News
Der SFB und die Universität Siegen nimmt Abschied von Prof. Dr. Volkmar Pipek.
Am 6. Januar 2024 verstarb nach langer, schwerer Krankheit im Alter von 56 Jahren Prof. Dr. Volkmar Pipek. Prof. Pipek war von 2006 bis 2013 zunächst als Juniorprofessor im Fach Wirtschaftsinformatik der Fakultät III an der Universität Siegen tätig bevor er zum 1. Februar 2013 zum Universitätsprofessor für „Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Media” berufen wurde. Mit ihm verliert der SFB und die Universität einen international renommierten Forscher und guten Freund.
Einen ausführlichen Nachruf und eine Gedenkseite für Prof. Pipek finden Sie hier
Unser tief empfundenes Mitgefühl gilt seiner Familie und Freund*innen.
In der neusten Publikation “Kontrapunkte setzen – Digitale Politische Bildung mit ContraPoints” in unserer Working Paper Series (No. 35, Dez) setzt sich Julia Bee mit den Potenzialen kreativer Format Politischer Bildung in digitalen Kontexten auseinander. Im Zentrum stehen videoessayistische Gegenformaten von Stiftungen, Institutionen und Vlogger:innen, die darauf abzielen, rechte Metapolitiken zu entlarven und zu erkennen. Sie produzieren Bildungsformate, die nicht nur inhaltlich und informativ, sondern auch ästhetisch und affektiv anknüpfen.
Stiftungen, Institutionen und Vlogger:innen haben in den letzten Jahren angesichts des Rechtsrucks auf Plattformen neue Formate der Politischen Bildung geschaffen. Diese wollen präventiv und intervenierend in rechte Diskurse, Trolling, Fake News und Co. eingreifen. Am Beispiel des Youtube-Kanals ContraPoints untersucht Bee die Formatspezifik der politischen Bildung, die im Anschluss an Donna Haraway als situiertes Wissen verstanden wird.
Julia Bee ist Professorin für Medienästhetik an der Universität Siegen. In ihrer Forschung kombiniert sie ästhetische Phänomene mit Medienphilosophie und Praxistheorie. Dekoloniale und Gender Medien Theorie sind dabei zentral. Derzeitige Forschungsgegenstände bilden dokumentarische Filme, TV-Serien, Vlogs, Installationen, Literatur sowie mobile Medienpraktiken wie Fahrradfahren. Sie ist Teilprojektleiterin des ab Januar 2024 neu geförderten Projekts B09 Fahrradmedien: Kooperative Medien der Mobilität.
Die Publikation „Kontrapunkte setzen – Digitale Politische Bildung mit ContraPoints” wird im Rahmen der Working Paper Series des SFB 1187 „Medien der Kooperation“ veröffentlicht. Die Working Paper Serie versammelt aktuelle Beiträge aus dem Umfeld der inter- und transdisziplinären Medienforschung und bietet die Möglichkeit einer schnellen Veröffentlichung und ersten Verbreitung von am SFB laufenden oder ihm nahestehenden Forschungsarbeiten. Ziel der Reihe ist es, die SFB-Forschung einer breiteren Forschungsgemeinschaft zugänglich zu machen. Alle Working Papers sind über die Website zugänglich oder können in gedruckter Form bei info[æt]sfb1187.uni-siegen.de bestellt werden.
The DFG has decided: Our CRC 1187 “Media of Cooperation” has been granted funding for another 4 years, starting January 2024! We are delighted about the DFG’s decision and thank our excellent team of researchers for all the work put into the CRC, the application, the on-site review, the team building, and the fantastic research program. It was a collective effort!
We are also excited to welcome the new projects and PIs, and look forward to shaping more years of research on media of cooperation together, including a future focus on sensory media, artificial intelligence, and sensory praxeology.
Let’s continue the collective work on media of cooperation!
Click here for the university’s press release (in German).
Click here for the DFG press release.
The SFB 1187 uploads video recordings of past and upcoming events
Video recordings of past conferences are now available for streaming on our new ‘Media‘ site. The recordings include individual talks and panels from our last year’s International Geomedia Conference “Off the Grid”, contributions from our annual conferences and other international conferences. In addition, you find short project videos wich give insights into the research work our PhD candidates at the integrated graduate school are conducting (MGK). Recordings of future events will be published here as well. Stay tuned.
The CRC “Media of Cooperation” condemns Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. We are deeply concerned for and stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, fellow academics, our colleagues, students, their friends and families. Further, we express our solidarity and respect for all people in and beyond Russia who are resisting and are being subjected to severe repressive measures by the regime.
“The Russian attack on Ukraine is profoundly shocking and our thoughts are with all the people affected by it. They have our solidarity and support. The university and the academic communities offer a series of support services in which we as researchers can participate”, says Prof. Dr. Carolin Gerlitz, deputy speaker of the CRC.
In line with the statement of the German Society for Media Studies (Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft e. V.), the CRC is convinced that universities and research are and must remain characterized by international exchange and cooperation. Therefore, support cannot be subject to any national exclusions.
The board of the German Society for Media Studies shares a list of aid and support programs, compiled by the society’s Commission for Good Work in Research (Kommission für gute Arbeit in der Wissenschaft), supports the working group “AK Ukraine und Flucht” as well as the statement of the “AG Gender / Queer Studies und Medienwissenschaft”.
Below we share links to above mentioned initiatives as well as links to statements and support by other institutions.
University Siegen
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Overview of all statements an information released by the DFG
Information for researchers No. 17 (3 March 2022): “Geflüchtete Forschende: DFG weitet Unterstützung aus” and further information and support for “Geflüchtete Forschende” (DE) and “Refugee Researchers: DFG Expands Support” and further information and support for “Refugee Researchers” (EN)
Statement “Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany: solidarity with partners in Ukraine – consequences for science and the humanities” of the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany
German Society for Media Studies (Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft e. V.)
Working group “AK Ukraine und Flucht”, an initiative established out of the society’s Commission for Good Work in Research (Kommission für gute Arbeit in der Wissenschaft). More info on the initiative can be found here (in: DE / EN / UK / RU). For support, joining and sharing of information: akukraineflucht[æt]gfmedienwissenschaft.de and Email list: ak-flucht-und-ukraine[æt]lists.riseup.net
FG DeKolonial e.V.
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/
How does digitization relate to assistance? A mishap sparked a profound study on contemporary redistribution of assistance at Deutsche Bahn.
When sociology professor Jörg Potthast lost his phone and wallet on a train in 2015, he found himself in the stressful situation of not being able to block his credit card. Without a phone of his own he had to rely on the train conducter’s kindness and contact his bank over a borrowed one. To make matters worse the connection was insufficient. This unfortunate event prompted the author to take a closer look at the lost and found services of the Deutsche Bahn.
Noticing a shift towards digitization within the “lost and found” services of the deutsche Bahn, the author explores the effects that come with digital practices. Leaving the train, the publication “Lost and found: transforming assistance at digital Deutsche Bahn” further contemplates the general digital practices of the individual consumer, when seeking assistance.
The publication intends to seek for a politics of pity – which have been largely absent from the current appraisals of digital sociality – in exploring the ambiguous patterns in the practice of assistance.
Jörg Potthast is a principal investigator at the Collaborative Research Center (SFB 1187) „Media of Cooperation“ in Siegen, leading the project A04 – Normal Interruptions of Service. Structure and Change of Public Infrastructures, which explores the sociological aspects of public transport.
His paper is published as part of the Working Paper Series of the SFB 1187 (No. 19, July 2021) which promotes inter- and transdisciplinary media research and provides an avenue for rapid publication and dissemination of ongoing research located at or associated with the CRC. The purpose of the series is to circulate in-progress research to the wider research community beyond the CRC. All Working Papers are accessible via the website or can be ordered in print by sending an email to: karina.kirsten[æt]uni-siegen.de
The CRC 1187 “Media of Cooperation” is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for another 3.5 years until December 2023. The beginning of the second funding phase falls in the middle of the ongoing exceptional situation of the COVID 19 pandemic, which the CRC will address scholarly on October 27 and 28, 2020: “Pandemic Cooperation: Media and Society in Times of Corona” is the title of this year’s annual conference, in which researchers from more than ten countries will meet in six thematic panels to analyze the ongoing effects of the pandemic on cooperative relationships mediated by digital media. Two keynote speeches by Sarah Pink and Arjun Appadurai/Paula Kift will round off the program of the annual conference, which is taking place completely virtually for the first time
At the beginning of the summer semester 2020, the CRC 1187 “Media of Cooperation” finds itself in an unexpected situation that presents new challenges for collaborative research, both in terms of organization and research. There is a controversial public debate about the appropriate measures to contain the health risks, but also the economic, political and social consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, various social infrastructures are being put under considerable stress tests: from the basic infrastructures of medical care and logistics for food and daily consumer goods to the infrastructures of digital communication. Far-reaching contact restrictions and curfews, travel restrictions, requirements for domestic care work and child care, very acute health risks for employees and students – all of this interrupts the established practices and the usual operation of a Collaborative Research Centre. Routines of research and scientific communication are being put to the test in the current situation: How can well-established formats of scientific communication be adjusted to the new situation, from lecture series with international guests to doctoral colloquia and workshops, to conferences and meetings? How can empirical-ethnographic research be conducted when access to the field is blocked? And especially with regard to the responsibility for the researchers in our joint project: How can we support employees who cannot participate in the research process in the usual way because they belong to a risk group or because personal care of family members has become necessary?
The CRC “Media of Cooperation” meets the challenge of the global COVID-19 pandemic in several ways. The subprojects, which investigate the ongoing reciprocal constitution and practical production of infrastructures and public spheres, also respond to the ongoing crisis situation.
In March 2020, the CRC started to build a Twitter-based social media archive on the topic of the novel coronavirus and related issues. Since the political reactions to the spread of COVID-19 worldwide have led to disruptions or interruptions of firmly established chains of cooperation in many areas of everyday life, the current development offers unique opportunities to investigate the effects of the corona-crisis in social media discourse: This concerns transformations of infrastructures and public spheres in general, the social role of data in the form of case numbers, statistics and test results, but also those of the very concrete research subjects of the CRC’s subprojects in particular (video telephony, contactless payment, personal assistants at home, disruptions in local public transport, etc.). Tweets are collected and made available for analysis in real time using the open source software DMI-TCAT . In the course of the summer semester 2020, a consortium of CRC members and external partners will begin to view and analyze the data in joint (online) data sessions. The long-term plan is to make the Siegen Corona Archive and the associated research results publicly accessible.
In addition, in March 2020 the new blog Witnessing Corona has been included in the series of boasblogs supported by the CRC. In cooperation with the Global South Studies Center in Cologne and the blog medizinethnologie.net, contributions from numerous countries, including non-European countries, are published here. With ethnographic sensitivity, these contributions register and analyze the everyday pragmatic implications, social dynamics and political-economic distortions of the crisis from the perspective of the social sciences and (medical) ethnology. Clemens Eisenmann (subproject P01) and Ehler Voss (scientific coordination) currently take part in the production of a special edition of Curare. Journal of Medical Anthropology. Here, more extensive material in the form of (auto-)ethnographic corona diaries by authors from 25 countries to date is being compiled to document the dynamics of the crisis in situ and in actu.
Erhard Schüttpelz and Ulrich van Loyen reflect in Merkur on the body and cultural technical implications of wearing respirator masks in Western and Asian countries. Contrary to the Chancellor’s dictum that “at the moment … only distance can be an expression of care”, the authors ask: “Is the opposite also conceivable: A form of care for others would be the expression of the right distancing from oneself?” This change of perspective towards a liberal narrowing of the discourse and the arrogance of the Western world that often goes hand in hand with it is linked to a deeper reflection on “what constitutes civilisation and the need for protection for us and others and for all of us in the world”.
In its ongoing formats of internal and external research collaboration and communication, the CRC “Media of Cooperation” focuses on the greatest possible flexibility, taking into account the special needs of its members and guests. In detail this means:
- The lecture series “Interrogating Data Practices – Interdisciplinary Perspectives” scheduled for the summer semester 2020 will largely be postponed to the winter semester 2020/21. Individual lectures will be realized as online lectures with an internal CRC audience as part of the CRC Research Forum in order to continue the discussion about ongoing research projects and results of the subprojects in an adapted framework.
- The doctoral colloquium of the Integrated Research Training Group (MGK) will take place online on May 6th and 13th. This will be followed by an evaluation and a joint decision with the participants as to whether to switch to a face-to-face format or to a hybrid solution with individual participants on site and the possibility of online participation for the following two dates on 10 and 17 June.
- The first event of the “Werkstatt Medienpraxistheorie” will be held on April 28/29, combining an asynchronous online lecture and a joint online discussion. A decision on further events will be made and communicated in time, taking into account current developments.
- The Research Tech Lab will take place online on May 5th and 13th. For the following dates on June 5th and July 7th it will be examined, analogous to the doctoral colloquium, whether the changeover to a complete or hybrid face-to-face format is feasible.
- Workshops and conferences of individual CRC subprojects planned for the summer semester 2020 are equally affected by the measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The principal investigators of the respective subprojects are choosing different approaches to deal with this challenge: from postponing the events until the upcoming winter semester, to switching to collective text work or hybrid workshop formats in which international guests cooperate with the researchers from Siegen.
- At the beginning of the semester, all CRC staff members will be given the opportunity to take part in individual coachings on the challenges of teleworking and the compatibility of family and work under the currently tightened conditions.
At the start of the year 2020, the participating researchers could not foresee the current critical developments. First and foremost, the situation calls for solidarity with the particularly vulnerable groups of the population and with the countries currently more severely affected than Germany. The crisis also means that the ongoing research on media of cooperation in Siegen must prove its relevance and timeliness once more – from the history of video telephony (subproject A01), to normal interruptions of service (A04), the participatory design of autonomy-promoting infrastructures for the elderly (A05), media-supported cooperation in everyday hospital work (A06), the effects of digital media on family interaction orders (B05), the privacy and surveillance implications of digital media use in the
home environment (B06), the use of semi-autonomous systems such as drones as a new crisis infrastructure (B08), and the use and development of digital research tools in decentralised work environments (P03, INF). The CRC is ready to take responsibility to make a research contribution to dealing with the socio-technical consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Department of Press, Marketing and Communication of the University of Siegen has produced an image film about the SFB 1187 “Media of Cooperation”. In addition to the speakers Prof. Dr. Tristan Thielmann and Prof. Dr. Carolin Gerlitz the heads and staff of subprojects A06 (“Visual Integrated Clinical Cooperation”), A04 (“Normal Interruptions of Service. Structure and Change of Public Infrastructures”), B05 (“Early Childhood and Smartphone, Familial Interaction Rules, Learning Processes and Cooperation” ) and A05 (“The Cooperative Creation of User Autonomy in the Context of the Ageing Society”) discuss aspects of their ongoing research. The concluding statement comes from William Uricchio, Professor of Comparative Media Studies at MIT in Boston.
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