{"id":25061,"date":"2015-10-09T10:12:04","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T08:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiig.de\/en\/?p=25061"},"modified":"2018-06-28T12:43:15","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T10:43:15","slug":"early-stage-researchers-colloquium-2015-a-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiig.de\/en\/early-stage-researchers-colloquium-2015-a-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Stage Researchers Colloquium 2015: a summary."},"content":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s Colloquium, on September 24th at WZB, was the fourth edition of an international stage for Ph.D. candidates \u00a0and post-docs from all disciplines on Internet and society. The event consisted on five thematically focused sessions which are briefly summarised hereunder.<\/p>\n

For the first session<\/b>, Stefan Stumpp invited young researchers to debate about \u201cDigital Communication and Value Creation between Companies and the Crowd\u201d to listen to some inspiring presentations and different perspectives on Crowdfunding and the Sharing Economy.<\/p>\n

Dr. Agata Stasik, Associate professor at the Kozminski University, started with her presentation on Crowdfunding as a strategy for technology, business and social innovation in search of evidences from energy-related technological projects. The aim of her quantitative and qualitative research is to show in what extend Crowdfunding creates space for experimentation with new business and technological ideas.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, Maria Lucia Passador, Ph.D. candidate at the Bocconi University in Milan, gave another perspective on Crowdfunding with her presentation \u201cCrowd-F(o)unded Companies, An Open Financial Call\u201d. Maria Lucia explained Crowdfunding problems from a capital risk perspective and illustrated consequences that Crowdfunding produces on the already existing regulation in an Italian context.<\/p>\n

Finally, Ph.D. candidate Antonio Aloisi, also from the Bocconi University, gave insights into his case study research about \u201cCommoditized Workers: The rising of On-Demand Work\u201d. Antonio concluded that the so-called \u201cGig-Economy\u201d could eventually take the risk of turning into a social spirale descendent when risks traditionally borne by firms are being pushed back onto individuals.<\/p>\n

Fundamental challenges and opportunities for public institutions in the digital age were at the center of the second workshop \u201c<\/b>Internet and Public Governance\u201d. Approaching this topic from diverse research backgrounds the guests, Nadja Wilker, Satish Thalla and Dr. Thomas Wischmeyer gave exciting insights into their ongoing research on digital petitioning platforms, online participation in the budgeting process of local communities and the increasing challenges of a regulatory state tasked with the mission of providing information security.<\/p>\n

These presentations were the starting point of a fruitful discussion, of which only some points are mentioned here. With respect to online participation the debate centered around the distinction between online and offline partition, and the question about similarities and distinctions. Most participants underscored the fact, that online participation is more accessible to individuals who can directly contribute to their ideas and thoughts to the political decision making process, without depending on intermediaries like parties, unions or organized groups of civil society. At the same time, concerns were raised, that platforms like Avaaz, also have their own agenda and interests, that also should be watched carefully.<\/p>\n

Another major discussion centered around the question of responsibility for information security and whether private or public institutions were better suited for its protection. While there was no consensus on this issue, all the members of the discussions underscored the fact, that private and public institutions alike had been the victim of major data hacks, what underlines the need to tackle the problem, by whatever actor.<\/p>\n\n\t\n\t\t

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