Weizenbaum Library (Weizenbaum Institute)
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Weizenbaum Report 2025: Political Participation in Germany
Full text linkThe Weizenbaum Report is an annual publication on political participation in Germany. It presents the results of a representative survey of the German population, conducted by the Weizenbaum Panel research unit since 2019. The focus is on examining different forms of political participation over time and their development under the conditions of digitalization. In the sixth wave of the survey in 2024, a special focus was placed on financial participation and inequalities in the use of digital payment services. The results provide insights into the development of political media use, citizens' attitudes towards democracy, the use of hate speech and fake news on the Internet, attitudes towards social media and artificial intelligence, and trends in traditional and digital forms of political participation.Der Weizenbaum Report 2025 „Politische Partizipation in Deutschland“ wurde durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) gefördert (Förderkennzeichen 16DII131 – Deutsches Internet-Institut). Die Datenerhebung fand in Kooperation mit der Freien Universität Berlin statt
Uncertain Journeys into Digital Futures: Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research for Mitigating Wicked Societal and Environmental Problems
Full text linkThe Weizenbaum Institute organised its sixth Annual Conference on the topic of “Uncertain journeys into digital futures” in Berlin in June 2024. The conference focused on the challenge of the digital transformation and the socio-ecological transformation of society which are closely interlinked and crucial for prospering futures of humanity. Challenges include the protection of people, democratic institutions and the environment, as well as enabling participation in shaping changes and an inclusive and fair life. Relevant topics for addressing these challenges are smart cities and urban transformation, digital technologies for sustainability, social justice, governance and citizen participation as well as ideas and visions of the future
The Digipolitical and African Political Thought: A Theoretical Framework for Interpreting the Political in the Digital Age
Full text linkToday, digitality is pervasive across all spheres of human social and political life. To inquire into digital-engendered ontologies, this paper presents a theoretical framework undergirding African political thought for the study of the political sphere in digitality, or the digipolitical. This neologism refers to the political as an ontological category redefined via its intersection with the digital. This understanding rests on three premises: the characteristics of the digital, a sui generis virtual reality; the algorithmic architecture of the cyber socio-political space; and the onto-relational nature of the political subjects, which entails the interplay of the analogue with digital-humans. Regarding more recent disciplines and theories, such as posthumanism, this paper brings to the fore insights offered by African political thought, which has long emphasized reading individuals, communities, and structures of power through the lens of the political centered on the concept of relationality. I defend the assertion that the relational approach inscribed in African political philosophies offers valuable insight into digital political onto-relationalities, as it discloses power from in-between spaces and details its dynamics.The Weizenbaum Institute is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF
Jahresbericht des Weizenbaum-Instituts 2024
Full text linkVon Künstlicher Intelligenz über digitale Nachhaltigkeit bis hin zu Cybersicherheit, Desinformation und politischer Kommunikation im Netz – die Forschung des Weizenbaum-Instituts greift zentrale gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen der Digitalisierung auf. Der Jahresbericht 2024 gibt Einblick in aktuelle Projekte, Forschungsergebnisse und Formate des Wissenstransfers
How Influencers and Multipliers Drive Polarization and Issue Alignment on Twitter/X - Data (Version v1) [Data set]
No full textWe provide anonymized retweet networks extracted from trending topics in Germany collected between 2021 to 2023. More specifically, we collected tweets from 2021-03-29 to 2023-07-12 according to the following scheme: at the beginning of each day, we launched a script that collects the current "trending topics" (from now on referred to as "trends") in Germany using the Twitter Trend API (v1). By default, trends are personalized based on the account's Twitter/X usage. One can, however, disable the personalization by setting a specific location from which to draw the trending topics, which then yields "popular topics among people in a specific geographic location" (X/Twitter2025). We re-ran the script every 15 minutes. At the end of each day, we counted the number of times each trending topic appeared during the day and kept the top 5 most frequent ones. This gave us a proxy of the five most important trending topics for that day. We then used the Twitter Search API (v1) to collect German-speaking tweets using the exact trend keyword as a query on the day it trended and the day after (48hrs). All the tweets were collected using a single Twitter API key, collecting tweets for maximally 24 hours every day. For each trend, we extract a retweet network, in which nodes are Twitter users and a directed link is drawn from user to if retweets . We provide one retweet network for each trend as a csv after anonymizing the user_ids. There is one csv for each trend containing the columns source,target,weight. The filename contains the date and the keyword that was searched: T__.csv All the individual files are contained in rtn.zip. Additionally, we computed a topic model on the full text of tweets which allowed us to classify each trend into one larger metatopic (such as Covid, Climate Change, Sports, ...). This topic assignment is contained in trend2topic.csv. For more information on the topic model, please refer to the paper https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v19i1.35890
Bursting Self-reports? Comparing Sampling Frequency Effects of Mobile Experience Sampling Method on Compliance, Attrition, and Sample Biases
Full text linkIn-situ measurements, using the experience sampling method (ESM), can provide insight into behaviors and contextual factors by allowing individuals to self-report them via text or push messages on a smartphone close to the behavior of interest. However, more is needed to know about the data quality of these measures, particularly the impact of sampling frequency. This study aims to examine the effects of different sampling frequencies on compliance, sample biases, and reactivity of measures in the context of digital media use. In July 2021, a group of Dutch citizens (n=250) was randomly assigned to either a standard daily-intensive burst measure (DI-BM; seven surveys across the day) or hourly-intensive burst measure (HI-BM; 12 surveys over two hours per day) condition and surveyed across seven consecutive days, resulting in a total number of 16,135 surveys sent. Results indicate higher compliance in the standard ESM condition than in the burst ESM condition
Radicalization or relief: Divergent impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on incels by seniority
Full text linkIncels (involuntary celibates) base their identity on the inability to form romantic relationships. We conceptualize the ideology promoted by incels as misogynist extremism and explore the impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown on the radicalization of this online community. Based on computational measures, we conducted a multi-perspective exploration, comparing the prevalence of and participation in threads dealing with extremism, ideology and mental health on the incels.is forum between pre-lockdown, lockdown and post-lockdown periods. We found evidence of long-term and temporary radicalization. Moreover, we found that, specifically, older forum members increasingly post in extremist-themed threads triggered by the lockdowns. Crucially, we show that activity on mental health–themed threads temporarily decreased during the lockdown. These findings indicate that real-world social isolation reduces mental health complaints among incels but, at the same time, exacerbates misogynist extremism among active community members
Measuring the Experience of Eudaimonic Virtues in Technology Interaction: Development and Validation of the Eudaimonic Interaction Inventory (EII)
Full text linkA growing emphasis on well-being in technology development raises the need for adequate measurement methods to quantify technology’s influence on individuals’ well-being. Psychological research has identified different well-being orientations, including hedonia (seeking comfort, relaxation, and pleasure) or eudaimonia, which emphasizes personal growth, excellence, meaningfulness, and authenticity. In particular, promoting eudaimonic well-being (EWB) continues to be a challenge in human-computer interaction as it manifests itself as a multidimensional construct. This paper presents the Eudaimonic Interaction Inventory, a scale for quantifying the experience of four core aspects of eudaimonic virtues (authenticity, meaning, excellence, growth) in interaction with technology. The inventory was validated through six steps across three distinct studies, resulting in twelve items categorized into four subscales. With this inventory, we hope to contribute to EWB research in technology by making future interactions with technology measurable in terms of EWB.The Weizenbaum Institute is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF
The Effects of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics on Employment and Wages in Korean Manufacturing Firms
Full text linkThis article analyzes the effects of two key automation technologies – artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics – on employment and wages in Korean manufacturing since the late 2010s. Drawing on firm-level data from the Survey of Business Activities and individual wage data from the Local Labor Force Survey, the analysis explores both firm- and worker-level impacts. Adoption of these technologies is concentrated in large firms within the electronics and automotive sectors. Robotics has been widely implemented, primarily for cost reduction, safety enhancement, and union avoidance, whereas AI adoption remains limited but is gradually expanding. The results reveal contrasting effects: AI adoption is associated with job creation and wage growth, while robotics tends to reduce both employment and wages – an outcome that diverges from findings in existing firm-level studies. These negative effects appear to stem from Korea’s institutional context, where automation – particularly robotics – is frequently employed to reduce labor costs rather than to enhance productivity, as well as from diminishing marginal returns in industries with long-standing automation. Importantly, these wage effects persist even when U.S.-based automation exposure measures are applied, suggesting broader applicability. However, the findings underscore that the economic impact of automation depends significantly on the motivations and strategies behind its adoption. In the case of Korean manufacturing, capital-biased automation driven by robotics has contributed mainly to labor displacement without generating substantial productivity gains, reflecting Acemoglu and Restrepo’s (2018) notion of ‘so-so automation.’The Weizenbaum Institute is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF
Uncertain futures of work: The perception of generative AI in knowledge professions
Full text linkThe application of generative AI (GenAI) tools has led to widespread speculation about the implications of technological change for the future of cognitive work. This article provides insights on how the use of GenAI affects work practices in the fields of IT programming, science and coaching based on expert interviews and a quantitative survey among users of GenAI. Specifically, we ask about perceptions on skills, creativity, and authenticity, which we regard as key qualities of cognitive work. Contrary to widespread expectations that AI use would hollow out or substitute aspects of cognitive work, we find that there is a strong awareness for the meaning of the professional core in each field. We conclude that the use of AI provokes reflections about the meaning of human work in operating AI tools adequately and taking on responsibility for their results, thereby rather reinforcing its relevance