Thomas A. Bauer

Since 2013 Professor emeritus at the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna, starting employment there in 1993 as Chair of Audio-visual Media and over the years developing a working program in Media Culture, Media Literacy Studies, and Media Theory. Additional fields of research and teaching so far are: Future Studies, Environmental Communication, Health Communication, Transcultural Dialogue of Religions, Cultural Studies, Migration, Minorities and Social Change Issues. In addition to theoretical work he is engaged in maintaining a critically reflexive interrelation between theoretical analysis and innovative practice. This has been the reason for co-founding OKTO Community TV Vienna in 2005 as a model of alternative media-work as well as other projects in the field of media magazines.
Among other functions he has been the the publisher of OKTO Community TV Vienna, now Honorary President, and since 2010 the acting president of the ESEC (the European Society for Education and Communication). His academic work always has been oriented to international relations. Based on this interest, he accepted several invitations as a visiting professor at universities in different countries of Asia, Latin America, the USA, and the Balkans. Since 2015 he has been the scientific coordinator of a Media Literacy Program, co-founded by the EU, realized with academic partners from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Netherlands and Germany.

Born in 1945, Diessen/Ammersee. After completing the studies in Philosophy and Theology at several German universities (1971), he completed the studies in Communication and Media Studies as well as in Cultural Sociology as Dr. phil at the University of Salzburg (1973), followed by a Diploma in Group Dynamics, Media- and Communication Training at the "Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kommuniation und Medien" [International Working Group for Communication and Media] (Graz, Zürich, Amsterdam) in 1976. Working as an external lecturer at several Austrian universities and publishing a three-volume book on Media Education, in 1980 he received the academic certification of teaching and research (habilitation) at the University of Salzburg. In 1993 he accepted the appointment for a chair-holding professorship at the University of Vienna, in the status of Prof. emeritus since 2013.

Among many books and articles on media literacy, media theory, transcultural communication, his last comprehensive book was published in 2014 as a theoretical framework of cultural studies of societal communication and its relation to media literacy and social change: "Kommunikation wissenschaftlich denken" – [Thinking Communication Scientifically. After that, books and articles on the Mediology of Teaching and Learning have been brought to publication.

Select Publications:

Bauer, Thomas A. (2014): Discursive Knowledge and Social Participation. A contextual Theory of Public Value. Hanoi AJC publication
Bauer, Thomas A. (2014): Kommunikation wissenschaftlich denken. Perspektiven einer kontextuellen Theorie gesellschaftlicher Verständigung. Wien-Köln-Weimar. Böhlau [Thinking Communication Scientifically] Bauer, Thomas A. (2016): Meister und Master. Lehren und Lernen im Modus mediativer Logik. Berlin: Lang Vlg [Introduction to the Mediology of Learning]
Bauer, Thomas A. (2017): Wissensverständigung in der Mediengesellschaft. Theoretische Skizzen zur Mediologie gesellschaftlichen Lernens. IN: Bauer, Thomas A. / Bernd H. Mikuszeit (2017): Lehren und Lernen mit Bildungsmedien. Grundlagen – Projekte – Perspektiven – Praxis. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, p. 15 - 48 [Teaching and Learning through Educational Media]
Bauer, Thomas A. (2017): Signaturen der Mediengesellschaft. Medialität als das ästhetische Moment im Verhältnis von Kommunikation und Gesellschaft. In: Dimitris Charalambis / Charis Papacharalambous (eds.): jus, ars, philosophia et historia. Festschrift für Johannes Strangas. Athen 2017, p. 55 - 91
Bauer, Thomas A. (2017): Werden und Wandel der Mediengesellschaft. In: Gowin, Peter / Walzer, Nana : Die Evolution der Menschlichkeit. Wege zur Gesellschaft von morgen. Wien: Braumüller, p.117 - 136 [text on Media Culture in New Media Society)
Bauer, Thomas A. (2017): Social Network and Information Management: A Case Study of Austria and Other European Countries” Hanoi: AJC publications
Bauer, Thomas A. (2018): Im Anfang war das Selfie. Zur ambivalenten Logik von Kommunikationswerten in medientypischen Lebenswelten.
Bauer, Thomas A. (2018): Mediology: Understanding the Society through its Mediality. In IAFES report 2018
Bauer, Thomas A. (2018): Im Anfang war das Selfie. Zur ambivalenten Logik von Kommunikationswerten in medientypischen Lebenswelten. IN: Roland Verwiebe (Hrsg.): Werte und Wertebildung aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive. Wiesbaden: Springer

Awards:

Wiener Schmidt Preis 2016 GPI Gesellschaft für Pädagogik und Information / Gesellschaft für Kybernetik und Systemtheorie
Dr. honoris causa 2018 AJC, Academy for Journalism and Communication, Hanoi, Vietnam
Honorary President OKTO Community TV Vienna 2018