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Dear friends and fellow researchers,

Internet research is fun! This is the case when our fellows conduct a data analysis from our garden swing seat on a hot summer's day, with their feet in the paddling pool, or when two of our research programmes go head-to-head in a city-wide cycling competition. As scientists, however, we must continually ask ourselves how we can communicate our results to the world. Recently we hosted the “smartest night of the year” at the Institute, featuring enlightening talks, an AI oracle, dancing robots and open access minigolf! See below for drawings made at the Long Night of the Sciences, revealing how our visitors imagine the year 2040. We believe that everyone should participate in this journey of shaping digital society.

We hope you enjoy reading this newest issue of our Quarterly newsletter!

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

View all drawings here

RESEARCH AND ACTIVITIES

Impact School 2019 | Know How to Reach Whom, Why and When

Knowledge transfer and communication are rarely the subject of scientific education. We aim to change this: From 30 September to 2 October, the Impact School will take place once again at our Institute! This international and interdisciplinary three-day training provides young researchers with the principles and tools they need in order to have a lasting impact on society.

| Apply until 31 July and increase your scientific impact!

AI & Knowledge Work | Research Project

Artificial intelligence is generally regarded as the essential driver for a comprehensive transformation of the world of work. A new research project – funded by the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs – investigates the intentions and strategies with which AI applications are used in the workplace, which changes are perceived by the participants and how different actors react to them.

| Find out more here.

Internet and Society | Fellowship Programme

Our Institute, located in the heart of Berlin, provides a dynamic intellectual environment for junior and senior researchers. Last year our fellows from all over the world worked on a wide range of intriguing research topics, such as digital justice, fake news or legal aspects of black boxes, during their stay. Are you tech savvy and fascinated by questions around the internet and society? Then we encourage you to...

| get your application ready until 2 September!

IMPaQT | New Research Project

How can we make processes of knowledge transfer from researchers to society measurable by means of quality criteria and indicators? With our new project “Indicators, Measurement and Performance of Quality Assurance: Third Mission Activities in the Social Sciences” (IMPaQT) – funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and under the guidance of Benedikt Fecher – we will be tackling this question throughout the next three years!

PUBLICATIONS

Details

Exploring Digital Spheres | Highlights

Since the launch of our podcast, we have published a total of 17 episodes! The episode featuring Marleen Stikker speaking about how the fairphone was invented, what fablabs are for and how we should deal with disruptive technology is most popular with our listeners. In "Silicon Savannah", Nicolas Friederici stresses that although Africa is seen as a continent of economic opportunity, the focus shouldn’t be on copying Silicon Valley.

| “For the good of the net”: Uta Meier-Hahn explains how internet connectivity works.

CfP

The Futures of eHealth | Edited Volume

Whether it’s diagnoses made by algorithms or improving critical care access through remote technology: digitalisation opens up great potential in the healthcare sector, but also confronts us with new social, legal and ethical challenges. Read what science has to say about this in our brand-new publication edited by Thomas C. Bächle and Alina Wernick – following up on our eHealth conference!

| Preview the publication here.

Internet Policy Review | Special Issue on Transnational Materialities

For those who want to shorten the waiting time until #AoIR19: our journal on internet regulation recently published a special issue with selected #AoIR18 conference papers, edited by José van Dijck and Bernhard Rieder. If you prefer a shorter read: based on this IPR article, the New Statesman reports how citizen scoring algorithms are being used by local governments.

| Recommended read: Jeanette Hofmann explores the concept of mediated democracy.

The Machine | Friend or Foe?

There is no unambiguous answer. While the machine symbolizes progress and salvation, it is simultaneously feared for precipitating the disappearance of work and for prefiguring dystopian notions of the complete demise of mankind. A recently published volume by Thomas C. Bächle et al. seeks to investigate and update the debate around the relationship between humans and technology.

| Take a look at the book (in German)!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Digital Society

Digitaler Salon | 31 July & 29 August

The next sessions of our popular discussion format are coming up! On 31 July, we will ask “in dubio pro data”? Nowadays, chat messages and cloud data help authorities convict criminals just like fingerprints once did. Is everything becoming safer or is there room for new crime? On 29 August, we will discuss whether civil engagement has become outdated or whether it has simply moved to digital realms.

| Watch videos of all the past events here!

IPR

Armin Nassehi | 28 August

Digital technology has revolutionised the world over the space of only a few years: our relationships, our work and even the outcome of elections – everything seems to follow completely different rules. Yet, for sociologist Armin Nassehi, digitisation is only a technical answer to a question that has always arisen in modern societies! He will continue our academic lecture series “Making sense of the digital society” on 28 August.

| What problem does digitalisation solve? Sign up for this lecture!

Impact School

Influencing the Digital Transformation | 23 September

Enterprise Social Software seeks to connect employees with each other and thus strengthens participation and collaboration. In view of the increasing use of digital corporate platforms, how can co-determination in the workplace be changed and shaped? The results of this workshop will be made available to interested stakeholders in the form of a toolbox.

| You want to rethink culture and participation?

Beyond HIIG | Events that Caught our Eye

11 September | XI. IGF-D | BMWi, Berlin

23 September | FUTUREwork 2019 | EUREF-Campus, Berlin

27 – 28 September | re:publica Sequencer Tour | Detroit, USA

11 – 13 October | DSIC’19 | Limassol, Cyprus

Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG)
Französische Straße 9, 10117 Berlin | info@hiig.de