ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp, together with Göran Bolin, Andrea L. Guzman and Wiebke Loosen, has published a special issue on Mediatization and Human Machine Communication in the journal Human-Machine Communication. This issue includes a selection of five articles that were submitted via a call for papers last year. The editorial provides an overview of the key topics examined in the issue and highlights the overlap between Human Machine Communication (HMC) and mediatization.
Abstract of the Editorial:
As research fields, mediatization and Human-Machine Communication (HMC) have distinct historical trajectories. While mediatization research is concerned with the fundamental interrelation between the transformation of media and communications and cultural and societal changes, the much younger field of HMC delves into human meaning-making in interactions with machines. However, the recent wave of “deep mediatization,” characterized by an increasing emphasis on general communicative automation and the rise of communicative AI, highlights a shared interest in technology’s role within human interaction. This introductory article examines the trajectories of both fields, demonstrating how mediatization research “zooms out” from overarching questions of societal and cultural transformations, while HMC tends to “zoom in” to approach the concrete situatedness of the interaction between humans and machines. It is argued that we need to combine both perspectives to better understand how the automation of communication transforms the social construction of culture and society. This article offers an overview of the key themes explored in this thematic issue, highlighting the productive intersection of HMC and mediatization within each article. Additionally, it identifies potential avenues for future research emerging from this fruitful intersection.
The articles:
- Christian Katzenbach, Christian Pentzold, and Paloma Viejo Otero: “Smoothing Out Smart Tech’s Rough Edges: Imperfect Automation and the Human Fix”
To the article
- Giovanna Mascheroni: “A New Family Member or Just Another Digital Interface? Smart Speakers in the Lives of Families with Young Children”
To the article
- Göran Bolin: “Communicative AI and Techno-Semiotic Mediatization: Understanding the Communicative Role of the Machine”
To the article
- Simone Natale and Iliana Depounti: “Artificial Sociality”
To the article
- Leopoldina Fortunati, Autumn P. Edwards, and Chad Edwards: “The Perturbing Mediatization of Voice-based Virtual Assistants: The Case of Alexa”
To the article