Research Main Research Areas Automatization and Datafication of Communication With the digitalization and profound mediatization of society, questions about the automation of communication and the role of digital data for various social, political and cultural processes are gaining in importance. This is exemplified by the current public discussion about chatbots and chatGPT, the influence of bots on political communication or the handling of user data by tech companies. Whether social bots, voice-controlled personal assistance systems or new types of speech generation systems based on machine learning – automated systems that communicate with us are playing an increasingly important role in everyday life. The possible applications are manifold. In journalism, education, political communication or for entertainment: non-human communication participants are increasingly becoming a normal part of everyday media life. This not only affects direct interaction with humans, but also how communication dynamics in societies as a whole change with these systems. This is precisely where the research focus “Automation and Datafication of Communication” comes in. Because of the rapid technological development, the great potentials but also the risks of communicative artificial intelligence (AI), its social scientific investigation is of particular social importance. For this reason, the ZeMKI is addressing the broad social consequences of automated communication systems and datafication with this research focus. Across the various individual investigations, there is an intensive exchange between the participating labs on questions of the automation of communication. Labs in the main research area „Automatization and Datafication of Communication“ Datafication and Mediatization Digital Communication and Information Diversity Platform Governance, Media, and Technology Political Communication and Innovative Methods Socio-technical systems and critical data studies Research projects in the main research area „Automatization and Datafication of Communication“ ActiveResearch project We The (Social) Media: Social Media by and for social Movements Project management: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Funding institution: BMBF – Federal Ministry of Education and Research The aim of We The (Social) Media (WTSM) is to understand how members of social movements use social networks. This is important because millions of people use social networks to communicate, inform themselves and get in touch with each (…) Duration: 2023 – 2026Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Lab Socio-technical systems and critical data studies ActiveResearch project MINT-Digital-Labs Project management: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Funding institution: BMBF – Federal Ministry of Education and Research Project duration: 2023-2026 Collaborative project for the utilization of STEM student laboratories for teacher training Student laboratories have proven to be enormously beneficial for motivation, especially interest, in the sense of subject-related motivation, in STEM topics and working methods. (…) Duration: 2023 – 2026Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Lab Socio-technical systems and critical data studies ActiveResearch project molo.news: Research Network Tests Bremen News App Following a successful test operation in Bremen, researchers are investigating how the news and information app molo.news can be made available throughout Germany. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing 1.5 million euros of funding for the project. Duration: 2023 – 2026Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp, Prof. Dr. Wiebke Loosen , Prof. Dr. Christian Pentzold Lab Datafication and Mediatization ActiveResearch project Sub-Project INF: Further Development of the Global Welfare State Information System (WeSIS), eScience Services and Research Data Management Project management: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Funding institution: DFG – German Research Foundation The information infrastructure project (INF project) “Advancing the Global Welfare State Information System (WeSIS), eScience Services and Research Data Management” has four main objectives: (1) to further develop the Global Welfare State Information System and open WeSIS to the scientific community; (2) to (…) Duration: 2022 – 2025Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Lab Socio-technical systems and critical data studies ActiveResearch project Project IMPACT Project management: Prof. Dr. Karsten D. Wolf & Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Funding institution: BMBF – Federal Ministry of Education and Research The joint project IMPACT promotes the improvement of higher education through the scalable use of artificial intelligence (AI) methods for the (partially) automated analysis of texts. The fundamental aim of the project is (…) Duration: 2021 – 2025Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter, Prof. Dr. Karsten D. Wolf Lab Media and Education Lab Socio-technical systems and critical data studies ActiveResearch project Imaginaries of Artificial Intelligence: The Communicative Construction of AI in China, Germany and the US Partner: Institute for Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) & German Research Foundation (DFG) Artificial intelligence (AI) is considered a key technology in today’s societies. Political and economic actors in many countries have allocated considerable resources to AI development, and the technology is the subject of (…) Duration: 2021 – 2025Project lead: Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach Lab Platform Governance, Media, and Technology ActiveResearch project Shaping 21st Century AI – Controversies and Closure in Media, Policy and Research Team: Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach, Dr. Anna Jobin, Laura Liebig, Licina Güttel Partners: Medialab at Sciences Po, Paris, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methods (CIM) at the University of Warwick, and the NENIC Lab at INRS Montreal, as well as the Algorithmic Media Observatory at Concordia University Funding: Open Research Area (ORA) funding line from DFG, ANR, (…) Duration: 2021 – 2024Project lead: Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach Lab Platform Governance, Media, and Technology CompletedResearch project The Media Passport as an Instrument for Promoting Media Literacy Comparative analysis based on the study on media integration in elementary school in North Rhine-Westphalia Research association/cooperation: Institute for Information Management Bremen (ifib) Funding institution: Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LfM) The Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LfM) has commissioned ifib to evaluate the Medienpass NRW project. Building on the results of the study “Media (…) Duration: 2014 – 2015Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Lab Socio-technical systems and critical data studies
ActiveResearch project We The (Social) Media: Social Media by and for social Movements Project management: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Funding institution: BMBF – Federal Ministry of Education and Research The aim of We The (Social) Media (WTSM) is to understand how members of social movements use social networks. This is important because millions of people use social networks to communicate, inform themselves and get in touch with each (…) Duration: 2023 – 2026Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Lab Socio-technical systems and critical data studies
ActiveResearch project MINT-Digital-Labs Project management: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Funding institution: BMBF – Federal Ministry of Education and Research Project duration: 2023-2026 Collaborative project for the utilization of STEM student laboratories for teacher training Student laboratories have proven to be enormously beneficial for motivation, especially interest, in the sense of subject-related motivation, in STEM topics and working methods. (…) Duration: 2023 – 2026Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Lab Socio-technical systems and critical data studies
ActiveResearch project molo.news: Research Network Tests Bremen News App Following a successful test operation in Bremen, researchers are investigating how the news and information app molo.news can be made available throughout Germany. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing 1.5 million euros of funding for the project. Duration: 2023 – 2026Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp, Prof. Dr. Wiebke Loosen , Prof. Dr. Christian Pentzold Lab Datafication and Mediatization
ActiveResearch project Sub-Project INF: Further Development of the Global Welfare State Information System (WeSIS), eScience Services and Research Data Management Project management: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Funding institution: DFG – German Research Foundation The information infrastructure project (INF project) “Advancing the Global Welfare State Information System (WeSIS), eScience Services and Research Data Management” has four main objectives: (1) to further develop the Global Welfare State Information System and open WeSIS to the scientific community; (2) to (…) Duration: 2022 – 2025Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Lab Socio-technical systems and critical data studies
ActiveResearch project Project IMPACT Project management: Prof. Dr. Karsten D. Wolf & Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Funding institution: BMBF – Federal Ministry of Education and Research The joint project IMPACT promotes the improvement of higher education through the scalable use of artificial intelligence (AI) methods for the (partially) automated analysis of texts. The fundamental aim of the project is (…) Duration: 2021 – 2025Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter, Prof. Dr. Karsten D. Wolf Lab Media and Education Lab Socio-technical systems and critical data studies
ActiveResearch project Imaginaries of Artificial Intelligence: The Communicative Construction of AI in China, Germany and the US Partner: Institute for Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) & German Research Foundation (DFG) Artificial intelligence (AI) is considered a key technology in today’s societies. Political and economic actors in many countries have allocated considerable resources to AI development, and the technology is the subject of (…) Duration: 2021 – 2025Project lead: Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach Lab Platform Governance, Media, and Technology
ActiveResearch project Shaping 21st Century AI – Controversies and Closure in Media, Policy and Research Team: Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach, Dr. Anna Jobin, Laura Liebig, Licina Güttel Partners: Medialab at Sciences Po, Paris, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methods (CIM) at the University of Warwick, and the NENIC Lab at INRS Montreal, as well as the Algorithmic Media Observatory at Concordia University Funding: Open Research Area (ORA) funding line from DFG, ANR, (…) Duration: 2021 – 2024Project lead: Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach Lab Platform Governance, Media, and Technology
CompletedResearch project The Media Passport as an Instrument for Promoting Media Literacy Comparative analysis based on the study on media integration in elementary school in North Rhine-Westphalia Research association/cooperation: Institute for Information Management Bremen (ifib) Funding institution: Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LfM) The Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LfM) has commissioned ifib to evaluate the Medienpass NRW project. Building on the results of the study “Media (…) Duration: 2014 – 2015Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Breiter Lab Socio-technical systems and critical data studies
