The datafied Web – 6^th RESAW 2025 conference

June 4 – 6, 2025, at the University of Siegen

Registration for the 6^th RESAW conference (June 4-6) is now open. You can register on our conference website until May 15^th.

➞ Register now

About the registration

Registration for the pre-conference is not mandatory but highly appreciated. Spontaneous participation is also welcome. During registration, please indicate whether you will be joining us for dinner. Vegetarian and vegan options will be available. If you have specific dietary requirements, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the organizers. We aim to include precarious scholars—please contact the organizers if you need support or would like to discuss possible options. Email: RESAW25-datafiedweb[æt]uni-siegen.de

About the conference

We look forward to more than 40 presentations by over 70 researchers from 11 countries who shape the amazing program of the 6th RESAW 2025 conference. The conference will take place on June 4-6 at the University of Siegen.

The conference promises insightful discussions on current research questions related to the trends, trajectories, and genealogies of a datafied and metric-driven web. It will also foster critical dialogue on the challenges and opportunities posed by the rise of platform-driven ecosystems.

For more information about the program and detailed schedule, visit the conference website datafiedweb.net.

Follow us on social media for more updates ➞ 

 #CRC2025 #resaw25 #webhistory #webarchives #datafication #archives

The 2025 RESAW conference is organized by the Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation” at the University of Siegen in cooperation with the Centre for for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) at the University of Lux-embourg. The conference is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR).

The new summer program

We welcome our members back to the new semester and summer program.

→ our events

We are excited to announce our upcoming summer program which includes

• several workshops and conferences incl. the RESAW 2025 “The Datafied Web” conference, which doubles as the CRC’s annual conference,
• the lecture series “Unstitching Datafication,”
• three MGK Masterclasses (Workshop [Media] Practice Theory),
• the MGK Writing Retreat and Research Colloquium,
• and a Summer School.

This semester’s edition of the Research Forum will feature an event series dedicated to Science Communication & Public Engagement, including sessions on open science, communication strategies, and stakeholder engagement. 

We look forward to inspiring talks and intriguing discussion. See you in Siegen or online!

Round table “TikTok hacken? Protest und Bildung auf Videoplattformen”

hosted by Julia Bee (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) and Jasmin Degeling (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar)

How can TikTok be a platform for political education and queer-feminist activism? In the round table “Hacking TikTok? Protest and Education on Video Platforms” media scholars and content creators take a critical look at TikTok’s potential as a space for democratic discourse.

➞ Event page

Event info

February 21, 7 pm
Quartiershalle in der KoFrabrik
Stühmeyerstraße 33
44787 Bochum

About the panel discussion

In this panel discussion with Ole Liebl, Caspar Weimann, Judith Ackermann, Jennifer Eickelmann, and Philipp Hohmann, the hosts Julia Bee and Jasmin Degeling discuss the protest and education on TikTok.

Against the backdrop of digital platforms contributing to societal fascization and the particular advantage digital media provide to right-wing political strategies, the participants will discuss which formats and artistic practices on TikTok and similar platforms can promote democracy through political education and queer-feminist activism.

TikTok creators critically address antifeminist and right-wing (online) radicalization, masculinity critique, queer joy, sexuality, and gender on their channels. They position themselves as queer-feminist and antifascist voices and advocate for the queer community.

In this discussion, content creators and media scholars will examine the possibilities of political education and a democratic media culture on TikTok. Join us and be part of the conversation on TikTok as a tool for political education and the role we can play in it.

RESAW 2025 – The datafied Web

More than 40 presentations by over 70 researchers from 11 countries shape the program of the RESAW 2025 conference, which will take place on June 5 & 6 at the Collaborative Research Center 1187 “Media of Cooperation” in Siegen. Registration will be possible from March 2025.

→ See the conference programme

About the RESAW conference and community

RESAW is the acronym for A Research Infrastructure for the Study of Archived Web Materials. The RESAW community is dedicated to working with digital cultural heritage and gathers every two years at the eponymous RESAW conference.

RESAW was founded in 2012 with the goal of building a collaborative European research infrastructure for studying and working with web materials while fostering knowledge exchange across Europe. This presents significant challenges for both research and the archiving of web-based information and objects.

RESAW 2025 – The datafied Web at the University of Siegen

Over the last two decades the Web has become an integral part of European society, culture, business, and politics. However, web content disappears rapidly—the average lifetime of a web page is two months. To provide future access to this increasingly important digital cultural heritage, key research infrastructures in the form of national Web archives have been established in several European countries.

A web archive is a collection of web material that was born online. However, for the researcher who wants to study values and lifestyles, views and beliefs, identities and cultures across European borders, these national Web archives become an obstacle since they delimit the borderless flow of information on the internet with national barriers. High-quality research across borders requires free and efficient cross-border researcher access to national Web archives. To meet this need, RESAW will establish and operate a collaborative world-class trans- national European research infrastructure that enables cross-border studies of the archived Web by integrating and opening up existing Web archives.

RESAW mobilises a comprehensive consortium of partners, including the national Web archives of Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and the UK, and the US-based Internet Archive, as well as six research institutions and one specialist consultancy company from six different Member States.

RESAW is in line with the EU’s ambitions expressed in The Digital Agenda for Europe, and it will provide services that do not exist today, putting Europe at the forefront in this field. By facilitating easy access to large amounts of cultural heritage, Big Data, and searching, selecting, and analysing the material, RESAW will make the research process more efficient and enhance the European Research Area. It is thus expected to have a transformative impact on a wide range of researchers who want to use material from national Web archives other than their own.

The sixth RESAW conference is dedicated to tracing the historical roots of the data-driven paradigm in web development. It closely examines trends, trajectories, and genealogies of a datafied and metric-driven web, as well as the rise of platform-based ecosystems. Investigating the historical context, aesthetics, and role of web counters, analytics tools, mobile sensors, and other metrics can contribute to a deeper understanding of online interactions, past publics and audiences, and their (at times problematic) developments.

The theme “The Datafied Web” also raises questions about methods and (web) archives that enable the study of this transformation: What challenges and methodologies arise in archiving a metrified and increasingly mobile web, including its back-end infrastructure? Additionally, the theme invites an exploration of the historical development of data collection and the evolution of web-based data monitoring practices. Related topics include the historical trajectories of tracking mechanisms, cookies, and the emergence of digital footprints, as well as the evolution of metric-dependent businesses and the financialisation of web spaces and their implications.

Taking a historical web analysis perspective, the conference examines mediated environments and asks: How has the datafied web shaped the sensory media environments in which we live today?

Highlights of RESAW 2025

To mark the 10th anniversary of the RESAW conference, a panel discussion organized by Niels Brügger will take place. Be sure to save the date: Friday afternoon, June 6.

A special highlight of this year’s conference are the keynote lectures on Thursday evening and Friday morning, delivered by Nanna Bonde Thylstrup, Associate Professor in Modern and Digital Culture at the University of Copenhagen, and Jonathan Gray, Reader in Critical Infrastructure Studies at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. Nanna Bonde Thylstrup will speak on “Vanishing Points: Technographies of Data Loss”, approaching the critical study of disappearance through the development of a technographic approach. Jonathan Gray will deliver a keynote on “Public Data Cultures”, historicizing the legal and technical conventions of open data. Drawing on a series of empirical vignettes, he will reconsider data as cultural material, a medium of participation, and a site of transnational coordination.

A total of 22 panels at RESAW 2025 will feature over 70 presentations from researchers based in Siegen and across the international RESAW network—including participants from Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the United States, Portugal, and Israel. On Thursday, panels will shed light on platforms and social media, monetization and web archiving practices, and dealing with data loss, among other topics. On the second day, the focus will be on the Skybox research programme, the history of platforms and research methods.

The conference promises insightful discussions on current research questions related to the trends, trajectories, and genealogies of a datafied and metric-driven web. It will also foster critical dialogue on the challenges and opportunities posed by the rise of platform-driven ecosystems.

The 2025 RESAW conference is organized by the Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation” at the University of Siegen in cooperation with the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) at the University of Luxembourg. The conference is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR).

The role of sensor technologies in private and public life

Karina Kirsten (University of Siegen)

This year’s annual conference of the Collaborative Research Centre ‘Media of Cooperation’ focuses on the role of sensor technologies in public and private life. Scholars worldwide will come together at the University of Siegen from 13 to 15 November.

→Further information on the annual conference

About the annual conference

The annual conference of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1187 ‘Media of Cooperation’ will focus on the topic ‘Scaling Sensing – Sensing Publics: Landscapes, and Borders, Homes and Bodies’. From 13 to 15 November, researchers at the University of Siegen will discuss the role of sensor technologies in public and private life. How do sensors and sensing practices shape different public spaces? What dynamics can be observed between sensing practices and the public sphere?

There is great interest in the topic. More than 60 researchers from media studies, linguistics, computer science, cultural studies, social sciences, engineering, anthropology, educational science and history are participating in the Siegen event. The focus will be on case studies on sensors and media and sensory impressions from various fields of practice.

The Collaborative Research Centre ‘Media of Cooperation’ has been investigating phenomena of the digital society since 2016. The development is rapid: In the first funding phase (2016-2019), the CRC focused on the relevance of social media and platforms, while the second phase (2020-2023) centered on data-intensive media and data practices. In its third and final funding phase (2024-2027), the CRC inquires the interplay between sensor media and artificial intelligence (AI) and, with the annual conference now taking place, turns its attention to the relationship between sensor media, artificial intelligence (AI) and the public.

Sensor media are now part of everyday life. They record movements, design smart homes, collect environmental data and control semi-autonomous driving. They fundamentally change how we perceive, sense and produce knowledge, influence how we recognise environments – from landscapes and cities to private homes – and locate our bodies within them. However, they offer solutions to various social, political, technological, medical and ecological challenges and raise ethical and political concerns. They undermine privacy, threaten our data sovereignty and reinforce social inequalities. Therefore, the critical discussion of sensor technologies and their application contexts is essential for the public.

Four panels at the annual conference will provide space for 17 interdisciplinary presentations by researchers from Siegen and abroad – including Paris, Geneva, Eindhoven, Montreal, Basel, Waltham, US, Luxembourg and Texas. On the first day, Panel 1 ‘Sensing Landscapes’, will examine various perceptual practices in natural environments. On the second day, Panel 2, ‘Sensing Borders’, and Panel 3, ‘Sensing Bodies’, will focus on the socio-political consequences of drawing borders and the social interplay of human and technical perception. On the last day, Panel 4, ‘Sensing Homes’, will discuss our understanding of privacy using the example of smart home technologies.

Particular highlights of this year’s annual conference are the keynotes on Wednesday and Thursday evenings by David Howes, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and Jürgen Streeck, Professor of Communication Studies, Anthropology and German Studies at the University of Texas. David Howes will speak on the ‘Anthropology of the Senses’, highlighting the importance of sensory experiences for understanding community and the public sphere in modern societies. In his keynote speech, Jürgen Streeck will analyse the role of gestures and multimodal interaction in communication between people and between people and technology and show how such interactions shape our perception of social reality.

The conference promises exciting insights into current research questions around sensor technologies and the public sphere and a critical dialogue on the challenges and opportunities associated with the technical recording of our perception and environment.

Contact:
Dr. Karina Kirsten (CRC „Media of Cooperation“, Scientific Coordination)
E-Mail:
Tel.: 0271 740 5252

“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”

Scaling Sensing – Sensing Publics: Landscapes and Borders, Homes and Bodies

We are excited to invite you to the CRC Annual Conference 2024, taking place from November 13-15, 2024, at Uni Siegen, Obergraben 25, US-S 001/002. Organized by the Collaborative Research Center (SFB 1187) – Media of Cooperation. This year’s conference focuses on Scaling Sensing – Sensing Publics: Landscapes, Borders, Homes, and Bodies and is generously funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

➞ Conference Website

About the Conference 

This event is free and open to all, with a special invitation to early career researchers interested in engaging with leading experts and innovative research on the role of sensing practices and technologies in shaping public and private life.

The conference will offer a platform for interdisciplinary perspectives on how sensing practices influence environments, borders, domestic spaces, and the human body. Sensor technologies have rapidly changed the way we understand and interact with the world, influencing fields as diverse as the natural environment, urban planning, healthcare, and privacy.

Key themes and panel sessions:

• Sensing Landscapes: how sensing practices (human, digital, and non-human) shape the use and understanding of landscapes across diverse ecological and socio-political contexts.How sensing practices (human, digital, and non-human) shape the use and understanding of landscapes across diverse ecological and socio-cultural contexts.
• Sensing Borders: The implications of sensor-based technologies on migration, surveillance, and border control, highlighting their role in security and sociopolitical dynamics.
• Sensing Homes: The growing integration of smart home technologies, focusing on privacy, convenience, and control within domestic environments.
• Sensing Bodies: The intersection of wearable technologies and embodied social interactions, with implications for healthcare, biometric tracking, and social connectivity.

Next to renowned international keynote speakers, each panel will feature experts and researchers from various disciplines who will present case studies and theoretical reflections on interactionsbetween sensing, sensor technologies, and the public sphere.

Highlighted Speakers Include:

• David Howes (Concordia University, Montréal) on Calibrating the Techniques and Technologies of Perception-Action.
• Jürgen Streeck (University of Texas, Austin) on Deeply Sensed Togetherness.
• Maya Avis (Centre for Digital Humanities and Multilateralism) on States of Surveillance in 2024.
• Saadia Mirza (University of Chicago/ Sciences Po, Paris) on Sensing and Classification of Landscapes.

We will also enjoy a special evening of cultural enrichment on Thursday, November 14, with a performance by the Göksel Yilmaz Ensemble. Their music beautifully blends Turkish, Arabic, and Kurdish traditions with jazz and classical influences, promising a memorable night of music and cross-cultural celebration.

Event Details:

• Dates: November 13-15, 2024
• Location: Uni Siegen, Obergraben 25, US-S 001/002
• Time: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM daily
• Cost: Free of charge

How to Register:

Registration is open until October 20, 2024. To secure your spot, please register here.

Why Attend?
This conference is a unique opportunity for professionals, researchers, and students in fields related to media studies, cultural anthropology, socioinformatics? sensor technology, ethics, urban planning, healthcare, and more. We especially encourage early career researchers to join and benefit from networking and discussions with experts in the field. Whether you’re interested in the impact of technology on privacy, the future of smart cities, or the ethical dilemmas surrounding sensor-based surveillance, there’s something for everyone.

We look forward to welcoming you to an exciting and intellectually stimulating three days of discussions, presentations, and networking.

For more information about the program and detailed schedule, visit our conference website.

Follow us on social media for live updates throughout the event →

#CRC2024 #ScalingSensing #SensingPublics #MediaOfCooperation

Thank you, and we hope to see you there!

The CRC 1187 offered visitors of all ages exciting insights into the everyday world of digital media and the opportunity to reflect on their own digital everyday life with an interactive stand at the “Open University”, hosted by the University of Siegen on June 8.

(© Astrid Vogelpohl 2024, TP B05)

On Saturday, June 8, 2024, the Schlossplatz of the Lower Castle in Siegen was transformed into a lively research laboratory. As part of the annual “Open University”, more than 50 stands and hands-on exhibits offered insights into various aspects of university life. The DFG Collaborative Research Center 1187 Media of Cooperation also presented a fascinating insight into our digital present. Visitors of all ages explored the CRC stand to share their own experiences with smart devices and learn more about the research investigating our digital and cooperative lives.

The centrepiece of the CRC stand was a 12m long tent wall, which was transformed into a colourful map of our digitalized world over the course of the day. Visitors used sticky notes to mark where and how they use smart devices in their everyday lives on an illustrated map of the city and their homes. From children talking about tablets in kindergarten, to students presenting their favorite apps, to pensioners sharing their experiences with digital assistance applications – the diversity of contributions reflected the ubiquity of digital technologies in our lives. CRC researchers used this opportunity to talk to visitors and gain new perspectives on their work.

The CRC 1187 stand was well received, highlighting the growing public interest in research into our digitalized society. The research centre has been studying digital, data-intensive media since 2016. The researchers are investigating how digital technologies shape our everyday lives and how people shape and use them together. The CRC’s work currently focuses on sensor technologies and artificial intelligence and the question of what influence these have on our daily lives and work. At events such as the “Open University”, the CRC aims to make its research relevant to everyday life in direct exchange with the public and at the same time raise awareness of the importance of digital media in our society.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.

Herbsttagung der DGS Sektion Soziologie des Körpers und des Sports
in Kooperation mit dem SFB-1187 „Medien der Kooperation“
Universität Siegen, 09. – 10.11.2023

organisiert von Dr. Clemens Eisenmann, P02 “Medien der Praxeologie II: Zur Methodologiegeschichte der AV-Sequenzanalyse”

Körperliche Wahrnehmungen, Praktiken und Handlungen werden zunehmend durch Technologien und digitale Medien vermittelt und in besonderer Weise durch diese (mit-) hervorgebracht. Viele Untersuchungen, die im Zuge der Digitalisierungs- und Mediatisierungsschübe der vergangenen Jahrzehnte und Jahre (pandemiebedingte Formen der digitalen Kommunikation, KI-Systeme als Teil von Entscheidungsprozessen, Chat GPT, neue Sensormedien, datenintensive Umwelten und digitale Infrastrukturen im urbanen oder architektonisch gestalteten Raum, etc.) entstanden sind, zeigten auf, wie Medien, Applikationen oder Hoch-Technologien auf verschiedene Sinne(smodalitäten) einwirken und infolgedessen Körperlichkeit(en) verändern, neujustieren oder auch irritieren. Dabei wird vielfach deutlich, dass bereits ohnehin marginalisierte Personengruppen und ihre Interaktions- und Wissensformen im Alltag durch die Produktion und Handhabung von neuen Digitaltechnologien nicht nur gestärkt, sondern in der Tendenz weiterhin – und z.T. auf neue Weise – ausgehend von ihrer Körperlichkeit ausgegrenzt, stigmatisiert und diskriminiert werden. „Diverse Körperlichkeit(en)“ soll(en) in diesem Zusammenhang auf der Herbsttagung als eine gemeinsame, möglichst weite Heuristik für körpersoziologische Perspektiven dienen, die die mithin digitale und technisch induzierte Konstruktion von körperlichen Differenzen und Diversität im Zusammenhang mit historischen und neu entstehenden sozialen Ungleichheiten, Vulnerabilitäten und Exklusionsmechanismen fassen können.

Ein aufschlussreicher Gegenstand für die Erforschung der gegenwärtigen Wechselwirkungen von diversen Körperlichkeiten und digitalen Medien bildet die Schnittstelle verkörperter Sensormedien. Darunter lassen sich zunächst all jene Medien und Technologien fassen, die körperliche Sinne in ihrer Wirk- und Wahrnehmungsqualität erweitern, vermitteln oder konstituieren. Dabei stellt sich die übergreifende Frage, wie Sensormedien diverse Körperlichkeiten herausfordern, wenn Körper z.T. ermächtigt, aber auch mit neuen – häufig nicht-intendierten – Vulnerabilitäten, Effekten, Reibungen, Problemen und Folgen konfrontiert oder gänzlich exkludiert werden. Klärungsbedürftig ist in dem Zusammenhang nicht nur, wie sich Sensormedien in Körper einschreiben und wie sie alltäglich verkörpert werden, sondern bereits vorgeschaltet, welche z.T. standardisierten Körpervorstellungen und Körpertechniken, bzw. Praktiken und spezifische Wissensformen in Sensormedien inskribiert sind. Im situierten und multisensorischen Zusammenspiel von dem, was gesehen, getastet, geschmeckt, gehört oder in der Bewegung erfahren werden kann, stellen sich somit die Fragen, wie sowohl Körper als auch Sensormedien in Praktiken, Handlungen und Interaktionen hervorgebracht werden und wie Wahrnehmungen durch Technologien, Erfahrung und Wissen vermittelt und sozial konstituiert werden.

Diskutieren möchten wir folglich Fragestellungen nach der (sozialen) Wahrnehmung und alltäglichen praktischen Verkörperung von in Körpern, Alltagsgegenständen, Technologien und urbanen Infrastrukturen oder Architekturen verbauten Sensoren. Ein Zugang zu Sensormedien lässt sich aus einer körpersoziologischen Perspektive – auch im Anschluss an Phänomenologie, (Feminist) STS, Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie, Human Computer Design oder Critical Data Studies – fruchtbar an die immer noch aktuellen Diskussionen um die Bedeutung der sozialen, kulturellen und materiellen Dimension von Sinnlichkeit anschließen. Diskussionen, die mit Perspektiven auf Einzel-Sinne und deren Hierarchisierung brechen und mit Multisensorialität das komplexe, historische und soziale Zusammenspiel zum Gegenstand machen. Einen weiteren Zugang bilden aktuelle Debatten um soziale Diskriminierung – wie sie bspw. auch in sozialen Bewegungen, wie LGBTIQ+, PoC oder Crip-Movement virulent werden – sowie situierte und intersektionale Perspektiven, die u. a. darauf abzielen, körperliche Differenzen und damit einhergehende Differenzierungsprozesse theoretisch wie empirisch fassen zu können. Entsprechend laden wir besonders dazu ein an diverse, queere, anti-rassistische oder crip-genealogische sowie klassistische Perspektiven und Ansätze anzuschließen und diese mit Blick auf Sensormedien im körpersoziologischen Kontext weiterzudenken.

Die Tagung widmet sich dem Alltag von und mit Sensormedien und deren sinnlichen und körperlichen Intimität unter den Vorzeichen sozialer Differenz und Diversität und fragt danach, wie digital gestützte Multisensorialitäten das Soziale formen. Mit dem Untertitel „Situierung, Differenzierung, Standardisierung“, schlagen wir drei heuristische bzw. analytische Perspektiven vor, die sich z. T. überschneiden und in den folgenden Fragen exemplarisch widerspiegeln:

• Situierung. Inwiefern können Sensormedien die sinnliche Wahrnehmung rekonfiguieren? Wie ist das Zusammenspiel von menschlichem Sensorium und technologischen Sensoren in sozialen Situationen, d.h. in Praktiken, Interaktions- und Wissensformen situiert? Welche alltäglichen Situierungen fordern diverse Körperlichkeiten angesichts zunehmender sozialer Ungleichheiten, Exklusionsmechanismen und marginalisierter Wissensformen heraus? Und inwiefern werden diese auch im Forschungsprozess relevant und reflektiert?
• Differenzierung. Welche Körperlichkeiten geraten über soziale Differenzen und Differenzierungsprozesse in den Blick? Wie sind diese ausschlaggebend für die Konstruktion von (marginalisiertem) Wissen, bzw. Praxis- und Interaktionsformen, die z.T. außerhalb des Radius von Sensormedien liegen? Welche neuen Vulnerabilitäten, Diskriminierungen und Verantwortlichkeiten entstehen durch sinnliche Sensorbeziehungen?
• Standardisierung. Wie und inwiefern inskribieren sich standardisiertes Körperwissen, Körpertechniken und Praktiken im Design und in gebauten Infrastrukturen von Sensormedien? Welche Körper werden exkludiert? Welche Standardisierungen zeigen sich in der Interaktion/Intraaktion mit Sensormedien und deren Umwelten? Wie wird marginalisiertes Wissen in die Standardisierung von Abläufen und Routinen, die durch Sensormedien gestützt werden, übersetzt? Wie ist der Zusammenhang zwischen sozialen Praktiken der Gestaltung, Nutzung und Formen der Standardisierung neu zu denken?

Call for Papers PDF