The Alexander von Humboldt Institut for Internet and Society (HIIG) and European internet research institutes are launching the European Hub to support scientific discussion and cooperation between internet researchers in Europe. During a roundtable in Berlin, internet researchers from Europe decided to cooperate more closely on research projects, science transfer and events.
15 representatives of European research institutes of the Global Network of Internet and Society Research Centers (NoC), including the Institute for Information Law (Amsterdam), the Nexa Center for Internet & Society (Turin) and the Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire Internet et Société (Paris), discussed, among other things, how to strengthen European cooperation and the international visibility of European internet research.
In addition to the Digital Asia Hub, a think tank on internet and society research founded in 2015 and based in Hong Kong, HIIG is now launching a platform to coordinate internet research centers in the whole of Europe. At the heart of the hub’s work is independent and interdisciplinary research about the opportunities and challenges of digital technology, innovation and European society. HIIG will be coordinating and leading the hub for the first two years. The first steps for the newly founded European Hub will be to create a common European research agenda, regional workshops and conferences as well as developing guidelines and ethical standards for internet research.
The first common research focus during the next months will be the topic of “artificial intelligence”. Some first steps have already been taken to facilitate exchange between outstanding researchers on the effects of “artificial intelligence” on human rights: HIIG and the Hans-Bredow-Institute for Media Research (HBI) organised the workshop Algorithmic Decision Making and its Human Rights Implications. Algorithms and the “Internet of Things” directly influence human behaviour both online and offline. The workshop showed – with examples ranging from expert systems in job agencies to the digital arms race – the importance of different disciplines working together to research those phenomena. Here, the focus should not only be on technology but also on the political, social and economic contexts. The narratives and terms we use to understand the application of “artificial intelligence” are of growing importance for exchange between different disciplines.
