Final comment

The aim of the course “Theory and Method for Media Technology” is to provide a deeper understanding of scientific theories and methods relevant for media technology research. I prepared myself for the themes by reading all the material on the weekend before the pre-theme deadline. By doing so I had time to reflect and try to make sense of the thoughts that arose. Since some of the assigned literature texts were hard to grasp like “Critique of Pure Reason”, I read additionally literature/encyclopedia or investigated about the authors such as Thomas S. Kuhn, Plato or Adorno and Horkheimer to really prepare myself for the theme and/or to get a better understanding of the whole context and more background information.

After finishing my last scheduled blog post, I realized that all the themes were correlated to each other. During the seminar, I grasped that every theme will of course be related to each other but now I recognize that all the themes together create the overall picture which will help me to e.g. to identify and critically examine media technology research. In the following part, I will focus on themes in the course which I think arose more frequently than others and are essential to gain a deeper understanding of scientific theories and methods.

First of all, we talked about a priori, synthetic knowledge, how we can judge different things by math and metaphysics, critique of pure reason and how knowledge of the world is always structured according to time and space. Because of the discussion during the seminar, I now understand that Kant questioned how knowledge could be structured and not where knowledge might come from. To quote Kant: "Let us assume that our faculties of knowledge do not conform to the objects, but the objects do conform to our faculties of knowledge."* Since this was discussed in the first lecture, I now realize that it was a good way to start the course. These keywords built a decent foundation for the philosophical reasoning which followed in the second theme and others.

Another important topic of this course was in my opinion about research and theory. We figured out that a common use of the word theory implies that something is unproven or speculative which is better characterized by the word hypothesis.  A theory is a set of proposition that aims to identify objects and their relation to each other. To me, theory is an attempt to explain the causal logic between cause and event and hypothesis is a statement or guess for research purpose which tries to explain two variables. With this in mind, I was prepared for the upcoming lectures which especially focused on quantitative and qualitative research methods. To me, this theme was quite helpful since I did not have any courses focusing on research methods in my bachelor’s studies. To really differentiate between the terms theory and hypothesis will be extremely helpful for upcoming research projects in my master studies since often especially the term theory is misused in everyday language.

To me, problem solving was another important aspect of this course since it will help us to be effective and efficient not only in our studies but also later on in our work life. According to Haibo Li’s theory, defining the problem takes about 90 % and solving the problem takes about 10 % of the time. I think this is an important reminder to really focus on the problem in order to solve it and not doing things for the sake of doing things. With focus on the course, this way of problem solving is also a good way on how to approach research methods: To really take the time and e.g. re-think the hypothesis I have created before implementing it into my research.

I think that the interconnection between all themes become obvious in a case study. First of all, I now know that a case study is to build a theory and not test theory and since I am now able to differentiate theory and hypothesis, I can identify that a case study does not seek out to address specific hypothesis. Furthermore, I will be able to choose the appropriate research method due to the new approach on how to solve problems. Nevertheless, I will not forget to keep space and time in mind. A case study which might be true today will most likely be outdated in a few years. Therefore truth is related to the state of knowledge right now and it is relative. If you set forth this idea you might end up at the theme of the first lecture: Kant’s “Godly knowledge”. Even though Kant wants us to elevate us to God’s point of view, it is impossible to achieve due to the mentioned boundaries. There is no pure knowledge according to Kant, since our sense making is bound to experience, cultural context and environment. Because of this the case study that I create will always be influenced by my subjective experience even though I try to make it as objective as possible.

All in all I think that the course “Theory and Method for Media Technology” has provided me with a deeper understanding of scientific theories and methods relevant for media technology research. In my opinion, this course was a great start into my master studies since in my business related bachelor studies, I did not learn anything about the mentioned aspects. So these more philosophically and later on research focused themes were positively challenging. This course has provided me with a wide range of information and has greatly contributed to my understanding of theory and method for media technology. I find it very pleasant that this course has also contributed to my everyday life. Personally, I am more a “Doer” than a “Thinker” and I always thought that getting your hands on something will always be the quickest way to solve a problem. This new learning will help me to not rush in and be focused. 

*Kant, I: Critique of Pure Reason, p. 110