Global network for internet research

The Global Network of Internet and Society Research Centers (NoC) is an initiative started in 2012, which aims to increase cooperation between participating centres in order to facilitate knowledge exchange, realise synergies and collectively confront transnational issues on a global level. In the process, they grapple with a variety of topics of both domestic and global importance: policy, regulation and governance, human behaviour and social impact, new markets and business models, intellectual property, privacy and security, and many other issues.  The Network initiates and facilitates joint research activities and events and thereby has added a global perspective on the current debates on internet and society.

European Hub for Internet and Society

The European perspective on global issues

In 2017, representatives of 15 European internet research institutes launched the European Hub for Internet and Society, a platform for scientific exchange and cooperation in Europe. The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) is developing the research platform and will be coordinating the cooperation for the first two years. The first common research focus is the topic of “artificial intelligence”.

Therefore, some first steps have already been taken to facilitate exchange between outstanding researchers on the effects of “artificial intelligence” on human rights: Most noteworthy, HIIG and the Hans-Bredow-Institute for Media Research (HBI) organised the workshop Algorithmic Decision Making and its Human Rights Implications.