Recently published: Situational privacy: theorizing privacy as communication and media practice

Privacy is a core issue in the datafied society. It involves more than data protection or a transparent society. Privacy is a critical concept that helps to understand and evaluate the flow of data and information. However, how this criticism can be formulated and theoretically substantiated is subject to differing assessments, not only in communication and media studies. While some see privacy as an individual task, others call for more political responsibility in controlling and shaping privacy.

Johanna E. Möller discusses privacy from a practice-theoretical perspective in a theoretical article recently published in a renowned journal. "Situational privacy," she argues, systematically develops the concept from everyday communication and media activities. With a focus on the ongoing transformation of privacy, the article utilizes recent empirical and theoretical considerations from practice-based privacy research as well as conceptual work on the concept of the situation in social theory. By shifting the focus to disruptive moments of privacy, everyday criticism, and pragmatic measures for "good enough privacy," privacy is explained through everyday routines and situations. Situational privacy thus offers a communication and media perspective on privacy as a critical concept in the datafied society.

The article is available on the Communication Theory Open Access site

The publication was produced as part of the interdisciplinary project "Disruptions of Networked Privacy" (DIPCY) and would not have been possible without the financial and organizational support of the "Disruption and Societal Change" (TUDiSC) project.