The PolKomm2023 conference, organized by the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy (DIID), took place from June 28 to 30, 2023, at the Haus der Universität in Düsseldorf. The conference theme “AI – Conflicts – Conventions” featured a total of 17 presentations from the field of political communication research.
The DIID-organized conference “AI – Conflicts – Conventions,” which took place from June 28 to 30, came to a successful conclusion. About 50 guests had found their way to the Haus der Universität to listen to a total of 17 contributions in five different panels and to discuss current results of political communication research. The complete program with all presentations can be found here.
The conference began with an evening get-together at Rosie’s to get in the mood. The next day, the official conference schedule started at 9 a.m. with a welcome by the organizers. The first panel was dedicated to “Conflicts in Media”, followed by presentations on “AI in Public and Scientific Discourse”. After a joint lunch, the program included three presentations in the panel “Democracy under Pressure. In the afternoon, the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (Landesanstalt für Medien NRW) presented itself in a meet-up with coffee and cake and gave insights into its fields of work in the context of AI. After the expert group meeting, the participants met at the Brauhaus zum Schiffchen to round off the first day of the conference. The last day of the conference dealt with “Perception and Consequences of AI-based Decision Making” and “Political Communication in Social Media”. Finally, DIID founding member Prof. Dr. Gerhard Vowe offered some words of summary and praise.
The organizing DIID members Dennis Frieß, Katharina Gerl, Marco Lünich, and Carina Weinmann were also pleased with the all-around success of the conference. In addition to the organizing team, we would like to express our special thanks to the sponsors and supporters (Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf, Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, Landesmedienanstalt NRW, DGPuK, Herbert von Halem Verlag, Springer, Nomos, Verein der Freunde und Förderer der Heinrich-Heine-Universität, and verso e.V.) for their generous support as well as to all participants and speakers for their interesting contributions. Further information on the conference can be found here.