Institut für Soziologie
Institut für Soziologie
  Karola Köpferl
ORCID: 0009-0001-5360-3927
Pronouns: she/her

E-Mail:

 karola.koepferl@...
Room:
Straße der Nationen 62 | R. 1/269 | 09111 Chemnitz
Thüringer Weg 9 | C34.124 | 09126 Chemnitz
 
 

About me

I am a certified social pedagogue and doctoral candidate in the field of sociology of technology, with a particular focus on the use of smart technology by older people in everyday life.  My research interests lie in qualitative, participatory and interdisciplinary approaches. My role can best be understood as that of an interpreter and intermediary between the social and computer sciences. In particular, I am interested in questions related to the Internet of Things, hacking and the mediation of digitalization issues, including artificial intelligence and privacy.

Office Hours

on-demand - Please write a mail or call for a consultation appointment.

Current focus of the research + topics for scientific papers

It is always possible to write semester papers, seminar papers, bachelor's and master's theses on the topics and issues in which I specialize. Please feel free to send me a message.

  • (Smart) Technology in the everyday life of older people
  • Hacking, free and open source, digital network movements
  • Topics and questions on the history of technology in the GDR, especially computers in the GDR
  • Technology in care and health - also outside the in-patient context
  • Citizen science - participatory research
  • Digital accessibility

Curiculum Vitae

Professional Experience

12/2023 – ongoing Research Assistant -project "Simplications" - implications of simple sensors and their data in the home
06/2023 – ongoing ESF funding for innovation: "Smart Technology in the Everyday Lives of Older People. A qualitative empirical study of use, attitudes and potential for support".
01/2023 - 11/2023 Research Assistant /Lecturer, -project  “Data-I – Experiencing data interactions interdisciplinary” interdisciplinary teaching-learning project on IoT sensor data
08/2022-03/2023 Research Assistant -project "PartWiss 22 +PartWiss23 , BMBF (01PA2201B) 

02/2023-12/2023

 Project Lead of "Schlaue Technik. Tolle Helfer? as part of the Science Year 2022 
07/2021-08/2022 Research assistant as a substitute for the Junior Professorship of Sociology of Technology 
01/2021- 06/2021 Project manager at WohnXperium e.V., Chemnitz in collaboration with Chemnitz University of Technology: Ambient Assisted Living technologies and PFLEX Sachsen
01/2019-12/2020 Scientific project manager at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences, implementation of the inclusion sub-project -Lecturer Faculty of Social Work

 

Qualification

10/2022 – ongoing "Qualitative Educational and Social Research"  Centre for Social World Research and Method Development at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
2020

Saxon Higher Education Teaching Certification (HDS Certificate) + E-Teaching Certification (TU Dresden)
2018 Certificate from the Bavarian Elite Academy Foundation in Munich, which offers training programmes in Brussels, Hanoi, Shanghai and Beijing 
2016 Master's degree in Management of Social and Healthcare Organisations, Catholic University of Applied Sciences Munich
2015 Bachelor Bachelor's degree in Social Work, Mittweida University of Applied Sciences + Hogeschool Inholland Alkmaar. 

 

Organized Conferences, Workshops and Sessions

  • 12/2023: "From simple sensors to (un-)intended implications", workshop at Things 2023, Rotterdam, co-organisation
  • 12/2023: "From (un-)intended implications for privacy to implications for design and use", workshop at Things 2023, Rotterdam, co-organisation
  • 11/2023: "PartWiss: Konferenz zur Vernetzung und Stärkung von Partizipation in der Wissenschaft", part of Programme Commission (2022+2023) and co-organisation
  • 11/2023: "Sensordaten in der Lehre: interaktiv und interdisziplinär", HDS workshop, Chemnitz, main organisation

Publications 

  • 2024
    • Köpferl, Karola: "Meine Oma hat nen Nachttopf mit Beleuchtung..." Praktiken und Orientierungen älterer Menschen bei der Nutzung smarter Technik. Scientific Reports 2024, Nr.3, Mittweida 24. Nachwuchswissenschaftlerkonferenz
    •  Bischof, Andreas, Karola Köpferl, Benedikt Haupt, Alexa Becker, Christian Pentzold und Arne Berger:  „Partizipative Wissenschaftskommunikation für (zukünftige) Technologien“, 2024, 159–72. (in press)
  • 2023
    • Kaden, Sascha., Köpferl, Karola., Bischof, Andreas., & Röhrbein, Florian.: The robot should motivate: „Come on, you can still do it!“ An Exploratory Pilot Study. 2nd Workshop on Care Robots for Older Adults at RO-MAN 2023 (2023). croa-roman.com
    • Albrecht Kurze, Karola Köpferl, and Maximilian Eibl. 2023. Data-I – Interactive Experience of IoT Data: A Practical Tool for IoT Sensor Data in Interdisciplinary Human-Computer Interaction Education. In Proceedings of the 5th Annual Symposium on HCI Education (EduCHI '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 85–90. https://doi.org/10.1145/3587399.3587405
    • Albrecht Kurze, Karola Köpferl, and Andy Börner. 2023. Data-I: Daten-Interaktion interdisziplinär erleben. In HDS Sommerfest 2023. https://tuc.cloud/index.php/s/mMtD4z64WY4kiX2
    • Bessert-Nettelbeck M, Bischof A, Sturm U, Nagy E, Schraudner M, Backhaus J, Bruckermann T, Hecker S, Henke J, Köpferl K, Kirschke S, Liedtke C, Mahr F, Maibaum A, Podann AC, Rössig W, Schäfer M, Schröder C, Schrögel P, Shennan V, Steinhaus N, Stewart M, van den Bogaert V, Voigt-Heucke S (2023) Participation as a research approach in academia: a converging field. Research Ideas and Outcomes 9: e105155. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.9.e105155
    • Köpferl, Karola (2023): Participatory Research with the Community of Older People on Using Smart Technology in Everyday Life. Eye on TAMK. International Week: Finnland.
  • 2021:
    • Köpferl, Karola; Naumann, Katrin (2021): Social Entrepreneurship education – an approach to empower for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thinking for social work students – SWES. Ankara. Türkei.
    • Köpferl, Karola; Naumann, Katrin (2021): „Social Entrepreneurship Education as a way to enhance students' awareness of starting a business“ Eye on TAMK. International Week: Finnland

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