Tanja Aal received her B.A. in Sociology from the Technical University of Berlin in 2015. She went on to complete her M.A. in Media and Society, focusing on Social Sciences and Socio-Informatics, at the University of Siegen in 2018. As a research assistant she supported the projects come_In (intercultural computer-based learning), My-AHA (active and healthy ageing) and LionAlert (human-animal conflict) at the Chair of Information Systems and New Media of Prof. Dr. Volker Wulf during her M.A. in Qualitative Social Research. During this time she conducted ethnographic fieldwork in the Higher Atlas, Morocco (come_In) and the Okavango Delta, Botswana (LionAlert).  

From 2017 to 2019, she also took on the role of the Academic Advisor for the Business Informatics and Human-Computer Interaction degree programmes, with the main areas of: student advising, teaching organisation and coordination, application management, internationalisation and re-accreditation (HCI).  

From 2018 to 2020, Tanja Aal worked as a research assistant and PhD student at the Chair of Information Systems and New Media in the junior research group KontiKat (crisis management). Since 2021 she supports Prof. Dr. Claudia Müller in the subproject A05 of the SFB 1187 at the Chair of Information Systems, especially IT for the Ageing Society. Her dissertation is about the design of ethical future environments with special focus on (digital) inclusion of vulnerable target groups (human and non-human kind), as well as potentials, benefits, challenges and limitations of technology against this background.

• participatory methods
• community-based research
• multispecies environments
• vulnerability
• (digital) inclusion

2023

Lions out of Bounds? Reflections on Digital Technology and Matristic Design to address Human-Wildlife Conflict.
Grinko Margarita, Aal Tanja, Aal Konstantin, Hauptmeier Helmut, Wulf Volker.
Proceedings of the 4th African Human Computer Interaction Conference, 19-23.

Breaking New Ground: Stories from the Wild.
Aal Tanja, Grinko Margarita.
Torn Many Ways: Politics, Conflict and Emotion in Research, 139-152.

CareConnection – A Digital Caring Community Platform to Overcome Barriers of Asking for, Accepting and Giving Help.
Aal Tanja, Ruhl Andrea, Kohler Erich, Choudhary Apurva, Bhandari Pragya, Devbhankar Namrata, Egli Silvia, Shkumbin Gashi, Kaspar Heidi, Spittel Madlen, Kirschsieper Dennis, Müller Claudia.
Mensch und Computer 2023: 2023 Rapperswil Switzerland. DOI:10.1145/3603555.3608578.

Media Use of Older Adults in Bangladesh: Religion, Perceived Sinfulness and the Taming of Media.
Aal Tanja, Kirschsieper Dennis, Hasan Md Rashidul, Müller Claudia.
Digital Culture & Society 2023;9(1):153–176. DOI:10.14361/dcs-2023-0108.

Heteromated Decision-Making: Integrating Socially Assistive Robots in Care Relationships.
Paluch Richard, Aal Tanja, Cerna Katerina, Randall Dave, Müller Claudia.
arXiv, 2023. DOI:10.48550/arXiv.2304.10116.

2022

Ethical Future Environments: Engaging refugees in Smart City participation.
Scheepmaker Laura, Aal Tanja, Kender Kay, Vallis Stacy, Aal Konstantin, Smith Nancy, Melenhorst Mark, Van Twist Anouk, Veenstra Mettina, Schuler Douglas, Müller Claudia, Wulf Volker, Weibert Anne, Weibert Anne, Weibert Anne, Weibert Anne.
Adjunct Proceedings of the 2022 Nordic Human-Computer Interaction Conference: 2022 New York, NY, USA. DOI:10.1145/3547522.3547704.

2021

Ethical Future Environments: Smart Thinking about Smart Cities means engaging with its Most Vulnerable.
Aal Tanja, Müller Claudia, Aal Konstantin, Wulf Volker, Tachtler Franziska, Scheepmaker Laura, Fitzpatrick Geraldine, Smith Nancy, Schuler Douglas.
C&T ‘21: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Communities & Technologies – Wicked Problems in the Age of Tech: 2021 New York, NY, USA. DOI:10.1145/3461564.3468165.

Transitions by Methodology in Human-Wildlife Conflict – Reflections on Tech-based Reorganization of Social Practices.
Grinko Margarita, Aal Tanja, Aal Konstantin, Wulf Volker.
LIMITS ‘21: Workshop on Computing within Limits: 2021.

Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation on the Ground.
Aal Tanja, Grinko Margarita, Aal Konstantin.
Proceedings oft he NatureHCI 2021 workshop, co-locared with the CHItaly 2021 conference, July 12, 2021, Bolzano, Italy. URL: https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2901/short3.pdf.

Können sorgende Gemeinschaften die häusliche Langzeitversorgung verbessern?
Kaspar Heidi, Pelzelmayer Katharina, Schürch Anita, Bäumer Fabian, Aal Tanja, Gashi Shkumbin, Müller Claudia, Sereflioglu Timur, van Holten Karin.
Primary and Hospital Care 2021;21(6):188–190. DOI:10.4414/phc-d.2021.10401.

Co-Forschung und Gestaltung der „Sorgenden Gemeinschaft Obfelden“: Herausforderungen und Möglichkeiten von Bürgerforschung im hybriden Setting.
Gashi, Shkumbin; Müller, Claudia; Ertl, Tanja; Kohler, Erich (September 2021). Co-Forschung und Gestaltung der „Sorgenden Gemeinschaft Obfelden”: Herausforderungen und Möglichkeiten von Bürgerforschung im hybriden Setting In: (New) forms of life in old age. Siegen, Germany.
September 2021.: 2021 Siegen, Germany.

Und alle können das dann lesen…: von der partizipativen Entwicklung eines Spiels über die Rolle(n) von Technik in unserem Alltag.
Weibert Anne, Aal Konstantin, Aal Tanja.
Mensch und Computer 2021 – Workshopband: 2021 Ingolstadt, Germany. DOI:10.18420/muc2021-mci-ws06-247.

Transformation of HCI co-research with older adults: researchers’ positionality in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cerna Katerina, Paluch Richard, Bäumer Fabian, Aal Tanja, Müller Claudia.
Interaction design and Architectures: Designing during and for pandemics 2021; No. 50:21.

Artificially Intelligent Technology for the Margins: A Multidisciplinary Design Agenda.
Tachtler Franziska, Aal Konstantin, Aal Tanja, Diethei Daniel, Niess Jasmin, Khwaja Mohammed, Talhouk Reem, Vilaza Giovanna Nunes, Lazem Shaimaa, Singh Aneesha, Barry Marguerite, Wulf Volker, Fitzpatrick Geraldine.
Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: 2021 New York, NY, USA. DOI:10.1145/3411763.3441333.

2020

Psychosocial ICT – Therapeutic Methods becoming Self-Help Tools.
Aal Tanja, Aal Konstantin.
22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services: 2020 Oldenburg Germany. DOI:10.1145/3406324.3424594.

Psychosocial ICT: The Potential, Challenges and Benefits of Self-help Tools for Refugees with Negative Mental Stress.
Aal Tanja, Aal Konstantin, Diraoui Hoda, Tolmie Peter, Wulf Volker.
2020. DOI:10.18420/ecscw2020_ep11.

2019

The Social Mile – How (Psychosocial) ICT can Help to Promote Resocialization and to Overcome Prison.
Aal Tanja, Taugerbeck Sebastian, Esau Margarita, Aal Konstantin, Tolmie Peter, Wulf Volker.
Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 2019;3(GROUP):248:1–248:31. DOI:10.1145/3370270.

Gender Factors and Feminist Values in Living Labs.
Ahmadi Michael, Weibert Anne, Wenzelmann Victoria, Aal Tanja, Randall Dave, Tolmie Peter, Wulf Volker, Marsden Nicola.
In: Loh Janina, Coeckelbergh Mark: Feminist Philosophy of Technology. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, 2019, 167–183. DOI:10.1007/978-3-476-04967-4_9.

Digitale Medien in Caring Communities – Gemeinsame Fachtagung der Sektion III und IV der DGGG.
Müller Claudia, Unbehaun David, Aal Tanja, Wulf Volker.