WHAT'S NEW?
June 2025
(Not) Presenting in Denver, Annual Conference of the International Communication Association
It is challenging to decide whether to present a paper on radical political communication in times of shifting politics during a conference in the United States, during the most important communication and media confenrence, a paper selected for the highly competetive political communication section. Deply regretting the circumstances, I decided not to travel. I intend to express my compassion with all scientists under pressure these days!
The title of my presentation is "Is the Mainstream the Problem?" Find more information on the paper below and contact me here if interested any further.
June 2025
Is the mainstream the problem? My presentation (not) held at ICA 2025 in Denver
This paper examines the communicative construct of the mainstream and its role in radical political communication research and practice. A review of contemporary communication and media literature reveals that the way the mainstream is conceptualized introduces a normative bias into debates on extremism. Scholars often position the mainstream as the relatively integrated, democratic center of political discourse, using it as a boundary against the so-called radical edge. This raises the question of whether such a distinction exists from the perspective of actors who self-identify as radical, and invites further exploration of the mainstream's imagined characteristics. Our exploratory, small-scale interview study on the communication and media practices of German extremists demonstrates that this boundary does indeed exist. By applying Boltanski and Thévenot’s orders of worth, we analyze extremists' everyday communication and media practices, revealing a value-driven, predominantly destructive relationship with the mainstream. Overall, this paper contributes to understanding how the mainstream-edge dichotomy complicates communication in a polarized political landscape.
February 2025
Guest Lecture: Dr. Frederik Metzger on business models in datafied societies
Opportunity for exciting interdisciplinary discussions! On 11 February, Dr Frederik Metzger from Fraunhofer ISI was a guest at the seminar ‘Privacy in the datafied society’. The topic was value creation in the datafied society and the question of how data can be defined.
Interdisciplinary dialogue is always challenging, usually surprising and sometimes inspiring. And so it was. Many thanks for the engaging lecture and visit!
February 2025
Guest Lecture: Caroline Krohn on informational self-determination
In February, I host an exciting guest at the interface between science and civil society, Caroline Krohn from the Federal Office for Information Security, speaking on the highly topical subject of ‘Digital consumer protection and informational self-determination’. Krohn comes with a more than open ear for science and is familiar with the topic of self-determination in the datafied society in all its complexity - an entertaining and understandable speaker with depth, who combines social, political and technical issues in a critical perspective.
October 2024
Interim Professor of Media Sociology
In the winter semester 2024_25, I will be taking up the position of Professor of Media Sociology at the Institute of Sociology at Justus Liebig University Giessen. Many new tasks await me. Looking forward!
Recently published
Article: Situational Privacy
Privacy is about more than data protection or the transparent society - it's a critical concept that helps to understand and evaluate the flow of data and information. While some see privacy as an individual task, others call for more political responsibility to control and shape privacy. In an alternative fashion, in my contribution to the internationally renowned journal Communication Theory, I discuss privacy from a practical theoretical perspective. ‘Situational privacy’ systematically develops the concept from everyday communication and media behaviour.
