‘The Internet of Cows’ – On the operationalisation of vital data in industrial livestock farming
The increasing global demand for (animal) food poses fundamental challenges for industrial livestock farming, which are to be met by the use of digital media technologies. Networked data collection and processing are no longer only used for information and observation, but primarily aim to intervene in the body, behaviour and processes. Such operationalisation of vital data is particularly evident in virtual fencing, the virtual herding of animal herds. Software solutions, sensor technologies as well as cloud and GPS services are to create a closed operational logic to regulate the movement behaviour of animals in an automated way.
The media science project analyses the infrastructures, interaction conditions and socio-cultural consequences of virtual fencing in the field of industrial livestock breeding on the basis of case studies. The analysis is embedded in a broader investigation of the adaptive interconnection of environments, living beings and interventions through tracking technologies in life science practices.
Research interests
- Adaptive media
- Image-guided interventions
- Tracking
- Software Studies
- Science Studies
Curriculum Vitae
- Since 10/2018: Research Coordinator and PostDoc, Research College “SENSING. On the Knowledge of Sensitive Media” (funded by the Volkswagen Foundation), ZeM – Brandenburg Centre for Media Studies and University of Potsdam
- 05/2013-10/2018: Research Assistant, DFG Cluster of Excellence “Image Knowledge Design. An Interdisciplinary Laboratory”, Humboldt University of Berlin
- 06/2015: PhD in Media Studies, dissertation thesis “Medienbefunde. Digital Imaging and Diagnostic Radiology” (published by De Gruyter 2018), Academy of Media Arts Cologne
- 06/2009-04/2013: Artistic-scientific assistant, BMBF research association “Embodied Information – ‘Living’ Algorithms and Cellular ‘Machines'”, Academy of Media Arts Cologne
- Studies in Media Science, Law and Sociology, Philipps University Marburg
Lectures and publications
- Friedrich, Kathrin (anticipated 2021). Adaptive Imaging – Interventional Couplings of Image, Body and Action. In: Rieger, Stefan & Schäfer, Armin & Tuschling, Anna (eds.): Virtuelle Lebenswelten. Body-Spaces-Effects. Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter.
- Friedrich, Kathrin (in press). Inside the Virtual Fence – Environments of Adaptive Media. In: Rebekka Ladewig, Angelika Seppi (eds.): Techno-aesthetic Perspectivizations of the Milieu. Leipzig: Spector Books (in print).
- Feiersinger, Luisa & Friedrich, Kathrin & Queisner, Moritz (eds.). (2018). Image Action Space. Situating the Screen in Visual Practice. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
- Friedrich, Kathrin (2018). Media Findings. Digital imaging and diagnostic radiology. Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter.