New Article: "Solving the Crisis with 'Do-It-Yourself Heroes'?"

A new article on the media coverage of ” Maker” and “Quantified Self” movements in the Covid-19 pandemic by Jeanette Asmuss and ZeMKI members Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp, Julie Lüpkes and Anne Schmitz has been published in the journal “Communications”.

The article analyzes how the media in Germany and the UK reported on the maker and quantified self movements during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study shows that both pioneer communities were mostly portrayed positively: Makers were seen as creative problem solvers, while Quantified Self supporters contributed valuable insights to the pandemic through their self-measurements. Overall, the image that emerged was of dedicated “do-it-yourself heroes” who contributed to overcoming the crisis with innovative approaches and emphasized technological solutions.

The article is based on research conducted in the DFG-project „Pioneering Communities – The quantified Self and Maker Movement as collective Actors of profound Mediatization“ of the ZeMKI Lab Datafication and Mediatization.

To the article