The conference was quite a success. Nice people, interesting talks, no major disasters. I did not leave Darmstadt immediately to have opportunities for socializing and joining the one-year Diskothek anniversary party in the 603qm which was quite a bit of fun. On sunday I took the night train to Copenhagen, where I … became ill for a few days when the post-stress relaxation set in (probably enhanced by the less than ideal sleeping conditions in the sleeping coach and potentially infected co-sleepers in same coach). However, a few bins filled with handkerchiefs, visits to the local sauna and hearty meals later, I recovered. And now I am back in Berlin. I did some work after the conference though, as you will see in the next entry to this blog.
Archive for the ‘social science’ Category
Post-conference hiatus is over.
Sunday, October 23rd, 2005Tags: 603qm, conference, train, travel
Posted in berlin, darmstadt, social science | No Comments »
The drums are beating faster.
Tuesday, October 11th, 2005The conference is drawing closer and closer. Pace and rhythm of work are picking up…
Tags: conference
Posted in darmstadt, social science | No Comments »
Muße: Steigende Nachfrage. Ist es der Herbst?
Monday, October 10th, 2005In der Besucherstatistik meine Website nimmt der Text zur Muße einen zunehmend höheren Rang ein. Ob es an den kürzer werdenden Tagen liegt? Der Sommer vorbei, vielleicht doch ohne die erhoffte Zeit zur Ruhe gehabt zu haben?
Tags: leisure, Muße, time
Posted in social science, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Automatic Irritations.
Thursday, September 29th, 2005Following is my abstract for the session Ordering / Disordering Space and Matter of the 2006 Meeting of the AAG, March 7-11, Chicago, Illinois.
Based on ethnographic research in railway stations and passenger terminals for ferries, this paper wedges itself between people and the things they encounter. Detailed analysis of digital video recordings allows insight into the brief exchanges between men, women and artifacts. Sometimes, these exchanges do not unfold as planned, irritations arise and expectations are thwarted causing a reordering of conduct. Artifacts like the ticket selling machine or the materiality of a revolving door can break established routines thereby opening spaces for play or interaction with others. Terminals with their ticket selling counters, their shops and waiting facilities are places of a distinct phenomenologically accessible materiality; this paper will get involved in this materiality, tracing the relations between people, things, and socio-spatial constellations to understand how the rule of a certain normality is established in terminals and when and how it is destabilized.
Tags: AAG, materiality, phenomenology, presentation, railway, space, terminal, thing
Posted in social science | 2 Comments »
Geography, Chicago, and disorderly materialities.
Thursday, September 29th, 2005Well, this is some of the best news of this year, I must say. After being reminded by Mr. Meier that there is a potentially interesting session at the 2006 Meeting of the AAG I wrote an abstract and applied for the session called Ordering / Disordering Space and Matter. Yesterday, I received the confirmation that my paper has been accepted… YAY!
I am so looking forward to being in Chicago again – I will be able to visit old pals in Bloomington again. I was hoping for an opportunity like that very much. And I must say that reading the other abstracts for this session was quite exciting. Very imaginative and captivating subjects – this will be an excellent session, I am sure. Counting the weeks until March next year…
Tags: AAG, materiality, travel
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Organizing, tagging, and analyzing video clips on the Mac.
Saturday, September 17th, 2005After finishing the introductory chapter of my dissertation I am now diving into the video and photographic data which I collected in the course of the last two years. Not an easy thing. Photos are not a problem. (I am fully satisfied with GraphicConverter’s abilities and make extensive use of IPTC entries to add keywords to my image files, which then get indexed by Apple’s Spotlight search.) However, tagging movie clips in a way that allows for convenient search and analysis is much more difficult. I decided to use iDive by Aquafadas software since it got some really good reviews and seemed to be nicely integrated to Mac OS X technologies (Spotlight again). It was a good choice! Although I am not able to tag arbitrary stretches of clips (overlapping would be best), I can split my clips into multiple parts and can tag those. This is not what makes me really happy about choosing iDive though – the really good aspect, as with all software, is the developer. I sent him feedback (bug reports and feature and enhancement requests). I got an answer only a few hours later. And: he is planning to implement almost all the things that I asked for. Most excellent! Superb! I am looking forward to work with a program that will slowly grow into the tool that I really need. Hail small, responsive developers!
Tags: IPTC, photo, video
Posted in social science, tech | No Comments »
Perception, Aesthetics, and Encapsulation – Encountering Space and the Materiality of Railway and Ferry Terminal Buildings.
Wednesday, August 24th, 2005Following is my abstract for our college’s concluding conference on Technological and Aesthetic (Trans)Formations of Society in October. Writing this has renewed my good feelings and motivation for this conference.
Terminals are places of modernity, of transport and communication. They are portals to the city, places of representation and power, but they are also places of deviance, decline and seduction. In this presentation, I will look at the polished stone, steel and glass surfaces but I will also look into the shadows and plumb the depths of these places. How do they interact with the people that use them? The aesthetics of the things, the technology and the architecture of railway and ferry terminals is perceived by women and men who use these places. Entering these places, people change direction, speed and mood. To capture and analyze these changes, happening in the crucial moment of entering a place, I want to introduce the term encapsulation (Einhhüllung).
With the aid of digital video recordings the different aspects of the process of encapsulation will be explored and displayed for consideration and critique. Encapsulation is projected as phenomenologically rooted term that has both passive and active components. Passive, because people are encapsulated by a specific, preexistent atmosphere when they enter a place. Active, because people encapsulate or envelop themselves when they enter a place. They build up a protective cover around them, to shield them from potential dangers and irritations. Confronting the abstract analytical term encapsulation with concrete everyday life in railway and ferry stations should demonstrate both its productivity and its limitations.
Tags: aesthetics, conference, encounter, envelopment, perception
Posted in social science | No Comments »
Seminar success.
Monday, July 18th, 2005Last week Lars and I hosted the last session of our seminar Sehen, Hören Fühlen – Stadtethnografien erstellen (eng: Watching, Listening, Sensing – Doing Urban Ethnographies), which was – much to our relief and joy – a big success. Nine research projects had been performed by groups of up to three students. Almost all of them invested a substantial amount of time in their studies, they tackled with their position, impact, and responsability as academic observers, and they presented some really interesting aspects of the publicly accessible places they studied in Darmstadt and Heppenheim. They observed different plaza and park areas, a cafe, a cemetary, and a group of large-scale-chessboard players. Lars and I are now looking forward to getting the final results of the different studies in written form. All in all this seminar worked out at least as good as we hoped it would. Kudos to the students involved! It would be just perfect if one could teach more of these seminars, particularly if one could offer a two-semester practical seminar…
Tags: darmstadt, method, teaching, urban
Posted in darmstadt, social science | No Comments »
Mut zur Muße.
Monday, June 27th, 2005Schon seit November vergangenen Jahres hatte ich eine leere Textdatei mit dem Titel Mut zur Muße auf den Desktops meiner Rechner liegen. In der letzten Woche habe ich endlich beides gefunden und die Datei mit Text gefüllt. Mehr Text als ursprünglich gedacht. Deshalb findet sich der kleine Essay nicht hier im Blog und ist statt dessen – wie meine anderen längeren Texte – als eigene Webseite abrufbar.
Tags: leisure, Muße
Posted in social science, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Blühende Landschaften zwischen Zonen-Gabi und Besserwessi.
Sunday, June 12th, 2005In der vergangenen Woche habe ich einen kurzen Vortrag vor einer von den Darmstädter Jusos eingeladenen Delegation von Marokkanern gehalten. In dem Vortrag sollte ich einen Einblick in die Geschichte Deutschlands seit der Wiedervereinigung geben und dabei vor allem den Konflikt zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschland behandeln. Nicht unbedingt mein Spezialgebiet, aber ein sehr spannendes Thema, das mich auch persönlich wirklich interessiert, weshalb ich auch zugesagt habe, im Rahmen dieser von der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung geförderten Veranstaltung vorzutragen. Dank an Dörte Hein von der Universität Greifswald für einige Perspektivkorrekturen und Ergänzungen. Ich habe die meinem Vortrag zu Grunde liegende Stichpunktliste ein wenig überarbeitet und jetzt online zur Verfügung gestellt. Da es sich nicht um mein eigentliches Fachgebiet handelt, weist die Aufstellung sicher einige Lücken auf und befindet sich nicht auf dem neuesten Stand der sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschung zu dieser Frage – über Ergänzungen und Kritik bin ich dementsprechend dankbar.
Der Vortrag selbst ist gut gelaufen und die anschließende Diskussion mit der marokkanischen Delegation war spannend und fruchtbar. Für mich war es das erste Mal, das ich mit Simultanübersetzung (ins Französische) vorgetragen habe. Glücklicherweise schien mein Vortragsstil für die Übersetzerin handhabbar zu sein. Merkwürdig ist es trotzdem schon, wenn man von dem Titanic Poster mit der Zonen-Gabi erzählt, als Erzähler selbst die Bananen-Gurke Pointe mit heiterem Glucksen begleitet, das Lächeln bei den Hörern sich aber erst mit einigen Sekunden Verzögerung einstellt…
Tags: GDR, reunification
Posted in politics, social science | No Comments »
Soziologie & Kunst – X-Wohnungen Info jetzt online.
Sunday, June 5th, 2005Ich habe eben die Kurzbeschreibung des Projekts Mobiles Wohnen von Hannah Groninger online gestellt. Die geneigte Leserin wird sich erinnern, dass ich schon einmal über meine Mitarbeit an diesem im Rahmen von X-Wohnungen Suburbs 2005 organisierten Projekt berichtet habe. Mir persönlich hat sowohl Hannahs Projekt, als auch das gesamte X-Wohnungen Konzept hervorragend gefallen – besonders die Erkundung in Zweiergruppen war Tipp Topp. Die Tour durchs Märkische Viertel bot immer wieder überraschende und ungewohnte Perspektiven und Erfahrungen. Bis auf einzelne Ausnahmen waren alle Wohnungen, die ich im Rahmen der Tour A
besucht habe wirklich spannend und ausgesprochen anregend. Wenn das noch Theater ist, dann ist es genau das Theater, wie ich es mir wünschen würde. Falls es im nächsten Jahr wieder X-Wohnungen geben wird, werde ich unbedingt teilnehmen.
Änderung 4. Juni: Link korrigiert und .pdf Datei mit besseren Bildern eingesetzt.
Tags: art, berlin, sociology, urban
Posted in berlin, social science | No Comments »
Wissenschaft und Kunst.
Thursday, May 5th, 2005Etwas kurzfristig, aber hier noch eine kleine Ankündigung: in den kommenden Tagen (vom 5. bis zum 8. Mai) wird das Projekt X-Wohnungen im Märkischen Viertel in Berlin stattfinden. Eine der Künstlerinnen, die dort eine Wohnungsbegehung konzipiert und gestaltet hat, ist Hannah Groninger. Ich werde ihr Projekt Mobiles Wohnen als Soziologe begleiten – wir haben uns im Vorfeld des Projekts über soziologische Aspekte verständigt und planen auch eine an das Projekt anschließende weitere Zusammenarbeit. Mehr zu ihrem Projekt in Kürze auf meiner Startseite. Karten gibt es nur im Vorverkauf (Telefonnummer usw. siehe den X-Wohnungen Link oben).
Tags: art, berlin, sociology, urban
Posted in berlin, social science | No Comments »
Proud and tired.
Sunday, April 10th, 2005The conference is over. Preparations for the conference were the reason why I didn’t have any time to post during the last week. The conference was quite a success: people from all over the world (literally), people from a wide range of academic disciplines, and people from different non-academic backgrounds. And in spite of all these differences a very relaxed, friendly and productive atmosphere. It was even better than I would have hoped – all the work that we invested in the plannig and organization was definitely worth it.
Again, thanks again to the Studentischer Filmkreis Darmstadt, who made it possible to even offer a free movie for the participants of the conference!
*turns computer off to take a nap*
Tags: conference, darmstadt
Posted in darmstadt, social science | No Comments »
Zweiter Zwischenbericht.
Saturday, April 2nd, 2005Nachdem ich im vergangenen Monat meinen zweiten Zwischenbericht inklusive Verlängerungsantrag für das letzte Förderungsjahr beim Kolleg eingereicht habe und selbiger Antrag am 24. März auch bewilligt wurde kann ich den Antrag jetzt im Internet veröffentlichen: Dissertation ‚Einhüllende Normalitäten‘ – Zweiter Zwischenbericht. Rückmeldung ist wie immer willkommen.
Tags: dissertation, envelopment
Posted in social science | No Comments »
Do the bibliography.
Tuesday, March 8th, 2005A few days ago the new version 8 of Bookends by Sonny Software has been published. Bookends is a bibliography software similar to Endnote or Bibliographix or one of the other bibliography managers out there. However, it is only available for Mac OS X. Probably because of this focus on the Mac market, the interface is much easier to understand than the interface of other bibliography apps that I have used. What’s even better, it integrates perfectly with the word processor of my choice, Mellel.
Noteable new features of this really well-supported software are:
- Internet database searching and importing. (That way you can access the Library of Congress and other Libraries / Databases, search for references, and then import the references along with additional information like keywords and sometimes even abstracts into your bibliography.)
- Smart groups to organize your bibliography. (They work similar to smart playlists in iTunes or saved searches in Thunderbird.)
- XML import / export.
- Bookends Server, which allows me to grant you access to my bibliography!
After getting acquainted with the new version of Bookeends and solving a few server related problems with Jon from Sonny Software (his response / solution time has been below 10 hours – and that is including time zone related delays), I am proud to present you with probably one of the first WWW-wide available Bookends bibliographies in this universe: search my bibliography. Username and password are currently set to: “freund” and “mellon”. I will keep the server running pretty often. However, I might later change these and mail the current username and password to you by request.
I have also created import filters for Bookends with search capabilities for the following library catalogues in Germany: GBV/GVK, HeBIS, and VÖBB. I haven’t tested these thoroughly yet. Additionally, I have created a custom format in German (this is the same format which is applied on the output of my online bibliography, so check it out). You can download it. Any feedback is very welcome.
Tags: bibliography, Bookends, Endnote, Mellel
Posted in social science, tech | 2 Comments »
Dissertation take-off!
Sunday, February 27th, 2005I am still dazzled, nervous, and adrenalin-hyped. I just finished the outline for my dissertation. This outline (done with the incredibly useful and well-designed OmniOutliner Professional) contains not only headlines for chapters, it also contains the respective chapters’ basic structure, and ideas, and hints regarding what I will actually write. This would be enough to generate a surge of adrenalin, however, this outline also contains page numbers, giving the best estimate possible at this point in time on how many pages each section of the text will have. Currently, the total is at 186 pages. I guess it is more likely to become longer than shorter. This is not all yet. One more piece of information has been entered by yours truly into this outline: the dates on which the respective sections have to be finished.
Whew. I am still stunned. After some tweaking, I have set the final page to be completed on the 26th of March 2006, leaving me with three weeks to do layout and corrections before my scholarship will end in the middle of April. The time table acknowledges things like trips, holidays, upcoming conferences, seminars etc. as far as it is possible to do this now. I have to write about 3 to 7 pages per week of writing. I would like to finish one or two weeks earlier though. The best chance of overtaking this time table – thereby making the final phase of writing my dissertation less stressful – is to be more productive in the next two or three months, so hold your thumbs for me.
*takes a deep breath*
Tags: dissertation, writing
Posted in social science, tech | No Comments »
Conferences, conferences, conferences.
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005This seems to be the motto of the year. Sizzling hot from my inbox comes the newest announcement: our college’s concluding conference Technisierung/Ästhetisierung – Technological and Aesthetic (Trans)Formations of Society is now putting out it’s call for papers. Check out the conference website to learn more about potential panels, program, and registration.
I also encourage you to take a closer look into the next German issue of Le Monde Diplomatique – you should be able to find an announcement for our conference Negotiating Urban Conflicts.
Tags: conference
Posted in darmstadt, social science | No Comments »
Angenehme Störungen.
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2005
Am Freitag war ich in schönen Clubhaus der FU Berlin in Dahlem auf der Tagung Steuerung und Störung. Gute Vorträge, offene Diskussion, aufgeschlossene TeilnehmerInnen und ReferentInnen. Leider habe ich auf Grund schweren Verschlafens dem Vortrag von Christian Kehrt nicht lauschen können, auch wenn sein Thema (Das Fliegen ist immer noch ein gewagtes Risiko – Risiko und Kontrolle in der Flugzeugtechnik
) für den Konferenzflyer Bildgebend war, wie man zur Linken sehen kann. Erfreulicherweise sind auch andere Menschen der Videoanalyse aufgeschlossen, auch wenn eine lästige Einordnung in die Lager der deutschen Methodenszene kaum vermeidbar erscheint. Das Spektrum der Vorträge am Freitag war breit, aber zueinander passend, geerdet und sich auf interessante Weise ergänzend.
Nett abgerundet wurde Abend noch durch eine wirklich gelungene Papiertheater Vorstellung von Rüdiger Koch aus Berlin. Die dargestellte Wolfschluchtszene aus dem Freischütz war dramatisch und die Aufklärung über die eingesetzte Tricktechnik erhellend und lustig.
Konferenzprogramm
Tags: conference
Posted in berlin, social science | No Comments »
Feeling much safer.
Monday, February 7th, 2005Whew. A bad feeling has been nagging me for the last months. As the amount of video data that I have collected for my Ph.D. thesis began to fill up the external 200 GB hard disk I became more and more aware of the fact that hard disks sometimes fail for no reason at all. Or they get dropped. Or they get accidentally erased. Or the buildings where they are stored burn down. All of these are good reasons to make backups. But how does one backup such an amount of data? One choice would have been to buy another hard disk. For that I didn’t have the money. Therefore I decided to do what I should have done in the first place: always keep a backup on DV tape. That is a pretty inexpensive solution (about € 3 per 60 min tape – one GB of DV equals slightly less than five minutes; enjoy the calculation), and it is adequate to the data. May my sleep be easy and relaxed!
Tags: backup, hard drive
Posted in social science, tech | No Comments »
Abstract for Negotiating Urban Conflicts.
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2005The following text summarizes what I currently think I will talk about in the upcoming conference Negotiating Urban Conflicts this April. If this sounds interesting to you – take a look at the even more exciting multitude of other talks held by people from far away places like Singapore, Nigeria, India, Russia and other countries from around the globe! And come to attend. This is it:
Conflicts take place in concrete environments. This talk will explore some of the subtle processes that channel conflicts into specific paths. Where these paths are leading to and what might happen while following them is influenced by certain spatial relations and by the materiality of urban places. The placement of things, the way visibility is established or barred, the closing or accessibility of areas, the marking of territorial boundaries – all of these aspects of built space participate in the production of human action in the city. Drawing on ethnographies of the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, of railway stations, and of passenger terminals in harbors, this talk will focus on the processes through which normalities are produced by tangible socio-spatial constellations. These places are centrally located and of a high symbolic and economic importance; the strategic socio-spatial constellations channeling human action in these places will be exposed in this talk.
Tags: conference, design, presentation, social control, surveillance
Posted in social science | No Comments »