Welcoming speech and keynote presentations from ZeMKI's annual conference available on YouTube

To mark the 20th anniversary of ZeMKI, the welcoming address by the Rector of the University of Bremen, Prof. Dr. Jutta Günther, and the four keynote speeches by Nick Couldry, Alenda Y. Chang, José van Dijck, and Christian Vaccari are available in full on YouTube.

To mark the 20th anniversary of ZeMKI, the welcoming address by the president of the University of Bremen, Prof. Dr. Jutta Günther, and the four keynote speeches by Nick Couldry, Alenda Y. Chang, José van Dijck, and Christian Vaccari are available in full on YouTube.

On October 23, 2025, Prof. Dr. Jutta Günther gives her welcoming speech at the opening of ZeMKI’s international anniversary conference in the Forum am Domshof in Bremen, in which she pays tribute to the development, significance, and social responsibility of ZeMKI.

In his keynote, Prof. Dr. Nick Couldry (London School of Economics and Political Science) explores media and communications’ evolution over the past 20 years via a decolonial framework that, beyond identifying enduring neocolonial forces, shows how ever more of the world’s resources are captured in a new stage of colonial appropriation.

In her keynote Prof. Dr. Alenda Y. Chang (University of California Santa Barbara) outlines how video games were once trumpeted as the paradigmatic media form of the twenty-first century and how increasingly, their narratives and gameplay mechanics have become rich sites for environmental inquiry.

In her keynote Prof. Dr. José van Dijck (Utrecht University) highlights the growing dominance of two global platform ecosystems that has left European countries to rely on American and Chinese digitale infrastructures.

The talk by Prof. Dr. Cristian Vaccari (The University of Edinburgh, UK) critically reconstructs key debates on whether the internet enhances or undermines democratic participation, outlining six visions of how citizens engage in politics through digital media.

All lectures are part of the YouTube playlist for the 20th anniversary of ZeMKI and can be accessed at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL90uB8YbRv6XDwiBHYrgzVdZswRNBgUlL