Journalistic Tools as "Boundary Objects" - A Media-Ethnographic Study of their Specifics as well as Dynamics of Development and Appropriation in Journalism

The dissertation focuses on new journalistic tools under the conditions of digital media change. The tools are understood as „boundary objects“ (Star&Griesemer, 1989). Such a socio-technological perspective makes it possible to analyze their (technical) specifics as well as to grasp the negotiation processes in the context of concrete development and appropriation processes. Methodologically, the work is based on a media ethnographic analysis, specifically qualitative interviews with key players and participant observations during the development and use of the tools. Because what journalism is and can be – according to the basic assumption of the work – is (also) revealed through the tools it uses.

Star, S. L.; Griesemer, J. R. (1989): Institutional Ecology, ‘Translations‘ and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-37. Social Studies of Science. 19/3. 387-420.