ZeMKI Lab Platform Governance, Media and Technology The Lab “Platform Governance, Media and Technology” examines the interactions between regulation, discourses and the development of technologies and business models. Digital platforms and new infrastructures, algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI) and data are currently fundamentally (re)organising communication, the public sphere and society. At the same time, these media, their technologies and economic structures are themselves (still) in a process of formation that is shaped by governance, regulation and public debate. How should platforms like Facebook and YouTube deal with disinformation campaigns and hate speech? What challenges does the increasing use of automation and AI bring? And how do public debates and perceptions of problems in turn impact back on regulation and technology development? We explore these questions with a focus on three areas of work: (1) Platform Governance and Economics; (2) Institutionalisation of AI – Regulation, Discourses, Technology; (3) Automation Regulation and Communication. In several large international third-party funded projects on these topics, funded by the DFG, the EU’s H2020 framework programme, the BMBF, the Volkswagen Foundation and the Federal Agency for Civic Education (BpB), we collaborate with partners in France, UK, Canada, Switzerland, and Italy. In empirical studies, the Lab integrates computational methods and qualitative approaches. We attach great importance to the development of open data infrastructures (Platform Governance Archive), especially in the notoriously non-transparent research field of platform governance. previous 123 next EventsNews First Blended Intensive Program (BIP) held at the University of Bremen Under the coordination of PGMT Lab member Dr. Dennis Redeker, the first Blended Intensive Program (BIP) took place at the University of Bremen. The Erasmus+-funded program offers teachers innovative opportunities for international cooperation and students the chance to participate in intensive short-term programs in Germany and abroad. At the first BIP at the University of (…) 6. September 2024 News PGMT Lab member Vasilisa Kuznetsova presents at MISDOOM in Münster Vasilisa Kuznetsova presents a paper on misinformation about climate change and platform policies and public communication at the 6th Multidisciplinary International Symposium on Disinformation in Open Online Media (MISDOOM) held on 02-04 September 2024 in Münster. 5. September 2024 News ZeMKI steering committee meets for annual retreat For two days, the Bredbeck Estate in the district of Osterholz was dedicated to the further development of the research strategy of the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen. On September 3 and 4, 2024, a total of 14 members of the ZeMKI Steering Committee discussed medium-term goals (…) 4. September 2024 NewsPublication "Automating Communication in the Digital Society" - Special Issue with New Media & Society Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach from the Lab for Platform Governance, Media and Technology has published a new special issue entitled “Automation in the Digital Society” together with Prof. Dr. Christian Pentzold. 2. September 2024 News Dr. Miira Hill presents at the ESA 16th Conference of the European Sociological Association in Porto On August 29, 2024, Miira Hill presented a joint paper with Luisa Runge and Christian Katzenbach at the 16th Conference of the European Sociological Association (ESA) in Porto. 1. September 2024 NewsPublication New blog post on the arrest of Pavel Durov and it's implications for platform regulation Will the arrest of Telegram’s CEO in France have implications for platform regulation, in the EU and elsewhere? The arrest of Pavel Durov, Telegram’s CEO and owner, has sent shockwaves through Telegram’s user base and concerns about the current state of platform regulation in France, the EU, and globally. On Monday, the Tribunal Judiciaire de (…) 28. August 2024 News Call for applications for 8 doctoral positions at ZeMKI in the DFG Research Unit “Communicative AI” (FOR 5656) The participating research institutions have announced a total of 18 research assistant positions (job scope: DFG 100%, FWF 75%) with the aim of pursuing a doctorate over a four-year period. 26. August 2024 News Dr. Daria Dergacheva at ECREA’s 2024 pre-conference in September ZeMKI member Dr. Daria Dergacheva will be presenting at ECREA’s 2024 pre-conference “The Informational Influence of Autocracies Abroad” in Ljublyana, Slovenia, on September 23rd 2024. 22. July 2024 NewsPublication New Article: „How Negative Media Coverage Impacts Platform Governance“ by Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach An important publication from the Lab’s own Dr. Prof. Christian Katzenbach in collaboration with colleagues was published. 19. July 2024 EventsNews ZeMKI member Dr. Dennis Redeker gives lecture on platform regulation at the Haus der Wissenschaft On 13 July 2024, Dr. Dennis Redeker, ZeMKI member and postdoc in the "Platform Governance, Media, and Technology Lab" (Prof. Dr. Katzenbach), spoke about social media platforms and their regulation as part of the "Wissen um 11 (Knowledge at 11)" lecture series at the Haus der Wissenschaft in Bremen. 15. July 2024 News ZeMKI member Dr. Viejo Otero presenting at the SMSociety conference in London, July 17th. ZeMKI member Dr. Paloma Viejo Otero will be presenting at the Social Media and Society Conference (#SMSociety) in London on July 17th. Dr. Viejo Otero will present her paper titled "'We do not marshal your feed': How AltTech platforms conceptualize safety". 15. July 2024 News New DFG Research Unit on the automation of societal communication The Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen, together with the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute (HBI) in Hamburg and other research institutions in Graz and Vienna, has successfully acquired a Research Unit from the German Research Foundation (DFG) on the topic of "Communicative Artificial Intelligence (ComAI)”. 3. July 2024 EventsNews Online Talk Series (11): Friederike Quint & Yannis Theocharis: 'Does the Community Understand the Community Guidelines?' 9. Juli 2024, 13:00 – 14:00 Uhr: In the next edition of our online talk series "Behind the Scenes - Conversations on Empirical Platform Governance Research", Friederike Quint and Yannis Theocharis will talk about the role of community guidelines on social media platforms for users when evaluating potentially harmful content. 26. June 2024 News ZeMKI Member Dennis Redeker speaks at the European Dialogue on Internet Governance 2024 Dr. Dennis Redeker presented early results from the REMIT Horizon Europe research project at the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) 2024. 20. June 2024 EventsNews Invitation to the Workshop 'The Playground: A Program on Taking Play Seriously in Digital Culture' The Platform Governance Media and Technology Lab (PGMT), Radical Data and the cooperative kintsugi-lab cordinally invite to participate at a two day workshop. 19. June 2024 News ZeMKI goes ICA This year's annual conference of the International Communications Association (ICA) will take place in Goald Cost, Australia, from June 20 to 24. The ZeMKI will be represented with numerous contributions and ZeMKI members will present research at the institute. 7. June 2024 News PGMT Lab’s presence at ICA 2024 The International Communications Association (ICA) will take place on its 74th year in Gold Cost, Australia, from June 20 to 24. The ZeMKI will be represented with numerous contributions to the event and the Platform Governance Media and Technology Lab (PGMT) members are set to contribute with their research. To kick off the ZeMKI’s presence (…) 6. June 2024 EventsNews Join talk by Robert Gorwa: Qualitative Methods for Regulatory Episodes:Examining Policy Development in the Context of Global Platform Regulation Time and Date: June 18, 2024, 3-4 pm (CET) Join ONLINE via ZOOM (check updates for the link) We are excited to announce the tenth installment of the ongoing Online Talk Series “Behind the Scenes- Conversations on Empirical Platform Governance Platform Regulation”. This session, led by postdoctoral researcher Robert Gorwa, explores the strategy he developed (…) 6. June 2024 News Talk on AI Imaginaries of Stakeholders at Conference in Zurich Tomorrow June 5th, lab members Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach and Vanessa Richter are going to present a talk on “Negotiating AI as a sociotechnical phenomenon: Competing imaginaries of AI by stakeholders in the US, China, and Germany” the content of which, addresses producers and proponents of AI-related communication, based on interviews with AI experts in (…) 5. June 2024 EventsNews ‘Plat-formation: The Formation of Platforms and Their Governance’ - lecture by Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach at the University of Sheffield on Thursday ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach will give a lecture on ‘Plat-formation: The Formation of Platforms and Their Governance’ at the University of Sheffield on Thursday, the 30th of May. Abstract How do social media platforms become what they are, how do they change and what is the role of governance in this process? Platforms (…) 28. May 2024 News ZeMKI member Dennis Redeker organized conference roundtable on global digital policy ZeMKI member Dr. Dennis Redeker, member of the Lab "Platform Governance, Media and Technology", organized a roundtable on "Digital Governance between Multistakeholderism and Multilateralism" as part of the first conference of the EU Horizon Europe research project "Reignite Multilateralism via Technology" (REMIT). The conference took place on May 16 and 17, 2024 at KU Leuven and brought together academics with a policy audience from different areas of European and global technology policy. 22. May 2024 EventsNews ZeMKI member Dr. Daria Dergacheva is speaking at CPDP.ai 2024 conference today in Brussels ZeMKI member Dr. Daria Dergacheva is speaking at CPDP.ai 2024 conference in Brussels today, 22 May 2024. She is a panelist at the panel organized by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), on “The Impact of Online Content Moderation and Curation on Fundamental Rights: How to Assess, Mitigate and Monitor Systemic Risks on Online (…) 22. May 2024 NewsPublication ‘Unpacking the US TikTok ban’ - ZeMKI member Rebecca Scharlach writes about the proposed TikTok ban in the US ‘Unpacking the US TikTok ban’ Can the US government really ban TikTok? Do they really want to do that? In her blog post, ZeMKI member Rebecca Scharlach summarises the events that lead to the proposed TikTok ban in the United States, discusses the general issues that TikTok has been facing, explains the relevance of the First Amendment (…) 20. May 2024 News Erasmus+ "Blended-Intensive Programme" on global digital governance hosted at ZeMKI In late April 2024, ZeMKI and the University of Bremen, hosted their first-ever Erasmus+ “blended-intensive programme” (BIP). Around thirty students and half a dozen instructors from eight universities across Europe participated in a week-long workshop designed under the theme “Digital Constitutionalism and the UN Global Digital Compact”. This in-person phase of the blended-intensive format is flanked by (…) 12. May 2024 previous 123 next
EventsNews First Blended Intensive Program (BIP) held at the University of Bremen Under the coordination of PGMT Lab member Dr. Dennis Redeker, the first Blended Intensive Program (BIP) took place at the University of Bremen. The Erasmus+-funded program offers teachers innovative opportunities for international cooperation and students the chance to participate in intensive short-term programs in Germany and abroad. At the first BIP at the University of (…) 6. September 2024
News PGMT Lab member Vasilisa Kuznetsova presents at MISDOOM in Münster Vasilisa Kuznetsova presents a paper on misinformation about climate change and platform policies and public communication at the 6th Multidisciplinary International Symposium on Disinformation in Open Online Media (MISDOOM) held on 02-04 September 2024 in Münster. 5. September 2024
News ZeMKI steering committee meets for annual retreat For two days, the Bredbeck Estate in the district of Osterholz was dedicated to the further development of the research strategy of the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen. On September 3 and 4, 2024, a total of 14 members of the ZeMKI Steering Committee discussed medium-term goals (…) 4. September 2024
NewsPublication "Automating Communication in the Digital Society" - Special Issue with New Media & Society Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach from the Lab for Platform Governance, Media and Technology has published a new special issue entitled “Automation in the Digital Society” together with Prof. Dr. Christian Pentzold. 2. September 2024
News Dr. Miira Hill presents at the ESA 16th Conference of the European Sociological Association in Porto On August 29, 2024, Miira Hill presented a joint paper with Luisa Runge and Christian Katzenbach at the 16th Conference of the European Sociological Association (ESA) in Porto. 1. September 2024
NewsPublication New blog post on the arrest of Pavel Durov and it's implications for platform regulation Will the arrest of Telegram’s CEO in France have implications for platform regulation, in the EU and elsewhere? The arrest of Pavel Durov, Telegram’s CEO and owner, has sent shockwaves through Telegram’s user base and concerns about the current state of platform regulation in France, the EU, and globally. On Monday, the Tribunal Judiciaire de (…) 28. August 2024
News Call for applications for 8 doctoral positions at ZeMKI in the DFG Research Unit “Communicative AI” (FOR 5656) The participating research institutions have announced a total of 18 research assistant positions (job scope: DFG 100%, FWF 75%) with the aim of pursuing a doctorate over a four-year period. 26. August 2024
News Dr. Daria Dergacheva at ECREA’s 2024 pre-conference in September ZeMKI member Dr. Daria Dergacheva will be presenting at ECREA’s 2024 pre-conference “The Informational Influence of Autocracies Abroad” in Ljublyana, Slovenia, on September 23rd 2024. 22. July 2024
NewsPublication New Article: „How Negative Media Coverage Impacts Platform Governance“ by Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach An important publication from the Lab’s own Dr. Prof. Christian Katzenbach in collaboration with colleagues was published. 19. July 2024
EventsNews ZeMKI member Dr. Dennis Redeker gives lecture on platform regulation at the Haus der Wissenschaft On 13 July 2024, Dr. Dennis Redeker, ZeMKI member and postdoc in the "Platform Governance, Media, and Technology Lab" (Prof. Dr. Katzenbach), spoke about social media platforms and their regulation as part of the "Wissen um 11 (Knowledge at 11)" lecture series at the Haus der Wissenschaft in Bremen. 15. July 2024
News ZeMKI member Dr. Viejo Otero presenting at the SMSociety conference in London, July 17th. ZeMKI member Dr. Paloma Viejo Otero will be presenting at the Social Media and Society Conference (#SMSociety) in London on July 17th. Dr. Viejo Otero will present her paper titled "'We do not marshal your feed': How AltTech platforms conceptualize safety". 15. July 2024
News New DFG Research Unit on the automation of societal communication The Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen, together with the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute (HBI) in Hamburg and other research institutions in Graz and Vienna, has successfully acquired a Research Unit from the German Research Foundation (DFG) on the topic of "Communicative Artificial Intelligence (ComAI)”. 3. July 2024
EventsNews Online Talk Series (11): Friederike Quint & Yannis Theocharis: 'Does the Community Understand the Community Guidelines?' 9. Juli 2024, 13:00 – 14:00 Uhr: In the next edition of our online talk series "Behind the Scenes - Conversations on Empirical Platform Governance Research", Friederike Quint and Yannis Theocharis will talk about the role of community guidelines on social media platforms for users when evaluating potentially harmful content. 26. June 2024
News ZeMKI Member Dennis Redeker speaks at the European Dialogue on Internet Governance 2024 Dr. Dennis Redeker presented early results from the REMIT Horizon Europe research project at the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) 2024. 20. June 2024
EventsNews Invitation to the Workshop 'The Playground: A Program on Taking Play Seriously in Digital Culture' The Platform Governance Media and Technology Lab (PGMT), Radical Data and the cooperative kintsugi-lab cordinally invite to participate at a two day workshop. 19. June 2024
News ZeMKI goes ICA This year's annual conference of the International Communications Association (ICA) will take place in Goald Cost, Australia, from June 20 to 24. The ZeMKI will be represented with numerous contributions and ZeMKI members will present research at the institute. 7. June 2024
News PGMT Lab’s presence at ICA 2024 The International Communications Association (ICA) will take place on its 74th year in Gold Cost, Australia, from June 20 to 24. The ZeMKI will be represented with numerous contributions to the event and the Platform Governance Media and Technology Lab (PGMT) members are set to contribute with their research. To kick off the ZeMKI’s presence (…) 6. June 2024
EventsNews Join talk by Robert Gorwa: Qualitative Methods for Regulatory Episodes:Examining Policy Development in the Context of Global Platform Regulation Time and Date: June 18, 2024, 3-4 pm (CET) Join ONLINE via ZOOM (check updates for the link) We are excited to announce the tenth installment of the ongoing Online Talk Series “Behind the Scenes- Conversations on Empirical Platform Governance Platform Regulation”. This session, led by postdoctoral researcher Robert Gorwa, explores the strategy he developed (…) 6. June 2024
News Talk on AI Imaginaries of Stakeholders at Conference in Zurich Tomorrow June 5th, lab members Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach and Vanessa Richter are going to present a talk on “Negotiating AI as a sociotechnical phenomenon: Competing imaginaries of AI by stakeholders in the US, China, and Germany” the content of which, addresses producers and proponents of AI-related communication, based on interviews with AI experts in (…) 5. June 2024
EventsNews ‘Plat-formation: The Formation of Platforms and Their Governance’ - lecture by Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach at the University of Sheffield on Thursday ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach will give a lecture on ‘Plat-formation: The Formation of Platforms and Their Governance’ at the University of Sheffield on Thursday, the 30th of May. Abstract How do social media platforms become what they are, how do they change and what is the role of governance in this process? Platforms (…) 28. May 2024
News ZeMKI member Dennis Redeker organized conference roundtable on global digital policy ZeMKI member Dr. Dennis Redeker, member of the Lab "Platform Governance, Media and Technology", organized a roundtable on "Digital Governance between Multistakeholderism and Multilateralism" as part of the first conference of the EU Horizon Europe research project "Reignite Multilateralism via Technology" (REMIT). The conference took place on May 16 and 17, 2024 at KU Leuven and brought together academics with a policy audience from different areas of European and global technology policy. 22. May 2024
EventsNews ZeMKI member Dr. Daria Dergacheva is speaking at CPDP.ai 2024 conference today in Brussels ZeMKI member Dr. Daria Dergacheva is speaking at CPDP.ai 2024 conference in Brussels today, 22 May 2024. She is a panelist at the panel organized by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), on “The Impact of Online Content Moderation and Curation on Fundamental Rights: How to Assess, Mitigate and Monitor Systemic Risks on Online (…) 22. May 2024
NewsPublication ‘Unpacking the US TikTok ban’ - ZeMKI member Rebecca Scharlach writes about the proposed TikTok ban in the US ‘Unpacking the US TikTok ban’ Can the US government really ban TikTok? Do they really want to do that? In her blog post, ZeMKI member Rebecca Scharlach summarises the events that lead to the proposed TikTok ban in the United States, discusses the general issues that TikTok has been facing, explains the relevance of the First Amendment (…) 20. May 2024
News Erasmus+ "Blended-Intensive Programme" on global digital governance hosted at ZeMKI In late April 2024, ZeMKI and the University of Bremen, hosted their first-ever Erasmus+ “blended-intensive programme” (BIP). Around thirty students and half a dozen instructors from eight universities across Europe participated in a week-long workshop designed under the theme “Digital Constitutionalism and the UN Global Digital Compact”. This in-person phase of the blended-intensive format is flanked by (…) 12. May 2024