Interdisciplinary Institute for Societal Computing
I2SC advances critical research on questions at the intersection of society and technology, encompassing both: computing of society, and computing for society.
At: @uni-saarland.de
Chair: @ingmarweber.de
- The recordings for TEDx Saarbrigge organized on June 14, 2025, are now available. Details: www.i2sc.net/events/past-... @i2sc.net @dock11saarland.bsky.social @algoright.bsky.social @uni-saarland.de @saarland-informatics-campus.de @dfki.bsky.social @ingmarweber.de @kevinbaum.bsky.social
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View full threadEin Netz für alle: Wie wir das Internet demokratie-tauglich machen können - Hanna Gleiss Hass im Netz bedroht Meinungsvielfalt und Demokratie. Hanna Gleiß erklärt, wie digitale Räume sicherer und demokratie-tauglich werden können – durch Zusammenarbeit, Vertrauen und Engagement.
- Krieg und Frieden. Und Künstliche Intelligenz. Wie wir trotz und mit Technologien demokratischen Frieden sichern - @lajlafetic.bsky.social Lajla Fetic zeigt, warum wir Verantwortung übernehmen müssen, um technologische Entwicklungen aktiv und demokratisch zu gestalten.
- Truth, Trust, and the Fight for Democracy - Susanna Ahonen Truth and trust are under attack in the age of synthetic media. Susanna Ahonen shows how disinformation, deepfakes, and declining media trust threaten democracy—and why strong journalism and media literacy are the key defenses.
- "Reload Democracy" – Demokratie spielerisch erleben - Hauke Wiemer Kann ein Game junge Menschen für Demokratie begeistern? Hauke Wiemer bringt politische Bildung in digitale Räume, in denen junge Menschen zuhause sind – Demokratie wird erlebbar, spannend und interaktiv.
- Digitale Demokratie in der Krise – und was wir dagegen tun können - @jonasfegert.bsky.social Jonas Fegert zeigt, wie Algorithmen unsere Meinungsbildung beeinflussen und wie digitale Demokratie gestaltet werden kann – interdisziplinär, partizipativ und verantwortungsvoll.
- Wie bekommen wir mehr Bevölkerung in die Politik? - Daniela Braun @politicsunisaar.bsky.social Daniela Braun zeigt, wie digitale Ansätze und innovative Formate Bürger wieder aktiv in Demokratie einbinden können – von Bürgerräten bis neuen Kommunikationsformaten.
- A call for common good democracy - @christian-felber.bsky.social How do we measure what truly matters? Christian Felber calls for a shift from GDP-driven policies to a “Common Good Democracy,” where citizens hold real sovereign rights and societal well-being is central.
- Belonging & Belief: The Identity Paradox in Misinformation - Carolin-Theresa Ziemer Why do we believe misinformation, even when facts are clear? Belonging often outweighs truth—but our identities can also help us resist. Three strategies for resilience: inoculation, empathy, and identity building.
- The SICSS Saarbrücken 2025 has officially come to an end. We are grateful to all participants and speakers who made this event such a success, and we look forward to seeing how the conversations and collaborations will continue beyond these two weeks! @uni-saarland.de @i2sc.net @ingmarweber.de
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View full threadHave a look at our website to see all the people who made SICSS-Saarbrücken a success: sicss.io/2025/saarbru...
- To know more about what we learnt over these two weeks, check out our GitHub repository with all the materials: github.com/Societal-Com...
- On the final day of SICSS Saarbrücken, participants presented the outcomes of their group projects, showcasing impressive creativity, dedication, and teamwork. The five projects explored diverse questions in Computational Social Science.
- We concluded the day with a warm Farewell Event at Ausländer Café, where participants and organisers reflected on an inspiring two weeks of learning, collaboration, and exchange.
- Day 9 of SICSS Saarbrücken was packed with energy and progress as participants dove deeper into their group projects. The groups presented updates on their work, pitching new insights and demonstrating how much they had accomplished in such a short period.
- Later in the afternoon, a keynote by @ingmarweber.de (@i2sc.net @uni-saarland.de) on “𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒: 𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠.” He discussed how satellite imagery can be used to understand social phenomena, from urban development to population dynamics.
- By day seven of SICSS Saarbrücken, participants were in 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽-𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲, diving deep into their collaborative work, even missing coffee breaks. They also presented their initial research questions along with their plans for data collection and analysis.
- In the afternoon, we welcomed @kevinbaum.bsky.social (@dfki.bsky.social) for his keynote: "Ethical Reasoning in the Dark: How to Make Justifiable Decisions When You Don't Know What's Right."
- His provocative talk brought to light some of the biggest 𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗜, sparking reflection and debate on how researchers can responsibly navigate moral uncertainty and highlighting the need for interdisciplinary research.
- On the 6th day of SICSS Saarbrücken, Daniela Braun (@uni-saarland.de) and @rosanavarrete.bsky.social (@uam.es) presented on “𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦: 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑦? 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 (𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ)?” @politicsunisaar.bsky.social @o3pol.bsky.social
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View full threadWe closed our Monday with a thought-provoking keynote by @ridhikashyap.bsky.social (@ox.ac.uk) on “𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝐼𝑛𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝐷𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑.” Her talk highlighted key challenges and opportunities for research at the intersection of gender, demography, and digital data.
- With this, we concluded the lecture and hands-on session part of SICSS 2025. The rest of the week, participants will dive into group projects, applying the techniques and methods learned so far to their own research questions. You can find the materials here: github.com/Societal-Com...
- Their lecture was followed by @giucarny.bsky.social and @alexhartland.bsky.social, who continued the discussion by presenting further perspectives and examples on assessing polarization and analyzing the sentiment and topics of political posts.
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View full threadWe closed our Monday with a thought-provoking keynote by @ridhikashyap.bsky.social (@ox.ac.uk) on “𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝐼𝑛𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝐷𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑.” Her talk highlighted key challenges and opportunities for research at the intersection of gender, demography, and digital data.
- With this, we concluded the lecture and hands-on session part of SICSS 2025. The rest of the week, participants will dive into group projects, applying the techniques and methods learned so far to their own research questions.
- Their lecture was followed by @giucarny.bsky.social and @alexhartland.bsky.social, who continued the discussion by presenting further perspectives and examples on assessing polarization and analyzing the sentiment and topics of political posts.
- On Saturday, SICSS-Saarbrücken participants took a step away from lectures and hands-on sessions to explore the rich industrial heritage of the region.
- They visited the Völklinger Hütte, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that stands as a remarkable testament to Europe’s industrial past. Participants had the chance to walk through the massive ironworks, reflect on the history, technology, and society, and enjoy engaging outside the classroom.
- In the evening, they gathered for a celebratory dinner. Just the perfect way to close an intense and inspiring first week of SICSS-Saarbrücken.
- On the fifth day of SICSS Saarbrücken, participants attended a lecture by @blurky.bsky.social (@oii.ox.ac.uk) on “𝑁𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑣𝑎𝑠 – 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑆𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑖𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑁𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑆𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑦𝑠.” The lecture introduced key concepts of network analysis, illustrated with insightful examples.
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View full threadWe wrapped up our Friday with a research speed dating among the participants to form groups for the next week’s group projects.
- … But the week is not over yet!✨ Tomorrow, the participants will explore the Völklinger Hütte, followed by a dinner to celebrate the successful end of the first week of SICSS-Saarbrücken!🎉
- In the afternoon, Bernie, one of the co-creators of Network Canvas, led a hands-on session. Participants had the opportunity to explore the Network Canvas platform, learn how to set up their own data collection, and understand the process from the participants’ perspective.
- In the afternoon session, participants gained practical experience exploring network data with the visualisation tool Gephi and setting up analysis pipelines with the NetworkX library in Python.
- On the fourth day of SICSS Saarbrücken, Abhisek Dash (MPI-SWS) presented on "𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐷𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑠 : 𝐴 𝐶𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑦".
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View full threadGeorg Wenzelburger (@uni-saarland.de, @politicsunisaar.bsky.social) was the keynote speaker of the day, and wrapped up the fourth day talking about "𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑖𝑡𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝐼 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒: 𝐴 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑦".
- His keynote sparked deep reflections on the shocks to democracy from governments adopting AI and encouraged participants to take an interdisciplinary approach that brings different stakeholders together.
- He discussed the challenges in content moderation, both in centralized and decentralized platforms, with a focus on Bluesky. The talk ended with a fruitful discussion about how we can use these platforms as open marketplaces and take advantage of open data to shape future regulations.
- The lecture was followed by a hands-on activity where Abhisek Dash and @pushpdeep.bsky.social (MPI-SWS) guided the participants through the challenges of validating labels of content posted on Bluesky.
- On the third day of SICSS Saarbrücken, we had the pleasure of learning from @ezagheni.bsky.social (@mpidr.bsky.social), who shared his expertise on “𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑖𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎”.
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View full threadThe day ended with a great keynote presentation by Uwe Albrecht from the Adolf-Bender-Zentrum e.V. on "𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡-𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝐺𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 - 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑦, 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠". His on-the-ground perspective offered an important reminder of where our efforts to counter extremism should be directed.
- All the materials for the summer school are available on our GitHub: github.com/Societal-Com...
- In the afternoon, @theiletom.bsky.social (@mpidr.bsky.social) guided participants through a hands-on tutorial on the LinkedIn Campaign Manager, where everyone had the chance to set up and run their own data collection.
- This was a great opportunity to see in practice how digital platforms can be used to gather data for research.
- The session explored crucial topics for handling biases when working with digital trace data, such as how to identify trends over time and filter out biases.
- Emilio also discussed the challenges of surveys and non-representative samples, as well as techniques for calibration and weighting to make digital trace data more reliable. It was certainly a very engaging lecture with many practical examples.
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View full threadFelipe Barreto-Storandt (RPTU): “Euroskepticism and EU Support in the 2024 Parliament Election Campaigns” @zinnatullin.bsky.social (RPTU): “Voices and Responses A Large-Scale Text Classification of Grievance Forums in Autocracies”
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- The materials for the summer school are available here: github.com/Societal-Com...
