Digital Berlin - Digitale Alltagspraktiken - Detailseite

Digital, data-based technologies like apps play an increasingly important role in our daily lives in Berlin: be it in the search for the fastest route through the city by public transport (BVG-Fahrinfo), by bike or on foot (Google Maps), when shopping or ordering food or when at leisure while playing games (Pokemon Go). As we navigate through the urban space, we produce a lot of data without being aware of it. We do not know the purpose of its use by the tech companies or the platform industry. We see new dominant narratives that imagine the city of the future as "smart" and based on data. But what does that mean for us and our data? How does a "smart future" in the eyes of politicians and other decision makers look like?
The seminar would like to combine the current discussions about data-based surveillance capitalism/Digital Capitalism and urban research. In this way, the role of data-based, digital technologies in our everyday life in Berlin should be made visible and be reflected on. The seminar further aims at changing the given "strategies" of the apps like Google Maps by exploring the urban space through walks in the city. They will be conceptualized and carried out by the students themselves. Perhaps, this could offer us a different perspective on urban space and allow us to regain our agency for a moment.