The Workshop “Unpacking [Digital] Imaginaries: The Imaginary in the Context of Digital Media” addresses the resurgence of the imaginary as a core concept in media and communication studies. We approach the imaginary as an epistemic tool for understanding and analyzing sense-making processes in digital contexts. A primary goal is to explore the theoretical shift from subject-centered perspectives toward sociotechnical infrastructures. The workshop interrogates the onto-epistemic tension between the stabilization of dominant narratives and the liquefaction of existing structures through digital media.
Date: 12.03.2026 – 13.03.2026
Location: Paderborn University, E Building, Room E2.339
Workshop Program
Donnerstag, 12. März 2026
- 14:00 – 15:00 Arrival, Registration & Coffee
- 15:00 – 15:30 Opening: Welcome & Introduction
- 15:30 – 17:00 Panel I: Theoretical Approaches to the Digital Imaginary
- Chair: Christian Schulz
- Marvin Ester (Berlin) – Do Imaginaries Still Matter? Structural Indifference as a Challenge for Social Critique
- Jan Tobias Fuhrmann (Oldenburg) – Algorithmische Verstetigungen des gesellschaftlich-historischen Imaginären, Risse und die schöpfende Kraft des radikalen Imaginären
- Sabine Wirth (Weimar) – “Imaginal Machines”: Zur Materialisierung des sozialen Imaginären im Zeitalter erschöpfter Plattformen
- 19:00 Get-together: Dinner at KitzGams (self-pay)
Freitag, 13. März 2026
- 09:00 – 09:30 Arrival & Coffee
- 09:30 – 11:00 Panel II: Forms and Figures of the Digital Imaginary
- Chair: Christina Schinzel
- Anya Shchetvina (Berlin) – Forms that Organise Imagination: Notes on Epistemology and Methods of Studying Manifestos about the Internet
- Anna Kraher (Oldenburg) – Imaginationen digitaler Souveränität in Deutschland am Beispiel von Schwarz Digits
- Philipp Jakobs (Bonn) – Sozialfiguren als imaginäre Grenzgänger des Digitalen: Zoomer, NPCs, Incels
- 11:00 – 11:20 Coffee Break
- 11:20 – 12:50 Panel III: AI in the Context of the Digital Imaginary
- Chair: Anna Lena Menne
- Phillip Porwol (Paderborn) – Thinking Machines? Conceptual Metaphors of AI Across Societal Groups
- Paula Muhr (Hamburg) – Exploring the Imaginaries in Emerging AI Research on Differentiating Functional Seizures and Epilepsy
- Umut Yener Kara (Berlin) – Participatory Future Cultures: Collectively Imagining Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) on r/singularity
- 12:50 – 14:00 Mittagessen in der Mensa
- 14:00 – 15:30 Panel IV: Ecologies of the Digital Imaginary
- Chair: Patrick Henschen
- Ole Bogner (Frankfurt) – Das sozio-technische Imaginäre des AI Ecosystems im Plattformkapitalismus
- Jelena Rakin (Zürich) – Botanisch-kosmologisches Worlding und Verschiebungen des Imaginierens von analogen zu digitalen Medien
- Luna Weiß (Jena) – Die Zukunft in der Klimakatastrophe: Die Methode der gegenüberstellenden Framing-Analyse zum Erfassen digitaler Imagination
- 15:30 – 15:50 Coffee Break
- 15:50 – 16:30 Closing: Conclusion & Outlook
Organization: Junior Research Group “Development of Symmetrical Mental Models” (Christian Schulz and Anna Lena Menne)
Note: This is a bilingual event. Presentations and discussions will be held in both German and English. Please also note that this is a closed event with limited capacity. Participation requires prior registration via email to irg@uni-paderborn.de.