Making sense of our connected world
Honey, we need to talk about the future
Can futures studies challenge the status quo beyond academia and approach public dialogue as an imaginative space for collective endeavours?
Exploring digitalisation: Indigenous perspectives from Puno, Peru
What are the indigenous perspectives of digitalisation? Quechuas in Peru show openness, challenges, and requirements to grow their digital economies.
Diamond OA: For a colourful digital publishing landscape
The blog post raises awareness of new financial pitfalls in the Open Access transformation and proposes a collaborative funding structure for Diamond OA in Germany.
Platform governance
Platform Governance refers to the rules, regulations, and framework within which digital platforms in our society are managed. This includes social networks, online services, digital marketplaces, or messaging services, for example. These digital platform ecosystems facilitate the exchange of information, goods, and services in our daily lives. As an integral part of our modern communication, they also have a profound impact on public discourse and economic processes. In our research on sustainable platform governance, we therefore examine how entrepreneurial goals, individual rights, and societal values can be harmonised in these online communication spaces. This includes questions related to online platform regulation, competition law, freedom of speech, individual autonomy, and (democratically anchored) decision-making.
Disinformation: Are we really overestimating ourselves?
How aware are we of the effects and the reach of disinformation online and does the public discourse provide a balanced picture?
Skills to ‘race with the machines’: The value of complementarity
As workers are constantly urged to reskill, how can they determine which skills to invest in? Learnings from one of the world’s largest online freelancing platforms.
More Power to the People: How Platform Councils Can Make Online Communication More Democratic
Companies dominate digital spaces, impacting public debate. Could Platform Councils make online communication more democratic?
How Russian online platforms compete with global giants
The Russian versions of Amazon, Facebook and co. are just as successful as their US competitiveness. How did they emerge and develop?
How does the data institute become public-interest orientated?
The first German data institute is intended to coordinate the data ecosystem, network across sector boundaries, and enable innovations. (How) Can this be carried out in the public interest?
People Analytics: Hype, Fear and Real Opportunities
A lot of data is collected about employees. Current studies show: People analytics has risks, but also real potential for human resources.
EU AI Act – Who fills the act with life?
EU AI Act: Tomorrow’s AI will be decided by authorities and companies in a complicated structure of competences.
Participation with Impact: Insights into the processes of Common Voice
What makes the Common Voice project special and what can others learn from it? An inspiring example that shows what effective participation can look like.
Between experimentation spaces and traffic light systems: Negotiating artificial intelligence at the company level
AI presents worker representatives with new challenges. At the same time, they also develop new approaches to negotiating AI in the interests of employees.
My robot did my homework: AI applications and creativity at the university
Is AI a creativity killer? We consider whether and how generative AI can be used to foster creativity at universities.
Data breaches: Does the GDPR help?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the data breach notification obligation in the GDPR given its objectives?
Public Interest AI – Quo vadis?
A lot has happened since the founding of our research group on public interest-oriented AI, in science, society and politics. We provide an insight.
The Consent Fallacy
Are European data protection laws compatible with our rational capacity or lack thereof? Should the protection of fundamental rights rely on individual consent?
Inside Hugging Face
Understanding what actors and organisations are on Hugging Face is crucial for understanding the current dynamics of open-source research in machine learning.
EdTech: The secret to its implementation
How can universities best implement EdTech? Research-based support for universities navigating the tricky terrain of digital change.
Digital technology for rainforest protection in Indonesia: disturbances, revitalisation and resilience
Digital technology and rainforest protection are strongly intertwined, with new tools offering multiple options for monitoring and restoring.
Net-zero growth driven by green tech – A story for all?
The grand vision that green tech will contribute to net-zero emissions and sustainable economic growth is certainly appealing, but is it really a story for all?
Teaching Norms to Large Language Models – The Next Frontier of Hybrid Governance
This blogpost explores the ways in which we can teach norms to LLMs and introduces the concept of hybrid governance.