Austria – Philbu's Blog

Article: Elke Mader obituary (1954-2021)

2024/01/28 philbu No Comments

Together with Ulrike Davis-Sulikowski, Anita Krainer and Gertraud Seiser, I have written an obituary of my long-time mentor and teacher Elke Mader for the journal Zeitschrift für Ethnologie/Journal of Social and Cultural Anthropology. The text is openly accessible.

After Elke Mader was appointed to the Chair of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna in 2006, she declared that she had not ultimately expected to obtain a permanent position in academia. Two decades of precarious work and temporary jobs left her unsure about her future as an anthropologist. Thirteen years later and six months before her planned retirement, Elke was diagnosed with cancer. After two years fighting the illness, she passed away on 8 August 2021 at the age of 67. This obituary touches on a selection of Elke’s research, teaching and academic achievements. It does not pretend to be exhaustive in any way but rather aims to showcase aspects and pieces of Elke’s academic interests that the authors shared with her at particular moments in time.

Paper: Anthropologies of sociotechnical mediation in Austria

2021/10/16 philbu No Comments

Budka, P. (2021). Anthropologies of sociotechnical mediation in Austria. Paper at EASA Media Anthropology Network Workshop: “Media Anthropologies in Europe”, Online (hosted by European Association of Social Anthropologists), 14-15 October.
Co-organization of EASA Media Anthropology Network Workshop “Media Anthropologies in Europe”, 14-15 October.

Abstract

EASA Media Anthropology Network Workshop “Media Anthropologies in Europe”

This paper discusses aspects of the development and the current situation of “media anthropology”, as an anthropology of digital media technologies, in Austria. Since the 1990s, Austrian sociocultural anthropologists have been exploring new forms of media communication, digitally mediated practices of sociality as well as emerging sociotechnical systems and environments (Budka & Kremser, 2004).

While such engagements were then referred to as “cyber anthropology” or the “anthropology of cyberculture” to indicate connections to new sociocultural spaces related to the Internet, the World Wide Web and digital media technologies, they can also be conceptualised as anthropologies of sociotechnical mediation. It is through constantly changing technologies that communication, culture and sociality are mediated. As already early media anthropologists emphasised, this technical and material dimension of media cannot be neglected (e.g. Ginsburg et al., 2002).

Anthropologies of sociotechnical mediation in German-speaking countries like Austria are, however, not necessarily tied to sociocultural anthropology as empirical social science. Due to well established traditions of philosophical anthropology, media related phenomena have also been investigated from a humanities perspective that does not build its theories upon empirical data generated through ethnographic fieldwork like in sociocultural anthropology.

As this paper argues, this has resulted, on the one hand, in a dynamic field of media anthropologies and several projects that are open, diverse and interdisciplinary by nature. On the other hand, this has also contributed to a weakening of the sociocultural anthropological position, e.g., in terms of academic visibility and research funding. Similar tendencies can also be observed in anthropological explorations of “the digital” in Austria; research that frequently runs under the new rubric of “digital anthropology”.

References

Budka, P., & Kremser, M. (2004). CyberAnthropology – anthropology of cyberculture. In S. Khittel, B. Plankensteiner & M. Six-Hohenbalken (Eds.), Contemporary issues in socio-cultural anthropology: Perspectives and research activities from Austria (pp. 213-226). Vienna: Loecker Verlag.
Ginsburg, F., Abu-Lughod, L., & Larkin, B. (2002). Introduction. In F. Ginsburg, L. Abu-Lughod, & B. Larkin (Eds.), Media worlds: Anthropology on new terrain (pp. 1-36). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Paper: Interactive technology enhanced learning for social science students

2016/01/26 philbu 1 Comment

Budka, P., Schallert, C., Mader, E. 2011. Interactive technology enhanced learning for social science students. In M. E. Auer & M. Huba (Eds.), Proceedings 14th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL2011) (pp. 274-278), CD-ROM. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE.

Abstract

This paper introduces the case of an interactive technology enhanced learning model, its contexts and infrastructure at a public university in the Bologna era. From a socio-technological perspective, it takes a look at the conditions and challenges under which this flexible learning model for the social sciences has been developed. Furthermore, selected evaluation results, including experiences and expectations of social science students, are discussed. The paper concludes that it is possible, with the appropriate didactical model, to create and facilitate interactive student-centered learning situations, even in “mass lectures”.

Text (PDF)

Seminar: Media & visual technologies as material culture – students’ projects

2015/11/02 philbu No Comments

The following joint student projects are conducted in the seminar “Media and visual technologies as material culture” at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Vienna:

Team A: Non-Use of Smartphones
-> Which impact does the non-use of smartphones have for the private and working life? Why do people decide against using smartphones?
Team B: Meaning of Cellphones for Refugees
-> What is the meaning of cellphones for refugees in Austria?
Team C: Crowd-sourcing & Labor
-> How are subjective meanings of “team work” shaped by the inter-dependencies between freelancers and the website Capacitor?
Team D: Sharing of Visual Media, Art & Cultural Identity
-> In what aspects have the Japanese art forms of dance and painting changed through the sharing of visual media/material?
Team E: Access to Internet & Power Relations within the Family Home
-> What are the effects of internet usage on children and young adults in respect to power relations in the family home?
Team F: Conversion/Discussion about Digital Content
-> What is the difference between usage of commentary sections of Serbian and German online newspapers?
Team G: Self-Identification through Visual Communication & Social Media
-> How do people identify/define themselves through visual communication via social media (websites (blogs), video blogs and Instagram)?
Team H: Ayahuasceros – Making of Ritual Community on Facebook
-> What is the relevance of Facebook in the community building process of Austrian Ayahuasca ceremonies?
Team I: Bicycle Movement & Digital Media in Vienna
-> How are digital media technologies utilized in relation to the social network BikeKitchen?

Paper: Football fan communities and identity construction

2013/10/31 philbu No Comments

Budka, P., Jacono, D. 2013. Football fan communities and identity construction: Past and present of “Ultras Rapid” as sociocultural phenomenon. Paper at “Kick It! The Anthropology of European Football” Conference, 25-26 October 2013.

Introduction

Eduardo Archetti (1992: 232) argues that “football is neither a ritual of open rebellion nor the much mentioned opium of the masses. It is a rich, complex, open scenario that has to be taken seriously”. Archetti’s argument is in line with the most recent research in fan and football fan culture (e.g. Giulianotti & Armstrong 1997, Gray, Sandvoss & Harrington 2007). Because to study fans and fandom means ultimately to study how culture and society works.

In this paper we are going to discuss, within the framework of an anthropology of football, selected aspects of a special category of football fans: the ultras. By analysing the history and some of the sociocultural practices of the largest Austrian ultra group – “Ultras Rapid Block West 1988” – the paper aims to show how individual and collective fan identities are created in everyday life of football fan culture.

“Ultras no fans!” is a slogan that is being found among ultra groups across Europe. Despite this clear “emic” statement of differentiation between “normal” football fans and “ultras”, ultras are, at least from a research perspective, basically fans. So we begin our examinations in the phenomenon of “Ultras Rapid” by briefly discussing anthropological and ethnographic research in football and football fans. We then set forth to present selected characteristics of SK Rapid Wien’s largest ultra group that is also the oldest still active ultra movement in the German-speaking countries.

The authors themselves are fans of SK Rapid Wien and have been following the club and its fan culture for several decades (e.g. Jacono 2014). Building on ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observation, historical and archival studies, this paper intends to contribute to the anthropological and ethnographic understanding of the sociocultural phenomenon of football fan culture.

Text (PDF)

Article: Neue Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen im sozialwissenschaftlichen Studium

2012/06/29 philbu No Comments

Budka, P., Schallert, C., Mitterauer, L., Hintermayer, M. 2012. Neue Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen im sozialwissenschaftlichen Studium (New developments and challenges in social science studies). Das Hochschulwesen, 3/2012, 99-106.

Abstract
Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit dem Studieren der Sozialwissenschaften in der Ära von Bologna, die neben der curricularen Umstellung auf ein zwei- bzw. dreistufiges System von Studienabschlüssen und der Einführung eines ECTS Leistungspunktesystems vermehrt auch eine Steigerung der Arbeits- und Prüfungsbelastung für die Studierenden mit sich bringt (z.B. Allenspach/Husfeldt 2012). Am Fallbeispiel der im Zuge des Bologna-Prozesses 2007 implementierten gemeinsamen sozialwissenschaftlichen Studieneingangs- und Orientierungsphase der Universität Wien (SOWI-STEOP, http://esowi.univie.ac.at/) werden Herausforderungen, Strukturen und Entwicklungen in Bezug auf die spezifischen Charakteristika der Studienbeginner/innen diskutiert und studentische Erwartungen und Bewertungen beleuchtet.

Text (PDF)

Paper: Interactive technology enhanced learning for social science students

2011/09/20 philbu No Comments

Budka, P., Schallert, C., Mader, E. “Interactive technology enhanced learning for social science students”, Paper for ICL Conference 2011, Piestany, Slovakia, 21-23 September 2011.

Prezi Presentation

Abstract
This paper introduces the case of an interactive technology enhanced learning model, its contexts and infrastructure at a public university in the Bologna era. From a socio-technological perspective, it takes a look at the conditions and challenges under which this flexible learning model for the social sciences has been developed. Furthermore, selected evaluation results, including experiences and expectations of social science students, are discussed. The paper concludes that it is possible, with the appropriate didactical model, to create and facilitate interactive student-centered learning situations, even in “mass lectures”.

Article: How “real life” issues affect the social life of online networked communities

2011/08/09 philbu No Comments

Budka, Philipp. 2008. How “real life” issues affect the social life of online networked communities. In C. Trupp & P. Budka (Eds.), Austrian Studies in Social Anthropology – Sondernummer KSA-Tage 2007 (Workshop Medien und Film), June 2008, 50-61.
Online: http://www.univie.ac.at/alumni.ethnologie/journal/abstract/budka.html

Abstract

Speaking of “the internet”, one often forgets that this is not a monolithic media technology, but a whole range of applications embedded in the life of people practicing these technologies. This paper explores on the one hand the social life of a publicly accessible mailing list that connects various indigenous and non-indigenous persons to form a global electronic network. On the other hand, it analyses a Usenet newsgroup, which is dedicated to the socio-cultural life in Austria. With the help of two cyberanthropological case studies the interconnections between “real life” or offline issues and “virtual” or online lives on mailing lists and newsgroups is demonstrated. The paper intends to show that “virtual life” never can be separated from “real life” and its issues.

Text (PDF)

Article: Transforming learning infrastructures in the social sciences through flexible and interactive technology-enhanced learning

2010/01/02 philbu No Comments

Budka, P., & Schallert, C. 2009. Transforming learning infrastructures in the social sciences through flexible and interactive technology-enhanced learning. In: Learning Inquiry, 3(3), 131-142.

Abstract
The changing higher educational landscape in Europe creates new learning infrastructures and transforms existing ones. Students are thus provided with new possibilities and challenges. Through the case study of a newly developed common curriculum for the social sciences of a public university in Austria, this article discusses the interacting social agents, elements, and tools of a flexible and interactive technology-enhanced learning model. In doing so, the transnational, national, and local infrastructural conditions and challenges are critically examined from a socio-technological perspective. Selected evaluation and survey results highlight students’ learning practices, usage behavior, and suggestions to improve their learning situation. The article concludes that student-centered learning models focusing on flexibility and interactivity can support the stable implementation of a common curriculum and its technology-enhanced learning infrastructure for the social sciences at public universities with high student numbers.

Keywords
Higher education – Learning – Infrastructure – Social sciences – Austria

Journal Special Issue: Austrian Studies in Social Anthropology – Media & Film

2008/06/24 philbu No Comments

C. Trupp & P. Budka 2008. (Eds.) Austrian Studies in Social Anthropology – Sondernummer KSA-Tage 2007: Workshop “Medien und Film” (Special Issue on Media and Film), Jun. 2008. Abstract & Text.

Aus der Einleitung:

“In den letzten Jahren unterzog sich die Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie einem großen Wandel, der auch eine Reihe neuer Themen und Forschungsfelder mit sich brachte. Zu diesen neueren Forschungsrichtungen zählen auch die Anthropologie der Medien und die Anthropologie des Films. Um einen Einblick in die vielfältigen Thematiken dieser beiden Forschungsfelder der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie zu geben, fand im Rahmen der 3. Tage der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie 2007 erstmals ein eigener Workshop mit dem Titel „Medien und Film“ statt. In zehn interessanten Beiträgen stellten die ReferentInnen aktuelle Forschungsfelder der Anthropologie der Medien und des Films vor. Eine Auswahl möchten wir in dieser Sondernummer der ASSA vorstellen.”

Inhaltsverzeichnis:

Artikel 2-7: Workshop “Medien und Film”, Claudia Trupp und Philipp Budka (Hg.)
Artikel 2:
Claudia Trupp und Philipp Budka: Einleitung
Artikel 3:
Martha-Cecilia Dietrich Ortega: Indigene Repräsentation im „neuen“ venezolanischen Fernsehen
Artikel 4:
Georg Schön: Soziale Bewegungen und (Gegen-)Öffentlichkeiten in Mexiko
Artikel 5:
Sabine Karrer: Bittersüße Schokolade – Die Geschichte eines Widerstandes?
Artikel 6:
Philipp Budka: How “real life” issues affect the social life of online networked communities
Artikel 7:
Katrin Julia Brezansky: ANANCY´S WEB. Über Cyberspaces und Cyberscapes im Kontext einer universellen Rastafari-Philosophie

Community Informatics (CI) in Vienna

2008/06/03 philbu No Comments

Michael Gurstein held a lecture yesterday about “what is community informatics and why does it matter?” at the Austrian Computer Society in Vienna.

Gurstein states that one of the important aspects of CI is to bring researchers, practitioners, and policy makers together to work within a processual structure.

CI aims to solve real live problems of communities by integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) in different community processes. Thus, the community becomes the “user” of ICT and not the individual. This bottom-up approach should ideally lead to the empowerment of the community through ICT.

In contrary to the concept of the “digital divide”, CI is about “effective use of ICT” and not about access to ICT. Within the context of CI, ICT is to enable people to e.g. decentralize institutions or distribute local knowledge. A good example of such a decentralized institution is the Keewaytinook Internet High School (KIHS) of the KO Tribal Council in Northwestern Ontario, which enables First Nations’ students to stay in their remote communities while attending school.

Jana Herwig wrote a nice report in German about Gurstein’s lecture and the follow-up discussion for her blog.

Michael Gurstein in Vienna

2008/06/02 philbu No Comments

One of the founders of community informatics, Michael Gurstein, visits Vienna to introduce this new disciplin to an audience at the Austrian Computer Society. The event is co-organized by the Graduate Students’ Centre of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Vienna.

frome the Wikipedia:

Community informatics (CI) refers to an emerging set of principles and practices concerned with the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for the personal, social, cultural or economic development of and within communities. CI as an academic discipline (and as a practice) is often located within Information Systems presented however, in conjunction with community development and other social academic and practice areas. It can be considered as a cross or interdisciplinary approach utilising ICTs for different forms of community action.
(…)

for more information see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_informatics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gurstein
http://www.ciresearch.net
http://ci-journal.net
http://www.communityinformatics.net

Primary Sidebar