You can find past events in our archive!
Selected lectures and events are available as recordings in our media library!
All information and the registration form for the 2024 annual conference of the CRC 1187 “Scaling Sensing – Sensing Publics: Landscapes, and Borders, Homes and Bodies” can be found ➞here.
About the conference
The Collaborative Research Center “Media of Co-operation” first annual conference of its third and final funding phase, explores the interplay between sensing and the public. Through the theme “Scaling Sensing – Sensing Publics. Landscapes, and Borders, Homes and Bodies” the conference examines the mutually constitutive dynamics of sensing practices and the publics they shape and are shaped by, through multi-perspective, interdisciplinary approaches to sensing practices in graduated, fragmented, and heterogenous public spheres. How are sensors and sensing practices shaped within different public realms?
The pervasive integration of sensor technologies is fundamentally changing the way we perceive, sense, and produce knowledge. Technological sensors are capable of making their captured data visible and credible in ways human and environmental sensors cannot: they track movement, measure health data, and analyze built and grown environments. Thereby, they influence diverse settings, ranging from landscapes to cities, to homes and bodies. They both enhance and obscure bodily sensorial practices and intervene in their publicity and intersubjectivity. While sensor media might offer solutions to social, political, technological, medical, and environmental challenges, they also raise ethical and political concerns, such as privacy erosion, disconnection between sensory data and sensory experiences, controversial forms of surveillance, and the socio-technical diffusion of prejudices and various forms of bias. Thus, sensor data, their collection, analysis, and integration with other data formats, and within various social practices, groups of people, and institutions are constitutive not only of sensing but also of publicity and publicness. This conference aims to refine our understanding of the relationship between sensing and publics by examining collaboratively constituted sensors, media, and sensations across different research fields. Contributions present case studies from diverse disciplines and foreground practice in their theoretical stance, addressing the interplay between sensing and publics across four key domains:
These four key domains represent different scales of publicness involved in sensing, but also a range of different sociopolitical and environmental contexts in which various forms of socio-technical sensing occur, distributed among multiple actors, including humans, machines, and the environment.
To enhance interdisciplinary dialogue and debate, all contributions should engage with the broader issues of sensing and publicity that guide this conference and address the following questions:
The issue will be launched publicly on 10 July, 2 to 4 pm CEST with some short presentations and the possibility for Q&A and discussion. You can join us either online or in Siegen (Germany).
For registration: https://forms.office.com/e/P5GKbi4Mnt
In this special issue, we turn to ideas of and approaches to critical technical practices (CTPs) as entry points to doing critique and doing things critically in digitally mediated cultures and societies. We explore the pluralisation of ‘critical technical practice’, starting from its early formulations in the context of AI research and development (Agre, 1997a, 1997b) to the many ways in which it has resonated and been taken up by different communities of practice, and in diverse publications and projects. Agre defined CTP as ‘a technical practice for which critical reflection upon the practice is part of the practice itself’ (1997a: XII). Communities of practice who adopted and adapted CTP range from human–computer interaction (HCI) to media art and pedagogy, from science and technology studies (STS) and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) to digital humanities, media studies and data studies. This special issue serves as an invitation to (re)consider what it means to use this notion drawing on a wider body of work, including beyond Agre. In this introduction, we review and discuss CTPs according to (1) Agre, (2) indexed research, and (3) contributors to this special issue. We conclude with some questions and considerations for those interested in working with this notion.
The issue features contributions on machine learning, digital methods, art-based interventions, one-click network trouble, web page snapshotting, social media tool-making, sensory media, supercuts, climate futures and more from Tatjana Seitz & Sam Hind; Michael Dieter; Jean-Marie John-Mathews, Robin De Mourat, Donato Ricci & Maxime Crépel; Anders Koed Madsen; Winnie Soon & Pablo Velasco; Mathieu Jacomy & Anders Munk; Jessica Ogden, Edward Summers & Shawn Walker; Urszula Pawlicka-Deger; Simon Hirsbrunner, Michael Tebbe & Claudia Müller-Birn; Bernhard Rieder, Eric Borra & Stijn Peters; Carolin Gerlitz, Fernando van der Vlist & Jason Chao; Daniel Chavez Heras; and Sabine Niederer & Natalia Sanchez Querubin.
Links to the articles, to our living literature collection (Zotero group), and information on the newly created dedicated mailing list can be found here: https://publicdatalab.org/projects/pluralising-critical-technical-practices/.
hosted by Hoa Mai Tran (B05) and Konstantin Aal (B04)
As part of the presence weeks, we invite all SFB member to „snacks&drinks“ at the Herrengarten on Wednesdays during lunch and early afternoon. The format aims to improve networking between projects and colleagues and help integrate our new SFB members by having an informal get-together and serving snacks and drinks.
Topics can be submitted to the board meetings via the status representatives two weeks before the meeting at the latest. Invitations go out two weeks before the meeting. Funding applications must be submitted at least two weeks in advance via the coordination (Dominik Schrey), including an explanation, cost estimate, detailed cost overview, and programme.
Applications must be submitted at least two weeks in advance via the coordination (Dominik Schrey), including an explanation and additional documents. For further information, please refer to the following templates. Please note that the tempolates are only available in German. For english versions please contact Dominik Schrey:
The board meetings include reports, public topics, and various which are open to all SFB members. Personal and financial matters won’t be public and will be discussed after the public part. Webex links for online participation will be sent out on the previous Friday. Attendance on-site is possible.
Digital protocols will be provided via sciebo.
We will meet online.
We started the new „Scales of Cooperation“working group in May by launching the first lecture series on „Scales of Sovereignty“. Following the working group’s kick-off, we plan to have two online reading sessions on literature and key SFB texts on cooperation and scaling infrastructures and publics this summer. The first session includes the following literature:
reading material: Callon, Michel; Latour, Bruno (1981): „Unscrewing the Big Leviathan or How Actors Macrostructure Reality and How Sociologists Help Them To Do So?“ in: K. Knorr, A. Cicourel (eds.), Advances in Social Theory and Methodology, Routledge and Kegan Paul, Londres, pp. 277-303.
The discussion will be in English.
June 27, 2024 14:00-19:00 / June 28, 2024 9:00-13:00
Registration deadline: May 31, 2024
In advance: individual telephone conversation to discuss reference to your own project and materials.
The aim of this master class is to experience the experimental approach of camera ethnography and to try out arranging research (with reference to Wittgenstein) together by referring to the diversity of research fields which will be represented in the workshop. Participants are encouraged to bring some of their own research material to this workshop.
Filming as an epistemic practice
In our everyday use of media, we simply believe that we can capture something with a camera and share it with each other. However, if we assume that the goal of research is to get beyond the state of what is known and seen so far, then we are dealing with epistemic things that are not yet visible at first and therefore cannot just be recorded with a camera. With this consideration, Bina E. Mohn, the founder of camera ethnography, refers to the sociological laboratory studies of the 1980s and 1990s. Starting from a premise of the not (yet) visible marks the departure from strategies of camera use that assume visibility exists a priori. Camera ethnography offers a manageable representation-critical approach based on a situated methodology and can be understood as a continuous reflexive process of working on visibility and seeing. Camera ethnography lends itself particularly well to the study of nonverbal practices and socio-material constellations. Furthermore, camera ethnography is particularly suitable for an adoption of the format “übersichtliche Darstellung” (Wittgenstein): In this context, filmic arrangements serve as an attempt to answer the question of how social practices can be lived, named, and understood here and now, and there and then. For viewers of camera-ethnographic publications, this offers an opportunity to discover unexpected things about the diversity and possibility of social phenomena and practices.
The basic book by Bina E. Mohn „Kamera-Ethnographie. Ethnographische Forschung im Modus des Zeigens. Programmatik und Praxis“ has been published in 2023, is open access and underpins this master class. Important references of the camera-ethnographic approach include Bruno Latour (science-in-the-making), Karin Knorr-Cetina (epistemic cultures), Hans-Jörg Rheinberger (experimental systems), Clifford Geertz (“thick description”), Ludwig Wittgenstein (language games and “übersichtliche Darstellung”), and Karen Barad (agential realism and intra-action).
Requirements for participation
Registration for the master class
Contact and registration: wiesemann@erz-wiss.uni-siegen.de
Registration deadline: May 31, 2024. Participation will be bindingly confirmed by the organizers by June 7, 2024. Please briefly answer these questions when registering:
Bina will be available to make more detailed arrangements with each of you via telephone.
Digitale Politik und postdigitale Souveränität: Zwischen Technokratie, Öffentlichkeit und medialer Kontrolle?
15.05.24 | 4.15-5.45 PM | Hybrid
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Stephan Packard (Universität zu Köln)
The Double Alignment Problem – On the Transfer of Sovereignty between Humans and AI
28.05.24 | 4.15-5.45 PM | Hybrid
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Roberto Simanowski
The Double Alignment Problem Continued (Teil der Werkstatt Medienpraxistheorie)
29.05.24 | 10.00-11.30 AM | Hybrid
Workshop mit Prof. Dr. Roberto Simanowski
The Semi-Souvereign Fifth Estate
12.06.24 | 4.15-5.45 PM | Hybrid
Lecture by Prof. Dr. William Dutton (Michigan State University)
Regulating Sovereignty in Cyberspace
29.05.24 26.06.24 (new date) | 4.15-5.45 PM | Hybrid
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Yik Chan Chin (Beijing Normal University)
We started the new „Scales of Cooperation“working group in May by launching the first lecture series on „Scales of Sovereignty“. Following the working group’s kick-off, we plan to have two online reading sessions on literature and key SFB texts on cooperation and scaling infrastructures and publics this summer. The first session includes the following literature:
main reading material: Schüttpelz Erhard (2017): „Infrastructural Media and Public Media“ in: Media in Action 1(1): 13–61.
There is on-going public criticism and concern around practices and techniques of identification on digital media and the mass collection of personal data by platforms. But what is ‘digital identity’ and how is it mutually produced by digital companies and legal regulations?
The workshop is intended to address legal issues relating to targeted advertising and, in particular, the question of when data used for advertising purposes loses its personal relation (Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR), i.e. becomes anonymous, so that the GDPR no longer applies to it.
Civil identity includes data such as name, home address, date of birth and other classic markers. For the advertising industry, however, other identity-forming factors are more important, such as income, hobbies/interests, approximate residential area, mobility data or data about users’ end devices. Against this background, the question arises as to when data relating to such a “digital identity” loses its personal reference to the extent that it is considered anonymized.
10:00 – 10:15 Welcome
10:15 – 11:30 Maximilian Becker and Leonie Bültmann: Personal Data and the Boundaries of Anonymity
11:45 – 13:00 Jann Cornels: The European Court of Justice (ECJ) Ruling on the Interactive
Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe and its Consequences for Targeted Advertising
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch
14:30 – 16:00 Elisabeth Niekrenz: Real-Time Bidding: Current Technical Developments and Litigation Challenges
16:15 – 17:30 Annalisa Pelizza: Towards a Translational Approach to Identification: The Art of Choosing the Right Spokespersons at the Securitized Border
17:30 – 18:00 Closing Discussion
hosted by Kevin Onland (A03/Z) and Max Kanderske (A03)
As part of the presence weeks, we invite all SFB member to „snacks&drinks“ at the Herrengarten on Wednesdays during lunch and early afternoon. The format aims to improve networking between projects and colleagues and help integrate our new SFB members by having an informal get-together and serving snacks and drinks.
Digitale Politik und postdigitale Souveränität: Zwischen Technokratie, Öffentlichkeit und medialer Kontrolle?
15.05.24 | 4.15-5.45 PM | Hybrid
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Stephan Packard (Universität zu Köln)
The Double Alignment Problem – On the Transfer of Sovereignty between Humans and AI
28.05.24 | 4.15-5.45 PM | Hybrid
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Roberto Simanowski
The Double Alignment Problem Continued (Teil der Werkstatt Medienpraxistheorie)
29.05.24 | 10.00-11.30 AM | Hybrid
Workshop mit Prof. Dr. Roberto Simanowski
The Semi-Souvereign Fifth Estate
12.06.24 | 4.15-5.45 PM | Hybrid
Lecture by Prof. Dr. William Dutton (Michigan State University)
Regulating Sovereignty in Cyberspace
29.05.24 26.06.24 (new date) | 4.15-5.45 PM | Hybrid
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Yik Chan Chin (Beijing Normal University)
2:15pm – 3:00
Marcus Burkhardt, Max Becker und Yarden Skop (A07)
Personal Data Industry
3:00pm – 3:45pm
Miglè Bareikyte (P06)
War Sensing
Topics can be submitted to the board meetings via the status representatives two weeks before the meeting at the latest. Invitations go out two weeks before the meeting. Funding applications must be submitted at least two weeks in advance via the coordination (Dominik Schrey), including an explanation, cost estimate, detailed cost overview, and programme.
Applications must be submitted at least two weeks in advance via the coordination (Dominik Schrey), including an explanation and additional documents. For further information, please refer to the following templates. Please note that the tempolates are only available in German. For english versions please contact Dominik Schrey:
The board meetings include reports, public topics, and various which are open to all SFB members. Personal and financial matters won’t be public and will be discussed after the public part. Webex links for online participation will be sent out on the previous Friday. Attendance on-site is possible.
Digital protocols will be provided via sciebo.
You can find past events in our archive!
Selected lectures and events are available as recordings in our media library!