Article:

Das Format als medienindustriell motivierte Form. Überlegungen zu einem medienkulturwissenschaftlichen Formatbegriff

Wherever there are media, there will also be formats. Just as heterogeneous as their manifestations—such as book, paper, television or digital file formats—are the definitions of «formats,» most of which refer to specific media or domains of media practice. This article offers a proposition for a unified and more generalized media-theoretical concept of format instead and, on this basis, examines which phenomena and relationships such a universalized understanding of format brings into the focus of media and format studies. Comparing conceptual «strategies of formatting» and quotidian «practices of formatting» particularly emphasizes the relevance of format’s external purposes, industrial contexts and cooperative functions.