texas. David Howes wird über die „Anthropologie der Sinne“ sprechen und dabei die Bedeutung von sensorischen Erfahrungen für das Verständnis von Gemeinschaft und Öffentlichkeit in modernen Gesellschaften beleuchten. Jürgen Streeck wird in seiner Keynote die Rolle von Gesten und multimodaler Interaktion in der Kommunikation zwischen Menschen und zwischen Mensch und Technologie analysieren und aufzeigen, wie solche Interaktionen unsere Wahrnehmung von sozialer Realität prägen.
Die Tagung verspricht spannende Einblicke in aktuelle Forschungsfragen rum um Sensortechnologien und Öffentlichkeit und einen kritischen Dialog über die Herausforderungen und Chancen, die mit der technischen Erfassung unserer Wahrnehmung und Umgebung einhergehen.
Kontakt:
Dr. Karina Kirsten (SFB „Medien der Kooperation“, Wissenschaftliche Koordination)
E-Mail:
Tel.: 0271 740 5252
AI Methods: From Probing to Prompting, 4-7 February, 2025
The Collaborative Research Center 1187 “Media of Cooperation” organizes the one-week winter school at the University of Siegen and invites graduate students, postdoc researchers, and media studies scholars interested in the intersections of AI methods, digital visual methodologies, visual social media, and platforms. The Winter School aims to explore questions centering on the implications of AI methods for new forms of sense-making and human-machine co-creation. Please register via the registration form until December 15 2025.
About the Winter School
As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies rapidly evolve, the ways in which we perceive and process information are fundamentally changing. The shift from computational vision, recognition, and classification to generative AI lies at the core of today’s technological landscape, fueling societal debates across different areas—from open-source intelligence and election security to propaganda, art, activism, and storytelling.
Computer vision, a sophisticated agent of pattern recognition, emerged with the rise of machine learning, sparking critical debates around the fairness of image labelling and the deep-seated biases in training data. Today, models like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, DALL-E, and more recently, Grok are not just recognizing—they are generating patterns, synthesizing multimodal data from websites, social media, and other online sources to produce oddly familiar and yet captivating results. This shift introduces significant ethical questions: How can we critically repurpose the outputs of AI models that are always rooted in platform infrastructures? Which methodological challenges and creative possibilities arise when the boundaries between context and scale become indistinct? Are patterns and biases all there is? And how about scaling down?
The one-week winter school at the University of Siegen organized by the Collaborative Research Center “Media of Cooperation” invites participants to explore these questions centering on the implications of AI methods for new forms of sense-making and human-machine co-creation. The winter school is practice-based and brings together conceptual inputs, workshops, and sprinted group projects around two collaborative methods: probing and prompting.
Probing involves repurposing AI systems to explore their underlying mechanisms. It is a method of critical interrogation—for example, using specific collections of images as inputs to reveal how contemporary computer vision models process these inputs and generate descriptions. Probing not only serves to problematize the hidden architectures of AI but also allows us to critically assess their different ‘ways of knowing’—how can alternative computer vision features such as web detection or text-in-image recognition help us contextualize and interpret visual data?
On the other hand, prompting refers to the practice of engaging GenAI models through input commands to generate multimodal content. Prompting emphasizes the participatory aspect of AI, framing it as a tool for human-machine co-creation, but it also shows the models’ limitations and inherent tensions. AI-generated creations captivate us, yet they also pose the risk of hallucination or what philosopher Harry Frankfurt might call “bullshit”— statements the models confidently present as facts, regardless of their detachment from reality.
The first day of the Winter School will be hybrid. Project group work will be taking place on site.
Program highlights
Participants will have the opportunity to explore and attune these methods to different research scenarios including tracing the spread of propaganda memes/deepfakes, analyzing AI-generated images, and ‘jailbreaking’ or prompting against platforms’ content policy restrictions. A blend of research practice and critical reflection, the winter school features
a keynote by Jill Walker Rettberg (University of Bergen) on “Qualitiative methods for analysing generative AI: Experiences with machine vision and AI storytelling”
two hands-on workshops on mixed techniques for probing and prompting facilitated by Carlo de Gaetano (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences), Andrea Benedetti (Density Design, Politecnico di Milano), Elena Pilipets (University of Siegen), and Marloes Geboers (University of Amsterdam)
two project tracks intended to combine AI methods with qualitative approaches and ethical data storytelling.
Track 1 “Fabricating the People: Probing AI Detection for Audio-Visual Content in Turkish TikTok” led by Lena Teigeler and Duygu Karatas (both University of Siegen)
Track 2 “Jail(break)ing: Synthetic Imaginaries of ‘sensitive’ AI” led by Elena Pilipets (University of Siegen) and Marloes Geboers (University of Amsterdam)
Track I: Fabricating the People: Probing AI Detection for Audio-Visual Content in Turkish TikTok
Lena Teigeler & Duygu Karatas
Several brutal femicides in Türkiye in 2024 led to a wave of outrage, showing in protests both on the streets and on social media. The protesters demand the protection of women against male violence, measures against offenders and criticize the government under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for not standing up for women’s rights, as demonstrated, for example, by Türkiye’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention in 2021. One of the cases leading to the protest was allegedly connected to the Turkish “manosphere” and online “incel” community. The manosphere is an informal online network of blogs, forums, and social media communities focused on men’s issues, often promoting views on masculinity, gender roles, and relationships. At the core of these groups often lie misogynistic, and anti-feminist views. Many groups foster toxic attitudes toward women and marginalized groups. Incels, short for „involuntary celibates,“ are one subgroup belonging to the broader manosphere, formed by men who feel unable to form romantic or sexual relationships despite wanting them, often blaming society or women for their frustrations.
The project investigates how the cases of femicide are discussed and negotiated in Turkish TikTok by protesters and within the manosphere and explores how these videos make use of generative AI. The use of AI in video creation can range from entire scene generation, over the creation of sounds or deepfaking, to editing and stylisation. The project takes a sample of TikToks associated with the recent wave of femicides as the starting point and makes use of AI methods for two purposes: 1) To detect the usage of generative AI within a sample of TikToks with the help of image labeling. This can range from fully-generated images, videos or sound, to the usage of tools and techniques used within the creation and editing process. We compare different models for detection purposes. 2) With the help of Web Detection, we trace the spread of videos and images across platform borders and content elements that are assembled or synthesized within TikToks.
The aim of the project is to create a cartography of AI based methods for the investigation of audio-visual content. It is part of the DFG-funded research project “Fabricating the People – negotiation of claims to representation in Turkish social media in the context of generative AI”.
Track II: Track 2 Jail(break)ing: Synthetic Imaginaries of ’sensitive‘ AI
Elena Pilipets & Marloes Geboers
The rapid evolution of AI technology is pushing the boundaries of ethical AI use. Newer models like Grok-2 diverge from traditional, more restrained approaches, raising concerns about biases, moderation, and societal impact. This track explores how three generative AI models—X’s Grok-2, Open AI’s GPT4o, and Microsoft’s Copilot—reimagine controversial content according to—or pushing against—the platforms‘ content policy restrictions. To better understand each model’s response to sensitive prompts, we use a derivative approach: starting with images as inputs, we generate stories around them that guide the creation of new, story-based image outputs. In the process, we employ iterative prompting that blends “jailbreaking”—eliciting responses the model would typically avoid—with “jailing,” or reinforcing platform-imposed constraints. Jail(break)ing, then, exposes the skewed imaginaries inscribed in the models‘ capacity to synthesize compliant outputs: The more iterations it takes to generate a new image the stronger the latent spaces of generative models come to the fore that lay bare the platforms‘ data-informed structures of reasoning.
Addressing the performative nature of automated perception, the track, facilitated by Elena Pilipets and Marloes Geboers, examines six image formations collected from social media, which then were used as prompts to explore six issues: war, memes, art, protest, porn, synthetics. In line with feminist approaches, we attend specifically to the hierarchies of power and (in)visibility perpetuated by GenAI, asking: Which synthetic imaginaries emerge from various issue contexts and what do these imaginaries reveal about the model’s ways of seeing? To which extent can we repurpose generative AI as a storytelling and tagging device? How do different models classify sensitive and ambiguous images (along the trajectories of content, aesthetics, and stance)?
Facilitators will combine situated digital methods with experimental data visualization techniques tapping into the generative capacities of different AI models. The fabrication and collective interpretation of data with particular attention to the transitions between inputs and outputs will guide our exploration throughout. Participants will learn how to:
- Conduct “keyword-in-context” analysis of AI-generated stories to identify patterns or “formulas” within issue-specific imaginaries (where, who/what, and how).
- Perform network analysis of AI-generated tags, where input keywords are tags for the original images and output keywords are tags for AI-regenerated images.
- Design prompts to generate canvases that synthesize vernaculars of different transformer models.
The project builds on our earlier work, developing ethnographic approaches to explore cross-model assemblages of algorithmic processes, training datasets, and latent spaces.
Registration
Please register via the form above until December 15. Your registration will be confirmed by December 20, 2024. Participation is limited to 20 people.
Venue
University of Siegen
Campus Herrengarten
Herrengarten 3
room: AH-A 125
57072 Siegen
Contact: Elena Pilipets
“Machine–Body–Space: The Entanglement of Human and Non-Human Sensing”
Thursday, 07. November 2024 – Friday, 08. November 2024
This conference aims to investigate the complex co-constitution of human and machinic sensing, examining how sensing, sensoring, and sense-making are intertwined in sensory practices within everyday environments.
The conference is hosted by Lorenza Mondada, Clemens Eisenmann and Philippe Sormani from project P01 and Stephan Habscheid and Tim Hector from project B06 in the Collaborative Research Center 1187 “Media of Cooperation”
Together with our guests, we aim to discuss the evolving relationship between human and machine-based sensing and the effects of this relationship on everyday life. With digital and networked technologies becoming an integral part of our routines, sensor technologies now play a key role in personal and domestic spaces, from health management and home automation to environmental control.
These “sensing machines”, e.g. advanced voice assistants that can capture visual and tactile signals demonstrate, incorporate sensors that detect a range of physical attributes such as brightness, motion, temperature, and humidity. This data enables machines to interact with their environments in sophisticated ways—observing human and animal movements, noting environmental changes, and assisting in daily activities. These tools can be empowering, especially in contexts of disability and assistance, but they also introduce new challenges related to privacy, equality, and the nature of human-machine interaction.
Contributions from empirical research will demonstrate for instance how users mobilize the human sensorium as well as old and new sensor technologies, thereby making their sensory experiences comprehensible for each other – from moment to moment, in their temporal sequence and in diverse contexts, including the enhancement of sustainability, convenience, assistance, entertainment or security.
In our discussions, we will tackle perception, embodiment, and interaction within shared spaces, emphasizing how both human and machine senses contribute to shared experiences. By focusing on sensory processes as practices, the event invites a rethinking of how we understand bodies, spaces, and machines as intertwined in new, hybrid modes of sensing and perceiving.
The event will thus foster a dialogue on how sensory technologies shape, challenge, and redefine our understanding of perception and sensing, both in practical settings and in theoretical contexts. We’re welcoming an international crowd of guests: Christopher Lloyd Salter (Zürich) and Bertolt Meyer (Chemnitz) as keynote speakers and roundtable inputs from Katharina Graf (Frankfurt), Wolfgang Kesselheim (Greifswald), Jakub Mlynář (HES-SO Valais-Wallis), Hannah Pelikan (Linköping), and others.
Venue
University of Siegen
Room AH-A-217/18 (2nd floor)
Herrengarten 3, D-57072 Siegen, Germany
The project P01 “Media of Praxeology I: Multisensory Mediality and Cooperative Practice” investigates the cooperative accomplishment, accountability, and socio-technical mediatization of multisensorial practices. It extends digital praxeology by showing in detail, how embodied and intercorporeal practices of cooperation are fundamental for the study of sensoriality and mediality. Lorenza Mondada is Professor of general and French Linguistics at the University of Basel and principal investigator of P01. Clemens Eisenmann and Philippe Sormani are postdoctoral researchers in P01
The project B06 “Un-/desired Observation in Interaction: Smart Environments, Language, Body, and Senses in Private Households” investigates the domestication of data-intensive sensory media in interaction by exploring how ‚intelligent‘ living environments digitally capture households in terms of language, motor skills and sensory perception. Stephan Habscheid is Professor of German Studies / Applied Linguistics at the University of Siegen and principal investigator of B06. Tim Hector is postdoctoral researcher at B06
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