ZeMKI, Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research

The international anniversary conference of the ZeMKI in the 20th year of its existence examines the foundations of media and communication research: It is about exploring long-term trends resulting from today's media change and visions for the future.

Another year is coming to an end and we would like to say 'thank you'!

The research report presents the diverse research activities at ZeMKI since fall 2023 on 164 pages. For the first time, special attention is paid to a focus topic, which is presented on a total of 24 pages: this year communicative artificial intelligence, or ComAI for short.

ZeMKI members Prof. Dr. Christian Schwarzenegger, Dr. Erik Koenen, Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler and Prof. Dr. Karsten D. Wolf have published the article “Beyond Play: Researching the Transformative Power of Digital Gaming in Deeply Mediatized Societies” in the journal Media and Communication.

On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, together with Radio Bremen/Bremen Zwei and the Bremer Presse-Club, we invite you to the ZeMKI Media Talks on the topic of “Artificial Intelligence in Journalism” at Club 27 from 6:30 pm with Dr. Jens Radü (DER SPIEGEL).

On 2 and 3 December 2024, the “Perspectives on Platform Governance” workshop took place between researchers from four YUFE (Young Universities for the Future of Europe) partner universities at the Haus der Wissenschaft in Bremen, Germany. Hosted by the Platform Governance, Media, and Technology Lab at ZeMKI, University of Bremen, and funded by the State (…)

On December 17, the ComAI Lecture with Prof. Dr. Jeremy Knox (University of Oxford & University of Edinburgh) on the topic "AI, Education, and Power" will take place at Bremer Presse-Club.

ZeMKI member Dr. Leif Kramp co-authored a monograph (in German language) on digital media use in times of wars, crises and AI.

ZeMKI member Sandra Kero gave a lecture entitled "Femininity as obsession and strategy. The extreme right and women" on November 27 at the TH Köln.

The local info app molo is expanding: The BMBF-funded ZeMKI project is no longer limited to project locations, but can now be used throughout Germany as a platform for local information and events.

A new article on the media coverage of " Maker" and "Quantified Self" movements in the Covid-19 pandemic by Jeanette Asmuss and ZeMKI members Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp, Julie Lüpkes and Anne Schmitz has been published in the journal "Communications".

On November 26, 2024, Christoph Pieper (Director of Communications Werder Bremen) will be a guest in the KMW 1 lecture "Introduction to Theories and Basic Concepts" by ZeMKI member Dr. Philip Sinner.

The monograph by ZeMKI member Samira Ghozzi-Ben Miled (M.A.) on "Tintin" - Western Constructions of the Middle East in Pop Cultural Media: A Discourse Analysis on the Construction of the Other" was recently published by VIRR.

ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp will give a talk entitled: "Datafication, Automation and Communicative AI: Broadening the Scope of Mediatization Research" at an online colloquium on December 6 at 3 pm.

The Digital Communication and Information Diversity Lab (DCID) welcomes Daniel Whelan-Shamy from the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology, Australia, as a visiting researcher at ZeMKI. 

On November 26, the ComAI Lecture with Prof. Dr. Claes de Vreese (Universiteit van Amsterdam) on the topic "The AI Effect: How (generative) AI is reshaping discussions about elections and democracy" will take place at Bremer Presse-Club.

On November 29, 2024, ZeMKI member Dr. Dom Ford will give a talk on "How players talk about disastrous game launches: What went wrong with Cities: Skylines II?" at the “Conference on Language, Norms and Digital Lives” at the University of Copenhagen.

ZeMKI member Dr. Rebecca Scharlach was a guest on the podcast "Im Gespräch" by SWR Aktuell and talks about ways to escape the flood of negative news, especially on social networks.

On November 19, this semester's first ComAI Lecture with Ralf Bendrath (Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament) on the topic "How the EU's AI Act came about. Insights from a Negotiator" will take place at Bremer Presse-Club.

ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler will give a lecture on November 16, 2014 on the topic “How to Deal with an Aggressor in Real Time? Digital Gaming as Part of Interpreting and Negotiating the Russian Invasion of 2022” at the University of Heidelberg. The workshop will analyze video games that reconstruct, model, or draw (…)

A new report from the Recov-19 project on the topic “Between faith and pandemic – How Corona has changed religious communities” was published in the online magazine “up2date”. Easter 2020: Instead of together with tens of thousands of believers, the Pope celebrated the Easter mass alone with a few other clergy. Elsewhere, digital offerings flourished, (…)

Harvard's NiemanLab has featured research from the POLTRACK project by Cornelius Puschmann, Patrick Zerrer, Sebastien Stier and Helena Rauxloh on predictors of alternative news consumption in a recent newsletter.

On November 20, 2024, the research colloquium by Prof. Dr. Enrique Uribe-Jongbloed on "Research challenges and innovation in audiovisual archives: case studies from Colombia and Wales" will take place at the ZeMKI.

On November 5, 2024, ZeMKI member Dr. Kathrin Trattner will give a guest lecture at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna on the topic “‘Was Barbarossa not German?!’ Nation, History, and Identity in Gamer Discussions”. ‘What is the difference between a nation and a state?’ ‘Was Barbarossa German?’ ‘Are the Cree an actual nation?‘ (…)