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FREE ART WORKSHOP: Destructing Value in Digital Capitali$m

Monday, 5 February 2024 - ENS Coworking Space
FREE ART WORKSHOP: Destructing Value in Digital Capitali$m
 
It seems that the thing everyone talks about these days is coming for our creativity. Let’s fight back. Unwind our creativity. Learn how to do stuff. Art, that is. With other humans.
 
The workshop on how to do art, with generous supports of students and friends of #euronewschool, will focus on the question of value in digital capitalism. We will try to learn (by doing art) whether it is possible to devoid everyday objects of their use and exchange value, and introduce another kind of value that capitalist exchange would not be able to profit from.
 
Our exploration will be the final part of the course “Intermedia Reloaded: Popular Culture and Digital Capitalism”, co-taught at the ENS by Filip Biały and Faisal Khwaileh.
 
Where: ENS Coworking Space, Collegium Polonicum, Słubice
 
When: Monday, 5 February 2024, 17:00
 
Drinks and snacks will be provided.
 
If possible, bring some unusual (or very usual) objects that we will use in destructive creation.

Call for Abstracts: ENS panels at EASST Conference

Submissions can be made until 12 February 2024

The Call for Abstracts for the EASST-4S 2024 conference in Amsterdam is open! The 2024 joint meeting of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) invites panels, presentations, contributions and other events that explore the role of STS in transformations in an era of grand societal challenges. The following panels are (co-)hosted by ENS researchers:

P043: Witnessing disasters, crises and wars in the age of datafication (Migle Bareikyte (ENS/EUV), Mykola Makhortyk)

  • Datafication transforms how crises and wars are witnessed and researched. Scrutinising the relationship between witnessing, digital surveillance, and platform economy, the panel explores how technology can contribute to empathic responses and engaged research but also discrimination and alienation.

P280: Contingencies of value-driven design in public service digitization (Benedict Lang (ENS/EUV), Maryam Tatari (ENS/EUV))

  • The panel encourages a comparative analysis of value-driven digital transformation in public service infrastructure. It welcomes contributions addressing values as input or output, translation work, emerging or blurring boundaries, researcher’s intervention, and rising contingencies in the field.

    P300: Infrastructures, crises and transformation (Nina Amelung (Universidade de Lisboa), Huub Dijstelbloem (University of Amsterdam), Jan-Hendrik Passoth (ENS/EUV)
    Silvan Pollozek (ENS/EUV))

    • In the name of crisis, infrastructures become sites of expansion and political struggles. But not all crises unfold hectic dynamics in infrastructure (re)construction. We invite papers on different sites, politics, reconfigurations and temporalities of “infrastructures, crisis and transformation”.

    Additionally, P345: Calculating Migration forms part of our collaborative research project of the same name - submissions are most welcome!

    • We explore the calculation of migrant mobility in times of datafication and ask how calculatory practices and technologies transform the ways of how migrant mobilities are described, analysed, and governed. At the same time, we seek to situate, contextualise and historicise calculating migration.

    16 January 2024: RECSAI Kicks off with Workshop in Davos

    Participate on-site at the AI House Davos or online!

    The recently launched expert network RECSAI (International Expert Consortium on the Regulation, Economics, and Computer Science of AI) kicks off its conference series with a first workshop in the frame of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Swizterland. Organized by ENS Professor Philipp Hacker and Professor Sarah Hammer (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA), the workshop consists of two expert panels:

    Panel 1: Towards International AI Regulation, 10 - 11 am CET (Chair: Philipp Hacker)
    Panelists:

    • Ramayya Krishnan, Professor and Dean, CMU; Member, National AI Advisory Committee to the US President
    • Miriam Vogel, Chair of the National AI Advisory Committee to the US President; President and CEO, EqualAI
      Kai Zenner, European Parliament
      Rasmus Rothe, Co-Founder and CTO, Merantix

    Panel 2: Roundtable: US and EU AI Regulation: Next Steps for Businesses and Society, 11:15 am - 12:30 pm CET (Chair: Sarah Hammer)
    Panelists:

    • Brent Mittelstadt, Professor, Oxford
    • Fred Oswald, Professor, Rice; Member, National AI Advisory Committee to the US President
    • Christoph Winterhalter, ISO Board Member & VP Strategy and Policy, and CEO of DIN
    • Kai Zenner, European Parliament
    • Philipp Hacker, Professor, ENS/ European University Viadrina
    • Ramayya Krishnan, Professor and Dean, CMU; Member, National AI Advisory Committee to the US President
    • Dietrich Chen, EY-Parthenon Managing Director and Member of the Task Force on Generative AI, Commercial Strategy, Ernst & Young LLP
    • Jessica Renier, Institute of International Finance, Managing Director of Digital Finance

    21. Januar 2024, Berlin: Thementag "KI, Demokratie und Nerds"

    Podiumsdiskussionen u.a. mit Ulrike Klinger und Philipp Hacker (ENS)

    Welchen Einfluss hat Technologie auf unsere Demokratie? Welche Gefahren und Chancen birgt Künstliche Intelligenz (KI)? Diesen Fragen widmet das Berliner Ensemble am 21. Januar 2024 gleich einen ganzen Thementag unter dem Motto "KI, Demokratie und Nerds". Veranstaltungsort ist das Neue Haus (Bertolt-Brecht-Platz 1; 10117 Berlin).

    Den Auftakt macht von 13:00-14:30 Uhr die Podiumsdiskussion "Der Geist in der Maschine - Über das Verschwimmen von Realität und Simulation" mit Jürgen Geuter (aka. tante), Merzmensch (aka. Vladimir Alexeev) und ENS-Professorin für Digitale Demokratie, Ulrike Klinger. Es geht um die Auswirkungen von Algorithmen, Deepfakes und Bots auf unsere Gesellschaft und die daraus resulltierenden ethischen, politischen und gesellschaftlichen Schlussfolgerungen.

    Unter dem Titel "Schöne Neue Arbeitswelt - Zwischen Clickwork und dem Versprechen von Freiheit" diskutieren von 15:00-16:30 Uhr Robert Dorschel, Kathrin Ganz und ENS-Professor für Recht und Ethik der Digitalen Gesellschaft, Philipp Hacker über die Auswirkungen von KI auf die weltweiten Arbeitsmärkte.

    Weitere Programmpunkte des Thementags:

    • 17:00-18:00 Uhr, Neues Haus: Podiumsdiskussion "Demokratische Intelligenz - Hacks für demokrat:innen im KI-Zeitalter" - mit Sebastian Hotz (aka. El Hotzo) und Theresa Züger
    • 19:30 Uhr, Großes Haus: "Friedman im Gespräch" - mit Michael Friedman, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger und Armin Nassehi
    • 20:00-21:15 Uhr, Neues Haus: "Es kann doch nur noch besser werden - Ein Stück mit Musik für Diverse Leute" - von Sibylle Berg

    Der Eintritt zu allen Veranstaltungen ist frei. Kostenlose Tickets sind über die Theaterkasse oder den Webshop des Berliner Ensembles erhältlich.

    AI Regulation - Launch of new expert network RECSAI

    The network is co-chaired by ENS Professor Philipp Hacker and Professor Sarah Hammer (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)

    ENS Professor Philipp Hacker is one of the founding members of the "International Expert Consortium on the Regulation, Economics, and Computer Science of AI (RECSAI)". The network brings together international experts from Europe, the USA, South Africa, Brazil and Australia, among others, with the aim of examining and evaluating the technical and legal implications of AI from an interdisciplinary perspective. Philipp Hacker is leading the project together with former ENS research fellow Professor Sarah Hammer from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. RECSAI receives funding from the Dieter Schwarz Foundation.

    The core objective of RECSAI is to strengthen the international AI research network, particularly with regard to the legal and economic implications. The committee will also provide science-based recommendations for policymakers and international organizations. An international conference series is also planned, including events during the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2024, the United Nations AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva in May 2024 and at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. in September 2024.

    Philipp Hacker says: “I am very happy that the Dieter Schwarz Foundation enables us to discuss and research the most pressing social issues in the field of AI with a top-class group of experts from all continents in the coming years. Topics such as non-discrimination, sustainability and national security, but also the effective application of AI and compensating for the shortage of skilled workers are at the heart of our efforts. I look forward to the collaboration and the insights we will develop together."

    The network will be officially presented as part of Philipp Hacker's inaugural lecture on Tuesday, 5 December 2023, at 6 PM in the Logensaal of the Viadrina, Logenstraße 11, in Frankfurt (Oder). The event is open to the public. Please make sure to register online to join on-site and click here for the live stream.

    AI can't get no regulation? - Zur Zukunft der KI-Regulierung

    Future Skills @ Viadrina: Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Philipp Hacker am 29.11.2023

    Künstliche Intelligenz erschafft auf Grundlage bestehender Werke musikalische Kompositionen oder Kunst und generiert realistische 3D-Modelle von Objekten. Sprachmodelle wie GPT-4 können natürliche Konversationen führen, menschliche Schreibstile nachahmen und Bildgeneratoren wie Stable Diffusion erzeugen realistische Bilder und Videos. Das nimmt uns einerseits Arbeit ab, birgt aber auch die Gefahr von Missbrauch, der Verbreitung von Desinformation, Deepfake-Videos und diskriminierenden Inhalten.

    Wie aber lässt sich eine Technologie kontrollieren, die sich in diesem Tempo weiterentwickelt? Welche Gesetze werden aktuell in Deutschland und Europa diskutiert – und wohin geht die Entwicklung der KI-Regulierung weltweit?

    Am 29. November 2023 gibt Philipp Hacker, Professor für Recht und Ethik der digitalen Gesellschaft an der ENS, im Rahmen der Future Skills-Woche an der Viadrina Einblick in den Stand seiner Forschung und aktuelle Herausforderungen der KI-Regulierung. Der öffentliche Vortrag findet am 29. November von 16:30 -17:30 Uhr im Gräfin-Dönhoff-Gebäude der Europa-Universität Viadrina, Europaplatz 1 in Frankfurt (Oder) im Hörsaal 2 statt.

    Open Workshop: Data for Entrepreneurs

    7 November 2023, 9 AM - 3:30 PM, ENS Coworking Space

    Are you an entrepreneur? And do you know how to handle data efficiently? Does your start-up have the necessary knowledge to deal with data?

    You are welcome to join this workshop organized by our ENS Research Group "Politics & Governance of Digitalization" taking place on 7 November 2023, 9 AM - 3:30 PM in the ENS Coworking Space at Collegium Polonicum in Slubice. It will help you to understand how to govern data in organizations and why this is so crucial.

    Guest Speaker: Jan Oleszczuk-Zygmuntowski, Lecturer in Management and Artificial Intelligence at Kozminski University (Warsaw), Programme Director at CoopTech Hub, first Polish center for platform cooperativism, Co-president of the Polish Economics Network

    Please register by sending an This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    Filip Bialy joins ERC-funded DiCED project at the University of Manchester

    The team examines the role of digital campaigning on democracy

    ENS researcher Dr. Filip Bialy has joined the DiCED team at the University of Manchester, which is studying the use of modern digital techniques in election campaigns. DiCED (Digital Campaigning and Electoral Democracy), is a five-year project funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The project will be led by Rachel Gibson, a Professor of Political Science from The University of Manchester. The key goal will be to examine how digital technologies and new forms of data are reshaping the electoral landscape and the nature and purpose of political campaigns, in both new and old democracies.

    Focusing on the USA, the UK, France, Germany and Poland, DiCED will provide one of the first in-depth comparative analyses of what has been dubbed a new form of ‘data-driven’ political campaigning. It will look at where this new mode of electioneering is emerging, and ask why it is more prominent in certain countries.

    Filip Bialy is an Assistant Professor at the Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan and part of the Science and Technology studies group at ENS. He holds a PhD in political science and a postgraduate diploma in Big Data and data processing. His research focuses on the ethical and political implications of digitalization processes, including the widespread adoption of AI. He was a visiting fellow at London School of Economics and Political Science and in the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge and currently is a fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin.

    Clickbait or Conspiracy? How Twitter Users address the epistemic Uncertainty of a controversial Preprint

    New Paper by Mareike Bauer in "Big Data & Society"

    Many scientists share preprints on social media platforms to gain attention from academic peers, policy-makers, and journalists. In this study we shed light on an unintended but highly consequential effect of sharing preprints: their contribution to conspiracy theories. Although the scientific community might quickly dismiss a preprint as insubstantial and ‘clickbaity’, its uncertain epistemic status nevertheless allows conspiracy theorists to mobilize the text as scientific support for their own narratives.

    To better understand the epistemic politics of preprints on social media platforms, a team of authors including ENS researcher Mareike Bauer studied the case of a highly controversial biomedical preprint, which was shared widely on Twitter in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic. Using a combination of social network analysis and qualitative content analysis, they compared the structures of engagement with the preprint and the discursive practices of scientists and conspiracy theorists. The authors found that despite substantial engagement, scientists were unable to dampen the conspiracy theorists’ enthusiasm for the preprint. Moreover, they found that members from both groups not only tried to reduce the preprint’s epistemic uncertainty, but sometimes deliberately maintained it. The maintenance of epistemic uncertainty helped conspiracy theorists to reinforce their group’s identity as skeptics and allowed scientists to express concerns with the state of their profession. The study contributes to research on the intricate relations between scientific knowledge and conspiracy theories online, as well as to the role of social media platforms for new genres of scholarly communication.

    Mareike Fenja Bauer is a PhD researcher at ENS. Her research focusses on anti-feminism on visual social media platforms.

    Authors: Mareike Fenja Bauer, Dr. Maximilian Heimstädt, Carlos Franzreb and Dr. Sonja Schimmel

    ENS Professor Ulrike Klinger among Thomas Mann Fellows 2024

    The 2024 cohort connects intellectuals addressing the vulnerability of democracy

    Ulrike Klinger, Professor for Digital Democracy at the European New School of Digital Studies / European University Viadrina, will be one of thirteen Thomas Mann Fellows in 2024. In the context of the 2024 election year in the United States, the Fellows will explore issues of democracy and vulnerability. During their stays of several months at the former exile residence of the Mann family, the Thomas Mann House, they will work on their projects in exchange with US experts and the public.

    Ulrike Klinger will take a transatlantic perspective on the 2024 election campaigns. In 2024, there will be elections for a new European Parliament in May and U.S. presidential and congressional elections in November. Her project will focus on actors and allegations that challenge the legitimacy of elections themselves, on election fraud campaigns and disinformation about the electoral process.

    The Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles is a lively place for transatlantic debate, where outstanding personalities and innovative thinkers explore fundamental political, social, and cultural issues and concerns facing our world today and in the coming years. The Thomas Mann Fellowships enable academics, pioneering thinkers, and intellectuals who live, or have lived, in Germany to tackle the pressing challenges of our time and to foster the intellectual and cultural exchange between Germany and the United States. For a complete list of the 2024 Fellows, click here

    Ulrike Klinger joined ENS as Professor for Digital Democracy in October 2020. She is also Associated Researcher at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society in Berlin. Before joining ENS, she was Professor for Digital Communication at Freie Universität Berlin and head of the research group on “News, campaigns and the rationality of public discourse” at the Weizenbaum Institute. Her research focuses on political communication, the transformation of digital publics, and the role of technologies in democratic societies.

    Workshop: Legal and technical challenges of large generative AI models

    4-5 July 2023, Geneva / online. Co-organized by ENS Professor Philipp Hacker

    Large Generative AI Models, such as ChatGPT, GPT-4 or Stable Diffusion, are revolutionizing the way we communicate, create, and work. They are rapidly and profoundly impacting all sectors of society, from business development to medicine, from education to research, and from coding to the arts. Like many other transformative technologies, they offer enormous potential, but may also carry significant risks regarding, inter alia, opacity, bias, or fake news.

    Against this background, the workshop brings together leading scholars to discuss the far-reaching technical, legal, regulatory and social implications of recent advances in generative AI systems.

    It is organized by Professor Sarah Hammer (University of Pennsylvania Law School, USA) and Professor Philipp Hacker (ENS / European University Viadrina). The organizers acknowledge the generous support of the Dieter Schwarz Foundation.

    Migle Bareikyte appointed Assistant Professor for Digital Studies at ENS

    We are happy to share the news that Migle Bareikyte has joined the ENS team as Professor for Digital Studies. The media scholar conducts research on situated phenomena of digitalization, including algorithmic-driven work, digital aspects of war and accountability, and a focus on Eastern Europe.

    Migle Bareikyte studied "Communication and Information Studies" in Vilnius, Lithuania, and completed a master's degree in "Social and Political Critical Studies" in Kaunas. She also studied Media and Communication Studies at Freie Universität Berlin until 2015. The development of digitalization in Eastern Europe has become her research focus at least since she received her doctorate. At Leuphana University of Lüneburg, she had studied Internet infrastructures in post-socialist Lithuania as part of her doctoral thesis at the DFG Research Training Group "Cultures of Critique" and completed her work in 2020 with "magna cum laude".

    Shortly before Russia expanded its war against Ukraine in February 2022, Migle Bareikyte was at the Center for Urban History in Lviv for a research stay. "The digital dimension of war has been one of my research topics ever since," she says. She is concerned with various war-related practices in social media, as well as digital ways of recording and exploring war experiences. Together with researchers in and from Ukraine, such as the Center for Urban History of East and Central Europe in Lviv, as well as other countries, she is researching and developing methods to examine war-related content on social media. "This collaborative work is very important to me and I am very happy to now become part of the European University Viadrina," she says shortly after the appointment by Viadrina President Professor Eva Kocher.

    Students will be able to meet her in her first semester in a seminar on disinformation, among other things.

    [Photo Credits: Heide Fest]