Using comparative research methods in media studies to compare cultural and situational contexts, applying standard measures to compare data, and sampling them in units following a definitive condition could prove to be particularly challenging with global trends altering the researcher’s understanding of local and immediate experiences. Overcoming this personal crisis, how does one establish the validity and legitimacy of contextual frameworks? Owing to algorithmic bias, one witnesses single life issues across networks, cultures, and systems, until they initiate the search for alternate independent meta detached systems, or consider multiple networks for data gathering. The postmodern fear of reality turning into one coherent picture with excessive signs demanding quick reaction, attention, and participation threatens the value of the original lived reality. The anxiety of lost spaces calls attention to diverse ways of imagining and interpreting meanings of texts. Can performative, embodied, participatory, virtual, and narrative ethnography shed light upon the cultural experiences in newly formed hyper independent societies? Besides the documentation of cultural production of the time, how would an ethnographer depict the human condition represented in modern arts-science interfaces?

Mixed methods prove to be efficient in generating valuable insights that could be studied to reveal current transformations in the market, and present opportunities for future conversations. Yet, generalisations derived from the study may face the threat of stagnation with digital influencers turning them into words of caution and grooming tips. When pitching my methodology for conducting research in the area of modern dating applications, my research advisory committee rejected the idea of using traditional forms of literature as primary texts citing I would have to resort to fictional works to make sense of reality, and suggested looking at images and texts available on dating platforms for accuracy. After having conducted interviews with several users, I could attest to the fact that their narration of events may also be regarded as works of fiction. In such areas of communication systems, longitudinal study of systems are possible, but longitudinal study of participants and volunteers seems impractical, and unethical. Considering these limitations, what are the chances of predicting futuristic models of meaningful, interactive spaces? The seminar invites papers from different methodological perspectives, addressing gaps in defining oppositions, and simultaneously responding to ways of expanding the discipline of Comparative Literature. The topics are broadly listed as, but not limited to:

Creative Methods

Reflexive Writing

Liminal Spaces

Media and Representation

Repetitive Patterns and Predictability

Changing Meanings of Text