Weizenbaum Library (Weizenbaum Institute)
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864 research outputs found
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IDLEWiSE. A Project Concept for AI-Assisted Energy Efficiency in HPC Clusters
Full text linkThe growing energy demand for high-performance computing (HPC) systems raises severe concerns about their environmental impact. Novel system paradigms and computational schemes are needed to limit energy consumption while ensuring the efficiency and availability of computing resources. In this contribution, we introduce a concept for an Intelligent Decision Tool for Lowering Energy Waste in System Efficiency (IDLEWiSE), which aims to decrease the energy consumption of HPC clusters operating below total capacity by selectively shutting down idle computational units. This paper outlines an optimization tool using efficient machine-learning algorithms like decision trees to learn optimal shutdown policies online. We further locate our approach in the context of existing energy-economizing instruments and perform a strategic analysis and stepwise validation of the proposed concept. The study also includes qualitative anonymized findings from a survey of German scientific HPC cluster administrators, corroborating the urgent need for energy-efficient tools and practices for practitioners.The Weizenbaum Institute is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF
Search engines in polarized media environment: Auditing political information curation on Google and Bing prior to 2024 US elections
Full text linkSearch engines play an important role in the context of modern elections. By curating information in response to user queries, search engines influence how individuals are informed about election-related developments and perceive the media environment in which elections take place. It has particular implications for (perceived) polarization, especially if search engines' curation results in a skewed treatment of information sources based on their political leaning. Until now, however, it is unclear whether such a partisan gap emerges through information curation on search engines and what user- and system-side factors affect it. To address this shortcoming, we audit the two largest Western search engines, Google and Bing, prior to the 2024 US presidential elections and examine how these search engines' organic search results and additional interface elements represent election-related information depending on the queries' slant, user location, and time when the search was conducted. Our findings indicate that both search engines tend to prioritize left-leaning media sources, with the exact scope of search results' ideological slant varying between Democrat- and Republican-focused queries. We also observe limited effects of location- and time-based factors on organic search results, whereas results for additional interface elements were more volatile over time and specific US states. Together, our observations highlight that search engines' information curation actively mirrors the partisan divides present in the US media environments and has the potential to contribute to (perceived) polarization within these environments
Weizenbaum Panel’s Literature Digest: June 2025
Full text linkDer Literatur Digest ist eine monatlich erscheinende Zusammenstellung des aktuellen Forschungsstandes zu Themen an der Schnittstelle zwischen Digitalisierung und Politik. Er präsentiert die neuesten Erkenntnisse zu Fragen der politischen Partizipation und guter Bürgerschaft in Zeiten der Digitalisierung.The Literature Digest is a monthly compilation of the current state of research on topics at the nexus of digitalization and politics. It presents the latest findings on issues of political participation and good citizenship in times of digitalization
Automation and Its Impact on Productivity and Workers: Lessons from the History of the Car Industry
Full text linkThis article explores the historical development and impact of automation in the automotive industry, focusing on the production systems of Ford, Toyota, and Volkswagen, and addresses two key research questions: How has automation evolved over time? What are its effects on productivity and labor? Drawing on company archives, empirical fieldwork, and the existing literature, the study uses a wcase study approach. The findings reveal that automation progressed in uneven, layered trajectories rather than through disruptive leaps. While machining, press, and paint shops have become highly automated, final assembly remains largely manual. Automation’s influence on productivity has declined over time, with product complexity and shorter model cycles emerging as constraints. Employment effects are nuanced, and shaped by automation, outsourcing, and customization trends. Ultimately, the study cautions against deterministic views of technological change and highlights the persistent role of organizational and institutional factors. The transition to electric vehicles may trigger further automation – but not necessarily through disruptive technologies alone.The Weizenbaum Institute is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF
Opportunities for extremism: a comparative study of German far-right social movement networks on Twitter/X, Telegram, and Gettr
Full text linkThis paper contributes to platform-comparative research through a case study of Twitter/X, Telegram, and Gettr in the context of German far-right social movements. It introduces the conceptual framework of platform opportunity structures to examine how platforms enable or constrain far-right mobilization. Using community analysis of sharing networks among the same pool of far-right social movement actors, the study explores how technological affordances, governance models, ownership and branding, and user bases and cultures shape platform-specific networking patterns. The findings reveal Telegram as a central platform for the most radical and active communities; Twitter as a site where anti-elite journalists and politicians are salient; and Gettr as a platform to connect to the U.S. far right. While anti-elite and COVID-related conspiracist figures exert influence on all platforms-particularly on Telegram, the prevalence of AfD politicians, pseudonymous amplifiers, and transnational ties to the U.S. far right – especially after Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter – are emergent factors. As Twitter shifts toward ‘alternative’ platforms like Telegram and Gettr, offering minimal moderation and security and even ideological branding, this article adds to understanding how dynamic platform opportunity structures shape far-right mobilization online
Unravelling the Role of Data in Industrial Value Chains
Full text linkThis article explores the growing importance of data in global value chains (GVC) and its impact on power relations. We ask (1) how data becomes valuable in GVC, (2) how different types of data are used and (3) how this affects power relations among actors in GVC. We conceptualise data as increasingly important for the development of intangible assets, combining the literatures on intangible assets in GVC and the political economy of data. Based on 88 interviews with practitioners and experts involved in digital business models in Germany, we propose a data typology as an instrument to analyse the effects of data use in GVC based on the origin of data: transactions, product use and processes. We then apply the typology to three case studies of data use in GVC, analysing what kind of intangibles data contribute to and how this leads to upgrading and changes in value chain governance. We argue that data use in industrial value chains does not lead to the concentration of power in the hands of data monopolies. Instead, the creation of value from data rests on a division of labour, with various actors competing for shares of the captured value.This work was supported by the Hans-Böckler Foundation (2020–2021 funding line ‘Economy of the Future’), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (grant number 16DII122 — ‘Deutsches Internet-Institut’) and by the German Research Foundation DFG under grant number SFB TRR 294/1–424638267
Opportunities for extremism: a comparative study of German far-right social movement networks on Twitter/X, Telegram, and Gettr [Supplementary Material]
Full text linkSupplementary Material for: Opportunities for extremism: a comparative study of German far-right social movement networks on Twitter/X, Telegram, and Gett
Attributing Coordinated Social Media Manipulation: A Theoretical Model and Typology.
Full text linkSocial media are key arenas for public opinion formation, but are susceptible to coordinated social media manipulation (CSMM), that is, the orchestrated activity of multiple accounts to increase content visibility and deceive audiences. Despite advances in detecting and characterizing CSMM, the attribution problem—identifying the principals behind CSMM campaigns—has received little scholarly attention. In this article, we address this gap by synthesizing existing research and developing a theoretical model for understanding CSMM. We propose a consolidated definition of CSMM, identify its key observable and hidden characteristics, and present a rational choice model for inferring principals’ strategic decisions from campaign features. In addition, we present a typology of CSMM campaigns, linking variations in scale, elaborateness, and disguise to principals’ resources, stakes, and influence strategies. Our contribution provides researchers with conceptual and heuristic tools for attribution and invites interdisciplinary and comparative research on CSMM campaigns
Certainly uncertain: the role of uncertainty perception for flood risk preparedness and response
Full text linkFlood risk communication has increasingly emphasized technical precision and hazard forecasting. However, a crucial dimension—how individuals perceive and respond to uncertainty—remains underexplored. In this study we introduce the Uncertainty Lens Framework (ULF) to systematically explore how uncertainty perception shapes threat, ownership, and coping appraisals in flood risk contexts. Drawing on concepts from Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), decision heuristics, and the Safe Development Paradox (SDP), we demonstrate that perceived uncertainties rather than the objective ones alone critically influence decision-making and action. Using the 2021 flood event in Germany as an empirical case, we analyse statements from affected individuals to reveal how uncertainty perception can reinforce mal-adaptive responses. Our findings highlight three core illusions of safety: past flood and warning experience, delegated responsibility, and institutional preparedness that are driven by heuristics and amplified by gaps in uncertainty acknowledgement and communication. We argue for proactive uncertainty management that does not seek to eliminate uncertainty, but rather to integrate it meaningfully into risk communication and policy design to support adaptive and anticipatory responses. For this we highlight the need to purposefully set anchors and availabilities supporting in contextualising uncertainty stemming from immediate and future possible threat
AI Narrative Breakdown. A Critical Assessment of Power and Promise
Full text linkThis article sets off for an exploration of the still evolving discourse surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) in the wake of the release of ChatGPT. It scrutinizes the pervasive narratives that are shaping the societal engagement with AI, spotlighting key themes such as agency and decision-making, autonomy, truthfulness, knowledge processing, prediction, general purpose, neutrality and objectivity, apolitical optimization, sustainability game-changer, democratization, mass unemployment, and the dualistic portrayal of AI as either a harbinger of societal utopia or dystopia. Those narratives are analysed critically based on insights from critical computer science, critical data and algorithm studies, from STS, data protection theory, as well as from the philosophy of mind and semiotics. To properly analyse the narratives presented, the article first delves into a historical and technical contextualisation of the AI discourse itself. The article then introduces the notion of "Zeitgeist AI" to critique the imprecise and misleading application of the term "AI" across various societal sectors. Then, by discussing common narratives with nuance, the article contextualises and challenges often assumed socio-political implications of AI, uncovering in detail and with examples the inherent political, power infused and value-laden decisions within all AI applications. Concluding with a call for a more grounded engagement with AI, the article carves out acute problems ignored by the narratives discussed and proposes new narratives recognizing AI as a human-directed tool necessarily subject to societal governance