Photo credit: re:publica/Gregor Fischer
Politics & Society
Reflections on the change of societies and political dynamics due to digitization are at the core of the re:publica programme. We are interested in shifting power balances, in societal change and civic digital action. At re:publica we want to talk about what we need to do for a free and open Internet and its relation to the shifting political paradigms on the continent. We want to explore the intersections of technology with politics and society.
In this track we will discuss surveillance technologies, data and privacy protection, e-privacy, Internet shutdowns and net neutrality. We will look at community networks, the effects of AI on society, digital disobedience, as well as new governance models aided by digital technologies.
We invite activists, civil society representatives, researchers and all persons with experience in these topics to help us examine the interplay of technology and society on a philosophical level as well as on the day-to-day basis. We’ll explore the opportunities of civic tech and debate the state of Internet freedom - based on your contributions. Questions we would like to see tackled e.g. include: How do social media platforms influence the shaping of political opinions? How are movements and communities for Internet freedom, digital democracy and open data developing? What social and legislative processes should be initiated to regulate an ever accelerating automation? Can the blockchain deliver on its promise of revolutionizing governance processes?
- Politics & SocietyTech for GoodCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)-Developing countries receive approximately 82% (21.3 million) of the world’s refugees, and innovative e-learning solutions can play a key role in helping new arrivals settle into host communities. This panel debate will debate new technologies and policy approaches to making e-learning tools available to refugees, and the ethical and political issues that come with using e-learning platforms in vulnerable communities.
[Partnersession] - Politics & Society-During the German federal election 2017 journalists and experts sparked a debate about the methods and threats of data-driven campaigning in Germany where facts were mixed up with fiction. Based on sixteen in-depth expert interviews with German campaign strategists of CDU and SPD I will discuss both parties´ data-driven strategies. Due to budgetary, legal restraints, party structures and individual decisions or knowledge they are less precise and sophisticated than journalistic coverage implied.
- Politics & SocietyFinTech-Taxation, again the most boring talk at #rp18, but hey it's the economy stupid, and you pay for it!
This didn't change since last year. We will a provide a quick overview of what happened in the last year concerning the international taxation system and how it affects society. - Politics & SocietyCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)-Soziale Netzwerke und Verschwörungstheorien: Sind diese Geschichten wirklich so passiert oder haben wir sie frei erfunden?
- Politics & SocietyPOP-How can someone in Berlin influence policy discussions at the European level, but also discover what people in Bologna, Bucharest, or a village in the Belgian Ardennes think too? Can we reimagine public policy making, enabled by digital and on-the-ground participatory initiatives? Can European democracy become more networked and what does that mean?
- Politics & SocietyPOP-A Meetup to rethink and share democracy.
- Politics & SocietyCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)-Wie die Skandale um die Akkreditierungen von Journalisten beim G20-Gipfel gezeigt haben, ist die Schwelle zum Tatverdacht offensichtlich extrem niedrig. Das Bundeskriminalamt hat durch einen rechtlichen „Stunt“ die Abkehr von Speicherfristen hin zum juristischen Kunstgriff der "Aussonderungsprüffrist" vollzogen. Grund genug, sich Sorgen zu machen. Anhand des eigenen Beispiels erläutern wir, welche Schritte Mensch machen muss, um Auskunft über eigene Einträge in Polizeidatenbanken zu erhalten und wie man die Daten gegebenenfalls löscht. Abschließend lüften wir das Geheimnis, warum dies vor Inkrafttreten des Datenschutz-Anpassungsgesetzes am 25. Mai 2018 sinnvoll sein kann.
- Politics & Society-Haushaltspolitik ist in Deutschland kein Thema, die Zahlen sind komplex und es ist einfacher sie zu ignorieren, als sich damit zu beschäftigen. Das ist schade, denn Politik wird erst im Haushalt konkret. Anna Alberts und Michael Peters erklären wie man die Daten selbständig visualisiert, sie nach Prioritäten und Wahlversprechen durchsucht und die Ergebnisse in der Lokalpolitik nutzt. In einem GIF-reichen Workshop wird das trockene, aber höchstrelevante Thema zum Leben erweckt.
- Politics & SocietyFe:male Digital FootprintCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)-1 billion people, 15 percent of the world’s population, are people living with some form of disability. Disability is a natural part of the human condition, and barriers to access are a unifying factor for people, regardless of where you live in the world. Activists and advocates for the world’s disability related issues have found a unique and powerful home on the social media platform of Twitter, and using it to connect, educate, and share opportunities to create and enact social change.
- Politics & SocietyPOPCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)-Europa, Deutschland, die AfD rückt nach rechts, der öffentlichen Diskurs rückt nach rechts. Ist die Rechtsbewegung noch zu stoppen? Oder passiert in Deutschland früher oder später das, was für einige europäische Länder bereits Realität ist: Eine rechtspopulistische Regierungsbeteiligung? Wir erklären die Gründe rechtspopulistischer Bewegungen aus wissenschaftlicher Sicht, sprechen über digitale Verbreitungswege rechter Propaganda und diskutieren Lösungswege für Medien und Politik.
- Politics & SocietyCancel the ApocalypseCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)-Why is it, that despite our current fascination and fear of the singularity, it is still not the cyborgs, representing a transitional state of human beings becoming machines, but the rather old fashioned zombies, that dominate pop culture and our collective imagination?
Both of these dystopian scenarios, the zombie apocalypse (with its recent update to a biotechnological, instead of a supernatural cause), as well, as the singularity (hostile to humanity or in the best case scenario viewing its creators with indifference), seem to represent a deep crisis of humanism. But should transhumanism be the answer to overcoming this crisis?
- Politics & SocietyCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)-Design vulnerabilities, inadequate security measures, targeted attacks, and flawed engineering have compromised some of the most sensitive national databases from the US to India, Estonia and South Korea. In this session, panelists will reframe personal data such as national ID numbers and biometric records as a form of critical social infrastructure; in doing so we will discuss what failure of these systems, and accountability, mean at a public and national scale, as well as at the human-level.