How do digital technologies transform society and (international) politics, and what are the practices and options for resistance?

Annual Conference of the Collaborative Research Centre „Media of Cooperation“ examines digital power and new forms of democratic action

AI, wars, and the shift to the extreme right are raising pressing questions today. All of these issues are linked to digital media technologies. The annual conference asks about the relationship between social media, robotics, and artificial intelligence with (geo)political developments and resistance practices.

→ conference website

→ interview with speaker Carolin Gerlitz

About the Annual Conference

The Collaborative Research Centre “Media of Cooperation” investigates the role of media and digital technologies in social cooperation. This year’s annual conference of the centre is titled “Politics of Cooperative Sensing: Techfascism, War, Geopolitics, and Resistance” and brings together scholars, filmmakers, journalists, and activists to focus on the political conditions of digital cooperation.

Social networks and artificial intelligence (AI) shape how political events are reported and public debates are conducted. Digital platforms are used to spread disinformation and exert political influence. Their technical structures are particularly conducive to (algorithmic) discrimination as well as extremist-right-wing, racist, or anti-feminist disinformation campaigns. The conference examines these developments as well as the possibilities for countering them through protest and political engagement.

Digital media have long been more than just tools of communication. They influence what information becomes visible and who can shape public debates. At the same time, they rely on technical infrastructures that consume limited resources and raise questions about climate impacts and surveillance. The speakers therefore explore not only new forms of digital power but also how people can use or engage with technology critically.

In seven presentations, three workshops, two film screenings, and a lecture performance, contributors from Siegen, Cologne, Bochum, Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Weimar, Hamburg, Mariupol, Kyiv, Tehran, Dublin, and Berlin will discuss various aspects of these topics. The international conference brings together perspectives from media studies, theater studies, cultural studies, education, and sociology with insights from documentary film and investigative journalism. The political and social consequences of digital technologies are thus discussed from a variety of academic disciplines.

Highlights of the program include the lecture performance “Fault Line: Survival as Unrest” by Azadeh Ganjeh, as well as two panel discussions on current political and social issues, such as the interplay between technology corporations and fascist movements, and the question of how geopolitical conflicts and wars are portrayed and negotiated through various media technologies. The first panel, “Technocooperations,” examines how digital platforms, infrastructures, and AI are transforming working conditions, political debates, and social relationships. The second panel, “Sensory Conflicts and Mediated Wars,” focuses on topics such as surveillance, visibility practices, and digital infrastructures in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

Two film screenings complement the program by offering personal and documentary perspectives on war, violence, and resistance. “War Songs” is a documentary musical directed by Sashko Protyah that uses songs and melodies to tell the story of war and pacifism in Mariupol. “Teen Angst”, directed by Inga Pylypchuk, follows nine young Ukrainian women who use their smartphones to document their daily lives during Russia’s war of aggression. Through personal stories of fear, separation, hope, and resilience, the film offers insights into coming of age under wartime conditions.

Another special event will be the farewell lecture by Prof. Dr. Erhard Schüttpelz, which will include a laudatory address by Prof. Dr. Rembert Hüser.

Attendance at the conference is free of charge. Please register at: https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/en/annual-conference-2026/#Registration

Date: November 11–13, 2026
Location: University of Siegen
Organizer: Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation”
Program: https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/en/annual-conference-2026/

The SFB cordially invites you to the oral examination in the doctoral examination proceedings of Yarden Skop. The dissertation defense will take place on Thursday, 10 December 2026, from 13:00 p.m. to 15:00 p.m.

During the defense, Yarden Skop will present and academically defend the findings of the dissertation before the examination committee. The title of the dissertation is: “Making Online Speech Governable: Problematizations, Platforms, and Publics in Algorithmic Moderation Infrastructures”.

How is problematic speech online turned into something a machine can detect? Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork across content moderation teams on news websites, fact-checking organizations and EU-funded AI consortia, Yarden Skop examines how counter-hate speech and counter-disinformation initiatives problematize speech in distinct ways in order to operationalize these definitions through ML technology. The media studies project follows four cases: Google’s Perspective API, Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking program, Full Fact and its Alpha tool, and the EU Horizon-funded VeraAI project. It draws on interviews, event ethnography and on participant observation of participatory design workshops. 

At its core are the research questions:

Who and what constitutes speech problems online, such as disinformation and hate speech – where did they come from, what are their specific constructions in the domains in which they are problematized?

Second, What forms of governing practices and social regulation are enabled when defining the problems as such?

Third, How are these governing practices executed in the building of software and machine learning tools for mediating said problems?

The central thesis of the dissertation is that definitions of problematic speech are not settled before technologies are built but are enacted, narrowed and stabilized in the tools, data practices and funding arrangements that claim to only apply them. These decisions are not neutral, and taken together, these projects can be seen as “moral infrastructures” built to define, identify and enforce the boundaries of acceptable speech.

The dissertation project is part of the SFB’s Integrated Graduate School and Skop is a member of project A07: “The Industry of Personal Data”. 

The examination will be conducted in English and will be chaired by Prof. Dr. Carolin Gerlitz (first examiner), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bernhard Rieder (second examiner), Prof. Dr. Marcus Burkhardt (member of the examination committee) and Prof. Dr. Dagmar Hoffman (member of the examination committee).

The Multiple Returns of Connectionism: Theory and History of Artificial Intelligence

by PD Dr. Sebastian Gießmann (Universität Siegen, SFB) 

How do the historical returns of connectionism reshape our understanding of artificial intelligence, media, and cultural techniques? In this working paper, Sebastian Gießmann examines the theoretical and historical foundations of artificial intelligence from the perspective of media theory and history of technology. The paper analyzes how the shifts between symbolic AI and inductive connectionist neural networks influence our media environments, explores the extent to which data-intensive and statistically operationalized networks challenge our anthropological and semiotic structures, and proposes a genealogy to resituate AI between nature and cultural techniques.

→ Working Paper (Open Access)

About the Working Paper

In light of the recent boom in artificial intelligence, what future and what new environments should research in media and cultural techniques focus on? This article returns to a fundamental question posed by Marcel Mauss regarding the constitution of techniques between specific and general purposes.

First, it offers a brief description of the current state of machine learning and recent AI developments between specialization and universalization. Second, I propose a genealogy of artificial intelligence between nature and cultural techniques. It inquires into the historical recurrence of connectionist practices, algorithms, and styles of thinking and acting as a condition of current AI technologies. How could biological neurons become artificial neural networks that work as the infrastructural foundation of artificial intelligence? Third, what is at stake here are the notions of media and mediation themselves. Due to the naturalization and habitualization of connectionist AI, they are becoming statistically operationalized, data-intensive networks.

About the Authors

Sebastian Giessmann is a senior lecturer in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Siegen and PI of  A01 “Digital Network Technologies between Specialization and Generalization” of the Collaborative Research Center 1187 – “Media of Cooperation.”

About the Working Paper Series

The Working Paper Series of SFB 1187 “Media of Cooperation” brings together current contributions from the field of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary media research. The SFB Working Paper Series offers the opportunity for pre-publication and rapid dissemination of research work currently being carried out at the SFB or related to it. The aim of the series is to make SFB research accessible to a broader research community. Publication in the Working Paper Series does not preclude the publication of revised versions of the same contribution in other journals. Contributions from postdocs and established researchers are welcome. The series is intended as a publication forum for the researchers represented in the SFB, their projects, and their ongoing research. Contributions are published in open access and in a limited print edition. If you would like to publish an article in the Working Paper Series, please submit your topic proposal in the form of an abstract (max. 300 words) together with a short CV (max. 50 words). For manuscript submission, please refer to our styleguide.

Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) – Project number 262513311 – SFB 1187. Editorial responsibility: Karina Kirsten, University of Siegen & SFB 1187 Media of Cooperation.

→ read the editorial introduction

The SFB cordially invites you to the oral examination in the doctoral examination proceedings of Hoa Mai Trần. The dissertation defense will take place on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in room AR-E 4112 (OASE Learning Workshop) at Adolf-Reichwein-Str. 2, 57068 Siegen, Germany.

During the defense, Hoa Mai Trần will present and academically defend the findings of her dissertation before the examination committee. The title of her dissertation is: “The Virtual Self in the In-Between: An Ethnographic Study of Childhood and Children’s Modes of Existence in Digital Play.”

Where does “the child” begin in digital play, and where does it end? Drawing on three years of ethnographic fieldwork with three families in Germany, Hoa Mai Trần examines children’s experiences while playing digital games. The educational science study explores how the boundaries between the “self” and the “not-self” shift during play. At its core is the research question: How is children’s hybrid being-in-the-world brought forth through digital play?

The central thesis of the dissertation is that children can be present and exist beyond the physical boundaries of their flesh-and-blood bodies. Between feeling, becoming, and dying, an in-between space unfolds within play, revealing children’s hybrid, living modes of existence. Children’s play becomes a meaningful, tangible, and dynamic (in-between) reality. The phenomena of boundary dissolution, mutually generated by the child and the game, enable temporary or reactivatable ways of unfolding the self and the world, depending on the particular play situation, and contribute to the emergence of the virtual self. The virtual self is not a digital representation of the child within the game, but rather the idea brought forth through play—one that can be digitally materialized and personalized to varying degrees, expressing the possibility of being or becoming something or someone. Digital games are inhabitable spaces of childhood that have individual, social, educational policy-related, and economic significance for children and society.

The dissertation project is part of Subproject B05: “(Early) Childhood and Smartphones.” The examination will be conducted in German and will be chaired by Prof. Dr. Jutta Wiesemann (first examiner), Prof. Dr. Jochen Lange (second examiner), and Prof. Dr. Chantal Munsch (member of the examination committee).

How is urban mobility being transformed by bike-sharing, e-scooters, and app-based mobility services? And who shapes the conditions under which shared micromobility operates in cities?

The workshop “Shared Micromobility – Who’s Taking Charge?” will address these questions on 17 and 18 September 2026 in Cologne. The event is organized by project A03 “Navigation in Online/Offline Spaces”.

The programme for the two-day workshop is now available online.

→ To the event

→ Register here

The workshop focuses on the infrastructures, technologies, data flows, and actors that enable shared micromobility. It also explores how different people experience these mobility services and which perspectives, needs, and interests are made visible or remain overlooked.

The observations and discussions emerging from the workshop will be documented collaboratively with artists and designers and will contribute to a publicly accessible report on the “Seams” of shared mobility in Cologne and its points of connection, friction, disruption, and transition.

Mediengeographie: Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Studium (Media Geographies: Handbook für Research and Study) 

by Tristan Thielmann (Universität Siegen, SFB) and Max Kanderske (SFB)

The field of media geography is situated at the intersection of media studies and human geography. The aim of this handbook is to trace the development of media geography and to provide a comprehensive overview of the current field of research—ranging from the geography of books to the geography of film and video games, and on to the geography of the Internet, smartphones, and AI.

→ to the book

About the book

The Internet of Things, Big Data, drone media, artificial intelligence, mobile GIS, and sensorized life: geodata are increasingly shaping our everyday lives and academic discourse. Published by Nomos, this handbook provides a comprehensive overview of current research questions emerging at the intersection of geography and media. On the one hand, it offers subject-oriented overview articles; on the other, it brings together programmatic contributions that have proven influential and forward-looking for the field. Contributors include Bruno Latour, Tim Ingold, Karen Caplan, Sarah Pink, Mark Andrejevic, James Ash, and Jessica McLean. An overview is provided in the introduction, which is available via academia.edu.

The work of Collaborative Research Centre 1187 “Media of Cooperation” is reflected in several contributions to the handbook: As head of project P04 “Precision Farming: Co-operative Practices of Virtual Fencing”, Tristan Thielmann examines the field of digital animal geographies; Sebastian Gießmann, head of project A01 “Digital-Networked Media between Specialization and Universalization”, traces the historical development of internet geography; and Max Kanderske, research associate in project A03 “Navigation in Online/Offline Spaces”, provides an introduction to the practices and discourses of digital real-time geography.

Further information can be found in the interview with the editors.

University members will soon have access to the digital edition of the handbook via inlibra.

About the authors

Tristan Thielmann is Professor of Science, Technology and Media Studies at the University of Siegen and Deputy Spokesperson of CRC 1187 “Media of Cooperation.” He is also the principal investigator of the projects A03 – Navigation in Online/Offline Spaces and P04 – Precision Farming: Co-operative Practices of Virtual Fencing. His research focuses on media geographies, media and technology history, navigation studies, and cultural cartographies. His areas of interest also include ethnomethodologies and technomethodologies, as well as the study of media and technologies in spatial and social contexts.

Max Kanderske is a research associate in project A03 “Navigation in Online/Offline Spaces” at the Siegen CRC “Media of Cooperation.” Beyond navigation studies, his research interests include sensor-mediated environments and digital game spaces. He is also co-editor of the Game Studies journal “Spiel|Formen.”

Beyond Informed Consent: Consumer Data Preferences and the Case for Enforcement-Oriented Transparency

by Prof. Dr. Maximilian Becker & Catalina Goanta (University Siegen, SFB)

How are digitalization and artificial intelligence changing the structures of private law? In this working paper, Maximilian Becker examines the legal challenges posed by digital technologies from the perspective of civil law. The paper analyzes how data-driven systems, algorithmic decision-making processes, and new digital business models are influencing existing structures of private law and explores the extent to which current law can meet the demands of the digital transformation.

→ Link Working Paper

About the Working Paper

Digital markets have fundamentally altered the conditions under which consumers engage with data-driven platforms, yet regulatory frameworks, particularly in the EU, continue to rely on consent-based models that presuppose a level of technological literacy and informed agency that most users do not possess. Drawing on existing empirical evidence from five studies across the US, UK, and EU, this paper departs from the empirical argument that consumer preferences regarding personal data are highly unstable and shaped by framing and trust rather than genuine, well-formed values.

Consumers systematically overestimate the privacy protections offered by paid services, accept personalization without understanding its commercial scope, and disregard privacy notices regardless of their clarity. This argument exposes the structural failure of transparency-as-disclosure as a regulatory strategy: informing consumers better does not fix markets distorted by asymmetric information and complex, layered business models.

Rather than doubling down on consumer-facing transparency obligations, this paper proposes a shift toward enforcement-oriented business-model transparency, under which platforms would be required to disclose aspects such as data flows, monetization strategies, but also algorithmic processes to regulatory authorities and civil society. The Digital Services Act and the General Data Protection Regulation already point somewhat in this direction. Building on this logic, the paper proposes further machine-readable transparency as a complement to existing information obligations.

About the Authors

Prof. Dr. Maximilian Becker is a professor of civil law, intellectual property law, and media law at the University of Siegen. His research focuses on civil law with connections to medical law, data law, and information technology law, as well as on IT law, media law, and competition law. He studied German and European business law at the University of Siegen and earned his doctorate there in 2012 with a dissertation on “Absurd Contracts.” After serving as an assistant professor at the University of Siegen and as a professor of data protection law and IT law at Leibniz University Hannover, he has been a professor at the University of Siegen since 2021. In addition, he is a subproject leader for the project A07 – ‘The Personal Data Industry’ at SFB 1187 Media of Cooperation (University of Siegen). 

Catalina Goanta is an Associate Professor in Private Law and Technology and Principal Investigator of the ERC Starting Grant HUMANads, focused on understanding the impact of content monetization on social media and on reinterpreting private law fairness in the context of platform governance. Between 2016-2021 she was Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University, and during  February 2018 – February 2019, she was a Niels Stensen fellow and visited the University of St. Gallen (The Institute of Work and Employment) and Harvard University (The Berkman Center for Internet and Society).  She has been a mercator fellow at the SFB since 2025.

About the Working Paper Series

The Working Paper Series of SFB 1187 “Media of Cooperation” brings together current contributions from the field of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary media research. The SFB Working Paper Series offers the opportunity for pre-publication and rapid dissemination of research work currently being carried out at the SFB or related to it. The aim of the series is to make SFB research accessible to a broader research community. Publication in the Working Paper Series does not preclude the publication of revised versions of the same contribution in other journals. Contributions from postdocs and established researchers are welcome. The series is intended as a publication forum for the researchers represented in the SFB, their projects, and their ongoing research. Contributions are published in open access and in a limited print edition. If you would like to publish an article in the Working Paper Series, please submit your topic proposal in the form of an abstract (max. 300 words) together with a short CV (max. 50 words). For manuscript submission, please refer to our styleguide.

Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) – Project number 262513311 – SFB 1187. Editorial responsibility: Karina Kirsten, University of Siegen & SFB 1187 Media of Cooperation.

The SFB cordially invites you to the defense of Niklas Strüver’s doctoral thesis.

Monday, July 27, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. in Room AH-A 217/18.

During the defense, the findings of his dissertation will be presented to the examination committee and academically defended. The title of his dissertation is “Speaking on behalf of the periphery: Third-party relationships in Amazon’s Alexa ecosystem” and it examines the developmental dynamics of the voice assistant Alexa from the perspectives of infrastructure and platform theory. Drawing on the four articles presented, the dissertation explores how Alexa functions as an infrastructure and platform for third-party providers in business and academia, and what sociotechnical power imbalances arise in the process. This analysis allows for an examination of the social relationships that Amazon, as the manufacturer, enters into with complementary providers on the periphery of the platform. Through various empirical approaches, it is possible, despite the usual secrecy maintained by large corporations, to gain insight into the development of technologies that are present in the everyday lives of many people.

It will be conducted in German and supervised by the two examiners, Dagmar Hoffmann and Armin Beverungen.

Niklas Strüver (M.A.) ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter im Projekt B06 („Un/erbetene Beobachtung in Interaktion“) und Doktorand am SFB 1187 „Medien der Kooperation“. Er studierte Soziologie mit einem Schwerpunkt auf Techniksoziologie an der RWTH Aachen und schloss dort den Master of Arts ab. Seine Forschungsschwerpunkte liegen u.a. in den Bereichen Techniksoziologie, Science and Technology Studies sowie Platform Studies.