170506 VU The Internet of Things (2015S)

The vision of a computerized society, in which everyday smart objects are equipped with digital logic and sensor technologies and connect themselves as learning machines in the "Internet of Things", engages the international research and development across the world. In this context, Media and Cultural Theories, dealing with the different aspects of materiality related to digital objects, have experienced a huge upturn. The investigation of digital material culture has developed a wide range of research questions. It extends from the early 2000s along two major strands of research: (1) from the technical and material conditions of hardware and software up to (2) the social, political, economical and legally relevant infrastructures and power relations of proprietary networks, versions and protocols. Eventually, the gradual establishment of the "Software Studies", the "Critical Code Studies" and " Media Archeology " in the academic field by representatives as David Berry, Wendy Chun, Alexander Galloway, Mark Hansen, Katherine Hayles, Friedrich Kittler, Lev Manovich, William Mitchell, Anna Munster, Adrian Mackenzie, Jussi Parikka, Eugene Thacker, among others can also be understood as an indicator of institutionalization of media-materialistic questions. Reason enough to undergo an exhaustive methodological reflection on the different positions of the "Digital Materialism".