This fundamentally interdisciplinary branch of the research area that is information technology is ideally applied in transdisciplinary projects.
Social Informatics research is all about answering the ethical and moral questions associated with specific topic areas. They range from progress through digitalization to the replacement of human workers with machines in their day-to-day and working lives.
What are the effects of digitalization on humankind? How can we shape the related contents, algorithms and ergonomics responsibly while taking into account the societal, organizational, cultural, personal and ethical context?
Possible positive and negative consequences of digitalization and the re-evaluations of social norms that derive from new technologies such as artificial intelligence, human enhancement and voice assistants are being explored. The program revolves around both the business sector with special focus on bottom-up, do-it-yourself (DIY) and do-it-with-others (DIWO) processes and the field of ecology with emphasis on prevention, health promotion and resource management.
The task is to use the research findings to recalibrate social and societal responsibility, sustainability, economic goals, and diversity in a way that allows for the development of intelligent and ethical (IT) solutions.These solutions are then applied and implemented to the benefit of domestic and international societies.