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

    Visueller Aktivismus und affektive Öffentlichkeiten: Die Inszenierung von Körperwissen in 'Pro-Ana' und 'Fat acceptance'-Blogs

    Traue, B. C., 01.09.2014, In: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie. 39, 1, p. 121-142 22 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    Denken als Handwerk

    Conrad, L., 01.11.2016, Schöner lehren: gegendert und gequeert. Eckert, L. & Martin, S. (eds.). Marburg: Schüren Verlag, p. 17-29 13 p.

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

  3. Published

    Sich in Gemenge verwickeln

    Conrad, L., 12.2018, Wild Thing: Unordentliche Prozesse in Design und Wissenschaft. Mareis, C. & Windgätter, C. (eds.). Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos , p. 103-125 23 p. (DesignWissen; vol. 1).

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

  4. Published

    Trick 17: Mediengeschichten zwischen Zauberkunst und Wissenschaft

    Vehlken, S. (Editor), Müller-Helle, K. (Editor), Müggenburg, J. K. (Editor) & Sprenger, F. (Editor), 2016, Norderstedt: meson press. 118 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesCollected editions and anthologiesResearch

  5. Published

    ReClaiming Participation: Technology - Mediation - Collectivity

    Denecke, M. (Editor), Ganzert, A. (Editor), Otto, I. (Editor) & Stock, R. (Editor), 02.2016, Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. 296 p.

    Research output: Books and anthologiesCollected editions and anthologiesResearch

  6. Published

    Liquid Democracy and the Futures of Governance

    Ramos, J., 2015, The Future Internet: Alternative Visions. Winter, J. & Ono, R. (eds.). Cham: Springer, p. 173-191 19 p. (Public Administration and Information Technology; vol. 17).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

  7. Published

    Friedrich Kittler: E-Special Introduction

    Parikka, J. & Feigelfeld, P., 12.2015, In: Theory, Culture & Society. 32, 7-8, p. 349-358 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  8. Published

    Workshop: Accessible interaction for visually impaired people

    Joisten, M., Zeng, L., Woletz, J., Brock, A. & Avila, M., 28.08.2015, Mensch und Computer 2015 - Workshop: 21st International Workshop on Intelligent and Personalized Human-Computer Interaction,. Weisbecker, A., Schmidt, A. & Burmester, M. (eds.). Oldenburg: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, p. 379-381 3 p. (Mensch und Computer 2015 - Workshop).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksArticle in conference proceedingsResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Der Sinn der Lehre: Ethnographie, Affekt, sensemaking

    Beyes, T. & Steyaert, C., 2015, Vom Sinn der Soziologie: Festschrift für Thomas S. Eberle . Maeder , C., Brosziewski , A. & Nentwich, J. (eds.). Wiesbaden: Springer, p. 197-211 15 p.

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

  10. Published

    A preliminary study on similarity-preserving digital book identifiers

    Vladimir, K., Silic, M., Romic, N., Delac, G. & Srbljic, S., 2015, Proceedings of the 9th SIGHUM Workshop on Language Technology for Cultural Heritage, Social Sciences, and Humanities: LaTeCH 2015. Zervanou, K. A., van Erp, M. & Alex, B. (eds.). Beijing: Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), p. 78-83 6 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksArticle in conference proceedingsResearchpeer-review