09.05.2019

Land funds research into “Society in Digital Change” with 2.1 million euros

Scientists from Tübingen are involved in a new research network that is to conduct interdisciplinary research into the influence of digitisation on individuals and society.

The digitization of business and society is currently focusing on technical issues such as autonomous driving, the digital equipment of schools and the use of artificial intelligence. However, technology alone is not the key to successful digitization. For it to succeed, it is necessary to critically reflect on the effects of digitisation on the individual and on a value-oriented shaping of society. The new scientific consortium called digilog@bw, in which the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University of Tübingen have joined forces under the leadership of the University of Mannheim, will do just that. The International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW) and the Leibniz Institute for Knowledge Media (IWM) are involved in the Tübingen project. The consortium is led by Prof. Dr. Michael Decker (KIT), Prof. Dr. Thomas Fetzer (University of Mannheim) and PD Dr. Jessica Heesen (University of Tübingen). The Lands Ministry of Science is funding the project with more than 2.1 million euros for a period of three years as part of the “Society in Digital Change” call for proposals.

Autonomy, participation and knowledge - the topics are the three core elements of the new project. These are to be worked on in a cross-location and interdisciplinary manner. The research network aims to identify and analyse the influence of digitisation on people and society and to develop options for democratic and equitable digital change. To this end, it combines expertise from university and non-university research in the humanities, social sciences, law, economics, media and communication sciences, ethics and computer science, as well as interdisciplinary technology assessment.

The University of Tübingen and the Leibniz Institute for Knowledge Media (IWM) are involved in the consortium with four projects: the Ethics Centre investigates the impact of artificial intelligence on public communication, investigates the influence of cloud computing on the digital sovereignty of the individual and equitable participation conditions in digital communication, especially discrimination against women through algorithms and in social media. The Tübingen IWM is investigating the role of language assistants in critical knowledge transfer. Spokesperson of the University of Tübingen in the consortium is PD Dr. Jessica Heesen, Head of the Research Unit Media Ethics and Information Technology at the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities.

Exhibitions, discussion events and lecture series are planned in order to enter into a dialogue with citizens outside science. That is why the Karlsruhe Centre for Art and Media (ZKM) is also involved in the project. In this way, the research network is to make a contribution not only to scientific discourse, but also to public discourse.

Contact:
PD Dr. Jessica Heesen
Universität Tübingen
International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW)
+49 7071 29-77516
jessica.heesenspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de

The press release of the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the Land of Baden-Württemberg can be found  here. (German only)