No. 16 - Andreas Hepp & “Communicative Figurations” research network: Transforming Communications. Media-related Changes in Times of Deep Mediatization Working Papers We are living in a time of profound media-related changes. Through our smartphones and other technical devices, we as individuals are connected with each other on a more or less continual basis. The way we use different media significantly shapes our public connections, socialisation, learning processes and life courses. The groups, communities and other collectivities we live in are constructed via the use of various kinds of media: older ones like newspapers and television (that become digital), but also more recent ones like social media platforms and other online services. Organisations – including the organisations of media production and journalism – more and more become dependent on and shaped by various media. In all, our media environment is changing fundamentally and subsequently the ways we act as individuals, collectivities and organisations. We are living in times of deep mediatization. The fundamental idea of our research programme Transforming Communications is to study individuals, collectivities and organisations in this deeply mediatized environment of today. To do so, we take a cross-media perspective. Our starting point is the assumption that it is not one single new medium that makes a difference but people’s practices oriented towards an entanglement of various media that drives media-related changes of our present times. Emerging ‘new’ media technologies like social media platforms (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) are in close relationship with ‘old’ media such as newspapers or television, which in turn change as they become digitalised. In such a situation, the transformation we are confronted with is not a simple convergence of media into one single device (as expected at the beginning of digitalisation), but a differentiation of various media that are ever more connected with each other, omnipresent, and driven by a rapid pace of innovation and datafication (the representation of social life into computerised data). Read more About the authors Andreas Hepp Andreas Hepp is Professor for Media and Communication Studies with the special areas Media Culture and Communication Theory at the ZeMKI, Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research. “Communicative Figurations” research network (www.communicative-figurations.org)Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz, ZeMKI, Universität Bremen Miriam Bartsch, IMK, Universität Hamburg Matthias Bixler, IPMZ, Universität ZürichRieke Böhling, ZeMKI, Universität BremenAndreas Breiter, ZeMKI, Universität Bremen / Institut für Informationsmanagement Bremen Michael Brüggemann, IJK, Universtiät Hamburg Thomas Friemel, IPMZ, Universität Zürich Uwe Hasebrink, Hans-Bredow-Institut für Medienforschung / Universität HamburgAndreas Hepp, ZeMKI, Universität Bremen Sascha Hölig, Hans-Bredow-Institut für MedienforschungSina Marie Gogolok, ZeMKI, Universität BremenHannah Grünenthal, ZeMKI, Universität BremenJuliane Jarke, ZeMKI, Universität Bremen / Institut für Informationsmanagement Bremen Rudolf Kammerl, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-NürnbergJuliane Klein, Charité – Universitätsmedizin BerlinMichaela Kramer, FK EW, Universität HamburgLeif Kramp, ZeMKI, Universität Bremen Gertraud Koch, IfVK, Universität HamburgSebastian Kubitschko, ZeMKI, Universität BremenClaudia Lampert, Hans-Bredow-Institut für MedienforschungChristine Lohmeier, ZeMKI, Universität BremenWiebke Loosen, Hans-Bredow-Institut für MedienforschungInge Marszolek, ZeMKI, Universität Bremen (†)Lisa Merten, Hans-Bredow-Institut für MedienforschungMarkus Oermann, Hans-Bredow-Institut für MedienforschungKerstin Radde-Antweiler, ZeMKI, Universität BremenMarcel Rechlitz, Hans-Bredow-Institut für MedienforschungJulius Reimer, Hans-Bredow-Institut für Medienforschung Arne Hendrik Ruhe, ZeMKI, Universität Bremen / Institut für Informationsmanagement BremenUwe Schimank, SOCIUM, Universität Bremen Wolfgang Schulz, Hans-Bredow-Institut für Medienforschung / Universität HamburgPiet Simon, ZeMKI, Universität Bremen Monika Sowinska, Universität Bremen Lisa Spanka, ZeMKI, Universität Bremen Sebastian Topp, IfVK, Universität HamburgRebecca Venema, Università della Svizzera italiana, LuganoUte Volkmann, SOCIUM, Universität BremenHans-Ulrich Wagner, Hans-Bredow-Institut für Medienforschung Stefanie Walter, IJK, Universtiät Hamburg
