At the =mcm3 we conduct interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research, which is grounded in the belief that we need culturally sensitive, human-centered and context specific approaches to study the technological and communication transformations of our times. Our area of expertise is rooted in qualitative methodologies (especially ethnographic methods, participatory action research, focus groups, in-depth interviews) but we often combine these techniques with quantitative methods (surveys; social media analysis), and other methodologies (platform analysis, textual analysis, visual research).
Our research agenda develops at the intersection of two different areas of study: the social impacts of AI and media and social change. Within these areas over the last years, we developed projects that looked at the relationship between AI and children’s human rights (e.g. Child Data Citizen Project; Hello Barbie?), that studied the problem of AI Failures and Errors and their impacts on society (e.g. The Human Error Project); or that investigated how organizational cultures are adapting to digital transformations (e.g. Data Privacy in Swiss Law Firms Project). We are particularly interested in the development of projects that focus on tech for social impact, NGOs and civil society communication, technological change in the Global South, journalism and press freedom, responsible communication on social media.
Media technologies and platforms play a fundamental role in shaping our public debate and democratic processes. We develop research, teaching and consultancy projects, which engage with the following themes: journalism and democracy, civil society and NGO communication; local and community media; media representation and ethics.
From governments to businesses, from the health sector to education, AI cultures and data systems are transforming everyday life. We develop research, teaching and consultancy projects, which engage with the following themes: emerging technologies organizations and everyday life; human and machine communication; cultural understandings of AI failure; LLMs and cultural representations, algorithmic bias and cultural meanings; children and machine interaction.
In our AI and data driven societies we need to critically consider the relationship between data privacy, data justice and inequality. We focus on projects that engage with the following themes: impacts of AI on human rights; algorithmic profiling and algorithmic bias; social understandings of data privacy; data rights and data justice; importance of privacy by design/privacy by default models; marginal communities and data inequality.
From fake news to self-representation, from organizational communication to political campaigns, social media have radically transformed our society and our democracies. We develop research, teaching and consultancy projects which engage with the following themes: social media algorithms; fake news and filter bubbles; challenges and opportunities of social media communication.
Direktorin
PostDoc Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter
Adm. Programmleitung DKJ
