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Concept of the Human

In Informatics research and technology development, various roles are assigned to humans: In the field of IT-Security, humans are seen as needing protection, but also as potential threats. In Artificial Intelligence, the human serves as a reference model. For Human Computer Interaction (HCI) design, human activity in the world and its support by digital media is the focus. This assignment of roles must be consciously reflected. What attributions come with them and what humans do researchers have in mind? The concept of “the human” has close relations to gender. An idea of (hu)man always entails gender concepts including social categories like physical and mental abilities and leaves its marks in research and development.

Questions relating to Impulses

  • What (and whose) life domains and what everyday contexts seem interesting for our research?
  • What kinds of people do we have in mind when formulating our project goal? Are they mainly like us or do we also imagine completely different population groups?
  • Will we include “ people with disabilities”in our concepts?
  • What roles do we assign to them? Are these roles gendered?