In the digital age, visibility and invisibility become important categories to describe and explain communication, especially on the internet. The research group founded in 2018 investigates the following question: Which meaning does (in)visibility have in the digital world, how does it arise and which consequences does it have for individual actors, organisations, and societally relevant processes?
To answer this question, three dimensions are particularly relevant: The visibility of data, people and institutions, as well as structures and processes. It first concerns conditions of access and availability of information. Second, the visibility of people and institutions raises questions about their speaking competences and opinion leadership. Third but not last, the question of what becomes visible respectively is made (not) visible knowingly or unknowingly emerges. A structure- and process-related view focuses thereby on the significance of how digital communication becomes visible or is made visible.
The international research group approaches the topic of (in)visibility in the digital age from a communication and media research perspective. It consists of scientists from German, Austrian, Swedish, and Swiss universities, universities of applied sciences, and institutes which contribute expertise from central research fields in communication and media research. The participants represent different theoretical and empirical approaches which allow a broad conceptualisation of (in)visibility and depict the design and method spectrum common to the field.
The research group meets in regular intervals and initiates activities like studies and research projects, conferences, publications, as well as measures of knowledge transfer, e.g. for school concepts and young media consumers. The goal is to foster the scientific and public discourse on the topic and establish its discussion in the long term.
Publications produced within the framework of the work of the network and its members
Stehle, H., Bock, A., Wilhelm, C., Springer, N., Mahrt, M., Lobinger, K., Linke, C., Engelmann, I., Detel, H., Brantner, C. (2024). In/visibility in the digital age: A literature review from a communication studies perspective. International Journal of Communication, 18, 5471-5493. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/20567/4857
Stehle, H. (2023). What employees perceive as personal communication: Results of a Q study on internal communication. Journal of Communication Management, 27(3), 414-431. doi:10.1108/JCOM-12-2021-0148
Uth, B., Stehle, H., Wilhelm, C., Detel, H., & Podschuweit, N. (2023). The journalism-audience relationship in the digital age: A theoretical literature review. Journalism, 26(1), 45-64. doi:10.1177/14648849231221611
Stehle, H., Uth, B., & Detel, H. (2022). Erwartungen in der Journalismus-Publikum-Beziehung in digitalen Kontexten – Determinanten der Accountability von öffentlich-rechtlichen Medien [Expectations in the journalism-audience relationship in digital contexts: Determinants of public media accountability]. In The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF)/Public Value Board (Hrsg.), Public Value Studie. Öffentlich-rechtliche Qualität im Diskurs (pp. 197-220). Vienna: The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF).
Brantner, C., & Stehle, H. (2021). Visibility in the digital age: Introduction. Studies in Communication Sciences, 21(1), 93-98. doi:10.24434/j.scoms.2021.01.006
Linke, C., Prommer, E. (2021). From fade-out into spotlight: An audio-visual character analysis (ACIS) on the diversity of media representation and production culture. Studies in Communication Sciences, 21(1), 145-161. doi:10.24434/j.scoms.2021.01.010
Mahrt, M., & Bock, A. (2021). ‚Okay, so I guess I’m not a girl then‘: Representation and negotiation of gender by YouTubers and their young audiences. Participations. Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, 18(1), 132-151.
Metag, J. (2021). Tension between visibility and invisibility: Science communication in new information environments. Studies in Communication Sciences, 21(1), 129-144. doi:10.24434/j.scoms.2021.01.009
Wilhelm, C. (2021). Gendered (in)visibility in digital media contexts. Studies in Communication Sciences, 21(1), 99-113. doi:10.24434/j.scoms.2021.01.007
Wilhelm, C., Stehle, H., & Detel, H. (2021). Digital visibility and the role of mutual interaction expectations: Reframing the journalist–audience relationship through the lens of interpersonal communication. New Media & Society, 23(5), 1004-1021. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820907023
Wilhelm, C., Joeckel, S., & Ziegler, I. (2020). Reporting hate comments: Investigating the effects of deviance characteristics, neutralization strategies and users’ moral orientation. Communication Research, 47(6), 921-944. doi:10.1177/0093650219855330
Brantner, C., Lobinger, K., & Stehling, M. (2019). Memes against sexism? A multimethod analysis of the feminist protest hashtag #distractinglysexy and its resonance in mainstream news media. Convergence, 26(3), 674-696. doi:10.1177/1354856519827804
Engelmann, I., Kloss, A., Neuberger, C., & Brockmann, T. (2019). Visibility through information sharing: The role of tweet authors and communication styles in retweeting political information on twitter. International Journal of Communication, 13, 3569-3588. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/9099
Prommer, E., & Linke, C. (2019). Ausgeblendet. Frauen im deutschen Film und Fernsehen [Omitted: Women in German film and television]. Köln: Halem.
Wilhelm, C., & Joeckel, S. (2019). Gendered morality and backlash effects in online discussions: An experimental study on how users respond to hate speech comments against women and sexual minorities. Sex Roles, 80(7), 381-392. doi:10.1007/s11199-018-0941-5
Wilhelm, C., Ziegler, I., & Jöckel, S. (2019). „Weg mit dem Ungeziefer!“. Hasskommentare aus Sicht der Nutzenden: Bewertung und Meldeverhalten [“Get rid of the vermin!”: Hate comments from the users' perspective: Evaluation and reporting behavior]. In I. Engelmann, M. Legrand & H. Marzinkowski (Hrsg.), Politische Partizipation im Medienwandel (pp. 277-297). doi:10.17174/dcr.v6.11
Brantner, C. (2018). New visualities of space and place: Mapping theories, concepts and methodology of visual communication research on locative media and geomedia. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 13(2), 14-30. doi:10.16997/wpcc.290
Editorial work
Brantner, C., Stehle, H. (Hrsg.). (2021). Visibility in the digital age: Theoretical and empirical perspectives [Thematic Section]. Studies in Communication Sciences, 21(1). https://www.hope.uzh.ch/scoms/issue/view/235
Activities
Literature review by the research network published in the International Journal of Communication
Visibility and its counterpart, invisibility, are critical concepts in digital communication, yet research on these concepts in communication studies has rarely been reflected upon in an integrative way. The research network's article “In/Visibility in the Digital Age: A Literature Review From a Communication Studies Perspective", currently published in the International Journal of Communication, aims to map key discussions in current research on in/visibility from a communication studies perspective. Through a literature review, these discussions are analyzed in research areas that deal extensively with in/visibility. The resulting mapping highlights similarities and differences between definitions of in/visibility and systematises the various approaches according to three essential understandings (perceptibility, presence and valuation) and three paradigmatic perspectives (functionalist, interpretive and critical). The article offers a deeper understanding of the range of previous studies on the under-theorised concepts of in/visibility and demonstrates the potential of the concepts for future research within communication studies. The article can be found here (open access): https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/20567/4857.
Organising the 2022 annual conference of the Digital Communication section of the DGPuK
Four members of the research network—Merja Mahrt, Annekatrin Bock, Hanne Detel and Helena Stehle—hosted the 2022 annual conference of the Digital Communication section of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) at the University of Düsseldorf on 10-11 November 2022. The conference took place at the Haus der Universität in Düsseldorf and was themed 'Visibility and Observability and their Significance for Digital Communication’, thus linking to the work of the network. The conference programme can be found here.
We would like to thank all participants, speakers and reviewers. We also thank our student assistants who actively supported us in the preparation and realisation of the conference.
CAIS research group hosts digital international workshop
After our workshop had to be postponed last year due to the Covid pandemic, this year we invite to a digital event: Our research group will discuss the topic “Unequal visibility in digital spaces” with international guests on March 18 and 19, 2021.
Our first guest, Olivier Driessens (Phd), Assistant Professor at the University of Copenhagen, will focus on the relationship between the concepts of visibility and attention. Joëlle Cruz (PhD), Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, will then speak on “(In)Visibility in alternative organizing from the perspective of postcolonial approaches”. The following day, we look forward to an interactive input entitled “Other sensing possibilities: Permeability, leaking” by Johanna Schaffer, Professor for Theory and Practice of Visual Communication at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, and the Berlin artists MELT (Isabel Paehr and Loren Britton).
As respondents, we will welcome Dr. Joan Ramon Rodríguez-Amat, Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, and Dr. Sarah Liu, Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.
We are looking forward to an interesting exchange and in-depth discussions and we would like to thank the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), Bochum, which made the international workshop possible and provided funding.
Wir freuen uns auf einen interessanten Austausch und vertiefende Gespräche und danken dem Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), Bochum, das den internationalen Workshop ermöglicht und finanziert.
Workshop accepted for DACH 21 conference
The workshop “The online disinhibition effect revisited – disinhibition in the context of digital in/visibility” has been accepted for the three-country conference on communication science organized by the German Communication Association, the Austrian Society of Communication and the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research. It will be conducted by Cornelia Brantner, Hanne Detel, Ines Engelmann, Katharina Lobinger, Nina Springer, Helena Stehle and Claudia Wilhelm.
Anyone who wants to take a look at the transformation of communication in a digital society cannot avoid dealing with tendencies of disinhibited communication in the context of digital in/visibility, such as hate speech or prosocial communication. In order to address these issues, the workshop will draw on the explanatory approach of the “online disinhibition effect” by John Suler, a social psychological concept that aims to explain both toxic and benign disinhibition with the help of six factors. The workshop, which takes place as part of the conference program “science meets practice”, aims at an exchange with practitioners from socio-political fields who deal with disinhibited communication. The main goal is to jointly discuss potentials and benefits, limits and extensions of the approach for communication science and to initiate new insights for research.
From February 13 to 14, 2020, our research group met for the third time at the Bochum Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS). The CAIS promoted the meeting within its funding scheme for working groups.
The first day was used for presentations and discussion. Ines Engelmann kicked off the meeting with her talk on the effects of the visibility of norms on audience participation and the quality of their contributions on news websites. Nina Springer focused on invisibility as an explanatory factor of the online disinhibition effect. Hanne Detel, Helena Stehle, and Claudia Wilhelm presented their study on reciprocal visibility and its consequences for the relationship between journalists and the audience in online contexts. Merja Mahrt then spoke about representation as a condition for integrative media effects. Finally, Cornelia Brantner reflected on questions of participation and visibility in mediatized public spheres using the example of online protests.
Helena Stehle started the second day with a report on the literature synopsis on the concept of (in)visibility, which she conducted together with Annekatrin Bock. After the concluding discussion, the working group continued its preparations for the workshop with international guests, which will take place at the CAIS from March 19 to 20, 2020. In three panels we will discuss the topic of unequal visibility in digital spaces with Johanna Schaffer (Kunsthochschule Kassel), Isabel Paehr (artist, Berlin), Graham Meikle (University of Westminster, London) and Olivier Driessens (University of Copenhagen). The workshop will address various empirical and theoretical perspectives on issues of (in)visibility and (in)equality in the digital age. The truly international character of the workshop is made visible by the backgrounds of the researchers: Scholars from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom will meet in Bochum.
CAIS research group hosts international workshop
“Unequal visibility in digital spaces“ — our research group will discuss this topic with international guests at the Bochum Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) on the 19th and 20th March 2020.
Our first guest, Olivier Driessens, Assistant Professor at the University of Copenhagen, will focus on the relationship between the concepts of visibility and attention. The second contribution is an interactive input entitled “visiblity [programmability]” by Johanna Schaffer, Professor for Theory and Practice of Visual Communication at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, and the Berlin artist Isabel Paehr. The following day, Graham Meikle, Professor of Communication and Digital Media at the University of Westminster in London, will speak on “Beyond social media: Networked sensors, communication and visibility.“ As a respondent, we will welcome, among others, Joan Ramon Rodríguez-Amat, Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.
We are looking forward to an interesting exchange and in-depth discussions and we would like to thank the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), Bochum, which made the international workshop possible and provided funding.
Research group on “(In)visibility in the digital age” continues
From Wednesday, November 27 to Friday, November 29, 2019, our research group met for the second time at the Bochum Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS). The CAIS funded the meeting within its programme that hosts working groups.
On this occasion, the members of the research group worked on current and future projects on visibility and invisibility in the digital age. Among others, questions on the concept of visibility, joint research efforts, and the upcoming Thematic Section in Studies in Communication Sciences (SComS) on “Visibility in the Digital Age: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives” (Call for Papers) were discussed. Furthermore, the organization of a workshop to be held in March 2020 was on the agenda. In this workshop, the research group will discuss inequality and visibility in digital media with invited international experts. In addition to gaining valuable insights, a second goal of the workshop is to create a broader research network that helps both deepening an understanding of the empirical and theoretical ramifications of the issue as well as granting greater visibility to the factors, implications, consequences, and remedies of visibility and invisibility in public discourse.
Research group at CAIS Forum 2019
Artificial intelligence and digitization – this was the motto of the CAIS Forum 2019 of the Center for Advanced Internet Studies in Bochum. On October 8, 2019, experts discussed opportunities and challenges as well as the use of artificial intelligence with the interested public.
As part of “Meet the Scientists”, PD Dr. Merja Mahrt presented the work of our research group and exchanged views on our research questions with citizens and experts from business and politics.
Panel “Integration and Division in Digitized Public Spheres”, 64th annual meeting of the German Communication Association (DGPuK)
This year’s annual meeting of the DGPuK is dedicated to “integration through communication in digitized public spheres”. The research group will be present with a panel on “Integration and division in digitized public spheres: The relevance of visibility in struggles over meaning”. The panel will be moderated by PD Dr. Merja Mahrt (University of Düsseldorf).
The following presentations are part of the panel:
Brantner, C., Lobinger, K., & Springer, N. (2019). (In-)visible hate: Hate speech in online memes.
Langmann, K., & Engelmann, I. (2019). Visibility of (un-)civil user comments: An explanatory model of possible reactions based on labelling and norm application.
Detel, H., Wilhelm, C., & Stehle, H. (2019). Integrative or divisive potential? An analysis of the mutual expectations of journalists and media audiences against the background of a new visibility.
Bock, A., & Schulze, A. (2019). Educational (in-)justice in the digital public sphere: On the relationship between sovereignty of interpretation and socio-culturally framed opportunities for participation.
The conference programme is available for download.
Research group on “(In)visibility in the digital age” starts
The newly founded research group “Hide and See(k) – Visibility in the Digital Age”—funded by Center of Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) as a working group—met on the 16. and 17.08.2018 for the two-day kick-off workshop at the CAIS in Bochum. The research group consists of scientists from German, Austrian, Swiss, and Swedish universities and researches how important visibility respectively invisibility is in the digital world.
The research group investigates the question: Which meaning does (in)visibility have in the digital age, how does it arise and which consequences does it have for individual actors, organisations, and societally relevant processes? During the kick-off workshop at the CAIS, the research group members discussed different perspectives and approaches to (in)visibility in the digital age and debated how these can be captured theoretically and methodically. The topic areas included both current phenomena like “hate speech” which are used for visible intimidation of people, as well as socio-political aspects like e.g. the question of how individuals and organisations can cope with increasing wanted or unwanted visibility of large amounts of data traces.
The long-term goal of the researchers’ collaboration is to establish the topic area in societal and public discourse. Thus, during the workshop, shared research projects as well as other working steps like presentations and publications were planned. In this way, the members created the basis for further intensive and focused joint work on this important topic.
Background information on the consortium
In the digital age, visibility and invisibility become important categories to describe and explain communication, particularly on the internet. When doing so, three dimensions are particularly relevant: The visibility of data, of people and institutions, as well as structures and processes. It first concerns conditions of access and availability of information. Second, the visibility of people and institutions raises questions about their speaking competences and opinion leadership. Third but not last, the question of what becomes visible respectively is made (not) visible knowingly or unknowingly emerges.
The research group consists of scientist from German, Austrian, Swiss, and Swedish universities. They work in central fields of media and communication research and represent different theoretical and empirical approaches which allow a broad conceptualisation of the term “visibility”.
Participants of the workshop:
Annekatrin Bock, Leibniz Institute for International Textbook Research, Braunschweig
Cornelia Brantner, IWAF – Institute of Science Communication and Applied Research, Vienna
Hanne Detel, University of Tübingen, Institute of Media Studies
Ines Engelmann, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Institute of Communication Research
Merja Mahrt, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Institute of Social Sciences
Anne Schulze, University of Applied Sciences Koblenz, Department of Social Sciences
Nina Springer, Södertörn University Stockholm, School of Social Sciences
Helena Stehle, University of Hohenheim, Department of Communication Science, esp. Journalism
Claudia Wilhelm, University of Erfurt, Institute of Media and Communication Science
At the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) the political, economic, social, and cultural developments which are caused by the internet and digitalization are researched. As a research college, the CAIS enables experts from science and practice to dedicate themselves to a project in the area of digitalization and internet research. In addition, the CAIS promotes working groups and events.
The CAIS seeks the dialogue with citizens, educational institutions, companies, and politics to discuss how the digital future can be shaped.
As an independent research centre, the CAIS is funded by the government NRW. Its shareholders are the Ruhr University of Bochum, the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, the University of Duisburg-Essen, the University of Münster and the Grimme Institute (Marl).
ICA Blue Sky Workshop “Researching (in-)visible voices in the digital age”, 68th Annual ICA Conference
Brantner, C., Lobinger, K., Mahrt, M., Springer, N., & Wilhelm, C. (2018). Researching (in-)visible voices in the digital age. ICA Blue Sky Workshop, 68th Annual ICA Conference, 24-28 May 2018, Prague.
Moderation: Mahrt, M.
The following presentations were part of the workshop:
Wilhelm, C. (2018): The applicability or need of adapting theories on (in-)visibility to the particular demands of research in digital contexts.
Springer, N. (2018): The role of social media in providing infrastructures for desired visibility but also clandestine invisibility.
Brantner, C., & Lobinger, K. (2018): Ethical implications of the visibility of trace data and their use in academic research.
Special session “(In-)Visibility in the Digital Age”, 63rd annual meeting of the German Communication Association (DGPuK)
Special session “(In-)Visibility in the Digital Age”, 63rd annual meeting of the German Communication Association (DGPuK), 9-11 May 2018, Mannheim.
Moderation: Linke, C.
Panel presentations:
Engelmann, J. (2018). Conditions of (in-)visible discussion quality on the internet.
Linke, C. (2018). Visibility and invisibility of diversity: Unequal medial production, representation, and reception.
Lobinger, K. (2018). The complex relationship between visibility and participation in online contexts: Visual representations, norms, structures.
Lohmeier, C. (2018). (In-)Visibilities alternating in mediatised remembering and forgetting.
Springer, N. (2018). Concerted and conserved—how online user comments are used strategically to make (deviant) opinions loud and visible online.
Stehle, H. (2018). On the visibility of organisations in the digital age: Theoretical and empirical perspectives of communication research.
Members
Dr. Annekatrin Bock
Professor, Department of Education, University of Vechta
Dr. Cornelia Brantner
Associate Professor (Docent), Department of Geography, Media and Communication, Karlstad University, Sweden
Dr. Hanne Detel
Professor, Faculty of Social and Health Affairs, University of Applied Sciences Kempten
Dr. Ines Engelmann
Professor of Communication Studies with a focus in Empirical Methods, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Institute of Communication Research
Dr. Imke Hoppe
Professor, Department of Geography, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Dr. Christine Linke
Professor of Communication Studies, University of Applied Sciences Wismar, Faculty of Architecture and Design
Dr. Katharina Lobinger
Associate Professor for Online Communication, Institute of Digital Technologies for Communication, USI Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano
Dr. Christine Lohmeier
University Professor, Department of Media Use and Digital Cultures, University of Salzburg, Department of Communication Studies
