Dear Friends and fellow Researchers,

Seven years of HIIG, five years of Internet Policy Review – and it has already been a year since we launched the blog journal Elephant in the Lab as well as the lecture series Making sense of the digital society: the past few months have seen many reasons to celebrate the institute’s output over the last years. We believe there is – perhaps more than ever before – an urgent need for engaging in a dialogue on digital transformation with society. For this reason, we are eagerly anticipating new science transfer formats and events. To pass the time until these take place, read the first chapter of Shoshana Zuboff’s new book on surveillance capitalism or sign up for Nick Couldry’s lecture on data colonialism! If you would like to delve even deeper into our research after reading this newsletter, take a look at our researcher's talks from the Long Night of the Sciences.

We wish you pleasant reading!

Jeanette Hofmann | Ingolf Pernice | Björn Scheuermann | Thomas Schildhauer | Wolfgang Schulz

RESEARCH AND ACTIVITIES

What’s the DEAL? | The Future of Open Access

How can we make scientific insights more easily available outside of the academic “ivory tower”? For half a year now, Benedikt Fecher, Marcel Hebing and Larissa Wunderlich have been hosting meetups at HIIG. These meetups are open to anyone who wants to take a new point of view on familiar topics. A recent meeting featured a discussion of the DEAL negotiations and the future of Open Access in Germany with Nick Fowler (Chief Academic Officer of Elsevier) and Gerard Meijer (member of HIIG’s scientific council).

| Read our interview with Fowler and Meijer.

Transatlantic Dialogue | Approaches to Cybersecurity and Privacy

The tension between cybersecurity and data protection presents a pressing challenge to transatlantic relationships. In cooperation with New York University, HIIG organised two conferences, bringing together an eminent transdisciplinary group of experts from academia, administration, business and civil society from both sides of the Atlantic.

| Check out the conference’s edited volume!

Artificial Intelligence | Ethical and Legal Implications

In cooperation with the Center for Cyber Law & Policy at the University of Haifa (CCLP), we are organising the first annual meeting of the Network of Centers‘ European Hub from 28–30 November! As part of the event, a workshop for young scholars will address the social, ethical and legal implications of AI-based technologies.

| Have a look at the programme!

Internet Policy Review | Five Years of Publishing

The five-year anniversary of our open-access journal on internet regulation was cause for one of our biggest celebrations this year. We have gathered memorable moments from the event: you can watch the keynote speech by Marianne Franklin, or you can have a look at some visual impressions from the evening. We also collected some numbers for you, for instance on the...

| average review time or most downloads for a paper.

PUBLICATIONS

Study | Big Data and Nudging

Our behaviour is being influenced and barely anyone has noticed: default settings in apps are an example of the ways in which citizens are “nudged”, namely to share their data, while those who have opted out are potentially disadvantaged. A new study by Max von Grafenstein, Julian Hölzel, Florian Irgmaier and Jörg Pohle shows the consequences of this interference and proposes a public nudge register for more transparency.

| Visit the publication (in German) or view the press release.

Issue in Focus | Exploring the Digital Society

Almost a year ago, Manuel Castells officially inaugurated our academic lecture series Making Sense of the Digital Society, in which visionary experts share their perspective on the digital society of our time. To celebrate the speeches given to date, and to facilitate easier access to related recordings and articles – including an excerpt from Shoshana Zuboff‘s latest book on surveillance capitalism – we have made a…

| compilation on our blog.

Replication Studies | A Matter of Impact

A recent paper by HIIG researchers Benedikt Fecher and Gert G. Wagner et al. finds evidence that higher-impact articles or articles by authors from leading institutions are more likely to be replicated. Interestingly enough, replication is less likely for articles that appeared in the top 5 economics journals. The authors suggest that replication efforts could be incentivized by reducing the cost of replication. Furthermore, mandatory data disclosure policies may have a positive effect.

| Read the full article here!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Colonised by Data | 20 November 2018

The current datafication of society not only brings about another iteration of capitalism but also enacts a new form of colonialism. On 20 November, Nick Couldry, Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), will speak about data colonialism and the hollowing out of digital society. His lecture will discuss how a new social order is being created.

| Make sure not to miss out!

Open Brown Bag Lunch | 31 October 2018

Get your midday meal ready and prepare for another lunch talk at the institute`s kitchen! Our visiting researcher Clara Iglesias Keller, who is a Public Law Doctoral Candidate at the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), will talk about Brazil’s new data protection law and Brazilian regulation of online service providers. Read her latest blog article on whether fake news could annul the Brazilian elections or tell us if you want to…

| join her lunch talk in our kitchen or watch it online.

Digitaler Salon | 31 October 2018

The internet is gone and nothing works anymore: how protected are our data networks? Are we even prepared for an emergency? We don’t really celebrate Halloween or All Saints’ Day at our institute, but on this occasion we will forage into darkness a little deeper than usual. This month at our talk series Digitaler Salon, we will discuss what impact a blackout can have on a networked society.

| LANgelegt?

Privacy, Data Protection and Surveillance | 11 December 2018

A better theory developed? New empirical data collected? Some unsubstantiated assumption uncovered? A widely held belief refuted? Interested in insights that other disciplines, schools or research projects might provide? Then you will welcome the opportunity to present your findings and join the discussion at the eighth edition of Jörg Pohle's interdisciplinary workshop in December!

| Interested in participating?

Beyond HIIG | Events that Caught our Eye

26–27 October | Zündfunk Netzkongress | Volkstheater, München

29–30 November | Crypto-Currencies in a Digital Economy | Weizenbaum Institute, Berlin

10–11 December | Vocations and Visions of Data Analysis | Peace Research Institute, Oslo