The sustainable development of research software for media and communication studies

PhD project

The research field of communication and media studies has changed significantly in recent decades with the spread of the internet and advancing digitalization. This applies not only to the subject area itself, but also to the methodological approach used to analyze it. Research software is an important tool in the implementation of numerous methodological approaches. Its use can range from the automated evaluation of data left behind by users of digital media to qualitative survey and analysis methods for investigating increasingly complex media repertoires. However, research software is often developed for specific applications and projects and is therefore very specialized and aimed at rather small target groups. On the one hand, they have very specific demands on the functions of such software and, on the other hand, by actively using it, they are important for the sustainability and thus longevity of the research software.

The co-creation approach offers an opportunity to profitably combine target group requirements and software sustainability and to involve the user group of researchers as early as the software development stage. This involves developing software together with its future users right from the start. In my cumulative doctoral project, which is part of the DFG project „The sustainable provision of software for research on cross-media practices and digital traces“, I would like to show how the co-creation approach can be applied to the development of research software for communication and media studies and evaluate it from various perspectives.

I will first demonstrate how the co-creation approach can be implemented in the development of the MeSort and MeTag software applications, particularly in co-operation with future users from the research community. In a second step, I will show how the wishes of participants in research projects can be collected during the development process of research software. Based on the concepts of scenarios and personas, which are frequently used in interaction design, a methodological approach is developed that allows both concepts to be tested in an experimental setting for the development of research software. The third aspect investigated is whether and how co-creation can be integrated into the teaching context in order to take into account the perspective of students, and thus potential future users, in the development process.