New publication: Article by Corinna Peil published in TATuP

An article by Corinna Peil entitled “Infrastructures of care: Ethics in everyday digital media use” has been published in the current issue of the Zeitschrift für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Theorie und Praxis (TATuP ).
🔗 https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.7169

The article conceptualizes digital media as “infrastructures of care” and focuses on practices such as maintenance, adaptation and support in the use of media technologies – activities that often remain invisible in everyday digital life, but are of central importance for social participation and sustainable technology development. From a care ethics perspective, it is argued that the everyday confrontation with technical malfunctions, updates and configuration problems not only shapes individual media behavior, but also activates collective care relationships. The concept of warm experts describes informal support networks that ensure digital participation – across all age groups and levels of experience.

Using qualitative data from several studies, the article sheds light on how such supportive relationships can contribute to the social and ecological sustainability of digital media. At the same time, political and technological implications are identified, for example with regard to reparability, usability and the responsibility of the tech industry.

The article is part of the TATuP special issue “Practices and concepts of care in sustainability transformations: Critical perspectives in technology assessment”, edited by Sarah Hackfort, Julia-Lena Reinermann and Daniela Gottschlich.