Frisch erschienen: Neue Sondersektion des “International Journal of Communication” herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp, Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter und Prof. Dr. Thomas Friemel
Die Sondersektion “Digital Traces in Context” des “International Journal of Communication” wird von Andreas Hepp (ZeMKI, Universität Bremen), Andreas Breiter (ZeMKI, Universität Bremen/ifib) und Thomas Friemel (Universität Zürich) herausgegeben.
Beiträger sind (in Reihenfolge der erschienenen Artikel): Richard Rogers, Lev Manovich, Jean-Christophe Plantin, Stefania Milan, Carolin Gerlitz, Bernhard Rieder, Gerret von Nordheim, Karin Boczek, Lars Koppeers, Elena Erdmann, Stefanie Walter, Fenja De Silva-Schmidt, Michael Brüggemann, Bernie Hogan, Tilo Grenz, Heiko Kirschner, Bernadette Kneidinger-Müller, Deborah Lupton, Sarah Pink, Christine Heyes LaBond, Shanti SumartojoMartin Hand, Michelle Gorea, Ulrike Gerhard, Andreas Hepp und Nick Couldry.
Zum thematischen Fokus: ““Big data” has become a contested buzzword for media and communications research, but remains a vague concept when it comes to empirical, contextualised analysis and interpretations. From the point of view of the media user and a critical analysis of media practices, it is rather “digital traces” that matter. The term “traces” puts emphasis on the fact that these data result from the practices of individuals, collectivities, and organizations while using digital media. To understand “digital traces” we have to relate them to the various actors who originate them, as well as the contexts that matter. When putting “digital traces in context,” we have to reflect the programmers who design and implement the related technologies, the features of the technologies (e.g., the underlying algorithms), the actors producing the traces through their practice, the procedures of data gathering, as well as the relation of these data with various kinds of other information. Hence, studying the context of digital traces goes beyond the mere analysis of “big data.” Investigating digital traces is a challenge for research methods (e.g., data mining, validation, research ethics, replicability, transparency), and theories (e.g., grasping general patterns, development of new theories), and a profound reflection of all of this (e.g., redefining the basis for academic critique). The aim of the Special Section is to bring scholars of media and communications research together with scholars of other disciplines to reflect the chances of researching “digital traces in context” as one way of making a proper sense of “datafication”.”
Alle Aufsätze der Sondersektion können kostenfrei hier in englischer Sprache abgerufen werden.