Me and AAC - Alternative and Augmented Communication in West Germany from a Biographical and Media Archaeological Perspective

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

The article presents a case study on the history of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) in West Germany from the 1980s to the early 2000s, with a regional focus on the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The conceptual framework guiding this study is the question of how the meaning and individual experience of assistance evolve in conjunction with the technical development and practical use of speech computers. The article sheds light on the interplay between historical contingency and individual socio-technical situatedness of disabled AAC-users. It brings together two disciplinary perspectives in a dialogue based on interviews, published primary sources, and the description of historical hardware and software. Biographical narratives of AAC users in NRW are combined with a media archaeological case study of the institutional and technological formations and developments of AAC in the region. We discuss assistive technologies as a historically variable phenomenon. Assistance is a precarious undertaking that is constantly renegotiated by new technological developments. Each stage of assistive technology has consequences for everyday communication practices and the provision of communicative assistance, creating possibilities and impossibilities for the use of technology. For AAC users, this means that they find themselves in specific constellations that affect both their relationship with the device and their subjective preferences and established routines.
We argue that so-called assistive technologies are involved in the co-constitution of disability, and therefore suggest referring to them as ‘assistive media.’
OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftTMG Journal of Media History
Jahrgang27
Ausgabenummer2
Seiten (von - bis)1-26
Anzahl der Seiten26
ISSN1387-649X
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 2024

DOI

Zuletzt angesehen

Forschende

  1. Mathis Brinkmann

Aktivitäten

  1. Das Atom-Ei des Columbus: Schnelle Brüter, Computersimulation und das Zeitalter der Hypothetizität
  2. Corporate Responsibility Reporting
  3. GAL Research School for Methods in Empirical Pragmatics - MeEP 2016
  4. ICA-Conference - ICA 2006
  5. Womit müssen wir rechnen?
  6. Developing learner agency in technology-enhanced transdiciplinary EFL learning environments – The Going Green Project
  7. Meeting at the Dispute Resolution Research Center (DRRC) 2007
  8. "Integration on the ground" - Assumptions and Consequences of Neighbourhood Strategies
  9. Engery Sources and Environmental Technology Conference 1999
  10. Videobasiertes Assessment von Lehrer*innen-Schüler*innen-Feedback im Microteaching
  11. 3rd Cross-Cultural Pragmatics at a Crossroads III - 2013
  12. George-Washington-Universität
  13. WK ORG Workshop - WK ORG 2019
  14. Different cultures, different communicative norms: Implications for content and language integrated learning (Lüneburg)
  15. Eliciting energization by mentally contrasting future and reality
  16. A Matter of Framing: Analyzing Value Communication in Sustainable Business Models
  17. Politics of volition or constraint?
  18. Gutachtertätigkeit für European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction
  19. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (Fachzeitschrift)
  20. Rethinking “Identity Politics” and Social Movements
  21. Professional School (Organisation)
  22. Electronics (Zeitschrift)
  23. Johns Hopkins Universität
  24. Thinking about the future and taking responsibility for oneself, others, and society
  25. Organization Studies (Fachzeitschrift)
  26. Corruption and Trust: A model design
  27. Projekt "Transformation - Kultur - Geschlecht"
  28. Moderator im Panel „Dimensions of learning for a degrowth society”
  29. Momentum - The Psychological Forces Underlying Exploration and Exploitation
  30. Zootechnologies. A Media History of Swarm Intelligence