I N V I T A T I O N

What happens with our central democratic values like freedom, equality and truth in the digital society? Are we living in times that strengthen democracy by expanding participation and interaction or do we rather witness democracy’s downfall through fragmentation and acceleration? Are citizens empowered by more inclusive participatory means or are they just pawns in the hands of the new digital forces? How does the public sphere fulfill its function of forming a societal self-understanding in times of hate speech and fake news? Who is responsible for realizing what society expects both of and in the internet? Is Facebook just a media company? How does traditional media need to develop itself?

Christoph Neuberger: Democracy and public sphere in the digital society
Tuesday, 30 January 2018 | 7 – 9.30 pm (ical/gcal) | doors open 6.30 pm
Tagungswerk | Lindenstraße 85 | 10969 Berlin

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For more than 20 years, Christoph Neuberger has been analysing the transformation of societal communication conceptually and empirically. In his lecture he recapitulates general and immediate developments. He will show that we are indeed in the midst of a fundamental change – as well as that not everything is completely novel.

Christoph Neuberger is Professor of Communication Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München since 2011. Before, he was a professor at the University of Münster. He was awarded with several prizes, e.g. the Schelling Prize of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities for outstanding scientific achievements. His fields of research include the public sphere, online journalism, activities of the press and broadcasting media on the internet, search engines, social media, media quality, and media regulation.

The event will be held in German and simultaneously translated into English.

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Making sense of the digital society

The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb) are organising an academic lecture series on Making sense of the digital society. The high-profile series strives to develop a European perspective on the processes of transformation that our society is currently undergoing. The series started with an inaugural lecture by Manuel Castells on 12 December 2017 and will continue throughout 2018. Further confirmed speakers are Marion Fourcade, professor of sociology at the UC Berkeley, Elena Esposito, professor for sociology at the University of Bielefeld and the University of Modena-Reggio Emilia, and José van Dijck, author of the forthcoming book The Platform Society and president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.