Researcher - Maker - Minimalist: I have a background in applied cognitice and media sciences as well as Human Computer Interaction but my main field of interest are bottom-up phenomena. That's a fancy way of saying: People who come together, are creative, just do, design and make stuff and by doing so transform the world, bit by bit from the ground up. Hackspaces, Makerspaces, FabLabs, I'm talking about you! I believe that such communities, together with related technologies harbor immense potential for societal change, maybe towards a fairer society (yes, I am a bit of an Anarchist in that regard). However, I don't think that bottom-up culture can or should be limited to high tech ventures - it should be holistic and sustainable which is why I'm also involved in more low tech undertakings like Urban Gardening. Within this weave, I'm concerned with how to design and shape future systems (be they low- or high-tech), machines and interfaces to empower people.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to pursue my work in a research group at the University of Siegen, Germany - a group which is quite focused on practice - meaning we do a lot of work on the ground, with actual people, observing, doing ethnography and develop systems iteratively togther with our users. Begone, ivory tower!