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- Convenors:
-
Fabian Pittroff
(Ruhr University Bochum)
Mace Ojala (Ruhr University Bochum)
Leman Çelik (Ruhr University Bochum)
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- Chairs:
-
Fabian Pittroff
(Ruhr University Bochum)
Leman Çelik (Ruhr University Bochum)
Mace Ojala (Ruhr University Bochum)
- Format:
- Traditional Open Panel
Short Abstract:
As virtual research becomes the new normal, it is time to revisit virtual research environments as explicit or implicit sociotechnical frameworks and imaginaries that structure the transformation of data within the humanities, where postdigital practices intersect with fictional research objects.
Long Abstract:
In research, virtuality is more than the use of digital tools; it is a site for modeling, testing, and speculation. Especially in the humanities, the term virtual research marks a vivid intersection of postdigital practices and fictional worlds. On the one hand, humanities research is entangled in the virtual, as every discipline uses some digital tools for their data handling or coordination, and meeting in hybrid settings is the new normal. On the other hand, many objects and methods in the humanities refer to virtual worlds of fiction and speculation.
That is why we propose a renewed and broadened attention to virtual research environments (VRE) as explicit or implicit sociotechnical frameworks and imaginaries through which the humanities organize the transformation of their research data. Although the use of and research on VREs as infrastructures helping scholars collaborate isn't new (e.g., Star & Ruhleder 1996; Edwards 2003; Bowker 2008), there are many new ways in which virtuality has been woven into everyday research practices lately. This altered virtuality layer is not yet sufficiently reflected upon, not only as one more problem to solve but also as a starting point to ask how collaboration is being done in the humanities these days.
Therefore, we invite scholars from all disciplines to share insights on VREs in particular and on virtual research in the humanities more generally. This includes the application of computational tools, data storage, and scholarly communication, as well as the handling of fictional objects within these infrastructures. We request contributions to:
* Research on changing data practices and their infrastructures in the humanities
* Reports on activist or artistic interventions into the humanities and their data practices
* Research on how data practices in the humanities transform data and impact VREs
* Reflections on how data practices and VREs shape epistemologies
Accepted papers:
Session 1Carmen Reidelbach (CRC 1567 Virtual Lifeworlds at Ruhr-University Bochum)
Long abstract:
The interest in researching communities on social media platforms has grown significantly in recent years as they generate specific knowledge about practices within niche groups. Social media platforms create, on the surface, accessible virtual spaces through user interactions and practices of communication that take place both online and offline at the same time.
However, this accessibility poses as many opportunities as it does challenges. When collecting meta-data from platforms, researchers often have to circumvent and work with black boxed algorithms, restricted access to APIs and fast-paced, nontransparent update schedules that transform users’ practices.
This contribution seeks to reflect on methods of social media research and how platforms challenge and transform data practices through the lense of virtual research environments. As has been shown in recent developments of social media research, platforms become both the objects and tools of analysis at the same time and allow, but also demand more flexible and ubiquitous modes of research. The contribution focuses on discussing existing methods and approaches that highlight the connection of sociotechnical structures of online communities and the praxeological knowledge generated from within.
Jens Fehrenbacher (Universität Bonn)
Long abstract:
With the rise of so-called mixed-reality and digital twins of bodies, machines or architectures interdisciplinary research (including e.g. engineering, IT, psychology, arts) goes through a surprising repurposing of media environments of a completely different genre: game-engines. They are the hubs of videogame development where graphical models (2D or 3D), sounds, text etc. are assembled and combined with scripts in common programming languages to enable real-time interaction and non-linear dramaturgies.
Now these game-engines are widely used in disparate fields of development and research. They offer presets for an easy start, a huge number of online tutorials and a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (implying) interface. So also non-IT-experts can arrange virtual objects, change input data and hit the ‚play‘-button to test the setup. Through additional libraries many inputs and datatypes (like mixed-reality devices, sensors or complex datasets) can be included so they promise an accessible multi-purpose tool.
Still, it is worth taking a closer look at the implication of this repurposing of a multilayered environment far from its original use-case. Many metaphors and functionalities are still rooted in gaming culture. From a media studies perspective in a research project on digital twins of humans and virtual-reality I also want to consider in how far these interfaces and environments demand and enable interdisciplinary dialogue. They offer different levels of insight in and interference with otherwise black boxed procedures for diverse researchers while still constituting a dependency on IT-experts which can lead to a negotiation of language, functionalities and also representation and aesthetics in interdisciplinary research projects.