[ecrea] Summer School "Research Ethics in the Digital Age"

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Call for Participation

Summer School REDA
Research Ethics in the Digital Age.
Ethics for the Social Sciences and Humanities in Times of
Mediatization and Digitization

September 6th – 12th, 2015 in Dresden, Germany

Extended Deadline: June 22, 2015

Every researcher dealing with digital media and data of any sort has to
face the question of the consequences of their research and the ethical
implications of their research practices. This summer school gives young
scholars the opportunity to discuss issues of research ethics in general
and concerning their personal research with international experts and
colleagues from various fields.
Junior faculty participants will be supported financially to cover
travel expenses. Accommodation will be provided. Registration is free of
charge.


Topic and Purpose of the Summer School
Digitization and mediatization are core processes of ongoing social
change. In the course of mediatization, communication increasingly
manifests itself via mass media or telecommunications. Thus, more and
more information becomes accessible in the form of data. Digitization
converts data into universal digital formats which eases computer
processing, leading to the convergence of different media and thus
further fostering mediatization.
Both processes alter social behavior and cultural traditions, thereby
generating new objects of study and new research questions for the
social sciences and humanities. Furthermore, mediatization and
digitization increase the data volume and accessibility of
(quantitative) research and proliferate methodological opportunities for
scientific analyses. Hence, they profoundly affect research practices in
multiple ways, e.g.:
-    researchers increasingly apply quantitative and automated methods,
-    researchers are spoilt for choice by a plethora of rather new and
often sparsely explored methods of collecting and analyzing behavioral
data,
-    the relevance of computer science and mathematics grows for the
social sciences and humanities and vice versa,
-    research is more prone to invade the privacy of individuals who are
the subject of research,
-    the line between scientific research and market research tends to blur,
-    scientific research seems disadvantaged.

While consequences concerning the subjects, objects, and addressees of
research in the social sciences and humanities have rarely been
reflected upon, this reflection will lie at the center of the Summer
School REDA. Digitization not only provides new data and algorithms, but
also a changing research practice in which new norms of scientific
behavior need to be developed and old norms need to be scrutinized.
Moreover, the ethical perspective points towards a prospective impact
assessment on research practice.
Research ethics therefore need to reflect on implicit normative
orientations considering all actors involved as well as discussing new
digital areas of research, justification, testing, sharing and
communication.
The transdisciplinary discussion of research ethics in the social
sciences and humanities in times of digitization and mediatization will
be the main focus of this summer school. Questions emerging in this
context will be approached from different perspectives:
-    research ethics in general and from an interdisciplinary perspective,
-    the researcher and his/her norms and the ethical implications of
their research practices,
-    the individual and society: users’ privacy and researchers’
responsibility to raise awareness of privacy issues.
The aim of the summer school is to discuss these dimensions in their
interdisciplinary and international diversity. The summer school aims to
bring together researchers who systematically illuminate research ethics
in the above-mentioned sense.


Application
The summer school is designed for researchers who are in an early stage
of their academic career, such as PhD students, post-docs, and junior
faculty members. The summer school is open to researchers from all
disciplines who tackle the above mentioned issues. We encourage
submissions from the social sciences and the humanities, especially from
the fields of
-    Communication
-    Linguistics
-    Law
-    Sociology
-    Political Science
-    Philosophy
-    Education
-    Informatics
-    Theology

Participants are expected to prepare a poster showcasing the main
questions, methodology, and findings of their research concerning the
subject of research ethics. Each participant will have 15 minutes to
present their poster in a session. Please:
-    apply with your CV (max. 2 pages) and
-    an abstract (max. 400 words) for a 15-minute poster presentation,
size A0 (841 × 1189 mm or 33.11 × 46.81 in)
-    by June 22, 2015.

Please use the online form for application on our website:
www.tu-dresden.de/gsw/internationales/summer_school/REDA and send your
abstract and CV via email to: (summerschool.reda /at/ mailbox.tu-dresden.de).
You will be notified about your acceptance by July 6, 2015.
The German Excellence Initiative funds this event as TU Dresden has been
selected as one of Germany’s 11 Universities of Excellence. Junior
faculty participants will be supported financially to cover travel
expenses. Accommodation will be provided. Registration is free of charge.


Program
In addition to the presentations by participants, the six-day program
offers a variety of keynotes by renowned international experts,
presentations and workshops addressing all core themes mentioned above.
In addition to the academic program, the summer school offers a variety
of social activities in the beautiful city of Dresden.


Contact
The summer school is organized by the Department of Media and
Communications at TU Dresden
(http://tu-dresden.de/die_tu_dresden/fakultaeten/philosophische_fakultaet/ikw).
Please address any e-mail correspondence regarding the Summer School
to:
(summerschool.reda /at/ mailbox.tu-dresden.de)
Information can also be found on our website at
http://www.tu-dresden.de/gsw/internationales/summer_school/REDA

Coordinator: Lutz Hagen. Scientific committee: Thomas Bürger, Hermann
Diebel, Farina Dobrick, Jana Fischer, Lutz Hagen, Thomas Köhler, Anne
Lauber-Rönsberg, Joachim Scharloth, Christian Schwarke, Thorsten Strufe



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Summer School REDA
Research ethics in the digital age. Ethical aspects in social science 
and humanities in times of digitization and medialization.

www.tu-dresden.de/gsw/internationales/summer_school/REDA

Coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Lutz M. Hagen
Department of Media and Communications, TU Dresden, Germany
Head of Department
@lutz_hagen  -  http://tu-dresden.de/phf/ifk,
Fon +49 351 46333412, Fax +49 351 46337724




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