International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW)

Martin Hennig

Media ethics, philosophy of technology & AI (team leader)

Dr. Martin Hennig is a researcher in media, culture & society. He received his PhD with the thesis “Cultural Semiotics of Videogames” (2017; Marburg: Schüren). He worked as a postdoc at the German Research Foundation Research Training Group “Privacy and Digitalization” and substituted the Chair of Media and Cultural Studies (focus: Digital Cultures) at the University of Passau. Currently, he is a postdoc and team leader in the field of media and digitalization at the University of Tübingen’s International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW).  

Areas of Expertise

  • Image and Media Theory

  • Media and AI Ethics

  • Digital Cultures

  • Game Studies

  • Narratives of Digitalization 

  • Transmedia and Serial Storytelling

  •  Media and Cultural Semiotics

  • Media Constructions of Gender and Cultural Identity

 

Career

Academic career
09/2020 - 09/2021

Postdoc

DFG Research Training Group 1681/2

"Privacy and Digitization", University of Passau

05/2019 – 08/2020

Chair substitute

Chair of Media Cultural Studies (W3), focus on Digital Cultures, University of Passau

01/2016 – 04/2019  

Postdoc

DFG Research Training Group 1681/2

"Privacy and Digitization", University of Passau

08/2012 – 12/2015 

Doctoral Fellow

DFG Research Training Group 1681 "Privacy. Forms, Functions, Transformations", University of Passau

10/2011 – 07/2012 

Research Assistant

Modern German Literary Studies and Media Semiotics, University of Passau

10/2010 – 09/2011

Lecturer

Institute for Modern German Literature and Media, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Academic education
08/2012 – 12/2015

Doctoral Studies

DFG Research Training Group 1681 "Privacy. Forms, Functions, Transformations", University of Passau


Grade: summa cum laude


Supervisor:

Prof. Dr. Jan-Oliver Decker

Prof. Dr. Hans Krah

Prof. Dr. Karsten Fitz
10/2003 – 07/2009

Study

Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel


Major: Modern German Literature and Media Studies

Minors: Psychology, Education

 

Degree: Magister Artium, with distinction (1,0)

08/1995 – 05/2002 Abitur
Gymnasium am Silberkamp, Peine (grade: 1.9)

Publications

Monographs

Narrative der Digitalisierung. Imaginationen der digitalen Gesellschaft und ihrer Ideologie in fiktionalen und faktualen Mediendiskursen (in preparation).

 

Spielräume als Weltentwürfe. Kultursemiotik des Videospiels. Marburg: Schüren 2017.

 

Warum die Welt Superman nicht braucht. Die Konzeption des Superhelden und ihre Funktion für den Gesellschaftsentwurf in US-amerikanischen Filmproduktionen. Stuttgart: Ibidem 2010.

Editorships

With Krampe, Theresa/Spöhrer, Markus: The Interactive Gaze: Images of Surveillance in Digital Games. London: Routledge (in preparation).

 

With Podrez, Peter: Horror – Medien – Räume. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann (in preparation).
 

With Gräf, Dennis: Corona und mediale Öffentlichkeiten. Springer VS 2024. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-45503-3 


With Krah, Hans: Spielzeichen IV. Genres. Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch 2023.


With Berger, Franz X./Deremetz, Anne/Michell, Alix: Autonomie und Verantwortung in digitalen Kulturen. Baden-Baden: Nomos 2021. 

 

With Hauptmann, Kilian/Krah, Hans: Narrative der Überwachung. Berlin: Peter Lang 2020. Online: https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/69884

With Schellong, Marcel: Überwachung und Kontrolle im Computerspiel. Sonderausgabe „Paidia. Zeitschrift für Computerspielforschung“ 2020. Online: https://www.paidia.de/einleitung-ueberwachung-und-kontrolle/

With Krah, Hans: Spielzeichen III. Kulturen im Computerspiel / Kulturen des Computerspiels. Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch 2020.

Aldenhoff, Christian/Hennig, Martin et al.: Digitalität und Privatheit. Bielefeld: transcript 2019. Online: https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-4661-0/digitalitaet-und-privatheit/?number=978-3-8394-4661-4

Burk, Steffen/Hennig, Martin et al.: Privatheit in der digitalen Gesellschaft. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 2018.

With Krah, Hans: Spielzeichen II. Raumspiele - Spielräume. Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch 2018.

With Kreknin, Innokentij: Das ludische Selbst. Subjekt-Objekt-Verhältnisse im Computerspiel. Online: http://www.paidia.de/?page_id=8048.

Beyvers, Eva/Hennig, Martin et al.: Räume und Kulturen des Privaten. Wiesbaden: Springer VS 2016.

With Krah, Hans: Spielzeichen. Theorien, Analysen und Kontexte des zeitgenössischen Computerspiels. Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch 2016.

Essays

2025

Die Cyborg: Gender-Imaginationen im KI-Film. In: Reiter, Barbara/Reulecke, Anne-Kathrin (ed.): Imaginationen künstlicher Menschen – Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf zeitgenössische Romane, Filme und Serien. Graz University Library Publishing (in press).

 

KI mit Charakter: Kulturelle Spielarten und Imaginationen personifizierter Künstlicher Intelligenz. In: Ackermann, Judith/Endres, Susanna/Pohlmann, Horst /Staufer, Walter (ed.): KI in der Kulturellen Bildung. München: kopaed (in press).

 

Deadbots: Ethische Grenzen des digitalen Weiterlebens - eine medien- und technikethische Perspektive (with Heesen, Jessica). In: Maier, Markus/Rathgeber, Benjamin (ed.): Grenzen künstlicher Intelligenz. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, p. 139-151. 

 

Orders of Anti-Illusion: An Analytical Framework for Metareference from a Semiotic Perspective. In: Krampe, Theresa/Thon, Jan-Noël (ed.): Videogames and Metareference: Mapping the Margins of an Interdisciplinary Field. London: Routledge, p. 39-55. 

 

2024

Digital afterlife and the future of collective memory (with Ammicht-Quinn, Regina/Heesen, Jessica/Meitzler, Matthias). In: Memory Studies Review. 1(2), p. 274-291. https://doi.org/10.1163/29498902-202400013

 

Encoding - Decoding. In: Moskatova, Olga/Grampp, Sven (ed.): Handbuch Televisuelle Serialität. Springer VS. DOI: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-658-35305-6_34-1.

 

Erzählen als Zäsur. Zur Rolle von Grenzen in Digitalisierungsnarrativen. In: Rose, Dirk/Unterhuber, Tobias (Hg.): Digitalisierung. Erzählen von einer Zäsur. wbg Academic, p. 95-120. 

 

Ethik, Recht und Sicherheit des digitalen Weiterlebens. Forschungsergebnisse und Gestaltungsvorschläge zum Umgang mit Avataren und Chatbots von Verstorbenen (with Heesen, Jessica u.a.). Darmstadt. www.sit.fraunhofer.de/fileadmin/dokumente/studien_und_technical_reports/Edilife_Buch.pdf

 

Gaming. In: Grimm, Petra/Trost, Kai Erik/Zöllner, Oliver (ed.): Digitale Ethik. Baden-Baden: Nomos, p. 601-612.

 

Medien der (Un-)Sichtbarkeit: Darstellungen von Drohnen in populären Medien. In: Del Re, Andreas/Kämper, Norbert/Schoch, Andreas (ed.): Unbemannte Luftfahrtsysteme. Zivile Drohnen im Spannungsfeld von Wirtschaft, Recht, Sicherheit und gesellschaftlicher Akzeptanz. https://www.springerprofessional.de/medien-der-un-sichtbarkeit/27271018 

 

Mediensemiotik (with Decker, Jan-Oliver/Krah, Hans). In: Raczkowski, Felix/Niebling, Laura/Stolfuß, Sven (ed.): Digitale Medien und Methoden. Springer. DOI: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-658-36629-2_34-1.

 

Nach dem Ende – vor dem Ende: Zu den ideologischen Auswirkungen seriellen Erzählens in der Dystopie (with Hauptmann, Kilian). In Hißnauer, Christian/Klein, Thomas/Schlösser, Liane/Stiglegger, Marcus (ed.): Dystopien in Serie. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 271-294. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-41677-5_15 

 

2023

Interaktives Storytelling. In: Moskatova, Olga/Grampp, Sven (ed.): Handbuch Televisuelle Serialität. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-35305-6_18-1

 

Spiel der Attraktionen: Raum, Körper und Ideologie im multimodalen Dispositiv der Virtuellen Realität. In: Krah, Hans/Seefried, Romina (ed.): Multimodalität. SKMS (= Schriften zur Kultur- und Mediensemiotik) / Online. Nr. 12, p. 203-223. URL: https://www.kultursemiotik.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Multimodalitaet_Krah_Seefried.pdf.

 

2022

Analyse- und Reflexionslinien von Krisenjournalismus (with Dennis Gräf). In: Krewani, Angela/Zimmermann, Peter (ed.): Das Virus im Netz medialer Diskurse. Wiesbaden: Springer, p. 3-24.

 

Die Apparatur überwinden: Zur Repräsentation von KI in digitalen Spielen. In: Lukman, Christopher (ed.): Kontrollmaschinen. Zur Dispositivtheorie des Computerspiels. Münster: LIT, p. 149-179.

 

Geschlecht als Schicksal? Gender in Zeitreisenarrativen. In: Helbig, Jörg/Rauscher, Andreas (ed.): Zeitreisen in Zelluloid. Trier: WVT.

 

Mord mit Tradition. Das Oktoberfest als Identitätsraum im Regionalkrimi. In: Großmann, Stephanie (ed.): Das Oktoberfest aus literatur- und mediensemiotischer Perspektive. Marburg: Schüren, p. 113-134.  

 

Truth, Justice and the … Austrian … Way? Kulturelle Selbst- und Fremdbilder im Österreich-Superheldencomic. In: Krieg-Holz, Ulrike/Rußegger, Arno (ed.): Österreichbilder. Marburg: Schüren, p. 319-334.

 

Von Storytelling bis Verschwörungserzählungen: Förderung narrativer Kompetenz im Deutschunterricht am Beispiel medialer Krisenkommunikation. In: Schallenberger, Stefan/Kepser, Matthis (ed.): Presse im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung – neue Aufgaben für den Deutschunterricht. MiDU – Medien im Deutschunterricht. URL: https://journals.ub.uni-koeln.de/index.php/midu/article/view/1607.

 

Von Tales from the Crypt bis American Horror Story: Ästhetik, Weltentwürfe und kulturelle Funktionen der Horror-Anthologie in Film und Fernsehen. In: Hauptmann, Kilian/Pabst, Philipp/Schallenberg, Felix (ed.): Anthologieserie. Systematik und Geschichte eines narrativen Formats. Marburg: Schüren, p. 115-136.

 

2021

Fiktionsraum Cyberspace: Kulturelle Modelle digitaler Kollektivität. In: Zeitschrift für Kultur- und Kollektivwissenschaft 6(2). Bielefeld: transcript, p. 35-61.

 

KI-Marketing und Gesellschaft. In: Brandstetter, Nicole/Ittstein, Daniel/Dobler, Ralph-Miklas (ed.): Mensch und Künstliche Intelligenz. Herausforderungen für Kultur, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. München: UVK, p.103-121.

 

Medien und Realität. Verfahren der Analyse von ‹Fake News› und hermetischer Weltmodelle. In: Decker, Jan-Oliver/Gräf, Dennis/Großmann, Stephanie/Nies, Martin (ed.): Mediale Strukturen – Strukturierte Medialität. Kiel: Ludwig, p. 481-495.

 

Privatheit, Autonomie und Verantwortung in digitalen Kulturen: Einleitung (with Berger, Franz/Deremetz, Anne). In: Berger, Franz/Hennig, Martin et al. (ed.): Autonomie und Verantwortung in digitalen Kulturen. Baden-Baden: Nomos, p. 7- 49.

 

2020
Bild – Spiel – Literatur. Zur Interaktion audiovisueller, ludischer und literarischer Erzählstrategien in der Visual Novel. In: Kodikas/Code. 41/2018, p. 73-85.

 

Demokratisierte Überwachung? Transformationen gesellschaftlicher Modelle im Überwachungsfilm der digitalen Gesellschaft. In: Grimm, Petra/Neef, Karla (ed.): Digitalisierung und Demokratie. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, p. 143-159

Die Ordnung der Abweichung. Digitale Spiele als Träger und Adressat kultureller Kommunikation. In: Hennig, Martin/Krah, Hans (ed.): Spielzeichen III – Kulturen im Computerspiel/Kulturen des Computerspiels. Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch, p. 54-76.

Die Verengung der Welt. Zur medialen Konstruktion Deutschlands unter Covid-19 anhand der Formate ARD Extra und ZDF Spezial (with Gräf, Dennis). In: Privatheit in viralen Zeiten. Online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343736403_Die_Verengung_der_Welt

Falsche Welten? Dystopische und utopische Entwürfe der Simulation im Film. In: Berliner Debatte Initial. Sozial- und geisteswissenschaftliches Journal. 1/2020, p.47-58.

Filmzeit in Serie: Konvergenzen von Film- und Serienzeit im Marvel Cinematic Universe. In: Blödorn, Andreas/Brössel, Stefan (ed.): Zeitfiktionen. Reflexionen und Funktionen von Zeit in Literatur und Film. Berlin: LIT, p. 321-349.

Medialität, Ästhetik und Ideologie des interaktiven Films auf Netflix. Das Beispiel Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. In: Nach dem Film. 8/2020. Online: https://www.nachdemfilm.de/index.php/issues/text/medialitaet-aesthetik-und-ideologie-des-interaktiven-films-auf-netflix.

Playing Intelligence. On Representations and Uses of Artificial Intelligence in Videogames. In: Necsus Spring 2020_#Intelligence. Online: https://necsus-ejms.org/playing-intelligence-on-representations-and-uses-of-artificial-intelligence-in-videogames/.

‚Und die Moral von der Geschicht‘? Märchenmotive und -erzählungen in den interaktiven Weltentwürfen des Computerspiels‘. In: Conrad, Maren (ed.): Moderne Märchen. Populäre Variationen in jugendkulturellen Literatur- und Medienformen der Gegenwart. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, p. 69-97.

2019
Alexa, optimier mich! KI-Fiktionen digitaler Assistenzsysteme in der Werbung (with Hauptmann, Kilian). In: Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft. 21/2019, p. 86-94.

'Smarte Diktatur' oder 'egalitäre Netzgemeinschaft'? Diskurse der Digitalisierung. In: Aldenhoff, Christian/Hennig, Martin et al. (ed.): Digitalität und Privatheit. Bielefeld: transcript, p. 11-26.

Überwachung in der Kultur – Kultur der Überwachung. In: Schüller, Liane/Jung, Werner (ed.): Orwells Enkel. Überwachungsnarrative. Bielefeld: AISTHESIS, p. 101-122.
 

2018
Culture of Surveillance (with Edeler, Lukas/Piegsa, Miriam). In: Arrigo, Bruce A. (ed.): The SAGE Encyclopedia of Surveillance, Security, and Privacy. Thousand Oaks.

 

Fiktionen vom digitalen Körper, Leben und Tod in Literatur, Film und Computerspiel. In: Hartung-Griemberg, Anja/Vollbrecht, Ralf/Dallmann, Christine (ed.): Körpergeschichten. Körper als Fluchtpunkte medialer Biografisierungspraxen. Baden-Baden: Nomos, p. 195-215.
 

“Please, stop trying to make every decision by yourself!” Selbstreflexive Erzählstrategien im Independent-Videospiel. In: Decker, Jan Oliver (ed.): Selbstreferenz und Selbstreflexion in a/v-medien. Formen und Funktionen in medien- und kulturhistorischen Kontexten. Themenheft/Special Issue Kodikas/Code. 40/2018, p. 171-185.

The Representation of Dateveillance in Visual Media. Subjectification and Spatialization of Digital Surveillance Practices (wirh Piegsa, Miriam). In: On_Culture. The Open Journal für the Study of Culture. 6/2018. Online: https://www.on-culture.org/journal/issue-6/hennig-piegsa-dataveillance/.

Von 'Düsterbruch' bis 'Finsterau': Heimat im Regionalkrimi. In: Nies, Martin (ed.): Deutsche Selbstbilder in den Medien II: Gesellschaftsentwürfe in Literatur und Film der Gegenwart. Marburg: Schüren, p. 45-69.

 

Von Kreisen und Nullen, Massen und Medien, Mythen und Geistern: Kulturelle Bedeutungsverhandlungen digitaler sozialer Netzwerke. In: Burk, Steffen/Klepikova, Tatiana/Piegsa, Miriam (ed.): Privates Erzählen. Frankfurt/M: Peter Lang, p. 241-262.

2017
Digitale Kontexte: Problemaufriss zur Erforschung digitaler Medien. In: Textpraxis. Digitales Journal für Philologie. Münster. Online: http://www.uni-muenster.de/Textpraxis/martin-hennig-digitale-kontexte.

Interaktive Medien. In: Krah, Hans/Titzmann, Michael (ed.): Medien und Kommunikation. Eine semiotische Einführung. Passau: Schuster, p. 213-246.

Medientheorien (with Krah, Hans). In: Krah, Hans/Titzmann, Michael (ed.): Medien und Kommunikation. Eine semiotische Einführung. Passau: Schuster, p. 331-349.

2016
Big Brother is watching you: hoffentlich. Diachrone Transformationen in der filmischen Verhandlung von Überwachung in amerikanischer Kultur. In: Beyvers, Eva/Hennig, Martin et al. (ed.): Räume und Kulturen des Privaten. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 213-246.

Cross-Cultural Fear? Japanese Horror Films and their Hollywood Remakes. In: Callaghan, Mark/Davis, Kacey (ed.): Cultural Experiences of Fear, Horror and Terror. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, p. 181-189.

Räume und Kulturen des Privaten: Einleitung (with Beyvers, Eva et al.). In: Beyvers, Eva/Hennig, Martin et al. (ed.): Räume und Kulturen des Privaten. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, p. 1-17.


Spiel mit der Oberfläche. Darstellungen Transsylvaniens in Vampir-Videospielen. In: Gräf, Dennis/Schmöller, Verena (ed.): Rumänienbilder. Mediale Selbst- und Fremddarstellungen. Marburg: Schüren, p. 229-243.

Spielzeichen: Einführung. In: Hennig, Martin/Krah, Hans (ed.): Spielzeichen. Theorien, Analysen und Kontexte des zeitgenössischen Computerspiels. Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch, p. 9-20.

Subjekttheorie und Game Studies: Ein Überblick (with Kreknin, Innokentij). In: Das ludische Selbst. Online: http://www.paidia.de/?page_id=8048.

‚This game series adapts to the choices you make‘. Eine raumsemantische Typologie von Entscheidungssituationen und die Funktionen seriellen Erzählens in aktuellen Episodenspielen. In: PAIDIA-Redaktion: (ed.): „I’ll remember this…“. Funktion, Inszenierung und Wandel von Entscheidung im Computerspiel. Glückstadt: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch, p. 145-165.

Von autonomen Drohnen und der Kontrolle des Spiele(r)s: Mensch-Technik-Verhältnisse im Computer- und Videospiel. In: Adam, M.H./Gellai, Sz./Knifka, J. (ed.): Veränderte Lebenswelten. Figurationen von Mensch und Technik. Bielefeld: transcript, p. 225-339.

2015
Der Ring des Nibelungen als Computerspiel. Zur kulturellen Anschlussfähigkeit einer interaktiven Textadaption. In: Krah, Hans (ed.): Die Nibelungen. Passauer Beiträge zur Verarbeitung eines produktiven Narrativs. Passau: Ralf Schuster Verlag, p. 181-196.

„Ich ist ein anderer“: Anonymität in Online-Rollenspielen. In: Grimm, Petra/Keber, Tobias O./Zöllner, Oliver (ed.): Anonymität und Transparenz in der digitalen Gesellschaft. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, p. 185-207.

Krise...continued: Populärkulturelle Funktionen seriellen Krisenerzählens am Beispiel von BREAKING BAD. In: Nies, Martin (ed.): Schriften zur Kultur- und Medienwissenschaft | Online. Online: https://ojs3.uni-passau.de/index.php/skms/article/view/108.

Sex statt Selbstermächtigung? Gender im Superheldenvideospiel. In: Günther, Susanne/Krause, Steffi/Krell, Claudia/Müller, Karla (ed.): Frauen - Gender - Wissenschaft. Beiträge von einem interdisziplinärem Forschungssymposium. Passau: Opus, p. 46-60.

2014
Das ‚Morddorf‘ als Modell: Die Dekonstruktion ländlicher Gemeinschaft und die Sehnsucht nach Ordnung. Bayernbilder im Werk Andrea Maria Schenkels. In: Decker, Jan-Oliver/Krah, Hans (ed.): Skandal und Tabubruch – Heile Welt und Heimat. Bilder von Bayern in Literatur, Film und anderen Künsten. Passau: Stutz, p. 109-128.

I Am Catwoman, Hear Me Roar. Gender between Film and Video Game. In: Gilmore, James/Stork, Matthias (ed.): Superhero Synergies. Comic Book Characters Go Digital. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, p. 173-187.

Medien 2.0: Eine Revolution ohne Grenzen? In: Technikfolgenabschätzung –Theorie und Praxis. 2/2014.

Medien und Privatheit: Einleitung (with Krause, Steffi/Püschel, Florian). In: Garnett, Simon et al. (Hg.): Medien und Privatheit. Passau: Stutz, p. 9-25.

Playing Privacy. Analyseansätze und Aspekte von Privatheit im Online-Rollenspiel. In: Garnett, Simon et al. (ed.): Medien und Privatheit. Passau: Stutz, p. 45-67.

Why Some Worlds Fail. Observations on the Relationship between Intertextuality, Intermediality, and Transmediality in the Resident Evil and Silent Hill Universes. In: Beil, Benjamin/Sachs-Hombach, Klaus/Thon, Jan-Noël (ed.): Media Convergence and Transmedial Worlds (Part 2)/Medienkonvergenz und transmediale Welten (Teil 2). Special Issue IMAGE. 21/2014, p. 17-33.

2013
Storytelling, Rules and Society in Modern MMORPGs. In: Jerry, Paul/Tavares-Jones, Nancy/Gregory, Sue (ed.): Riding the Hype Cycle: The Resurgence of Virtual Worlds. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, p. 179-189.

 

Lectures

09/2025: Trust in AI: How regulation and certification create trust. Keynote speech at CwX Germany 2025 (online).

08/2025: Deadbots: Digital Afterlife and Collective Memory. Keynote speech at the Passau Summer School for Applied Ethics 2025 (University of Passau).

07/2025: Ethics and Digitalisation – Focus on AI. Keynote speech at the School of Education FACE (University of Freiburg).

06/2025: The Signs of Truth. Towards a Semiotic Framework for Analysing Conspiracy Imagery. Conference Visual Cultures of Conspiracy Theories (Philipps University of Marburg).

05/2025: Film discussion ‘Blade Runner’. OPEN AIR KI:NO Summer (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology).

05/2025: Techno-Terror. Horror Spaces of Digitalisation. Guest lecture at the Institute for Media Culture and Theatre (University of Cologne).

04/2025: Ethics of AI – Knowledge and Responsibility in Digital Cultures. Academy for Political Education (Tutzing).

03/2025: Film discussion on ‘Eternal You’. naxos.Kino (Frankfurt).

01/2025: Analysis of interactive image forms. Joint workshop with the DFG project Capturing Moving Images. Screenshots as Theoretical Media Practice (Philipps University of Marburg).

11/2024: Ethics in AI – Responsibility and Trust in the Digital Age. Lecture at the AI Compass conference (Esslingen University of Applied Sciences)

07/2024: Big Brother Meets Joystick. Ethical Perspectives on Surveillance Imagery in Digital Games. Conference DiGRA 2024 (Guadalajara, Mexico).

06/2024: Immortal in digital afterlife – media science and media ethics perspectives. Lecture at the Evangelisches Bildungswerk (Regensburg).

04/2024: Narratives, myths, theories? Conceptual implications of conspiracy research. Lecture at the workshop of the Working Group Conspiracy Narratives, Tribalisation & Political Polarisation of the Society for Media Studies (Marburg).

03/2024: Introduction: Surveillance images in digital games and other media. Lecture at the conference Surveillance images in digital games (Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen).

02/2024: AI competence in journalism. Keynote Journalists' Day (Würzburg)

01/2024: Deadbots as a media phenomenon. Conference Immortal as an avatar? Ethics, law and security of digital afterlife (Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen).

10/2023: Cultural imaginations and ethics of AI. Lecture series Ethics for Computer Scientists (Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University, Karlsruhe).

06/2023: Images of Surveillance in Computer Games. Guest lecture at the Graduate School of Core Ethics and Frontier Sciences (Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto).

05/2023: The Interactive Gaze: On the Status and Ethics of Surveillance Images in Digital Games. Guest lecture at the Institute for Media Culture and Theatre (University of Cologne).

03/2023: AI in games. Ethical questions about AI and surveillance. Symposium on Gambling 2023 (University of Hohenheim).

01/2023: Didactics in virtual reality. Workshop in the HIVE-Lab project: Social, ethical and legal aspects of mixed reality in the context of health technologies and the possibilities of participatory technology development (University of Tübingen).

01/2023: Research on Genres. Lecture at the opening workshop of the DFG project Japanese Visual Media Graph 2 (Stuttgart Media University).

01/2023: The Interactive Gaze – Images of Surveillance in Computer Games. Lecture and chair of the working group Global Surveillance Cultures: The Arts, Surveillance and Disruptions (Annual Conference of the Modern Language Association, San Francisco).

12/2022: Project presentation: Edilife – Ethics, Law and Security of Digital Afterlife. INSIGHT Forum 2022, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Social and Technological Change (Berlin).

10/2022: From Big Brother to the Control Society. Narratives of Surveillance. Keynote at the Autumn Conference of the Professional Association of Data Protection Officers in Germany (Stuttgart).

10/2022: Narratives of Digitalisation between Film and Society. Research Colloquium, IZEW (University of Tübingen).

10/2022: The Myth of Digitalisation. Panel discussion, Georg von Vollmar Academy (online).

09/2022: Crisis Journalism and Ambiguity. Dealing with Ambiguities in the Context of Mass Media Crisis Communication (with Gräf, Dennis). Panel moderator at the 27th German Studies Conference (University of Paderborn).

05/2022: Alexa ex machina: AI imaginations and diversity in film and marketing. Lecture at the Humboldt Study Centre for Philosophy and Humanities (University of Ulm).

03/2022: Ethical guidelines for avatar creation. Workshop HIVE-Lab: Social, ethical and legal aspects of mixed reality in the context of health technologies and the possibilities of participatory technology development (University of Tübingen).

10/2021: Discover Diversity: Gender in video games. Workshop (Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences).

09/2021: Introduction to the conference Horror – Media – Spaces (University of Erlangen-Nuernberg).

08/2021: Characteristics of crisis journalism and the journalistic handling of professional criticism in the Corona crisis. Sociology Congress 2021: Post-Corona Society? Pandemic, Crisis and its Consequences (University of Vienna).

07/2021: Artificial Gender – Gender Rhetoric of Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Technologies. Lecture series Gender Lectures (TU Dresden).

04/2021: ‘...paving the way for a German games strategy.’ Workshop of the Federal Ministry for Transport and Digital Infrastructure.

03/2021: Palimpsests. Game genres and hypertextuality. Conference Spielzeichen IV: Genres (University of Passau).

02/2021: Cultures of surveillance. Conference Privacy and Digitalisation (University of Passau).

01/2021: AI, simulation, surveillance: interfaces of digitalisation narratives. Conference Digitalisation. Narrating a Turning Point (University of Innsbruck).

12/2020: AI Marketing and Society. Lecture series AI Interdisciplinary (Munich University of Applied Sciences).

11/2020: Formats of the Political. Federal Press Conference (Berlin).

11/2020: Designs of the Social in the Marketing of Digital Technologies. Lecture series 10 Minutes of Sociology (University of Passau).

05/2020: Deciding in Sequence: Seriality and Value Transmission in Interactive Narrative Formats. Guest lecture at the Institute of German Studies (University of Innsbruck).

02/2020: Subject Formatting and Identity Models in Superhero Films. International Week of Semiotics (University of Potsdam).

01/2020: Spatial theories. Lecture series Cultural Spatial Topologies/Media Imaginary Spaces (University of Passau).

11/2019: More than a Morality Meter? Analysing Models of Values in Games. Workshop at the Clash of Realities Conference (Cologne University of Applied Sciences).

11/2019: Cyberspace as a fictional space. Cultural Models of Digital Collectivity. Conference Collective Resource Acquisition and Social Participation in Cyberspace (University of Regensburg).

11/2019: Watch Dogs and the Heterotopia of Surveillance: Motifs, Structures and Functions of Surveilled Worlds in Digital Games. Conference Control Machines. Dispositifs of Computer Games (University of Münster).

10/2019: The Signs of the Times. On the Potential of a Semiotics of Digital Society. Keynote at the welcome event of the Cultural Poetics programme (University of Münster).

09/2019: Multiple Materiality: Interface and Media Reflection in the Netflix Film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Lecture at the annual conference of the Society for Media Studies (GfM) (University of Cologne).

05/2019: Digital Games in Motion. Lecture and panel discussion at the symposium Context/Collisions as part of DANCE 2019 – 16th International Festival for Contemporary Dance (LMU Munich).

05/2019: A brief film history of privacy. Opening lecture for the Privacy Day at Stuttgart Media University.

02/2019: From Tales from the Crypt to American Horror Story: Genre functions and narrative forms of the horror anthology. Workshop Anthology Series: Systematics and History of a Narrative Format (University of Münster).

02/2019: Sommer's Weltliteratur to go and the question of tradition. Introduction to the Winter School Social Semiotics: Media Tradition/Cultural Transformations in the Digital Age (University of Passau).

12/2018: Digital games as a medium and object of cultural communication. Keynote at the conference Spielzeichen III: Cultures in Games /Game Cultures (University of Passau).

11/2018: Paradigms, fields of application and questions of cultural-semiotic computer game research. Keynote workshop The Narratives of Games. Workshop on Computer Game Narratology (University of Münster).

09/2018: Alexa Ex Machina. Cultural Discourses on Artificial Intelligence in Science Fiction Films, Journalism, Marketing (with Decker, Jan-Oliver). Summer School of the Studienstiftung (La Colle-sur-Loup).

09/2018: Collective Sign Spaces – The Semiosphere as an Analytical Model for Concepts of Authorship in Digital Space. Workshop Contemporary Literary Practices (Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg).

06/2018: Fairy tales as models: Fairy tale motifs and narratives in the interactive world designs of computer games. Lecture series Modern fairy tales. Innovations between courage and mainstream in literature and media for children and young people (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg).

05/2018: Artificial emotions? Continuities and Processes of Change in Robot and AI Discourses in Science Fiction Films (with Hauptmann, Kilian). Annual Conference of the Society for the History of Technology (University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg).

04/2018: Typology, Categories, Development of Surveillance Narratives: An Introduction (together with Hans Krah). Lecture series Narratives of Surveillance (University of Passau).

03/2018: Media and cultural semiotic approaches in games teaching. Lecture at the workshop Meta-Gaming 2.0 – Teaching Concepts in Media Studies Game Studies (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg).

10/2017: Digitality and privacy. A Media and Cultural Semiotic Classification. Introduction to the Conference Digitality and Privacy (University of Passau).

10/2017: Lecture on the founding of the AG Mediensemiotik (Media Semiotics Working Group) at the annual conference of the Society for Media Studies (University of Erlangen-Nuernberg).

09/2017: Image – Game – Literature. On the interaction of audiovisual, ludic and literary narrative strategies in the visual novel. 15th International Congress of the German Society for Semiotics (University of Passau).

09/2017: Truth, Justice and the American Way: Social Models in American Hero Cinema. Evening lecture in the CineScience series of the Institute for Cultural Studies (Essen).

03/2017: Cultural semiotics as a methodology for video game analysis. Conference Playful Meaning. Close Reading Strategies in Game Studies (University of Kiel).

03/2017: Representations of Surveillance in German Literature and Film. Conference The Aesthetics of Surveillance: German Perspectives (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN).

12/2016: Digital world – old ideology? Gender constructions in computer games and in game thrillers in children's and youth literature (with Gräf, Dennis). Lecture series Media Constructions of Gender (University of Passau).

12/2016: Introduction: Play and Space (with Krah, Hans). Conference Spielzeichen II – Raumspiele / Spielräume.

11/2016: The Value of Privacy. Workshop as part of the seminar The Protection of Privacy and the Role of Politics – Tasks, Challenges, Solutions by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

06/2016: Fictions of Digitality and Immortality in Literature, Film and Computer Games. Conference Death, Media and Technomorphic Visions of an Ancient Human Dream (Tunzenberg Castle, Mengkofen).

05/2016: Playing with the Surface. Representations of Transylvania in Vampire Films and Computer Games. Guest lecture at the Faculty of Philology of the Transylvanian University of Brasov (Romania).

10/2015: Press U for Utopia: Technological Utopias vs. Dystopias in Computer Games. Conference: Annual Conference of the Society for Media Studies 2015 (University of Bayreuth).

06/2015: Telling stories with texts – playing with computers. Foreign media references as self-statements of video games. Workshop Meta Games & Meta Gaming: Playing Media – on intermedial reappropriations of computer games (University of Cologne).

06/2015: Back to hypertext: The functional change of intermedial references in video games as a digital discourse on self-discovery. Conference digital.social.marginal? Literature and computer games in the digital society (University of Münster).

11/2014: Intermedial references in video games in transition. Workshop Media cooperation in historical change (University of Münster).

09/2014: ‘Please, stop trying to make every decision by yourself!’ Avatar player reflections as a media search for identity in independent video games. 14th International Congress of the German Society for Semiotics (University of Tübingen).

02/2014: Why Some Worlds Fail. Dysfunctional Transmedial Convergences in the Resident Evil and Silent Hill Universes. Conference Transmedial Worlds in Convergent Media Culture (University of Tübingen).

01/2014: “I is another”: Anonymity in online role-playing games. Conference IDEepolis 2014. Anonymity and transparency in the digital society. Interdisciplinary perspectives (Institute for Digital Ethics, Stuttgart Media University).

11/2013: Dear Big Brother: Surveillance in American Film and Television Productions. Lecture series Media & Privacy (University of Passau).

10/2013: Content Lab: Storyworlds. Workshop on the Design of Transmedia Campaigns (Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, Ludwigsburg).

06/2013: Spider-Man in the Digital Age. Narrative Transformation in the Superhero Genre. 2013 International Conference on Narrative (Manchester Metropolitan University).

06/2012: Superman (USA 1978, Richard Donner) and the Superhero Film. Lecture series Film Classics II (University of Passau).

Teaching

Since 2024/25: Seminar ‘Ethics for Computer Scientists’ for the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University in Karlsruhe
Since 2023: Seminar ‘Ethics for Journalists’ for the Medienring in Stuttgart

 

Teaching at Stuttgart Media University:

2025/26: Ethics and Narrative Media Analysis (Master's seminar)
2025: Media Design and Dramaturgy (lecture)
2025: Film/TV Design/Production (Master's seminar)
2024/25: Media Theory and Analysis (lecture)
Since 2022: Media and Communication: Digital Cultures (lecture)

 

Teaching at the Humboldt Study Centre for Philosophy and Humanities at the University of Ulm:

2024/25: Digital Literacy – Methods of Analysis and Reflection on Digital Media (seminar)
2024: Introduction to Film Analysis (seminar)
2023/24: Introduction to Media Ethics (seminar)
2023/24: Questionable Scenes: Ethics and Philosophy in Films and Series (seminar)
2022: Technology in the Context of Ethics, Culture and Society (seminar)

 

Teaching at the University of Passau: 

2021: Transmedial spaces: Urban dystopias in film, comics and computer games (advanced seminar)

2020/21: Breaking taboos in film history (advanced seminar)

2020: Media images of heroes (lecture)

2020: Eco-dystopias and discourses in film and other media (seminar)

2019/20: Digital cultures (lecture)

2019/20: Cultural theories and digital media (seminar)

2019/20: Transmedial Narrative (advanced seminar)

2019/20:  Cultural Discourses of Surveillance (seminar)

2019: False Worlds? Simulated Realities in Film (seminar)

2018/19: What Happened So Far...: Forms, Structures, Transformations of Serial Narrative in Television and Online Series (advanced seminar)

2018/19: Norm vs. Monster: Motifs, Value Models and Change in Horror Films (seminar)

2018: The Myth of Digitalisation – Models of the Digital Society in Film, Journalism and Marketing (seminar)

2017/18: Real Humans? Robots, AI and Anthropology in Science Fiction Films (seminar)

2017/18: Cultural Studies and Computer Games (advanced seminar)

2017: Reading Canonised Texts of Media Theory (tutorial)

2017: Self-Reflexive Narrative in Literature, Film and Computer Games (advanced seminar)

 2016/17: Truth, Justice and the American Way. Worldviews in Superhero Films (seminar)

2016/17: Key Texts and Theories in Privacy Research (seminar)

2016: Surveillance in literature and film (seminar)

2015/16: Children of the night: classics of vampire films (seminar)

2015/16: Survey: German Culture (lecture introducing German cultural history with e-learning component)

2015: Text Production: Wikipedia (exercise)

2014/15: Horror Films of the 70s and 80s (seminar)

2014: Methodological Competence (exercise)

2013/14: Game Studies: Gender in Video Games (seminar)

 2013: Methodology of Media Science (exercise)

2012: Played Stories. Narration and Interaction in Computer Games (seminar)

 2012: Text Interpretation (exercise)

2011: Video 2.0 – Origins, Development and Perspectives of Moving Images on the Internet (seminar)

2010/11: Different Strategies of Audiovisual Representations of Reality. The Pursuit of Authenticity in Documentary Film, Television Journalism and Cultural Studies Field Research (seminar)