IGCS Colloquium: Katrin Lehnen

Katrin Lehnen's paper conceptualizes writing as a cultural and social practice and examines how writing practices are transformed in postdigital contexts. Drawing on praxeological theory, writing is understood as a socially typified form of action embedded in cultural norms, material settings, and implicit knowledge. Using an example from early literacy acquisition, the paper illustrates how writing practices emerge through situated actions and become visible through their textual artifacts. From this empirical vignette, broader theoretical and methodological reflections are developed concerning the relationship between visibility and invisibility, materiality, and implicit knowledge in writing practices. The article then discusses different approaches to modelling writing practices within writing research and linguistics. Special attention is given to the ongoing transformation of writing through digital technologies and text-generative AI. Based on empirical data from university teaching contexts—including student texts, reflections, and group interviews—the study explores emerging AI-based writing practices. The analysis highlights shifting relations between human and technological participants in writing processes and raises questions about authorship, text production, and the future of literacy practices in postdigital societies.