Papers by Annika Richterich
Hackathons are techno-creative events during which participants get together in a physical locati... more Hackathons are techno-creative events during which participants get together in a physical location. They may be hosted by civic communities, corporations or public institutions. Working individually or in teams, usually for several days, participants develop projects such as hardware or software prototypes. Based on a digital ethnography of two events in the Netherlands and Denmark, this article investigates project development practices at hackathons. In particular, it analyses how participants organized their project work and which technologies were used in support of their creative endeavours. Hackathons are increasingly competitive rather than colla-borative events, involving time pressure, inducements such as prizes, and requiring efficient skills utilization. I argue that this facilitates the following tendencies: Firstly, strategic effort is put into final presentations. Projects need to be convincingly presented, and persuasively pitching an idea becomes crucial. Secondly, there is only limited time for personal learning, since participants' existing skills need to be efficiently applied if a team wants to stay competitive. This encourages division of labour within groups: a tendency which seems especially problematic given that IT skills biases are often expressed in terms of gender. Thirdly, participants are more inclined to use technologies that are proprietary but appear 'open enough'. In light of this observation and by drawing on the concept of technology as resource and opportunity, I discuss the techno-political implications of utilized technologies. With this analysis, I aim at contributing to the critical debate on hackathons as productive but likewise ideologically significant fields of 'hacking cultures'.
This paper explores which rules and values are relevant to contemporary practices of hacking and ... more This paper explores which rules and values are relevant to contemporary practices of hacking and making. It examines how members in hacker-and makerspaces conceptualise their communities and their use of digital technology. Based on interviews with community members in England, observations of physical spaces and online message boards, it shows how rules, social values, and communal practices are interrelated. Hackerspaces (also called hackspaces) and makerspaces are physical locations where community members meet in order to engage in and discuss activities such as programming and electronics construction. While the public perception of hacking as illegal activity is common, 1 hackerspace members understand and pursue hacking mainly as creative interaction with digital technology. 2 Hackerspaces have a great potential to facilitate creativity and IT literacy, and to act as hubs for (digital) civic engagement and learning. 3 At the same time, while feminist hackerspaces have received increased attention more recently, it is important to recognise that such spaces often suffer from a gender bias as male-dominated communities. 4 Expertise as it is acquired and maintained in such spaces facilitates new forms of civic participation. 5 Nevertheless, the term hacking is still closely associated with illegal activities, immoral use of information technologies, and breaking into closed systems. In computer science education and for trainings targeted at an employment in the field of IT security, educational institutions and service providers have even suggested the term 'ethical hacking' in order to dissociate 'legal' from 'illegal hacking' (cracking). 6 Moreover, the term makerspace has become more common during the last years: It refers to communities which are (in many ways) similar to hackerspaces, while avoiding the negative connotations of 'hacking'. 7
This paper introduces the theme of the inaugural issue of the Digital Culture & Society journal: ... more This paper introduces the theme of the inaugural issue of the Digital Culture & Society journal: “Digital Material/ism”. It provides a genealogy and an overview of recent (neo)materialist approaches to media research. Such approaches have emphasised the relevance of materiality and the non-human, also with regards to inorganic matter. The introduction shows that new technological developments and imaginaries come along with digital media research which is increasingly concerned with questions of materiality. This trend can be seen as reaction to the myth of immateriality which is promoted in commercial contexts and (critically) addressed in art as well as popular culture.
During the rise of the Occupy movement and its offshoots in various countries from late 2011 to 2... more During the rise of the Occupy movement and its offshoots in various countries from late 2011 to 2012, academics of diverse disciplines were involved in the protests. The movement was soon regarded as fascinating, fruitful, and prestigious object of investigation: empirical and ethnographic methods were employed in order to instruct academic analyses. At the same time, the activists themselves were highly reflective and strategic concerning their own practices and protest spaces. Since political movements such as Occupy seem to be characterised by rather high levels of reflexivity and strategic configuration on the side of the activists, while likewise being subjected to academic involvement, we propose to conceptualise the Occupy protests not as ‘fields of research’, but rather as ‘socio-political laboratories’. They have produced experimental aesthetics and political as well as artistic practices. Looking back at Occupy today, we were wondering how analytic academic involvement and activist practices may have interacted. We do not seek to provide a definite answer regarding this issue. Instead, we propose this paper as the initiation of a discussion concerned with encounters and relations between activists and academics in contemporary protest movements and spaces.
In Reddit’s numerous topical subsections, so called subreddits, users post and share diverse cont... more In Reddit’s numerous topical subsections, so called subreddits, users post and share diverse content. The social news aggregator claims to be ‘a website about everything, powered by community, democracy and you’. However, one can observe internal conflicts which indicate discrepancies between such idealistic claims as opposed to quantitatively-oriented participation. While some users emphasise topically focused motivations for their participation, others suggest that they mainly post content with the aim of collecting ‘Karma-points’. The latter approach has been called ‘Karmawhoring’. The term references Reddit’s ranking and evaluation system through the allocation of Karma-points. This paper examines how such a quantification of user participation influences interactions and content posted on Reddit. By looking at participatory practices and users’ interplay, it investigates opposing justifications and controversial incentives for contributions. It analyses particular cases of Karmawhoring, user criticisms of such merely achievement-oriented contributions as well as attempts to counteract these tendencies.
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Papers by Annika Richterich