Mobile Interface Methods Workshop Series – YouTube as a Test Society II – Following up on Method

A workshop with Noortje Marres (CIM Warwick) and Valentin Janda (TU Berlin)

Organised by A03

This is a follow-up workshop of the „YouTube as a Test Society“ event held in Dec 11-12 2017 where we started to explore participatory testing in the context of YouTube alongside the cases of driverless cars, cybersecurity and apps.

Online video platforms like YouTube have been widely welcomed as a setting that facilitates user-led testing of anything from smart cars to medical treatments and alternative lifestyles. On YouTube, Navigation apps are being evaluated against each other in everyday use situations, users document their test drives of autonomous vehicles and technology demos explore the boundaries of their usability and interpretation. On the one hand, user-led evaluations in the form of online video reviews, demos and ratings have quickly gained currency in the cultural economy, but, on the other hand, the epistemic status and public efficacy of user-led testing remains in question: does user-led testing produce knowledge and/or accountability? If so, how do they gain relevance beyond the platform and take on the capacity to intervene in public discourse?

In the first workshop we developed two methodological approaches to these questions, one engaging with “deep watching” and interpreting videos based on analyst categories. The other one followed a digital methods approach and designed a semi-automated content analysis method for app tests on YouTube. In the second iteration of the workshop we aim to further experiment with methods for analysing autonomous driving and social navigation. The aim of the workshop is to apply the respective methods to the different datasets and to explore the confluences between qualitative-interpretive and digital methods. Furthermore, the workshop is designed to explore the fields of navigation in the context of social navigation apps and autonomous cars.

International guests: Noortje Marres (CIM Warwick), Valentin Janda (TU Berlin)

Dates: April 19-20 2018

Location: AH-A 210/211

Programme

Thursday April 19 2018

10-11.00 Introductory by Noortje Marres “From the lab to the street? Mapping driverless car trials with digital methods”

11.00 – 11.30 Introduction by Carolin Gerlitz

11.30 – 12.30 Project formation with Valentin Janda

12.30 – 13.30 Lunch

13.30 – 18.00 Project work with Noortje Marres and Valentin Janda

18.30 Dinner at Da Luciano

Friday April 20 2018

09.30 – 10.30 Project feedback

10.30 – 12.00 Project work

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch

13.00 – 15.00 Project presentation and final discussion with all participants