Panel Discussion: Are Citizens Helping to Shape the Future of Public Broadcasting?

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Précis

The Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy was founded in 2016. The aim of the institute is to analyze and develop the potential of the internet for democratic innovations and to provide a framework within which interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research projects can be pursued. Based on systematic theory construction and empirical research, the opportunities and risks of the internet are to be investigated in the areas of citizen participation, public communication and political mobilization as well as in companies and other organizations.

How can we measure and evaluate the effects of online participation processes? How can online technologies be protected from anti-democratic misuse? How might digital technology change decision processes in economic organizations? How can we improve the deliberative quality in online discussions? How is it possible to analyze vast amounts of content from participation processes automatically? Which ethical and legal questions do we have to take into consideration in the context of online participation? These are only a few of the questions which more than 40 scientists from a diversity of backgrounds are currently working on under the auspices of the DIID. In addition, the DIID has a service unit which offers supervision and evaluation of online participation processes to external clients.

The study of the success and risk conditions of digital innovations from basic research to practical application is the mission of the Institute.

Research into the variants, dynamics and effects of digital innovations,
Development of new technical and organisational concepts
Testing of systems and processes in practice
Evaluation of output, outcome and impact of digital processes
Transfer of knowledge and concepts to society

One main focus is on the possibilities of participation being opened up in various social contexts by means of the Internet but also on the dangers of their anti-democratic misuse. The research results serve to develop new scientifically based models for the democratic use of the Internet and to further their implementation.

Structure and Organization

Currently about 60 scientists at the HHU from different disciplines such as Economics, Computer Linguistics, Computer Science, Communication Science, Medicine, Philosophy, Political Science, Law, Sociology and Administrative Science are conducting research at the DIID. The DIID provides the framework within which interdisciplinary projects can be pursued and concrete issues surrounding the Internet and democracy can be addressed.

Since its official start on 21^st July, 2016, the DIID has been working as a central scientific institution of the HHU. The governing body of the DIID is the board which is elected for two years. The board consists of 12 members who are entitled to vote and two non-voting members in an advisory capacity. The spokespersons are Marc Ziegele, Stefan Conrad and Ulrich Rosar. The DIID is also supported and advised by an advisory board.

The operative team of the DIID consists of the spokespersons, five research assistants as well as the secretariat and graduate assistants. We have also summarized the entire organizational structure of DIID in an organisation chart.

News

12.09.2022 | 22:00

What will the television of tomorrow look like? And how do citizens help shape the future of public broadcasting? These and other questions will be addressed by the panel discussion on October 13, 2022, starting at 6 p.m. in the Haus der Universität.

Prof. Dr. Christiane Eilders (DIID spokeswoman and professor of communication and media studies at Heinrich Heine University) and Dr. Frauke Gerlach (director of the Grimme Institute) will join political scientist Prof. Dr. Christoph Bieber and Ingmar Cario (deputy program director for information, fiction and entertainment at WDR) on the panel for discussion. The event will take place on Oct. 13, 2022, starting at 6 p.m. at the Haus der Universität (Schadowplatz 14).

The occasion for the public panel discussion is a cooperation project between the Grimme Institute, the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) and the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy (DIID). Last year, the project “#meinfernsehen2021” invited interested citizens to participate in an online discussion on the future of public television. More information about the project can be found here. Additional discussion material was provided by the “ARD Future Dialogue” launched by ARD in spring 2021. This process was also carried out to collect ideas and suggestions from citizens on the design of public television.

The panel discussion aims to take up the impulses of these discussions and to further advance the public dialog on the future of public broadcasting. In addition to the panel guests, all interested citizens are invited to participate in the discourse, which will be moderated by Bettina Fruchtmann. We look forward to lively participation and a constructive discussion.