Research Focus Media Ethics and Information Technology

We live in a digital society that is in constant transformation. Shaping such a society requires asking questions about its underlying values and norms. The Ethics Centre’s research focus on Media Ethics and Information Technology within the department of Society, Culture and Technological Change addresses these value questions. It conducts research on the ethics of a digital society from an interdisciplinary perspective, incorporating insights from both Information Ethics and Media Ethics.

The research focus developed out of a Junior Research Group Media Ethics in an Interdisciplinary Perspective – Values and Social Cohesion in New Public Spaces (2013–2017) which was funded by the Excellence Initiative of the University of Tübingen. The Junior Research Group focused on the impact of digitalisation on the creation of new public spheres. It investigated how new forms of public communication shape societal values and norms. Thereby, it explored the meaning, significance and foundation of the concepts of solidarity and social cohesion in Media Ethics.

Core philosophical concepts concerning the ethics of a digital society examined within the research focus include data privacy, questions of global informational justice and development, and journalism ethics. Topics of investigation include the ethical and societal implications of surveillance technologies, of applications in the areas of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, as well as of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) such as social media. Further topics include learning with the help of digital media and growing up in a digital society, the internet and mental health, the export of information technologies and the global digital divide.