Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.

Digital mit allen Sinnen – Ein Recht auf digitale Teilhabe für Kinder

Anlässlich des Weltkindertags betont das Projektteam von B05 “(Frühe) Kindheit und Smartphone. Familiäre Interaktionsordnung, Lernprozesse und Kooperation”:

Wahrnehmung ist nicht passiv! Vielmehr ist sie aktives Tun. Deshalb sprechen wir von Sinnespraktiken, wenn wir beispielsweise von Hören, Sehen, Berühren, Riechen, oder der Wahrnehmung des eigenen Körpers im Raum sprechen. Im Zeitalter der Smartphones verkümmern die Sinne, so eine weit verbreitete Annahme. Aber ist das wirklich so, oder verändern sich die Sinnespraktiken lediglich? Um dies herauszufinden haben wir mit einer Gruppe von 9 Kindern im KiTa- und Grundschulalter einen Workshop durchgeführt, in dem die Kinder eine Sinnesreise über den Campus in Form einer digitalen Schnitzeljagd gestaltet haben. Unsere Beobachtungen zeigen: egal ob analog oder digital, Kinder erforschen ihre Umgebung mit allen Sinnen, auf das wie kommt es an!

➞ zum Projekt B05

“How Fact-Checkers are Becoming Machine Learners: A Case of Meta’s Third Party Programme”

Yarden Skop (University of Siegen) and Anna Schjøtt Hansen (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) 

The paper of our CRC 1187 member Yarden Skop is honored as best student paper at the 2024 conference of the Association of Internet Researchers. The article will be published in the proceedings of the conference and will be available online on October 30th, 2024.

Hoa Mai Trần was invited as an expert on the topic of digital media in early education to a radio interview with WDR 5. The radio report “Digital media in nurseries: yes or no?” (author Corina Wegler) is about the municipal family centre ‘Krümelkiste’ in Arnsberg-Hüsten in North Rhine-Westphalia, which specialises in the use of digital media. The article highlights opportunities and limitations for early digital education and points to the current relevance of dealing with the realities of children and families in an increasingly digitalised world.

Hoa Mai Trần is a researcher in the CRC project (B05) “(Early) Childhood and Smartphone. Family Interaction Order, Learning Processes and Cooperation” and researches children’s digital gaming practices.

The radio feature is available until 28 May 2025 in the WDR Mediathek. It is only available in German.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.

Carolin Gerlitz ist ordentliches Mitglied der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz.

Auf ihrer letzten Sitzung hat die Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz die Medienwissenschaftlerin Prof. Dr. Carolin Gerlitz von der Universität Siegen zum ordentlichen Mitglied gewählt. Prof. Gerlitz hat an der Uni Siegen die Professur für „Digital Media and Methods“ inne und ist außerdem Sprecherin unseres Sonderforschungsbereichs „Medien der Kooperation“. Sie leitet zudem das Teilprojekt A03 Navigation in Online/Offline-Räumen. Gerlitz ist Mitgründerin des „Center for Digital Methodologies in Media, Language and Research“ sowie langjähriges Mitglied der Digital Methods Initiative und des Public Data Labs.

Gerlitz studierte Gesellschafts- und Wissenschaftskommunikation in Berlin (Universität der Künste) sowie Gender, Media and Culture am Goldsmiths College der University of London, wo sie im Fach Soziologie promoviert wurde. Es folgen Stationen in London und Amsterdam, bevor sie 2016 die Professur an der Universität Siegen übernahm. Gerlitz beschäftigt sich schwerpunktmäßig mit digitalen Medientechnologien und Methoden sowie Software- und Platform-Studies.

Die Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur ist eine überregional ausgerichtete Vereinigung von Persönlichkeiten aus Wissenschaft, Literatur und Musik. Sie dient der Pflege der Wissenschaften, der Literatur sowie der Musik und trägt auf diese Weise zur Bewahrung und Förderung des kulturellen Erbes bei. Die Akademie ist ein Ort des Dialogs, in dessen Mittelpunkt der disziplinenübergreifende Austausch steht. Derzeit betreut die Akademie in Mainz 37 Forschungsvorhaben aus allen Fachrichtungen mit dem Schwerpunkt der langfristigen Grundlagenforschung.

Die Mitglieder der Akademie sind in drei Klassen unterteilt (Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, Klasse der Literatur und der Musik, Geistes- und sozialwissenschaftliche Klasse). Prof. Gerlitz gehört der Geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse an.

In the article “The first app: a brief history of the credit card” on ZEVEDI eFin & Demokratie blog, Dr. Sebastian Gießmann traces the development of the credit card as a central medium of consumer society. Starting from its beginnings in the early 20th century as a charge plate, which was particularly widespread in the USA, the transformation of the credit card into a global payment method is described, which embodies both socio-economic prestige and technological innovation.

Sebastian Gießmann shows the developments in media technology and society that have made the credit card an indispensable part of modern capitalism and how the physical credit card has been continuously adapted to the requirements of an increasingly digitalized world – despite and also because of the rapid development of mobile payment services and app-based financial technologies.

➞ Full Article (only available in German)

Official call for abstracts

“En/Countering Tracking: Resisting spatiotemporal media operations in computational culture”

The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2024.

Countering tracking has become a key form of resisting the logics of computational culture. Subversive encounters have emerged in recent years as counterpoints to the hegemonic logics of web infrastructures (Christl and Spiekermann 2016), platform labor (Heiland 2021) and racial capitalism (Russell and De Souza 2023). These attempts to counter tracking take forms that range from investigative visualizations (Fuller and Weizman 2021) or provoking glitches in tracking infrastructures (Leszczynski and Elwood 2022) to uncovering web-based tracking (Sharelab 2015), building counter-infrastructures for labor resistance (Qadri and D’Ignazio 2022), or using sensors and satellite images for critical investigations (Ballinger 2023; Boyd et al. 2018).

Countering tracking becomes a resistant media operation itself, disentangling hegemonic spatiotemporal regimes and their socio-political forces. These forms of countering tracking challenge existing theoretical approaches to the critical analysis of tracking and open up new perspectives on subversion and resistance in computational culture. How is countering tracking by means of tracking possible in different contexts and in relation to software, infrastructures and aesthetics?

We invite critical encounters through and of tracking, enabling new perspectives on computational infrastructures, software, (non-)human aesthetics and operative interactions, by means of theoretical reflections, critical making or activism. We aim at gathering submissions that 1) render existing tracking operations perceivable; 2) disrupt tracking infrastructures; or 3) operationalize tracking itself for resistance. The special issue invites theoretical, conceptual and performative approaches from fields such as media studies, visual studies, artistic research, sociology and critical geography to address the question of how tracking becomes a repressive, subversive or activistic media operation. 

Topics and projects might include:  

• Inventive methods that repurpose tracking infrastructures, sensors, software and data to research computational culture
• Detailed empirical and critical studies exploring the relations of en/countering tracking in computational culture
• En/countering tracking in labor resistance and platform capitalisms
• Critical theoretical conceptualization of tracking or countering for the study of computational culture
• Critical explorations of the chronopolitics, timescapes and spatiotemporal regimes of tracking
• Activist media, countersurveillance, tactical media, decolonial, (glitch) feminist and resistant epistemologies of tracking
• En/countering relations between political economy, racialized capitalism and tracking
• Visual cultures, (in-)visualities and aesthetics of en/countering tracking
• En/countering tracking in media art and artistic activism

Schedule:

750-word abstracts should be emailed to en_countering_tracking@uni-bonn.de by September 15, 2024. Abstracts will be reviewed by the special issue editors and the Computational Culture editorial board.

Any queries can be addressed to the special issue editors at: en_countering_tracking@uni-bonn.de

Official call for contributions | Call for contributions PDF

“The Datafied Web”:
6^th RESAW Conference (5-6 June 2025, Siegen University)

The deadline for submissions is 15 October 2024.

Do you remember the beginnings of early metrics in the 90s, the birth of web counters, those digital pioneers that marked and started to quantify the pulse of online activity, the novelty of seeing website visits measured in real-time, eye-catching graphics becoming the currency of online attention, and the early days of companies like Webtrends, Urchin and DoubleClick?

We invite scholars, researchers, web archivists to contribute to the 6th RESAW conference on the topic of “The Datafied Web”, through a historical lens. We would like to delve into the historical roots, trends, and trajectories that shaped the data-driven paradigm in web development and to examine the genealogies of the datafied and metrified web. Historical studies of trajectories towards a databased web and the emergence of platform-driven mobile ecosystems are very welcome, as well as case studies for instance related to the development of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and the evolution of data-sharing practices. Uncovering the early forms of analytics software, their origins, and the role they played in shaping the web landscape, and examining the historical context, aesthetics and role of web counters, analytics tools, mobile sensing and other metrics may also help us deepen our understanding of online interactions, past publics and audiences, and their (uneasy) trajectories. “The datafied web” also raises questions related to methods and (web) archives allowing to research this evolution: what are for instance the challenges and methodologies involved in archiving the metrified and increasingly mobile web, including the back-end infrastructure?  

This theme also invites us to trace the historical trajectory of data surveillance and the evolution of data capturing practices on the web. Complementary are issues related to the historical development of tracking mechanisms, cookies, and the creation of digital footprints, as well as the evolution of companies relying on metrics, and the development of financialized web spaces and their implications. By investigating historical controversies and debates surrounding the increasing datafication of the web and uncovering historical instances of innovative data use or resistance practices against the datafication of the web, this conference also aims at reconstructing vivid and key debates that are transversal to the history of the web. How did the datafied web provide for the sensory media environments that we are now living in?

Finally, we wish to discuss innovative research methodologies for uncovering the historical dimensions of the datafied and metrified web, as well as methods that are approaching web archives as data (from an archiving and research perspective) and explore them through distant reading, metadata, seed lists, and other methods. Plus, we want to encourage everyone to think about datafication as a practice of sensing and sense-making that creates, sustains, and undermines media environments.

Theme scope and conference topics of the RESAW Conference

We encourage submissions addressing the conference theme ‘Histories of the Datafied Web’ through the following themes:

Infrastructures

• histories and genealogies of the datafied and metrified web, including its platformization within capitalism(s)
• aesthetics and design of the early metrified web
• the rise of data surveillance and data capture as an industry
• histories of APIs, data-sharing, and advertising technologies
• the rise of web counters, web analytics, and other web metrics
• histories of trackers, cookies, digital footprints, etc.

Publics

• methods and approaches towards audience of the past web
• historical controversies surrounding the datafication and platformization of the web
• histories of uses of data or practices of resistance to datafication and platform economies
• the rise of the financialization of the web, and its political economy
• histories of automation, virality, and popular practices on the web

Archives

• archiving the metrified web and back-end infrastructure of the web
• methodologies for writing histories of the datafied and metrified web
• web archives as data (archiving and documentation, distant reading, use of metadata, seed lists…)
• web archiving data practices and challenges

After the conference, the organizers will invite relevant contributors to participate in a special issue of Internet Histories related to the topic “The Datafied Web”. 

Submissions that explore other aspects both within and outside of the general conference theme, are also welcome.

Submissions for the RESAW Conference

The deadline for submissions is 15 October 2024.

Submissions are welcome from all fields and disciplines, and we would particularly encourage postgraduate students and early career researchers to participate. We also encourage contributions that highlight non-Western and non-hegemonic developments. Contributions on practical challenges of web archiving in current moments of crisis are also very welcome.

Possible formats

• Individual papers of 15 minutes (500-word abstract).
• Panel sessions consisting of three individual papers of 15 minutes, introduced by a chair (500-word abstract for each paper, a brief 300-word description of the purpose of the panel).
• Other unconventional proposals like sessions of lightning talks, roundtables, etc., are welcome (300-word abstract).
• A session “My PhD in 5 Minutes” is foreseen (please apply by providing a 300-word abstract).

Acceptance of submissions is based on double-blind peer review.

Possible formats for the pre-conference day

• Submissions related to web archives are welcome from all fields and disciplines, and we would particularly encourage workshops related to tools, hands-on, as well as training sessions and demos.
• A whole pre-conference (500-word abstract)
• Workshops, demos and other formats related to web archives practices, methods, tools, demos (500-word abstract, specifying the expected duration)

Submissions

The deadline for submissions (including the pre-conference day) is 15^th October 2024.

To submit a proposal :
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=resaw2025

Timetable

• 15 October 2024: Deadline for submissions
• 15 December 2024: Notifications of acceptance
• 25 January 2025: Programme
• March 2025: Registrations open (fees: 90 euros for advanced scholars, 50 euros for PhD students)
• 4 June 2025: Pre-conferences and demos
• 5-6 June 2025: Conference at Siegen University

The RESAW conference is organized by the CRC 1187 Media of Cooperation in collaboration with the RESAW Conference Committee

The conference is funded in part, by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – Projektnummer 262.513.311 – SFB 1187 Medien der Kooperation and in part by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), [INTER/DFG/23/17960744/DIGMEDIA].

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.

The book Gender and Technology at Work: From Workplace Studies to Social Justice in Design, auhtored by our member Volker Wulff (project B04) and others, brings together the vast research literature about gender and technology to help designers understand what a gender perspective and a focus on intersectionality can contribute to designing information technology systems and artifacts, and to assist organizations as they work to develop work cultures that are supportive of women and marginalized genders and people. Drawing on empirical and analytical studies of women’s work and technology in many parts of the world, the book addresses how to make invisible aspects of work visible; how to recognize women’s skills without falling into the trap of gender stereotyping; how to engage in improving working conditions; and how to defend care of life situations and needs against a managerial logic.

It addresses challenges for design, including many overlooked and undervalued aspects, such as the complexities involved in human–machine interactions, as well as the need to create safe spaces for research subjects.

Our CRC member Daniela van Geenen (A03) edited together with Karin van Es & Jonathan Gray the special issue “Critical Technical Practice(s) in Digital Research” that has now been published in Convergence (Vol. 30, Issue 1).

In this special issue, they 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. They 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 publications, projects, groups, and communities of practice, and what it has come to mean. Agre defined CTP as a situational, practical, and constructive way of working: ‘a technical practice for which critical reflection upon the practice is part of the practice itself’ (1997a: XII). Communities of practice in which the notion has been adopted, adapted, and put to use 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, they review and discuss CTPs according to (1) Agre, (2) indexed research, and (3) contributors to this special issue. They conclude with some questions and considerations for those interested in working with this notion.

The issue is at the same time timely and timeless, featuring contributions by 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. 

Last but not least, save the date: the editors will (soft) launch the issue at the CRC research forum on 10 July, 2 to 4 pm CEST with some short presentations. You can join the event either online or in Siegen! Contact Daniela van Geenen.

Links to the articles and our living literature collection (Zotero group) can be found here.