What can a future, human-centered relationship between humans and AI look like? Many concepts assume a collaborative relationship of mutual support that is characterized by symmetry.
In this workshop we will reflect on our own positions in academia, creatively envision our academic utopias, and develop realistic strategies for cultivating change within and beyond our institutions.
This project considers non-state (i.e., “private”) threats to liberty as a central problem in the history and theory of expressive freedoms (free speech, freedom of thought, religious toleration...). It challenges the idea that these freedoms are merely negative rights against state interference. First, it explores how early modern canonical thinkers saw private power - churches, […]
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, yet scientific evidence on the topic is often contested in public discourse. Online platforms like YouTube have become key spaces where climate-related discussions unfold, allowing a diverse range of actors to shape narratives. This project examines how scientific evidence is framed in user comments […]
What does generative AI say about people like me? Can it speak so that I recognize myself? "Unsupervised Pleasures" tries to understand the texts that shape machine learning (ML), by creating exploratory tools and accessible resources to analyze their large-scale datasets and models. It investigates why generative AI systems like GPT-4o have such limited information […]
This project focuses on an online group called Afropolitan Network. Using theories of constitutive rhetoric, publics, rhetorical circulation, and digital diasporas, it investigates the emergent dependence of liberatory movements on the promises of Web 3.0. I analyze the self-conscious constitutive rhetoric by which Afropolitan Network invites continental and diasporic Africans into what they call a […]
As people engage with the social media landscape, popular platforms rise and fall. As current research uncovers the experiences people have on various platforms, rarely do we engage with the sociotechnical migration processes when joining and leaving them.
Immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) open up new dimensions of learning by enabling presence, interaction, and embodied experiences. While cognitive effects and affordances like presence and flow have been widely studied, affective learning variables—such as emotional involvement and empathy—remain underrepresented. Yet VR is particularly suited to support experiential and emotion-driven learning.
The protection of fundamental rights and the fight against hate speech on the Internet has proven to be complex. This is because the once bilateral state-citizen interaction now has an extra player: Internet's social network platforms. Control of online expression is in the hands of a small number of players - Meta, Google, X - […]
The bidt, CAIS, HBI and Weizenbaum Institute invite doctoral and postdoctoral researchers to present their work at the joint Digitalisation Research and Network Meeting – DigiMeet.
