The lecture series explores how to study media that are mobile, dynamic and highly situation based, such as data intensive software, mobile media practices, distributed platform infrastructures, automated and sensor based media or cloud computing among others. It explores interdisciplinary methodological approaches that do not only consider media as “in motion” and “in situ”, but also methodologies to study such media. Drawing on Lury and Wakeford’s idea of inventive methods, we start from the premise that methods are not inventive, mobile or situated in and of themselves, but can produce inventive insights when adjusted to their specific contexts. By engaging with different projects and disciplinary perspectives, we explore how to envision, design, adapt, realise and adjust research methodologies to dynamic and distributed media objects. We will engage with different methodological approaches including ethnomethodology, mobile methods, participant observation, sensory methods, software and platform analysis, mixed methods, issue and controversy mapping, digital sociology, technography and digital methods. Rather than just providing an introduction to these approaches, we will explore them in action and discuss central problems and challenges of aligning method to phenomenon and question. Among the key concerns we attend to are: What does it mean to re-deploy data produced by platforms for research purposes? How can we study black boxes and algorithms? What is the objective of academic media research if platform companies have much better access to user data? What are the implications if digital media are not only the site of study but also the means to access data? The aim of the lecture series is to introduce students to the current state of the art in methodological development for media research and equip them with insights into crafting creative methodologies for their own projects. The lecture series brings together both international guests and members of the graduate school Locating Media who will present and discuss ongoing research projects. Among the confirmed guests are Richard Rogers (Amsterdam) who will talk about social media metrics, Noortje Marres (CIM Warwick) introducing digital sociology, Taina Bucher (Copenhagen) who will show how to study social media platforms through technography, Liliana Bounegru and Jonathan Gray (UK) who will discuss research/ing infrastructures within academia, civil society organisations and data journalism as well as Patrick Vonderau (Stockholm) who will speak about the ethical challenges when studying the music streaming platform Spotify. The talks will be both in English and German. No previous knowledge is needed, students should just be interested in doing empirical media research and listening/discussing in English. More information in Location Media can be found here: www.locatingmedia.uni-siegen.de |
- Dozent/in: Carolin Gerlitz