ACCESSTECH @ ÖGGF 2024

Several members of the ACCESSTECH team participated in the 10th conference of the Gender Studies Association Austria (ÖGGF) which took place in Graz, 18-20 September 2024. The transdisciplinary conference focussed on the theme of “Humans – Machines – Environments” and addressed critical questions around the roles of gender in technology, the interaction between humans and machines, and biases in artificial intelligence.

ACCESSTECH contributed two talks: On Thursday, Katta Spiel talked about “Digitalisiertes Schlangenöl: Automatisierte Ansätze in der Gendermedizin” (Digitized Snake Oil: Automated Approaches in Gender Medicine).

Katta Spiel talking in front of an audience. Title slide is shown in the background.

On Friday, Janis Lena Meißner and Ekat Osipova shared reflections on “The Risk of Materialized Cultural Reproduction in and through Online 3D-Model Databases” and presented work they have conducted together with Kay Kender and Naemi Luckner.

Janis Meißner stands on the left and talks in front of an audience. Ekat Osipova stands on the right. A slide is shown in the background listing identified issues.

Open doors with ‘die Maus’

Last week, we had special visitors: ‚die Maus‘ came for a visit along many small and ‘big’ children. 
Under the theme ‘Technology for an inclusive future’, we set up four interactive stations as part of #TürenAufMitDerMaus2024, where young and old could playfully 

  • explore 3D printing, 
  • immerse themselves in Austrian sign language,
  • learn about how circuits and LEDs work, and
  • reflect on what solidarity actually means.
Children, a mother and researchers at the four stations. 3D printed mice and coins, glowing mouse hand puppets are made, a story is read aloud, and learning sign language is prepared.
Impressions from the “ZusammenTun” (collaborating) with the Maus.

Many thanks to our curious visitors, who participated wonderfully and with great interest at each station.
We look forward to seeing you again next year!

More information about the event can be found on the ‘Türen auf mit der Maus’ Website

You can also find further impressions on our new Instagram channel.

Dazzling contributions at MuC24

ACCESSTECH had a strong presence at this year’s „Mensch und Computer“ (MuC) in Karlsruhe, Germany. Founded in 2001, the MuC conference is the largest conference series on human-computer interaction in Europe.


Almost the entire ACCESSTECH team was on site to present our work and goals in various workshops, paper presentations and panel discussions to an interested audience of experts.


Our first contribution from Kay and Janis was to co-organise and run the workshop Can’t Touch This? Is This Touch? It’s So Fluffy I’m Gonna Die! — Material and Tangible Research Methods in HCI‘. Together, they created a zine with the catchy name ‘Touchy Feely’, which was duplicated in an overnight action and published directly at the conference the next day. We announced the workshops here on this website in April.

A zine double page with drawings and text.
Scribbles of the Zine centering quotes around a human figurine.


On the second day, Katta gave a prominent keynote speech in the workshop ‘Bedürfnisse sind unterschiedlich und verändern sich, Methoden auch? Umdenken bei Forschungsmethoden’ and used their own practical examples to show how research with the mindset of “being consciously non-helpful” can lead to a fundamental understanding and radical implementation of access and participation.

Box of zines and stickers.

On the third day, our core values of participation and solidarity were again highlighted in the paper presentation entitled ‘Von Partizipation zu Solidarität: Eine Fallstudie zur Zugänglichkeit von Makerspaces aus Gehörloser und Hörender Perspektive’ by Oliver and Katta.

Oliver and Katta presenting a talk.  A slide in the background reads Access/Zugang.


Oliver then took part in a panel discussion on the topic of ‘The State of (In)Accessibility in Academia’ and used their own experiences to argue that the removal of barriers is a continuous process and can only be successful if it is actively driven forward by all parties involved (with and without disabilities).
With these comprehensive contributions and a dazzling appearance (see photo below), we have evidently succeeded in giving visibility and publicity to our concerns among a (partly somewhat traditional) audience.

Panel discussion with five people and one interpreter in the back.


All in all, it was a very successful conference which, in addition to the professional aspects, also offered an excellent supporting programme with a festival atmosphere and cultural evening events in an impressive setting. We would like to thank everyone involved in the organisation and implementation and congratulate them on a fabulous MuC24!

Five team members showing of their shirts with logos on the back in front of the MuC Logo.
Five team members showing of their shirts with logos on the back in front of the MuC Logo.