The first Mixing Methods Summer School of the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 1187) “Media of Cooperation” took place online from 26 to 30 July 2021 and focused on “Breaching Digital Media / Respecifying Ethnomethodology”. Situated within the intern graduate school (MGK), the Summer School invited Ph.D candidates from the SFB 1187. Based on the concept of “Research Sprints”, the participants not only explored digital media and data practices in a contrastive and project-oriented way using different methods but also reflected upon the limits and possible combinations of different methodological approaches.

The breaching experiments were accompanied by three keynotes from the fields of digital sociology, media studies, and human-computer interaction. Noortje Marres argued for a situational analytics in her talk about “An interpretative methodology for the study of social life in computational settings”, Anne Rawls spoke about “Revealing Order through Disorder: Garfinkel’s Breaching Tutorials and Studies of Difficulty and Difference” and Kristina Lindström and Åsa Ståhl presented recent work from their project “Un/Making Matters, Practices and Imaginaries”. The SFB’s first Mixing Methods Summer School concluded with a joint presentation of the “Breaching” results.

Led by Loup Cellard, one of two facilitators of the Summer School, and Robin de Mourat, the first group with Daniela van Geenen, Stefan Laser, Fernando van der Vlist, Jason Chao and Danny Lämmerhirt examined the fitness app Strava and its tracking conditions for sports activities such as jogging, swimming and cycling. With the use of breaching experiments, they were able to uncover leaks and limitations of the app while revealing its digital functionality. A second research group, consisting of Tim Hector, Niklas Strüber, Yarden Skop, Marcus Burkhardt, Susanne Förster, and Tatjana Seitz, focused on breaching the chatbot Replika, which revealed a number of linguistic inconsistencies, technical problems, and political incorrectnesses. The third research group by Max Kanderske, Hendrik Bender, Regina Wuzella, Benedikt Merkle and Timo Kaerlein, led by Philippe Sormani, the second faciltator of the Summer School, dealt with questions of ethnomethodology. Their breaching focused on the Google AIY Vision Kit and its image recognition software which was pushed to its limits.

The next Mixing Methods Summer School is scheduled for 2023.

How are application programming interfaces (APIs) tied into the power of and the governance by large digital platforms?

Based on empirical and evolutionary analysis, the authors of the new publication “The Technicity of Platform Governance – Structure and Evolution of Facebook’s APIs“  (Working Paper Series No. 20, July 2021) trace the relationality between Facebook’s APIs, platform governance and data strategy. They provide an insight into the technicity of Facebook as one of the largest digital platforms, consisting of a ‘family of apps’, like WhatsApp or Instagram. The exchange of data and services between the platform is facilitated by the use of APIs, which can also be utilized for changes to platform policy or data strategy. The paper emphasizes the significance of the technicity of these platforms for maintaining infrastructural and evolutive power over their ecosystems.

The authors are members of the Collaborative Research Centers “Media of Cooperation” (SFB 1187) and „Transformationen des Populären“ (SFB 1472) which are both locates at Siegen University. Marcus Burkhardt leads the project B08 „Agentic Media: Formations of Semi-Autonomy“ which examines how agentic media are created cooperatively as actors in various fields of practice – chatbots, drones, and the academic development of algorithms – and asks which interactions orders as well as modes of cooperation emerge between human and synthetic actors. Tatjana Seitz and Fernando Van der Vlist are research associates at the projects A01 “Digital Network Technologies between Specialization and Generalization” and A03 „Navigation in Online/Offline Spaces“. Anne Helmond is assistant professor of New Media and Digital Culture at University of Amsterdam and principal investigator at the SFB 1472.

Their paper „The Technicity of Platform Governance – Structure and Evolution of Facebook’s APIs“ is published as part of the Working Paper Series of the SFB 1187, which promotes inter- and transdisciplinary media research and provides an avenue for rapid publication and dissemination of ongoing research located at or associated with the CRC. The purpose of the series is to circulate in‑progress research to the wider research community beyond the CRC. All Working Papers are accessible via the website or can be ordered in print by sending an email to: karina.kirsten[æt]uni-siegen.de

How does digitization relate to assistance? A mishap sparked a profound study on contemporary redistribution of assistance at Deutsche Bahn.

When sociology professor Jörg Potthast lost his phone and wallet on a train in 2015, he found himself in the stressful situation of not being able to block his credit card. Without a phone of his own he had to rely on the train conducter’s kindness and contact his bank over a borrowed one. To make matters worse the connection was insufficient. This unfortunate event prompted the author to take a closer look at the lost and found services of the Deutsche Bahn.

Noticing a shift towards digitization within the “lost and found” services of the deutsche Bahn, the author explores the effects that come with digital practices. Leaving the train, the publication “Lost and found: transforming assistance at digital Deutsche Bahn” further contemplates the general digital practices of the individual consumer, when seeking assistance.

The publication intends to seek for a politics of pity – which have been largely absent from the current appraisals of digital sociality – in exploring the ambiguous patterns in the practice of assistance.

Jörg Potthast is a principal investigator at the Collaborative Research Center (SFB 1187) „Media of Cooperation“ in Siegen, leading the project A04 – Normal Interruptions of Service. Structure and Change of Public Infrastructures, which explores the sociological aspects of public transport.

His paper is published as part of the Working Paper Series of the SFB 1187 (No. 19, July 2021) which promotes inter- and transdisciplinary media research and provides an avenue for rapid publication and dissemination of ongoing research located at or associated with the CRC. The purpose of the series is to circulate in-progress research to the wider research community beyond the CRC. All Working Papers are accessible via the website or can be ordered in print by sending an email to: karina.kirsten[æt]uni-siegen.de

Are there limits to thinking with, and through, practice? Scholars across media studies talk variously of ‘everyday’, ‘situated’, ‘digital’, and ‘media’ practices as well as, increasingly, ‘app’ and ‘data’ practices. But what do we gain from thinking about practice, or through the lens of praxeology? Alternatively, what might we lose from thinking only about practice, or only through praxeology?

The publication «In the Spirit of Addition: Taking a ‘Practice + Approach’ to Studying Media» started as a dialogue between media scholars wrestling with these questions, in which the value of practice and praxeology is explored. The aim of the publication is to discuss how the limits to practice might be, and indeed are being, studied, and potentially redrawn especially by those working with, in, and beyond, media studies.

The publication project was initiated by scholars of the Graduate School «Locating Media». It is published as part of the Working Paper Series edited by the Collaborative Research Centre «Media of Cooperation». The collection attempts to establish novel connections that potentially bring new life to the study of practice, by exploring new concepts, thinkers, energies, methodologies and disciplinary traditions. The articles explore how practices are variously constituted in, and through, contemporary media such as video platforms, collaborative text editors, enterprise software, socialmedia APIs, automotive navigation systems and health data apps.

The publication does not intend to cast doubt on the value of studying practice – long an interest of media scholars based in Siegen. Instead, it discusses how everyday, situated, digital, media, app, and data practices – as identifiable phenomena – are nonetheless modified by other things they meet, from bodily affects that ‘pre-code’ or modulate practices, to broader technical, material and social infrastructures that likewise facilitate or constrain how practices are performed.

As a provocation, the publication offers what might be productively referred to as a ‘practice+ approach’. In doing so, the authors emphasize how practices (as phenomena) and praxeological approaches (as lenses) can be engaged with materially, discursively, and affectively. The contributions discuss how practice+ approaches are enhanced by a supporting cast drawn from aesthetics, political discourses, technical representations or cognitive concepts. Moreover, the discussion draws attention to alternative theories that define practice differently such as queer and feminist studies, computer science or theatre studies.

Authors:

Christoph Borbach (Locating Media) | media studies

Magdalena Götz (Locating Media) | art, media, and gender studies

Sam Hind (Media of Cooperation, former: Locating Media)| media studies

Danny Lämmerhirt (Media of Cooperation, former: Locating Media) | critical data studies

Hannah Neumann (Locating Media) | theatre & cultural studies

Ana Och (Locating Media) | media linguistics

Sebastian Randerath (University of Bonn, former: University of Siegen) | design and media studies

Tatjana Seitz (Locating Media) | platform studies

The edited collection “In the Spirit of Addition: Taking a ‘Practice + Approach’ to Studying Media”, is published as part of the Working Paper Series of the Collaborative Research Center 1187 „Media of Cooperation“  (No. 18, June 2021). This collection is (guest-) edited by Magdalena Götz, Sam Hind, Danny Lämmerhirt, Hannah Neumann, Anastasia-Patricia Och, Sebastian Randerath, and Tatjana Seitz. For a printed version of this edited collection, please contact: karina.kirsten[æt]uni-siegen.de

The CRC Working Paper Series promotes inter- and transdisciplinary media research and provides an avenue for rapid publication and dissemination of ongoing research located at or associated with the CRC. The purpose is to circulate in-progress research to the wider research community beyond the CRC. All Working Papers are accessible via the website or can be ordered in print by sending an email to: karina.kirsten[æt]uni-siegen.de

University of Siegen, March 10 and 11, 2022 (abstracts submission deadline: April 15, 2021) Editors: Axel Volmar, Olga Moskatova, Jan Distelmeyer

The COVID-19 pandemic has reorganized existing methods of exchange, transforming comparatively marginal technologies into the new normal. Video conferencing in particular has become a favored means for spatially distributed forms of communication and collaboration without physical copresence. Corresponding apps and their infrastructures proliferate, leading to a widespread adoption of video conferencing in various societal domains, such as work, education, leisure, friends and family. This sudden omnipresence of video conferencing has already provoked a burst of reactions in recent months, with the rise of Zoom coming to stand for new practices of networked, synchronous online sociality. Scholars have discussed, for instance, Zoom’s physical effects (e.g., “zoom fatigue”), privacy issues, malicious practices (e.g., “zoom bombing”), and split-screen aesthetics. Despite this attention, however, video conferencing remains relatively understudied in media studies. The “Video Conferencing: Practices, Politics, Aesthetics” anthology therefore takes the current situation as a point of departure for examining the mediality of video conferencing, while expanding the scope of the examination beyond the context of the pandemic to address video conferencing as a medium more broadly.

Video conferencing establishes connections and mediations whose analysis requires the consideration of different levels and their interrelation. Its mediality prompts to interrogate the complex interplay of materiality and software, platform structures and economies, education and society, and the aesthetics of encounters and their associated practices and technical procedures. The focus on the conditions, procedures, and effects of mediation raises questions both technical and cultural, political and aesthetic, and historical and topical. What socio-technical and practical needs does video conferencing respond to, and which practices and conditions, conversely, are produced by video conferencing in the first place? What political, socioeconomic, and cultural contexts are operative or altered in the process? To what extent are new opportunities of access, participation, and spanning distances opened up, or the conditions of being-with narrowed? And finally, what aesthetic forms are being generated, passed on, or modified?

To address these questions, the anthology puts emphasis on media processes and configurations that constitute video conferencing and structure its practices, politics, and aesthetics. As an umbrella term, “video conferencing” includes diverse and historical applications, such as image and video telephony, telepresence, and visual communications, and thus demands attention to the specific meanings and media practices it acquires in different contexts. Although the anthology is broadly conceived, it especially encourages proposals that engage approaches in media studies and related disciplines, such as media theory, film and television studies, critical infrastructure studies, science and technology studies, software and platform studies, critical theory, cultural studies, and interface studies. These diverse approaches share an interest in issues of mediation and together enable a comprehensive account of the complexity of video conferencing as a media phenomenon. In this respect, the use of the gerund is also programmatic: in contrast to the noun “video conference,” the progressive form “video conferencing” deliberately stresses the procedural, praxeological, and agential aspects of the subject.

The collection seeks proposals that engage with the mediality of video conferencing by connecting material from case studies to fundamental theoretical questions. Of particular interest are media theoretical perspectives that can shed light on how the current boom in video conferencing challenges the prevalent understandings of digitally networked media,

possibly by interrelating different areas, ecologies and scales. Therefore, we particularly look forward to discussions regarding the role and significance of video conferencing in relation to other media and media practices. We also welcome proposals focusing on the impact of video conferencing on social and cultural stratifications, reflecting on the nonnormative or artistic uses of video conferencing or intertwining the aesthetical issues of video conferencing with issues of privacy and data-driven economies. In addition, papers may explore the ways in which video conferencing systems alter or influence the relations and tensions between technologies and modes of use, circulations and infrastructures, public and private spheres, individuals and collectives, proximity and distance of encounters, and audiovisual and other data practices.

Given that video conferencing represents a global phenomenon designed to cross borders yet bound to specific territorial conditions and local contexts, the anthology aims to gather international perspectives that may expose the different conditions prevailing in different regions of the world. Therefore, we particularly look forward to proposals from colleagues based outside Europe and North America.

Please send your abstract in the range of 500 to 700 words (including a short bibliography of three to five items) and short biography by April 15, 2021, to videoconferencing-anthology[æt]sfb1187.uni-siegen.de. (Authors who are unable to keep the submission deadline due to COVID-19-related problems may however arrange an individual extension with the editors.)

The selected contributors are invited to submit draft chapters, which will be discussed at an authors’ workshop. Depending on the global pandemic situation, the event will either take place at the Collaborative Research Center Media of Cooperation at the University of Siegen, Germany, on March 10 and 11, 2022, or will be held online. The anthology will be published by the German Transcript Publishing and distributed in the United States by Columbia University Press.

Timeline and Submission Deadlines:

• Initial abstracts due: April 15, 2021
• Author notification due: May 15, 2021
• Draft chapters (5,500–7,000 words) due: December 15, 2021
• Authors’ workshop (incl. feedback and internal review of draft chapters): March 10–11, 202

Detailed information (PDF): Download

We are looking for:

In Faculty I – Faculty of Philosophy, Media Studies, the German Research Foundation (DFG) Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) „Media of Cooperation“ is looking for a postdoc at the earliest possible date under the following conditions:
    •    100% = 39,83 hours
    •    Salary category 13 TV-L
    •    fixed-term period until 31.12.2023

CRC 1187 “Media of Cooperation”:

The CRC is an interdisciplinary research association consisting of 15 projects and more than 60 researchers from the fields of media studies, science and technology studies, anthropology, sociology, German language and literature studies, computer sciences, and medicine, as well as history, education, and engineering. It is receiving funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2016.

Within the subproject A01 „Digital Network Technologies between Specialization and Generalization“, we jointly investigate histories of digital media since 1989. We aim for a theory of digitality that encompasses practices, infrastructures, and publics.

Your tasks:

• Cutting-edge research in media history and theory
• Further qualification with a second book or Habilitation
• Organizing international conferences and publications along with other subprojects of the CRC
• Developing new ideas for grant extension
• Participating in the general program of the CRC (research forum, workshops, conferences)
• Contributing to the core topics of the CRC (infrastructures, publics, praxeology)

Your profile:

• Excellent PhD in Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Science and Technology Studies or History
• Experience in microhistory and openness towards digital methods
• An international and interdisciplinary research profile
• Excellent proficiency in English, further languages are highly welcome

Our offer:

• This position aims to promote the candidate’s scientific qualification (according to the Act of Academic Fixed-Term Contracts; Wissenschaftszeitvertrags­gesetz), for which the ongoing media research in Siegen offers a supportive environment (Habilitation)
• Responsibility for a field with great creative potential
• An agile environment that supports engagement with innovative educational work
• The opportunity to make a visible contribution towards modern accounts of leadership, cooperation and diversity culture
• Numerous offers such as flexible working hours, company pension scheme, dual career service, coaching/mentoring and a comprehensive personnel development program

We look forward to receiving your application by 02.03.2021.

Please apply exclusively via our application portal (https://jobs.uni-siegen.de or https://u-si.de/WhZUm respectively). Unfortunately, we cannot consider applications in paper form or by email.

Contact:

Dr. Sebastian Gießmann
0271 / 740 – 2586
sebastian.giessmann[æt]uni-siegen.de 

The University of Siegen is an equal opportunity employer. The call for applications is explicitly aimed at people of all genders (m/f/d); applications from women are given preference in accordance with the North Rhine-Westphalian Equal Opportunities Act (Landesgleichstellungsgesetz). We also welcome applications from people with different personal, social and cultural backgrounds, people with severe disabilities and people of equal status.

Taking a literal approach towards the journal’s name, the call addresses current research on the topic of navigation from a media & cultural studies perspective. Our goal is to provide an overview of the field, its researchers and their approaches, methods and theories. Taking the ubiquity of so-called smart devices in the post-digital as a starting point, the issue will ask about current media practices and techniques of civilian and military navigation as well as their methodological investigation and (re-)modelling. We welcome epistemological perspectives that examine current navigational practices and techniques in their historical development, taking into account the variable, sometimes divergent conditions and historically marginal designs of the navigational – i.e. successful as well as failed media, infrastructures, practices and standards.

Abstracts (max. 7,000 characters) can be sent to max.kanderske[æt]uni-siegen.de and christoph.borbach[æt]medienkomm.uni-halle.de until February 28th 2021. They should include a short biographical note. Should the circumstances allow it, the participating authors are invited to present their texts for discussion at an author workshop in July 2021. It will be funded by CRC 1187 “Media of Cooperation” and held at the University of Siegen. Further information on the journal Navigationen. Zeitschrift für Medien- und Kulturiwssenschaften are available at https://www.universi.uni-siegen.de/katalog/zeitschriften/navigationen/.

Detailed information (PDF): deutsch / english.

The University of Siegen is an interdisciplinary and cosmopolitan university with currently about 18,000 students and a range of subjects from the humanities, social sciences and economics to natural, engineering and life sciences. With over 2,000 employees, we are one of the largest employers in the region and offer a unique environment for teaching, research and further education.

At the University of Siegen, as of 1 January 2021 the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1187 „Media of Cooperation“ offers

two Short-Term Scholarships

to promote the work of early-carrier researchers. The duration of the scholarships is 12 months. A longer-term collaboration with the goal of a doctorate within the CRC is envisaged. The basic amount of the scholarship is based on the maximum rate of the DFG (1.365,- EUR). In addition, an allowance for material expenses and, if applicable, a child allowance will be paid.

CRC 1187 “Media of Cooperation“

The CRC is an interdisciplinary research network consisting of 15 projects and more than 60 scientists from the fields of media studies, science and technology studies, ethnology, sociology, linguistics and literature studies, computer science and medicine as well as history, education and engineering. It has been funded by the DFG since 2016. The CRC investigates the emergence and dissemination of digitally networked, data-intensive media and understands these as cooperatively accomplished conditions for cooperation. The research of the participating subprojects focuses on data practices that are explored in the situated interplay of media practices, infrastructures and public spheres.

The short-term fellowship program of the CRC provides national and international doctoral students the opportunity to further develop their research project in the CRC, to get to know participating researchers and to exchange ideas with them. The research projects of the scholarship holders should be thematically related to the subprojects of the CRC, so that their work can be supported by the principal investigators and their teams. Scholarship holders are assigned to the Integrated Research Training Group (MGK) of the CRC and benefit from its structured training program. The CRC offers scholarship holders an international environment for interdisciplinary media research as well as an extensive program of events and training in ethnographic, digital, sensor-based and linguistic methods.

Further information on the CRC’s research agenda and subprojects can be found at https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/en.

Your Profile

• Relevant, above-average degree in one of the disciplines participating in or related to the CRC, preferably in media and cultural studies, sociology or in the field of socio- or business informatics, human-computer interaction or information systems (equivalent to a Master’s degree, Magister, Diplom or Lehramt/Staatsexamen Sek. II)
• Individual research project in one of the above-mentioned disciplines within the subject area of the CRC. Ideally, you can assign the project to one of the subareas of the CRC –
  infrastructures, publics or praxeology
• Interest in methods of media research, the analysis of data practices and an affinity for working in an interdisciplinary research environment
• Willingness to participate in the international event program of the CRC and the MGK
• Very good written and spoken English language skills

Your Tasks

Expectations of successful candidates:

• Regular participation and involvement in the events and the training program of the MGK (colloquia, workshops, summer schools, methodology workshops, interdisciplinary groups)
• Presentation of preliminary results of the individual research project within the MGK colloquium

Equal opportunities and diversity are promoted and actively practiced at the University of Siegen. Applications from women are highly welcome and will be given special consideration in accordance with the federal state equality law. We also welcome applications from people with different personal, social and cultural backgrounds, people with disabilities and those of equal status.

For further information contact Katharina Dihel (Tel.: +49(0)271 740-4518)

E-Mail: katharina.dihel[æt]uni-siegen.de

Please send your application documents (letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, copies of certificates, 5-10-page outline of a project idea) by 2 November 2020 to Katharina Dihel, Herrengarten 3, 57072 Siegen, Germany. Alternatively, you can also send your application in a single PDF file by e-mail (max. 5 MB) to katharina.dihel[æt]uni-siegen.de. Please note that risks to confidentiality and unauthorized access by third parties cannot be ruled out when communicating by unencrypted e-mail.

Information about the University of Siegen can be found on our homepage: www.uni-siegen.de.