Contact: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Coy, Volker Grassmuck, Prof. Dr. Jörg Pflüger
Funded by: DFG

Cooperation:
Prof. Dr. Friedrich Kittler, Institute for Aesthetics, Humboldt University
Prof. Dr. Charles Grivel, Dep. of Romanistik, University of Mannheim
Prof. Dr. Joachim Paech, Dep. of Media Science, University of Konstanz

The research cooperation aims at a historical and systematic foundation of media science. The basic notions of
a Theory of Media has to be developed under special consideration of information technology and information
theory including their mathematical history.

The global electronic networks offer new forms of communication, information, of trading, and entertainment.
New cultural patterns emerge, which unfold primarily as typical popular cultures (sub-cultures). In the long run
they will determine cultural ruptures on a global scale in a much greater extent than former ones. At present,
these effects are characterized as subcultural according to the actual situation of their introduction, their
anchorage in the academia, and the student dominated popular culture. Taking into account the political and
economical intentions and switches, it becomes obvious that the effects will transgress the subcultural frame by
far.

The project aims at the exposition of the history, the actual situation, and realistic perspectives of the global
internetworking process. As focal points of the first project phase, the impact of the Internet on scientific
libraries and the commercializing of the Internet - especially the development of secure ways for the
transmission of money - will be analyzed.