The online conference “Digital Matters” discusses the materiality of the digital

How and why did people come to deny the materiality of the digital? What can we learn by recovering it? What if we rethink digital materialities as ongoing cooperative accomplishments?

From December 1–3 2021 historians, media theorists and information scholars come together for the online conference “Digital Matters” to examine socio-material constituents of digital systems and artifacts. Tackling the presupposition of digital immateriality as a misconception but at the same time as a productive site for interdisciplinary scholarly inquiry into media and data practices, the conference counters the idea of disembodied algorithms floating rhetorically in an ethereal cloud of big data. With a keynote lecture by Jonathan Sterne (McGill University) titled “Some Species of Materiality”, six moderated sessions and twelve international speakers, the conference promises a deep dive into digital matters and (im)materialities.

Conceptualized as an online conference with hybrid elements, most speakers will partake online with the organizers and several others coming together onsite in Siegen.

The conference is organized by Thomas Haigh (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee & Siegen University), Valérie Schafer (University of Luxembourg), Axel Volmar (Siegen University) and Sebastian Giessmann (Siegen University). The event is part of the CRC projects A01 and A02.

For more information see:

https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/en/events/conference-digital-matters-a01/

https://www.socialstudiesof.info/digitalmatters/