About me

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I am Associate Professor in Media Studies at the School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, and affiliated with the Centre for Internet Research.

My research explores the relationship between social systems and communication media. Working primarily within media sociology, media theory, and systems theory, I investigate how digital media, platforms, algorithms, and artificial intelligence transform the communicative and structural conditions under which interaction, organizations, and society reproduce themselves. A particular focus of my recent work has been the development of system-theoretical concepts for understanding AI, technological media formations, and algorithmic differentiation.

Drawing especially on the work of Niklas Luhmann, my research examines how technological change transforms communication, knowledge production, decision-making, and social organization. Recent publications have addressed topics such as generative AI, interactivity, technological media formations, education, digitalization, and the Anthropocene. Together with Michael Paulsen, I developed the theory of the three waves of digitalization in education and co-authored A New Perspective on Education in the Digital Age: Teaching, Media and Bildung (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022).

Empirically, much of my work has focused on how educational institutions adapt to digital media and AI. Through fieldwork, interviews, and action research, I have studied the changing conditions for teaching, learning, assessment, and Bildung in digitally mediated societies. I also contribute regularly to public debates on technology, education, and AI through research publications, books, lectures, interviews, and opinion pieces.

I teach media theory, social theory, and philosophy of science, with particular interests in communication, technology, organization, and social change.

I serve on the editorial board of the Danish Encyclopedia of Media and Communication, on the board of the Danish Association for Media and Communication Research (SMiD), and participate actively in international research networks and conferences.

I hold an MA in Information Science and Organizational Psychology from Aarhus University and a PhD in Media Sociology from the IT University of Copenhagen.

 

Dansk

Jeg er lektor i medievidenskab ved Institut for Kommunikation og Kultur, Aarhus Universitet, hvor jeg er tilknyttet Afdeling for Medievidenskab og Journalistik samt Centre for Internet Research.

Min forskning kredser om forholdet mellem sociale systemer og kommunikationsmedier. Jeg arbejder inden for mediesociologi, medieteori, mediefilosofi og videnskabsteori med særligt fokus på, hvordan digitale medier, platforme, algoritmer og kunstig intelligens ændrer betingelserne for kommunikation, organisation og samfund. Teoretisk er min forskning forankret i Niklas Luhmanns systemteori, og i de senere år har jeg især beskæftiget mig med udviklingen af systemteoretiske perspektiver på AI, teknologiske medieformationer og algoritmisk differentiering.

Jeg interesserer mig for, hvordan teknologiske forandringer påvirker samfundets måder at producere viden, træffe beslutninger og forstå sig selv på. Dette arbejde har blandt andet resulteret i forskning om interaktivitet, sociale medier, platformssamfundet, kunstig intelligens, uddannelse og antropocæn. Sammen med Michael Paulsen har jeg redigeret antologien Antropocæn: Menneske, samfund og dannelse i en ny tidsalder og udviklet teorien om de tre bølger, der beskriver skolens håndtering af den digitale medierevolution. Vi har desuden udgivet en række bøger om digital dannelse og uddannelse, herunder A New Perspective on Education in the Digital Age: Teaching, Media and Bildung (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022).

Empirisk har en stor del af min forskning været rettet mod gymnasieskolen og uddannelsessystemet. Gennem feltstudier, interviews og aktionsforskning har jeg undersøgt, hvordan undervisning, læring, bedømmelse og dannelse forandres i takt med nye digitale medier og kunstig intelligens. Jeg deltager samtidig aktivt i den offentlige debat om teknologi, uddannelse og samfund gennem bøger, forskningsartikler, kronikker, interviews, podcasts, foredrag og debatarrangementer.

Jeg underviser i medie-, kultur- og videnskabsteori, hvor vi arbejder med tænkere fra antikken til nutidens samfundsteori. Faget omfatter blandt andre Descartes, Kant, Husserl, Gadamer, Foucault, Bourdieu, Habermas, Butler, Haraway og Luhmann. Herudover har jeg gennem en årrække undervist og forsket i organisationskommunikation, organisationskultur og institutionelle kommunikationsformer. I 2018 udgav jeg bogen Strategier til at analysere organisationskultur, og jeg arbejder fortsat med organisatoriske perspektiver på kommunikation og teknologi.

Jeg er medlem af hovedredaktionen for Medie- og kommunikationsleksikon, medlem af bestyrelsen for Sammenslutningen af Medieforskere i Danmark (SMiD), medlem af advisory board for kommunikationsbureauet Vostok og deltager løbende i nationale og internationale forskningsnetværk, konferencer og samarbejder.

Jeg er cand.mag. i informationsvidenskab og organisationspsykologi fra Aarhus Universitet og ph.d. i mediesociologi fra IT-Universitetet i København, hvor jeg forsvarede afhandlingen Mediesociografi.

Short CV for associate professor, cand.mag., Ph.D. Jesper Tække

  • 1969 born
    • 1999 Cand.mag. in Information Studies and Organizational Psychology at AU.
    • 2006 PhD defense of the thesis Media Sociography at the IT-University of Copenhagen.

Employment:

  • 1998 External consultant in the EU project DAILY.
  • 1999 – 2000 Teaching assistant at Humanistic Informatics at Aalborg University.
  • 2000 External consultant on the research project Social Search at Mindpass.com in Aalborg.
  • 2001-2 External lecturer, partly amanuensis at IMV at Aarhus University.
  • 2003-5 Ph.D. student at IT-University of Copenhagen, Department for Digital Aesthetics and Communication.
  • 2006-8 Amanuensis in organizational communication at IMV Aarhus University.
  • 2008-11 Assistant professor in media studies at IMV Aarhus University.
  • 2011- Lecturer (associate professor) in Media Studies at the Department of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University.

Research projects, leader of:
• 2011-14 Socio Media Education experiment: Action research in the upper secondary school’s use of digital media in teaching (see www.smee.dk), together with Michael Paulsen (SDU).
• 2012-15 BIT project: Follow-up researcher in a project to include IT in teaching at Randers HF and VUC, together with Michael Paulsen (SDU).
• 2017-18 Digitally Supported Bildung and General Education (DUFA project). Offered by the Ministry of Education (and STIL), together with Michael Paulsen (SDU).

Committees, memberships and posts (selective):

  • 2000 – Member of Center for Internet Studies
  • 2003 – Member in Sammenslutningen af Medieforskere i Danmark (SMID)
  • 1999 – Founder of Skandinavisk Luhmann Forum
  • 2019 – 2026 Editor Medie- og kommunikationsleksikon
  • 2018 – 2026 Advisory board at Vostok
  • 2017 – 2021 Member of the research network for pedagogical Information Technology, under Ministry of Children and Education.
  • 2008 – 2018 Chairman for the SIG Society and differentiation Discourse, Field and System, under Nordic Sociology.
  • 2013 – 2017 Chairman for Division 5 NordMedia: Media Literacy and Media Education.
  • 2017 – 2018 Member of digitaliseringspanel nedsat af DLF, DM og GL.
  • 2019 – 2019 Committee work The Agency for Education and Quality – Ministry of Education on digital noise in collaboration with Rambøl
  • 2026 – Member of the editorial board of the Danish Encyclopedia of Media and Communication.
  • 2026 – Member of the board of the Danish Association for Media and Communication Research (SMiD)

Academic awards and honours.