Who collects data, under what conditions, and who has access to it?
What would a corresponding infrastructure look like?
What may be tagged by whom and who can read them?
How does the registration of the world of things affect the control of material resources?
To what extent does this pose new problems for jurisdiction and data protection?
Project description in brief:
"'Being Tagged': digitally reorganizing the world".
RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology often remains invisible in our everyday lives, yet is virtually everywhere: for example, chips can be found in ID cards, vehicles, clothing, the environment, animals, and sometimes even inside people. These chips store information such as production data, supply chains and prices, names, dates of birth, or biometrics. However, a new technology has emerged in recent years that enables the production of RFID tags without chips and their incorporation into almost any item at an affordable cost.
The central goal of this interdisciplinary project between Media Sociology, Science & Technology Studies (STS) and Electrical Engineering is to create an explorative overall picture of the opportunities, challenges and conflict scenarios of ubiquitous chipless RFID applications. Relevant processes, infrastructures and dynamics of knowledge generation and world appropriation will be identified by means of a qualitative content analysis, expert interviews and a future workshop with representatives from science, industry, civil society and science fiction authors within the framework of the inventory dispositif.
In this way, RFID systems will be captured in terms of their social function and impact as part of a broader trend towards a momentous environmentalization of digitalization through linked complex systems and technological infrastructures (see, among others, Schröter 2015: 235f.; Frith 2019; Hayles 2009). Large-scale inventorization of the world produces new forms of knowledge production, organization, and structuring that have a marked impact on our perception of the world and subjectivity. Therefore, it is important to analyze the developments of the new RFID technology in an exploratory way in order to identify emerging opportunities and risks at an early stage and to reflect on them with regard to political, economic and ethical aspects. Since no studies on chipless RFID technology in the field of STS or technology assessment are known to date, the study aims to develop realistic conceptions of applications and their consequences that go beyond classic logistical visions and highlight the sociotechnical and cultural effects of the new technology.
Literature:
Frith, Jordan: A Billion Little Pieces. RFID and lnfrastructures of ldentification. Cambridge/London: MIT press 2019.
Hayles, N. Katherine (2009): RFID. Human Agency and Meaning in Information-Intensive Environments. In: Theory, Culture & Society 26 (2-3), p. 47–72.
Schröter, Jens (2015): Das Internet der Dinge, die allgemeine Okologie und ihr Okonomisch-Unbewusstes. In: Christoph Engemann und Florian Sprenger (publ.): Internet der Dinge. Uber smarte Objekte, intelligente Umgebungen und die technische Durchdringung der Welt. 1st ed. Bielefeld: transcript, p. 225–240.
The project team
Jutta Weber is a technology researcher and heads the Department of Media Sociology at the University of Paderborn. Her research analyzes the intertwining of human practices and machine processes, especially in the field of computer science, artificial intelligence and robotics. Currently, in addition to the BMBF research network 'Ubitag', she leads the BMBF research network MEHUCO: 'Meaningful Human Control. Autonomous Weapon Systems between Reflection and Regulation' (2022-2026); www.mehuco.de
Selected Publications:
Jutta Weber, Daniel Erni and Jasmin Troeger, "ubiTag / 'Being Tagged': Die digitale Neuordnung der Welt – Chancen, Herausforderungen und Konfliktszenarien ubiquitärer chiploser RFID-Anwendungen," BMBF INSIGHT Forum 2022, Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven des gesellschaftlichen und technologischen Wandels, Talk & Poster, Dec. 5-6, Design Offices Berlin Humboldthafen, Berlin, Germany, Session: 'Themenoffenes Feld’, 2022.
Artificial Intelligence in the Age of Technoscience.“ In: Anthony Elliott (Publ.) Routledge Social Science Handbook of Artifical Intelligence. New York/London: Routledge, 2021, pp. 58-73 (with Bianca Prietl)
Human-Machine Learning und Digital Commons. In: Kathrin Braun/Cordula Kropp (Eds.): In digitaler Gesellschaft. Neukonfigurationen zwischen Robotern, Algorithmen und Usern. Bielefeld, Transcript. 2021; https://juttaweber.eu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oa97838394545345e2h1FRnkmT9K-seiten-1-7133-135214-223.pdf
Technosecurity Cultures. Science as Culture, 29:1, 2020, publ. with Katrin Kämpf;
Human-Machine Autonomies. In: Nehal Bhuta et al. (Eds.): Autonomous Weapon Systems. Cambridge 2016, 75-102 (with Lucy Suchman);
Keep Adding. Kill Lists, Drone Warfare and the Politics of Databases. In: Environment and Planning D. Society and Space, Vol. 34(1) 2016, 107-125;
Blackboxing Organisms, Exploiting the Unpredictable. Control Paradigms in Human-Machine Translation. In: Martin Carrier, Alfred Nordmann (Publ.): Science in the Context of Application, Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol.274(6) 2011, pp. 409-429.
Interdisziplinierung? Über den Wissenstransfer zwischen den Geistes-, Sozial- und Technowissenschaften. Bielefeld: transcript 2010, http://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-1566-1/interdisziplinierung?c=91
see also www.juttaweber.eu
Daniel Erni heads the Department of General and Theoretical Electrical Engineering (ATE) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He is co-founder of the spin-off company airCode in Duisburg, which works on the development of flexible, printable RFID technologies. His current research interests include chipless flexible RFIDs, highest bit rate optical interconnect technology, nanophotonics, plasmonics, high sensitivity optical biosensing, novel solar cell concepts, optical and electromagnetic metamaterials, radio frequency, mm-wave, and THz engineering, biomedical engineering, bioelectromagnetics, marine electromagnetics, computational electrodynamics, multiscale and multiphysics numerical modeling, numerical structural optimization, and science and technology research (STS). In the School of Engineering, he leads the bachelor's and master's programs in medical engineering.
Publications:
K. Neumann, D. Erni, and N. Benson, "Addressing the effects of UHF RFID tag crumpling," Int. Conference of Smart and Sustainable Technologies (SpliTech 2023), June 20-23, Hotel Elaphusa, Bol, Split, Croatia, 2023.
K.-D. Jenkel, B. Sievert, A. Rennings, M. Sakaki, D. Erni, and N. Benson, "Enhanced radar cross-section for W-band corner reflectors using ceramic additive manufacturing," 12th Annual IEEE Int. Conf. on RFID Technol. and Appl. (RFID-TA 2022), Sept. 12-14, Regina Margherita Conference & Leisure Hotel, Cagliari, Italy, Workshop Session S1_2: 'Flexible and Printable Electronics and Electromagnetics', pp. 1-3, 2022.
K. Jerbic, J. T. Svejda, B. Sievert, X. Liu, K. Kolpatzeck, M. Degen, A. Rennings, J. Balzer and D. Erni, "The identification of spectral signatures in randomized (sub-)surface material systems," 5th Int. Workshop on Mobile THz Systems (IWMTS 2022), July 4-6, University of Duisburg-Essen, Fraunhofer-inHaus-Center, Duisburg, Germany, Session 4: 'Terahertz Identification and Classification', 2022, (hybrid workshop as both, on-site and online event), doi: 10.1109/IWMTS54901.2022.9832449.
Z. Tian, R. He, H. Gao, M. Sakaki, N. Benson, P. Hildenhagen, D. Erni, and A. Rennings, "Design of a compact combline filter fabricated by lithography-based ceramic manufacturing (LCM)," 43rd Photonics and Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS 2022), hybrid/virtual conference including postponed PIERS 2021, April 25-29, Hangzhou, China, Session 3A16a – 'SC4: Microwave Integrated Passive Circuits and Devices', pp. 1-2, 2022.
K.-D. Jenkel, B. Sievert, A. Rennings, M. Sakaki, D. Erni, N. Benson, "Radar cross-section of ceramic corner reflectors in the W-band fabricated with the LCM-method," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., 2023, (accepted).
Jasmin Troeger works as a research assistant in the department of media sociology with Prof. Dr. Jutta Weber. Currently, she is working on the project "Being Tagged': digitally reorganizing the world" (ubiTag), which deals with the implications of an increasing inventorization of the world through the use of chipless ubiquitous RFID applications. In addition, from a media studies perspective at the intersection of STS and CDS, her dissertation explores the formative role of adaptive, data-driven learning platforms and, concomitantly, of automatically produced data that emerge through the use of algorithm-driven educational software.
She studied Communication and Media Studies at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Research at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. In her previous research projects, Jasmin Troeger dealt, among other things, with questions from the fields of media processing and effects as well as the modeling of social identity through media use.
Research interests
- New media and communication technologies
- Digital transformation
- Datafication processes
- Qualitative research methods in communication and media studies
Publications:
Jutta Weber, Daniel Erni and Jasmin Troeger, "ubiTag / 'Being Tagged': Die digitale Neuordnung der Welt – Chancen, Herausforderungen und Konfliktszenarien ubiquitärer chiploser RFID-Anwendungen," BMBF INSIGHT Forum 2022, Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven des gesellschaftlichen und technologischen Wandels, Talk & Poster, Dec. 5-6, Design Offices Berlin Humboldthafen, Berlin, Germany, Session: 'Themenoffenes Feld’, 2022.
Troeger, J., Zacharova, I., Jarke, J., Macgilchrist, F. (2023). Digital ist besser!? - Wie Software das Verständnis von guter Schule neu definiert. In: Publ.: Breiter, A., Bock, A., Lange, A., Jarke, J. (2022) Datafied. Data for and in Education. Springer
Macgilchrist, F., Jornitz, S., Mayer, B., Troeger, J., (2023) Adaptive Lernsoftware oder adaptierende Lehrkräfte? Das Ringen um Handlungsspielräume. In: Publ.: Breiter, A., Bock, A., Lange, A., Jarke, J. (2022) Datafied. Data for and in Education. Springer
Troeger, J., Bock, A. (2022) The walkthrough – a methodological approach for platform (user) studies from a communication research perspective. Studies in Communication Sciences
Troeger, J., Lüpkes, J., & Bock, A. (2022). In software we (do not) trust. In Eckhardt Fuchs, Marcus Otto (Publ.): In Education We Trust? Vertrauen in Bildung und Bildungsmedien. Volume 153. Göttingen: V&R unipress
Weich, A., Priedigkeit, M., Deny, P., & Troeger, J. (2021). Adaptive Lernsysteme zwischen Optimierung und Kritik: Eine Analyse der Medienkonstellationen bettermarks aus informatischer und medienwissenschaftlicher Perspektive. MedienPädagogik - Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung, (44), 22-51. https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/44/2021.10.27.X
Troeger, J. & Tümler, J., (2020). Virtual Reality zur Steigerung empathischer Anteilnahme. In: Weyers, B., Lürig, C. & Zielasko, D. (Publ.), GI VR / AR Workshop. Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V.. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18420/vrar2020_3
J. Weber, J. Troeger, and D. Erni, "ubiTag / 'Being Tagged': Die digitale Neuordnung der Welt – Chancen, Herausforderungen und Konfliktszenarien ubiquitärer chiploser RFID-Anwendungen," BMBF INSIGHT Forum 2022, Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven des gesellschaftlichen und technologischen Wandels, Talk and Poster, Dec. 5-6, Design Offices Berlin Humboldthafen, Berlin, Germany, Session: 'Themenoffenes Feld’, 2022.
J. Troeger, D. Erni, and J. Weber, "Tagging the whole world: Chipless RFID as a invisible, ubiquitous infrastructure of identification," STS Italia Conference (STS Italia 2023), June 28-30, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, 2023.
K. Neumann, D. Erni, and N. Benson, "Addressing the effects of UHF RFID tag crumpling," Int. Conference of Smart and Sustainable Technologies (SpliTech 2023), June 20-23, Hotel Elaphusa, Bol, Split, Croatia, 2023.
Project start
Berlin: BMBF INSIGHT Forum 2022,
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Societal and Technological Change, talk and poster.
Virtual: INSIGHT Workshops 2023
Intermediate results and exploitation concepts
Split, Croatia: Int. Conference of Smart and Sustainable Technologies (SpliTech 2023)
Bologna, Italy: STS Italia Conference
Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italia.
