Collaborative Research Center (SFB 1187) "Media of Cooperation"

"Media of Cooperation" is an interdisciplinary collaborative research centre (CRC) located at the University of Siegen. We consist of 19 subprojects with more than 60 researchers from media studies, ethnology, sociology, computer science, linguistics, ubiquitous computing, science and technology studies, education, law, and engineering. "Media of Cooperation" has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2016. The research centre studies digital, data-intensive media, which have brought new challenges and potential dangers in the context of ubiquitous data processing of sensor technologies and semi-autonomously operating artificial intelligence (AI). Sensor media shape everyday practices in the smart home, collect environmental data, control semi-autonomous vehicles and, in the form of wearables, measure and quantify every aspect of our bodies. As a result, human decision-making is increasingly encroached upon by computerised infrastructures. In public debates, sensor media and AI are frequently criticised as threats to data sovereignty and human agency. The CRC "Media of Cooperation" addresses and counters these developments and debates by focusing on the reciprocity of people, media, and environments: sensor media and AI intertwine bodies and data, media and environments, and human and non-human actors reciprocally but not symmetrically. In this field of tension, the CRC conducts basic digital research that mediates between past and present and shapes future digital media. The CRC’s main location is at the University of Siegen. Further nodes in our research network are located at universities in Cologne, Hagen, Bochum, Frankfurt/Oder, Bonn, Konstanz, and Luxembourg.