Assistive Media: Barriers and Interfaces in Digital Cultures

by Philipp Macele (Editor), Jan Müggenburg (Editor), Anna-Lena Wiechern (Editor)

Overview

Technologies designed to "assist" users with and without disabilities, such as computer interfaces, act as mediators of barriers in Digital Cultures. At the same time, these technologies, as "assistive media", emerge into a pre-existing technological environment and add an additional level of mediation to human-machine interaction. Drawing on examples rooted in a diverse range of fields – from engineering to medical research to gaming culture – the contributors to this volume each provide a unique perspective on assistance, situated at the intersection of media studies and disability studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783837664720
Publication date:	10/28/2025
Series:	Digital Society
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.86(h) x (d)

About the Author

Philipp Macele, born in 1990, works as a technological manager for Visual Arts in Hamburg. He studied cultural studies (BA) at Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, and media studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. From 2018 to 2022 he was a research assistant in the project "Assistive Media" at Leuphana-Universität, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Jan Müggenburg, born in 1978, is a professor for digital cultures at the Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media (ICAM) at Leuphana Universität Lüneburg. He studied media studies, philosophy and British cultural studies at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, and received his Ph.D. in Philosophy (Dr. phil) from Universität Wien in 2016. His research and teaching focuses on the history of computing, disability history and the materiality of digital cultures.
Anna-Lena Wiechern, born in 1990, works as a research assistant at the Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media (ICAM) at Leuphana Universität Lüneburg. She studied cultural studies at Leuphana and Critical and Cultural Theory at Leeds University. From 2018 to 2022 she was a research assistant in the project "Assistive Media" at Leuphana Universität, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Her research is situated at the intersection of history of science, media history and disability history and revolves around the sense of touch.