Centre for Digital Cultures

Organisational unit: Institute

Organisation profile

Contemporary culture is characterized by the ubiquity of digital media technologies and infrastructures, which are constantly configuring our techniques for processing, storing, and transmitting data. As a result, our everyday practices of connecting, relating, reading, writing, perceiving, sharing, competing, and communicating are undergoing significant changes. At the same time, these technologies are closely tied to major societal challenges such as climate change, global conflicts, digital divides and social unjustness. In this dynamic context, the Centre for Digital Cultures (CDC) directly addresses the emergence of new and complex qualities of vernacular socio-technical life. This involves the development of advanced theory and innovative study programmes. We are concerned with the question of how we can understand and shape digital cultures today​​​​​​​.

Main research areas

The digital shift re-shapes the cultural sectors, and, indeed, everyday life, politics, law, and economics. the Centre for Digital Cultures (CDC), affiliated to Leuphana University of Lüneburg, examines this shift through a range of interdisciplinary methodologies, including media, cultural and social studies, through knowledge creation and transfer, as well as by developing experimental and interventionist media practices. Established in 2012, as one of the first research centres in Europe to research the emergence of digital cultures, the CDC continues to produce cutting-edge research on socio-technical regimes of inclusion and exclusion. Since its inception, the CDC has built an innovative network and research environment, where academic institutions, practitioners, and civil society stakeholders engage with new concepts, formats, and applications within digital cultures.

Current Research Areas

  • Climate Futures
  • (B)Orders, Identities and Belonging in the Digital Age
  • Cities, Infrastructures, Logistics, Platforms 
  1. Published

    Maschinen, Medien, Performances. Theater an der Schnittstelle zu digitalen Welten

    Leeker, M. (Editor), 2001, Berlin: Alexander Verlag. 774 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesCollected editions and anthologiesResearch

  2. Published

    Massenträgheit: Medien/theorie und Beschleunigung

    Sprenger, F., 2014, Soziale Medien, Neue Massen. Baxmann, I., Beyes, T. & Pias, C. (eds.). Berlin: Diaphanes Verlag, p. 55-74 20 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

  3. Published

    Maulwurf

    Fuchs, M., 2012, Lexikon der Raumphilosophie. Günzel, S. (ed.). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft - WBG, p. 248 1 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksArticles for encyclopediaResearch

  4. Published

    McLuhan neu lesen: Kritische Analysen zu Medien und Kultur im 21. Jahrhundert

    de Kerckhove, D. (Editor), Leeker, M. (Editor) & Schmidt, K. (Editor), 2008, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. 508 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesMonographsResearch

  5. Published

    Media and Migration: Editorial

    Apprich, C., Beverungen, A., Freudenschuß, M., Hille, L., Simons, S., Wiedemann, C., Heinrichs, R. & Yoosuf, H., 2017, In: spheres - Journal for Digital Cultures. 4, 2, 4 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsOther (editorial matter etc.)Research

  6. Published

    Media Genealogy: Back to the Present of Digital Cultures

    Apprich, C. & Bachmann, G., 23.06.2017, Digitisation: Theories and Concepts for Empirical Cultural Research. Koch, G. (ed.). London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 293 - 306 14 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Media Organize: A Companion to Technological Objects

    Conrad, L. (Editor), Beyes, T. (Editor), Beverungen, A. (Editor), Pias, C. (Editor), Denny, S. (Editor) & Steinbrügge, B. (Editor), 2021, Hamburg: Kunstverein in Hamburg. 196 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesConference proceedingsTransfer

  8. Published

    Mediatisierte Online-Kommunikation: Forschungspraktische Verwobenheit von Medientechnologie, Erhebungssituation und kontextsensitivem Auswertungsverfahren

    Sander, N. & Schulz, M., 2014, Die qualitative Analyse internetbasierter Daten: Methodische Herausforderungen und Potenziale von Online-Medien. Schirmer, D., Sander, N. & Wenninger, A. (eds.). Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 161-198 38 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Medienästhetik und implizites Wissen: 1964/1991/2011

    Leeker, M., 30.01.2017, Handbuch Schweigendes Wissen : Erziehung, Bildung und Sozialisation und Lernen. Kraus, A., Budde, J., Hietzge, M. & Wulf, C. (eds.). 1 ed. Basel: Beltz Juventa Verlag, p. 448-461 14 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Medien Atmosphären: Zur Remediation von Sozialität

    Bachmann, G. & Beyes, T., 2013, Remediate: An den Rändern von Film, Netz und Archiv / At the borders of film, internet and archives. Doulis, M. & Ott, P. (eds.). 1 ed. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, p. 131-152 21 p. (Merz Akademie).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review