Making sense of our connected world
Towards a socially just gig economy in Kenya: Stakeholder engagement and regulatory processes
The gig economy in Kenya is growing rapidly but conditions for workers are often precarious. We investigated the livelihoods of gig workers.
The age of machine autonomy?
Can machines be autonomous – or is it a human prerogative? This categorical question dominates many discussions on our relationship to purportedly intelligent machines. A human vs. machine rhetoric, however, does not get us very far.
The Anywhere Jobs are nowhere near – How remote work is moving towards the city
Remote working allows us to work from “anywhere”. So why are cities, of all places, becoming the new mega-hubs for digital work? What does this change bring to rural regions that are being left behind?
Platform regulation and data governance
Digital platforms play a crucial role in social discourse. Besides providing access to products, entertainment and information, they also enable the politicisation of online spaces. In these, people discuss with each other, but also spread hate speech or disinformation. At HIIG, we are investigating how these new digital public spheres can be regulated by law. In addition to safeguarding human rights, the rule of law and democratic values, we are also focusing on the huge amounts of data managed by platform companies. How can this data be “shared” between state, private and public actors for new innovations for the benefit of society?
Content moderation on digital platforms: A more intensive horizontal effect of freedom of expression?
To what extent should private companies be bound by freedom of expression? Investigating a more intensive horizontal effect of fundamental rights.
Human-centered data governance in health and care sectors
Personal data is particularly sensitive and worthy of protection in the health and care sector. What could good data governance look like here?
Digital strategizing as a new way of doing strategy
Considering the dynamics and processes related to the digitalization of the strategy making process results in a shift from digital strategy to digital strategizing. What’s behind the concept?
Turning back time for Content Moderation? How Musk’s takeover is affecting Twitter’s rules
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter is bringing platform governance to the centre of the media spotlight. But (how) have Twitter’s content policies changed so far?
ArtificiaI Intelligence made in X: The German AI policy landscape
AI is also discussed at the subnational level. Laura Liebig and Dr. Anna Jobin asked themselves: Why do German federal states feel the need to individually issue AI policies?
Designing Digital Democracy
Designing rules for digital democracy is difficult. But new ideas for more democracy on platforms through deliberative elements are being piloted. How promising are they?
Shaping AI in the interests of employees
AI offers opportunities and risks for employees. But what can managers and works councils do to enable potential positive effects and avoid negative effects?
Fest-Forward: Speculative Governance of the Smart Wall
Serious issues raised by advances in algorithmic immigration and border control: addressing the smart wall.
Social Media Councils: An effective means of holding digital platforms accountable?
Social Media Councils may align public values with platform governance if platform economic incentives are taken into account.
Caring about privacy but accepting cookies? Questioning the privacy paradox.
Why do we agree to privacy agreements like Cookies way faster and consider them less online than offline? Let’s explore the Privacy Paradox!
Content Moderation – What can stay, what must go?
How can rules for algorithmic content moderation in Social Networks look like? This guest article by Alexandra Borchardt examines researcher’s suggestions.
A lion for sustainable AI: How to support a new standard for sustainability reporting?
The Sustainability of AI is missing proper standards. The EU’s CSRD is a reporting tool that might be a new directive. But is it a toothless paper tiger or a sharp lion?
Sustainable AI – How environmentally friendly is AI really?
Sustainable AI is becoming increasingly important. But how sustainable are AI models really? And what recommendations can be made? Read about our investigations of small-scale AI projects.
AI as a flying blue brain? How metaphors influence our visions of AI
Why is Artificial Intelligence so commonly depicted as a machine with a human brain? This article by Johanna Teresa Wallenborn shows how one misleading metaphor became so prevalent.
Exploiting potentials: Teaching AI Systems to See Accessibility Barriers
Barriers in our physical environment are still widespread. While AI systems could eventually support detecting them, it first needs open training data. Here we provide a dataset for detecting steps and stairs.
Sharing knowledge: Impact of Covid-19 on digital teaching
How can we address the many inequalities in access to digital resources and lack of digital skills that were revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Explaining AI – How to explain the unexplainable?
Complex automated decision making systems have become ubiquitous in our everyday lives. Should we even care to understand how AI-based decisions are made?
Towards an African Narrative on Digital Sovereignty
How can an African perspective help us reframe our view of digital sovereignty? We shed light on economic independence in the digital economy and how states need to become aware of it.
