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Can civic data be counterdata and open data? Exploring the limits of data, contestation and governance
Full text linkThe increasing surveillance by big tech companies or/and governments has raised concerns about the democratic and participatory structure of the datafied society. Meanwhile, over the course of the past decade, various bottom-up civic tech and digital civic initiatives have emerged to tackle pressing local issues, such as air pollution and disaster response, often via technology-mediated data collection, curation, analysis, design and visualisations, thus promoting democratic participation. In this article, we discuss how these data are understood in diverse contexts beyond the realm of civic tech and digital civics. In doing so, we explore the potential and limits of civic data by exploring the intersections of and differences between civic data and adjacent data-related concepts often used by civic tech communities themselves: counterdata and open data. Through our discursive exploration of these three data concepts, we conclude that understanding is limited when it comes to determining which data are ‘civic’, and that discussion of questions related to power structures, diversity and inclusion and infrastructuring of civic data has been minimal
Disinformation Resilience in Backsliding Democracies: Media Trust, Civil Society, and Institutional Capture
Full text linkSocieties’ resilience to disinformation is often linked to democratic backsliding, but the relationships between these concepts remain poorly understood. To measure structural resilience to disinformation, we expand the framework developed for consolidated Western democracies by Humprecht et al. (2020) to democracies that are experiencing varying degrees of democratic backsliding; the Visegrád Group of Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Our application leads us to generate additional macro-level features that should be incorporated when thinking about disinformation resilience in states experiencing democratic backsliding. Specifically, we identify how the role of civil society operates differently depending on the level of democracy and that the value of media trust is conditioned by the degree of institutional capture, adding these complementary measures to the original framework. Our updated empirical analyses suggest that, of our cases, Slovakia had the greatest and Hungary had the least resilience to disinformation. The advancement of the framework enables its application beyond consolidated democracies by identifying additional aspects that help build structural resilience to disinformation elsewhere.The Weizenbaum Institute is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF
Weizenbaum Panel’s Literature Digest: May 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
How to Design Immersive Virtual Learning Environments based on Real-World Processes for the Edu-Metaverse – A Design Process Framework
Full text linkDue to the rise of virtual reality and the - at least now - hypothetical construct of the Metaverse, learning processes are increasingly transferred to immersive virtual learning environments. While the literature provides few design guidelines, most papers miss an application and evaluation description of the design and development processes. As a result, few standardized design processes and related design frameworks exist that mean- ingfully integrate existing stand-alone design theories and resulting approaches for developing immersive virtual learning environments. The paper tackles this challenge with a research procedure based on the design science research method to outline and communicate a Design process framework to create virtual learning environments based on real-world processes for the Edu- Metaverse. The simply applicable artifact represents a comprehensive five-step solution to a well-defined problem by combining interdisciplinary perspectives. It contributes to the concretization of the hypothetical term Metaverse in its intended domain. As a result, practitioners and researchers with different experience levels can use the low-threshold framework
Gekommen, um zu bleiben? Dauerstellenkonzepte an Universitäten in Deutschland
Full text linkSeit einigen Jahren wird verstärkt die Erwartung an Universitäten in Deutschland gerichtet, dauerhafte Karriere- und Beschäftigungsperspektiven jenseits der Professur zu schaffen. Bislang liegen aber kaum Erkenntnisse darüber vor, welche Aktivitäten Universitäten verfolgen, um diese Erwartung zu erfüllen. Der Beitrag adressiert auf Grundlage einer explorativen Studie von Dauerstellenkonzepten an Universitäten in Deutschland diese Lücke. Dargestellt wird, wie Universitäten diese Forderungen aus der öffentlichen Diskussion aufgreifen, welche Dauerstellenkonzepte sie entwickeln, welche Überlegungen dahinterstehen und vor welche Herausforderungen und Probleme sie dabei gestellt sind. , For some years now, universities in Germany have been increasingly expected to establish long-term career and employment prospects beyond the professorship. To date, however, little is known about the activities universities are pursuing to fulfill this expectation. This article addresses this gap on the basis of an exploratory study of concepts for permanent positions at universities in Germany. It shows how universities take up these demands from the public debate, which concepts for permanent positions they develop, the considerations behind them, and the challenges and problems they face in doing so
How the EU Shapes Digitalisation Research
Full text linkOver the last ten years, numerous pieces of EU legislation have been adopted in the field of digital law, including the AI Act, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. These complex but sometimes difficult to understand legal acts play an important role in research and everyday life. In this volume, legal scholars and experts present the key EU legal acts that are relevant to social scientists, students and the general public. The volume also aims to stimulate a greater exchange between the social sciences and law, from which both disciplines can benefit.##### Table of Contents
- Rita Gsenger & Marie-Therese Sekwenz: Introduction 9
- Catrien Bijleveld: Methods for Empirical Legal Research 21
- Hannah Ruschemeier & Jascha Bareis: Searching for Harmonised Rules: Understanding the Paradigms, Provisions, and Pressing Issues in the Final EU AI Act 41
- Jorge Constantino: Accountable AI: It Takes Two to Tango 95
- Marie-Therese Sekwenz & Rita Gsenger: The Digital Services Act: Online Risks, Transparency and Data Access 115
- Pascal Schneiders & Lena Auler: The Digital Services Act – An Appropriate Response to Online Hate Speech? 141
- Liza Herrmann: The Brave Little Tailor v. Digital Giants: A Fairy-Tale Analysis of the Social Character of the DMA 179
- Valerie Albus: Eyes Shut, Fingers Crossed: The EU’s Governance of Terrorist Content Online under Regulation 2021/784 209
- Max van Drunen: What the Political Advertising Regulation Can Do for Researchers (and Vice Versa) 233
- Lisa Völzmann: The EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market 255
- Adelaida Afilipoaie & Heritiana Ranaivoson: The European Media Freedom Act. A Redoubt for Pluralism in an Increasingly Concentrated Landscape 273
- Lucie Antoine: The Data Governance Act – Is “Trust” the Key for Incentivising Data Sharing? 311
- Nik Roeingh & David Wagner: The Open Data Directive: Potential and Pitfalls for the Social Sciences 343
- Prisca von Hagen: Internet of Things Data within the Context of the Data Act: Between Opportunities and Obstacles 371
- Julia Krämer: EU Data Protection Law in Action: Introducing the GDPR 393
- Lisa Markschies: The European Health Data Space: The Next Step in Data Regulation 425
- Lucas Lasota: The CRA and the Challenges of Regulating Cybersecurity in Open Environments: The Case of Free and Open Source Software 445
- Eyup Kun: Unpacking the NIS 2 Directive: Enhancing EU Cybersecurity for the Digital Age 479The book processing charge was co-funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), grant no. 16DII131, and the Open Access Publication Fund of the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Berlin. The open access edition of this book was also co-financed by the TU Delft Open Access Fund
Stellungnahme zum Referentenentwurf eines Gesetzes zur Durchführung der Verordnung (EU) 2023/2854 (Data Act-Durchführungsgesetz – DA-DG)
Full text linkDer 2023 verabschiedete Data Act hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, faire Zugangs- und Nutzungsregeln für Daten, die von Internet of Things-Geräten generiert wurden, zu schaffen. Die Ausgestaltung der Durchsetzung der Verordnung wird in Teilen auch dem nationalen Gesetzgeber überlassen. Hier setzt der Referentenentwurf eines Gesetzes zur Durchführung der Verordnung (EU) 2023/2854 (Data Act-Durchführungsgesetz – DA-DG) an.
Diese Stellungnahme greift maßgebliche Aspekte des Entwurfs auf und analysiert sie. Ein Schwerpunkt der Betrachtung liegt auf der Stellung der Bundesnetzagentur als zentrale Durchsetzungsbehörde. Insbesondere die große Zahl von Fällen, die personenbezogene Daten zum Gegenstand haben, stellt hier eine Herausforderung dar, die durch eine Stärkung der Datenschutzbehörden gelöst werden könnte. Ebenso wird das zweigleisige Durchsetzungssystem, dessen behördliche Schiene im Referentenentwurf konkretisiert wird, im Rahmen der Stellungnahme diskutiert. Besonders im Fokus stehen hier die Position des Nutzers sowie der Umgang mit Geschäftsgeheimnissen. Die Betrachtung erfolgt hierbei stets mit Blick auf die Geeignetheit der Maßnahmen zur Erreichung der Ziele des Data Acts
Dark Patterns and Addictive Designs
Full text linkThe proliferation of digital platforms has given rise to manipulative design practices known as “dark patterns,” which exploit users’ vulnerabilities to influence behavior, leading them to make decisions against their own interests. Among these, addictive designs have emerged as a particularly concerning subset, systematically capturing and manipulating user attention to create compulsive engagement. This paper explores the concept of addictive designs as a type of dark pattern, examining their manipulative nature, impact on user autonomy, and potential harm to well-being. By analyzing the current legal framework in the European Union related to dark patterns, including the General Data Protection Regulation, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Digital Services Act, this paper identifies significant gaps in how the challenges posed by addictive designs are addressed. The paper makes three key suggestions for effectively regulating these practices and protecting users’ rights: clarifying the definition and scope of dark patterns to encompass both interface designs and algorithmic systems; recognizing the value of attention in shaping personal autonomy and considering attention rights as a distinct category of protection in digital regulations; and amending consumer protection laws to address the online manipulation of digital markets.The Weizenbaum Institute is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF
Digital Turn Without Digital Methods? Mapping the Journey of Journalism Studies [Dataset]
Full text linkRecent years have seen a growing diversity in journalism studies, primarily ascribed to digital transformation in the contemporary context. Analyzing 6,770 publications from the five major journalism journals—Journalism, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism Practice, Journalism Studies, and Digital Journalism—between 1995 and 2022, we find new evidence that the digital turn is highly visible in journalism studies. Using document co-citation analysis, we first have identified distinct and coherent, yet loosely integrated, research clusters that focus on different journalistic topics, i.e., specialties. Second, we find that digital journalism has not only been integrated into the research agendas within the field but has also formed stand-alone and distinct research clusters. We further show that field structure has developed over the years in response to digital transformation. Yet, digital and computational methods remain in the stark minority compared with the more traditional methods. Our results suggest that journalism studies could benefit from novel inter-cluster communications and methodological innovations
Von der Theorie zur Praxis: Weniger Fehler und schnellere Umsetzung von Produktionsprozessen dank Augmented Reality
Full text linkDie zunehmende Komplexität industrieller Umgebungen erfordert neue Kompetenzen, insbesondere in der Interaktion mit digitalen Systemen. Traditionelle Ausbildungsmethoden reichen für den effektiven Transfer von angewandtem Wissen oft nicht aus. Um diese Lücke zu schließen, wurde ein Experiment durchgeführt, bei dem Augmented Reality (AR) und papierbasierte Anleitungen in einem Produktionsszenario verglichen wurden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen: Teilnehmer, die mit AR lernten, führten den Produktionsprozess deutlich schneller und mit weniger Fehlern durch. Darüber hinaus berichteten die Lernenden, die AR nutzten, von einer höheren Benutzerfreundlichkeit und einer geringeren kognitiven Belastung während des Trainings