International Dialogue on “The Ethics of Digitalisation” Kicks Off in Berlin

We are pleased to announce a new joint project by the Global Network of Internet & Society Centers (NoC) exploring ”The Ethics of Digitalisation: From Principles to Practice.” The global project launched during a kickoff event in Berlin hosted by the office of the Federal President of Germany with participation from NoC institutions from around the world, including the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. 

Led by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), the Berkman Klein Center, and the Digital Asia Hub, and in collaboration with other NoC research centers, the project advances dialogue and action at the intersection of science, politics, digital economy, and civil society. Digitalization efforts are rapidly proliferating across sectors, prompting new and large-scale ethical challenges that arise from technological development and deployment that have important rights and justice implications. The project will engage interdisciplinary networks of scholars and students, as well as civil society groups, policymakers, and other stakeholders in order to advance research outputs with social relevance in application-related and practice-based contexts such as content moderation, tech-assisted learning, or well-being. 

Last year, during a panel discussion hosted by the Berkman Klein Center, German Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier described his efforts to promote a global dialogue about our responsibility for the future and how digital transformation will dramatically reshape industry, government, and society. The newly-announced project builds upon this past event, and we’re delighted that the NoC was in this context invited to support the global dialogue as a research partner based on the networks’ unique interdisciplinary expertise, geographic reach, diversity of perspectives, and established history of fostering collaboration across borders and boundaries. 

With the German President as patron and the support of Stiftung Mercator, the project will host a series of research sprints, interdisciplinary clinics, workshops, and other activities in Europe, the US, and Asia. The first research sprint, focused on AI Platform Governance and Content Moderation, will begin this week at the HIIG.

For the press release please see here.

For a Q&A with NoC about the project see here.

Watch German Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier announce the project in Berlin and conference guests and representatives from participating centers discuss the issues the project will address. 

About the Global Network of Internet & Society Centers (NoC)

The Global Network of Internet and Society Research Centers (NoC) is a worldwide initiative of academic institutions with a focus on interdisciplinary research on the Internet and society. The aim of the initiative is to strengthen cooperation between the participating centers in order to promote transnational and interdisciplinary exchange on the most pressing issues related to new technologies. The Network was incubated by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and launched in 2012. For more information visit: http://networkofcenters.net/.