PREVENT – Training approach to convey measures to prevent digital disinformation campaigns

Fake news and disinformation are an ever-growing problem, and social media in particular are heavily affected by the phenomenon. Fake news and conspiracy theories make it difficult to form opinions and can damage the cohesion of our society and trigger social unrest.

Security authorities, such as the police or the fire brigade, enjoy great trust from society, but often do not know how to counteract this disinformation in a targeted manner. This is where the project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) comes in. The results of the project should help security authorities to take targeted action against disinformation campaigns.

In the joint research project "Prevent", scientists are investigating why this phenomenon occurs, which people (groups) are behind it and how this disinformation can be recognized and differentiated. The aim is to develop individual, coordinated and automated preventive measures, which are then to be evaluated by the team with regard to acceptance by the security authorities and ethical and legal criteria. In addition to the University of Paderborn, the University of Duisburg-Essen, the University of Cologne, the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and Virtimo AG are also involved in the project.

Project duration: 01.01.2021 – 31.12.2024
Contact: Jonas Rieskamp

INNO4S: Digital Innovation for Sustainable Development

With the advancing digitization and a growing striving for sustainability, two mega trends are currently shaping the global discourse in politics, business, and society. These trends are also reflected in the mission statements and goals of universities and higher education.

The junior professorship for Information Systems, esp. Digital Society, develops and creates digital teaching/learning opportunities to promote the digitization offensive as part of the research project "INNO4S" funded by the state portal ORCA.NRW. The project addresses the increasing need for teaching materials at the interface between these mega trends. The aim is to anchor the topics of sustainability, digitization, and innovation in business courses in order to be able to support the global pursuit of sustainability through digital innovations.

On the content level, case studies based on the 17th Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN) are developed, which are used to show the innovative power of digital technologies for overcoming the major challenges of our time - e.g. poverty, climate change and gender equality. At the same time, behavioral and economic theories are introduced and deepened, which give the students an understanding of the dynamics underlying the case studies. At the execution level, teachers are able to adapt the content to different target groups (bachelor's/master's) and formats (small groups/large events). This is achieved by providing content in various formats (e.g. as a set of slides, in the form of video clips or as materials for independent development) and together with curricula and examination drafts that are appropriate for the target group and format and are based on the guiding principles for education for sustainable development (BNE) orient, are made available.

The project partners are the Professorship for Digital Innovation and the public sector of Prof. Dr. Tobias Brandt from the Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster and the professorship for innovation management and entrepreneurship from Prof. Dr. Mona Mensmann from the University of Cologne.

Project duration: 01.08.2022 – 31.12.2024

Contact: Marie Langer 
 

Analysing Social Media Use during Natural Hazards: Improving Crisis Communication

Australien hat ein sehr wechselhaftes Klima, aber der Klimawandel hat in den letzten Jahrzehnten zu einer Verschärfung von Extremwetterereignissen geführt. Buschbrände, Überschwemmungen und Hitzewellen sind in einem noch nie da gewesenen Ausmaß aufgetreten. Bei solchen Naturkatastrophen braucht die Öffentlichkeit verlässliche Informationen über die Situation und Handlungsempfehlungen, um sich selbst zu schützen. Die Verbreitung solcher Informationen erfolgt nicht nur über traditionelle Kanäle, sondern auch über soziale Medien, deren Notwendigkeit und Wirksamkeit durch verschiedene Studien bestätigt wurde. Auch Deutschland bekommt zunehmend die Folgen des Klimawandels zu spüren, wie z. B. die Hochwasserkatastrophe vom Juli 2021, steigende Temperaturen und eine Verschiebung des zeitlichen Ablaufs von saisonalen Ereignissen. Angesichts der Aussicht auf häufigere und schwerwiegendere Naturkatastrophen befasst sich dieses Projekt mit der Notwendigkeit einer effizienten und gezielten Informationsverbreitung in Situationen, die eine Gefahr für die Allgemeinheit darstellen.

Dabei stützt sich das Projekt auf die Erfahrungen und das Fachwissen von Wissenschaftler:innen der Charles Darwin University und der Universität Paderborn. Die zu entwickelnde Strategie wird die Fähigkeit von Behörden und Organisationen mit Verantwortung für das Notfallmanagement wie Polizei, Feuerwehr und Regierungsbehörden verbessern, plötzliche klimabedingte Ereignisse effektiv zu bewältigen.

Projektlaufzeit: 01.01.2023 – 31.12.2024

Ansprechpartner: Jonas Rieskamp