Interview

 

1. Who are you and what are you doing at SOT?

I am Professor and Chair of Digital Governance at the SOT Department of Governance  and the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy (HfP). I am also an appointed core member at the Munich Data Science Institute and the Director of the Content Moderation Lab at the TUM Think Tank. 

 

2. What are your research fields and what fascinates you about them?

My research is fundamentally about how people use digital media – in particular social media – to participate in the political process. My initial work was on how new forms of political participation can enhance political voice, ameliorating traditional participatory inequalities based on socioeconomic status. I always found the expressive capacity of social media fascinating, and their great potential to strengthening democracy. My early optimism and excitement has somewhat subsided though, especially in light of my current research which is mostly about what people actually do when they get the chance to have a voice. I am particularly interested in how people use the expressive capacity provided by social media to inflict harm, either intentionally by attacking and abusing others or spreading disinformation, or unintentionally by spreading misperceptions and misinformation. What fascinates me that most is our incapacity to deal with this problem when it actually comes from a tiny minority of people – a fascination that has led me to study content moderation on social media and related topics such as freedom of speech an censorship.

 

3. What are the currently important subject areas in your research? How have these changed in the last few years and do you have any ideas about how these will change in the next two years?

I am mostly working on attitudes towards freedom of speech and content moderation on social media at the moment. I feel there is a need to better understand how citizens feel about these matters – especially from a global perspective given that cultural and legal traditions in different parts of the world differ significantly and our main understanding comes from the American and European paradigms (which are themselves very different from one another). I anticipate that more research from a global perspective will come from my group in the coming years, as well as more collaboration with actors who can provide access to insights and data that are difficult to collect – such as for example civil society organizations active in the area of online hate and violence reporting.

 

4. How did you become a professor and why at TUM?

I was previously professor of media and communication with focus on innovative methods at the University of Bremen. I applied for the chair of digital governance not only because it matched my research and teaching interests, which as mentioned above focus on how digital technology affects political behavior and communication, but also because the highly interdisciplinary environment at TUM is conducive to the type of research I do.

 

5. What can a degree program achieve today and why should people study with you?

At my department we are offering a degree in politics and technology. This is a pretty unique degree globally in that it doesn’t offer a „classic“ approach to political science but focuses on how political science intersects technology and can help leaders (political or not) of tomorrow shaping politics and society better understand the key role of technology in shaping politics and society, but also the reverse: how society and politics shape technology. In the last 10 years we’ve had a number of consecutive technological “revolutions” (first it was “big data”, now its “AI”) that have reshaped our thinking of how science is done and what science can do; I suppose apart from answering these questions our students can also learn to think critically about what science and technology *should* do.

 

6. From whom have you learned the most in your life?

I had the privilege to do my postdoctoral research at the University of Mannheim under the mentorship of Prof. Jan van Deth.  Jan has been a great mentor and the University of Mannheim in general is a place that radically change my thinking and approach to doing research. Probably more than all the other educational institutions I attended put together. At the same time, I am privileged to have an excellent team at my Chair as well as a number of extraordinary collaborations with colleagues outside of TUM from whom I feel I’m learning a lot of new things on a daily basis. 

 

7. Is there something you've always wanted to try that you haven't got round to yet? If so, why is it that you haven't got round to it yet?

Oh, many things, too many to mention here but perhaps the most tractable of all of them is that I’d really like to visit – and spend some time in – Japan. 

 

8. Which sentence would start your biography?

“A few milliseconds defined everything that was to follow.”

 

9. What might your daily life look like without work?

This is almost impossible to imagine at this moment, but if that was to be the case my day would involve a lot more sports, a lot more reading of non-academic books and a lot more playing video games.

 

10. Is there an item that you wouldn't want to be without in your life? If yes, which and why?

I can’t think of anything specific. I was never particularly attached to particular objects; if anything it would probably be some item of my grandfather’s. 

 

11. What is your favorite book and why would you recommend it?

I have so many favorites it would be impossible to choose one but here is two that quickly come to mind because of how life-changing they’ve been: Stranger in a Stranger Land by Robert Heinlein and The Open Society and its Enemies by Karl Popper.