Open Access-Publikationen

Dauerhafte URI für den Bereich

https://www.weizenbaum-library.de/handle/id/23

Listen

Gerade angezeigt 1 - 16 von 16

Active Social Media Use and Its Impact on Well-being: An Experimental Study on the Effects of Posting Pictures on Instagram
(2023) Krause, Hannes-Vincent; große Deters, Fenne; Baumann, Annika; Krasnova, Hanna
Active use of social networking sites (SNSs) has long been assumed to benefit users’ well-being. However, this established hypothesis is increasingly being challenged, with scholars criticizing its lack of empirical support and the imprecise conceptualization of active use. Nevertheless, with considerable heterogeneity among existing studies on the hypothesis and causal evidence still limited, a final verdict on its robustness is still pending. To contribute to this ongoing debate, we conducted a week-long randomized control trial with N = 381 adult Instagram users recruited via Prolific. Specifically, we tested how active SNS use, operationalized as picture postings on Instagram, affects different dimensions of well-being. The results depicted a positive effect on users’ positive affect but null findings for other well-being outcomes. The findings broadly align with the recent criticism against the active use hypothesis and support the call for a more nuanced view on the impact of SNSs.
Articulation Work and Tinkering for Fairness in Machine Learning
(2024) Fahimi, Miriam; Russo, Mayra; Scott, Kristen M.; Vidal, Maria-Esther; Berendt, Bettina; Kinder-Kurlanda, Katharina
The field of fair AI aims to counter biased algorithms through computational modelling. However, it faces increasing criticism for perpetuating the use of overly technical and reductionist methods. As a result, novel approaches appear in the field to address more socially-oriented and interdisciplinary (SOI) perspectives on fair AI. In this paper, we take this dynamic as the starting point to study the tension between computer science (CS) and SOI research. By drawing on STS and CSCW theory, we position fair AI research as a matter of 'organizational alignment': what makes research 'doable' is the successful alignment of three levels of work organization (the social world, the laboratory, and the experiment). Based on qualitative interviews with CS researchers, we analyze the tasks, resources, and actors required for doable research in the case of fair AI. We find that CS researchers engage with SOI research to some extent, but organizational conditions, articulation work, and ambiguities of the social world constrain the doability of SOI research for them. Based on our findings, we identify and discuss problems for aligning CS and SOI as fair AI continues to evolve.
Can civic data be counterdata and open data? Exploring the limits of data, contestation and governance
(Nomos, 2025) Shibuya, Yuya; Olojo, Seyi; Hamm, Andrea; Krishnan, Radhika; Pargman, Teresa Cerratto; Kox, Thomas; Ullrich, André; Zech, Herbert
The 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.
Digital Sovereignty in times of AI: between perils of hegemonic agendas and possibilities of alternative approaches
(2024) Costa Barbosa, Alexandre; Herlo, Bianca; Joost, Gesche
Although it has been on the agenda for over a decade, the importance of digital sovereignty has recently increased. Nations-states worldwide have developed policies or expressed through speeches the need to safeguard their interests in the digital realm. The current technological frontier is artificial intelligence (AI). Hence, digital sovereignty agendas now encompass the complexities introduced by AI. This article explores contemporary discourses on digital sovereignty, highlighting how different ideological positions shape these conversations. Current discussions reveal a multifaceted field where sovereignty is interpreted through varied lenses, directly influencing the governance of technologies such as AI. Predominant perspectives often focus on state, market, or individual sovereignty over data, algorithms, and AI models. However, through document and discourse analysis, the article examines alternative approaches such as sustainable, grassroots, and feminist digital sovereignties and those led by communities or indigenous peoples. These visions challenge the mainstream by emphasizing autonomy, inclusion, and sustainability in managing critical AI resources, including computing, databases, data, and algorithm governance. By analyzing these approaches, the article identifies principles that can foster more diverse, democratic, and virtuous AI development. Finds points out that participatory governance and the development of emancipatory technologies are essential to navigating the ethical and practical issues that emerge at the intersection of digital sovereignty and AI. In a normative way, the article concludes by reflecting on how these alternative discourses can influence the future of AI, pointing to paths that could lead to a more inclusive and sovereign AI development aligned with collective and environmental values. Future research could explore how these sovereignty conceptions catalyze an AI's evolution to align with collective digital self-determination and more conscious and equitable resource management practices.
Do All Roads Lead to Rome? Exploring the Relationship Between Social Referrals, Referral Propensity and Stickiness to Video-on-Demand Websites
(2020) Köster, Antonia; Matt, Christian; Hess, Thomas
Content website providers have two main goals: They seek to attract consumers and to keep them on their websites as long as possible. To reach potential consumers, they can utilize several online channels, such as paid search results or advertisements on social media, all of which usually require a substantial marketing budget. However, with rising user numbers of online communication tools, website providers increasingly integrate social sharing buttons on their websites to encourage existing consumers to facilitate referrals to their social networks. While little is known about this social form of guiding consumers to a content website, the study proposes that the way in which consumers reach a website is related to their stickiness to the website and their propensity to refer content to others. By using a unique clickstream data set of a video-on-demand website, the study compares consumers referred by their social network to those consumers arriving at the website via organic search or social media advertisements in terms of stickiness to the website (e.g., visit length, number of page views, video starts) and referral likelihood. The results show that consumers referred through social referrals spend more time on the website, view more pages, and start more videos than consumers who respond to social media advertisements, but less than those coming through organic search. Concerning referral propensity, the results indicate that consumers attracted to a website through social referrals are more likely to refer content to others than those who came through organic search or social media advertisements. The study offers direct insights to managers and recommends an increase in their efforts to promote social referrals on their websites.
E-participation in municipalities services: A systematic literature review of evaluation approaches
(2025) Ietto, Beatrice; Ullrich, André
Evaluating e-participation initiatives is critical to understanding their impact on democratic processes, public policy, and societal welfare. However, existing evaluation frameworks often neglect the complexities of multi-stakeholder environments. Through a systematic literature review of 47 empirical cases, this gap is addressed by developing a typology of evaluation categories (supply-side, user activity, public value, political, and societal impact) and a comprehensive evaluation framework that accounts for the diverse objectives of all the involved stakeholders — technology providers, local governments, and citizens. By integrating short-term engagement metrics and long-term societal outcomes, the framework ensures more accurate assessments of e-participation success. We argue that adopting a multi- stakeholder approach in evaluation can significantly enhance the effectiveness, inclusivity, and sustainability of e-participation initiatives. Our findings challenge current evaluation practices and provide guidance for practitioners aiming to optimize governance, improve public services, and empower citizens through more robust evaluation methods. This study lays the foundation for systematic evaluation methods that consider stakeholder objectives, crucial for advancing e- participation research, and policy.
Empowering smart regions: addressing challenges and leveraging enabling factors in municipal digital transformation
(Nomos, 2025) Brandenburger, Bonny; Hamm, Andrea; Krohn, Caroline; Sühlmann-Faul, Felix; Atug, Manuel; Döpp, Nicole; Ullrich, André; Kox, Thomas; Ullrich, André; Zech, Herbert
The advancing digital transformation of society creates a wide range of opportunities for improved access to information and resources that contribute to ensuring the availability of public services and the development of sustainable living spaces. This underlying potential does not only apply to urban areas; digitalisation projects are also being implemented in rural municipalities in order to exploit the potential of digital transformation. Nevertheless, the field of so-called smart regions has yet to receive substantial focus in research. To understand the specific challenges and enabling factors of digital transformation activities in urban-rural areas, a workshop was organised with the cooperation of municipal representatives of a model region in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Therein, specific technical, economic and social challenges as well as enabling factors of municipal digitalisation projects aimed at developing smart regions were identified. The results show that the success of digital transformation meas‐ ures in urban-rural areas is not only determined by the expansion of a corresponding technical infrastructure but in particular by the acceptance of citizens and municipality employees, as well as economic viability. This research further informs municipalities and future researchers on the critical factors required to effectively conduct digitalisation projects in the smart region context.
“Guilds” as Worker Empowerment and Control in a Chinese Data Work Platform
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2024) Yang, Tianling; Miceli, Milagros
Data work plays a fundamental role in the development of algorithmic systems and the AI industry. It is often performed in business process outsourcing (BPO) companies and crowdsourcing platforms, involving a global and distributed workforce as well as networks of collaborative actors. Previous work on community building among data workers centers organization and mutual support or focuses on the structuring and instrumentalization of crowdworker groups for complicated projects. We add to these lines of research by focusing on a specific form of community building encouraged and facilitated by platforms in China: guilds. Based on ethnographic work on a Chinese crowdsourcing platform and 14 semi-structured interviews with data workers, our findings show that guilds are a form of both worker empowerment and control. With this work, we add a nuanced empirical case to the interconnection of BPOs, online communities and crowdsourcing platforms in the current data production sector in China, thus expanding previous investigations on global perspectives of data production. We discuss guilds in relation to individual workers and highlight their effects on data work, including efficient coordination, enhanced standardization, and flattened power structure.
Lost in moderation: How commercial content moderation apis over- and under-moderate group-targeted hate speech and linguistic variations
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2025) Hartmann, David; Oueslati, Amin; Staufer, Dimitri; Pohlmann, Lena; Munzert, Simon; Heuer, Hendrik
Commercial content moderation APIs are marketed as scalable solutions to combat online hate speech. However, the reliance on these APIs risks both silencing legitimate speech, called over-moderation, and failing to protect online platforms from harmful speech, known as under-moderation. To assess such risks, this paper introduces a framework for auditing black-box NLP systems. Using the framework, we systematically evaluate five widely used commercial content moderation APIs. Analyzing five million queries based on four datasets, we find that APIs frequently rely on group identity terms, such as “black”, to predict hate speech. While OpenAI’s and Amazon’s services perform slightly better, all providers under-moderate implicit hate speech, which uses codified messages, especially against LGBTQIA+ individuals. Simultaneously, they over-moderate counter-speech, reclaimed slurs and content related to Black, LGBTQIA+, Jewish, and Muslim people. We recommend that API providers offer better guidance on API implementation and threshold setting and more transparency on their APIs’ limitations.Warning: This paper contains offensive and hateful terms and concepts. We have chosen to reproduce these terms for reasons of transparency.
Mainstreaming civic tech and citizen sensing: a research agenda on co-creation methods, data interfaces, and impact pathways
(2023) Raetzsch, Christoph; Hamm, Andrea; Shibuya, Yuya
In this perspective article, we propose an interdisciplinary research agenda that addresses citizen science approaches embedded in civic tech initiatives and citizen sensing scenarios. The proposed agenda builds on the multi-level perspective framework (Geels, 2004; Geels, 2019) to inform research on how such ‘niche innovations’ like citizen sensing become mainstreamed in broader socio-technical systems and modes of governance. To support research across use case scenarios and make analyses more comparable internationally, we identify three core areas of interdisciplinary future research and practice development: 1) uses of co-creation methods to develop project objectives and align stakeholders; 2) designs of interfaces for gathering, communicating, and archiving civic data for different types of users; and 3) modeling impact pathways of individual projects that include civic tech activists and citizen scientists, academic researchers, journalists, and policymakers. For impact pathways, we highlight the importance of collaborations with data-driven approaches in journalism.
Rethinking geographies of sovereignty: Towards a conceptual framework of situated sovereignty
(2023) Lange, Bastian; Pütz, Marco; Herlo, Bianca
We engage with debates on shifting geographies of sovereignty in the digital age by providing a conceptual framework for “situated sovereignty”. Our contribution draws on a review of the scholarly literature and current sovereignty practices. We aim to move beyond state-centred and territorial understandings of sovereignty. A common discussion is the necessity of reconfiguring notions of sovereignty. However, hardly any studies have discussed the sociospatial configurations of practising sovereignty in the digital present. We conceptualise practices of sovereignty along intersecting strands of scholarly literature that have scarcely been related, drawing from political geography, science and technology studies, and critical digitalisation studies. Reviewing the literature, we identify three fields framing current practices of sovereignty—(i) state and territory, (ii) civic engagement, and (iii) digitalisation—based on which we develop a conceptual framework of situated sovereignty. Our framework addresses the situated role of sovereignty practices from a spatial point of view. We propose pragmatism, legitimacy, and governance as three analytical themes for better understanding current and future shifting geographies of sovereignty and enhancing sovereignty studies.
Shaping uncertain journeys into digital futures - perspectives on the digital and socio-ecological transformation
(Nomos, 2025) Ullrich, André; Kox, Thomas; Zech, Herbert; Kox, Thomas; Ullrich, André; Zech, Herbert
Silencing the Risk, Not the Whistle: A Semi-automated Text Sanitization Tool for Mitigating the Risk of Whistleblower Re-Identification
(ACM, 2024) Staufer, Dimitri; Pallas, Frank; Berendt, Bettina
Whistleblowing is essential for ensuring transparency and accountability in both public and private sectors. However, (potential) whistleblowers often fear or face retaliation, even when report- ing anonymously. The specific content of their disclosures and their distinct writing style may re-identify them as the source. Legal measures, such as the EU Whistleblower Directive, are limited in their scope and effectiveness. Therefore, computational methods to prevent re-identification are important complementary tools for encouraging whistleblowers to come forward. However, current text sanitization tools follow a one-size-fits-all approach and take an overly limited view of anonymity. They aim to mitigate identification risk by replacing typical high-risk words (such as person names and other labels of named entities) and combinations thereof with placeholders. Such an approach, however, is inadequate for the whistleblowing scenario since it neglects further re-identification potential in textual features, including the whistleblower’s writing style. Therefore, we propose, implement, and evaluate a novel classification and mitigation strategy for rewriting texts that involves the whistleblower in the assessment of the risk and utility. Our prototypical tool semi-automatically evaluates risk at the word/term level and applies risk-adapted anonymization techniques to produce a grammatically disjointed yet appropriately sanitized text. We then use a Large Language Model (LLM) that we fine-tuned for paraphrasing to render this text coherent and style-neutral. We evaluate our tool’s effectiveness using court cases from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and excerpts from a real-world whistleblower testimony and measure the protection against authorship attribution attacks and utility loss statistically using the popular IMDb62 movie reviews dataset, which consists of 62 individuals. Our method can significantly reduce authorship attribution accuracy from 98.81% to 31.22%, while preserving up to 73.1% of the original content’s semantics, as measured by the established cosine similarity of sentence embeddings.
The differential effects of self-view in virtual meetings when speaking vs. listening
(2024) Abramova, Olga; Gladkaya, Margarita; Krasnova, Hanna
With the surging reliance on videoconferencing tools, users may find themselves staring at their reflections for hours a day. We refer to this phenomenon as self-referential information (SRI) consumption and examine its consequences and the mechanism behind them. Building on self-awareness research and the strength model of self-control, we argue that SRI consump tion heightens the state of self-awareness and thereby depletes participants’ mental resources, eventually undermining virtual meeting (VM) outcomes. Our findings from a European employee sample revealed contrary effects of SRI consumption across speaker vs listener roles. Engagement with self-view is positively associated with self-awareness, which, in turn, is negatively related to satisfaction with VM process, perceived productivity, and enjoyment. Looking at the self while listening to others exhibits adverse direct and indirect (via self- awareness) effects on VM outcomes. However, looking at the self when speaking exhibits positive direct effects on satisfaction with VM process and enjoyment.
Uncertain Journeys into Digital Futures: Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research for Mitigating Wicked Societal and Environmental Problems
(Nomos, 2025) Kox, Thomas; Ullrich, André; Zech, Herbert
The 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.
Who trains the Data for European Artificial Intelligence?
(2024) Miceli, Milagros; Tubaro, Paola; Casilli, Antonio; Le Bonniec, Thomas; Salim Wagner, Camilla; Sachenbacher, Laurenz

Listen

Auflistung Open Access-Publikationen nach Forschungsbereichen "Digitale Technologien in der Gesellschaft"

Treffer pro Seite

Sortieroptionen