Abstract

In keeping with the widespread use of digital media in society, they have also become a vital object of contemporary media and communication studies. At the same time, we are still confronted with a lack of historical awareness in the academic discourse on media developments in general and the Web in particular. Mostly discussed in terms of technological inventions, the history of digital media takes up only little space within current research on the Internet.

Dealing with phenomena of media change, this project not only focusses on the advent of digital media and the Internet, but also on societal changes in history connected to media, e.g. the invention of printing. Not recognized as interdisciplinary research per se, media history has to manage its existence between history and media and communication studies. Thus, researching media change and the integration of new media practices into everyday life is realized within a socio-historical framework. The variety of research questions covers three main aspects: media literacy, media and memory, and the societal perception of new media.

The main aim of the project, however, is to investigate media change and the societal implementation of new media in comparative perspective, both from a diachronic historical and a synchronic transnational angle.

Financing

Own funds

CMC Staff

Christian Oggolder (Project Leader)