about me
I am an Informatician with a minor degree in Philosophy who is researching at the Weizenbaum Institute Berlin on the impact of ubiquitous information technology systems on society. I am group lead of the research group »Responsibility and the Internet of Things« working together with a wonderful interdisciplinary team. The Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society was funded in 2017 by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. I am Co-Chair of the Commission for Ethics in Research at the Technical University Berlin. From 2011 to 2019, I was spokesperson for the specialist group »Informatics and Ethics« of the German Society for Computer Science (Gesellschaft für Informatik). In 2019, I was appointed as member of the Expert Commission for the Third Gender Equality Report of the German Federal Government. I live, research, and teach in Berlin.
2018-present
Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society. Research Group Lead »Responsibility and the Internet of Things«. Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Ina Schieferdecker and Prof. Dr. Bettina Berendt ↘https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/en/portrait/p/stefan-ullrich/
2021
Co-Chair and Member of the Commission for Ethics in Research, Technical University Berlin.
2019
Appointed as Member of the Expert Commission for the Third Gender Equality Report of the German Federal Government by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). ↘https://twitter.com/gleichgerecht
2017-2019
Initiator »@TuringBus«, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education (BMBF). The @TuringBus is a mobile educational project focusing on the politcal side of Informatics. Its Infonauts (as the mentoring crew calles itself) are teaching Digital Literacy, Empowerment, and Critical Thinking through making and coding. ↘https://twitter.com/turingbus
2016-2017
PhD in Informatics, PhD Thesis on »Information Technology Fundamentals, Tools and Practices of Public Reasoning« (magna cum laude). Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Coy (Informatics), Dr. Volker Grassmuck (Sociology), and Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Kreowski (Informatics) ↘https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/18436
2013-2015
Academic Staff in the Cluster of Excellence »Image Knowledge Gestaltung«, Humboldt University of Berlin. Research Group »Shaping Knowledge«. Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Coy (Informatics) and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schäffner (Cultural History).
2009-2013
Academic Staff in the Working Group »Informatics in Education and Society«, Humboldt University of Berlin, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Coy.
2009
Diploma in Informatics, Humboldt University of Berlin Diploma Thesis on One Laptop per Child’s Constructionism (1,0) Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Coy (Informatics) and Prof. Dr. Claus Pias (Media Sciences)
2008
Graduate Degree (Minor) in Philosophy on the topic: »What is Information?« Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Volker Gerhardt (Philosophy), Humboldt University of Berlin
2000-2009
Study of Informatics and Philosophy Humboldt University of Berlin
about my thesis
The long term project »Enlightenment« is in full swing: the freedom to dissent, equality under public law, and solidarity with all the people from all over the world — these self-imposed development goals are widely accepted by all human beings. Since everything is exquisitely debated in a parliamentary democracy, this chatty form of government, citizens will of course exquisitely debate on how to achieve these goals. The negotiation process is conducted in and by public media, from Kant’s world of readers (»Leserwelt«) on to the hypermedia of the world wide web, the homo politicus uses cultural techniques like writing, image and number for his public display of reasoning.
Informatics (and also computer science for that matter) is the study of designing information and communications technology and assessing it in all social respects. Technicians yield the power to enable or suppress public deliberation; in the so called Turing Galaxy, Informaticians have the responsibility to ensure the possibilities of the existence of an informed public.
Your humble author of these lines tries to address this responsibility in public.
about my book Boulevard Digital
»Boulevard Digital« shows the influence of information technology inventions and innovations, such as radio, TV and the Internet, on public opinion and political action. These media and media practices play an important role in the democracies of Europe and North America. Informational trust becomes the central issue of politics. The book examines the role of the old and the not so new media in networked societies. If we want to understand the emergence of public opinion, we have to go to the boulevard, to the proverbial street, to the sidewalk.
The transdisciplinary view in this book allows the reader to understand the technology used in the social context. Technical facts are simply, yet detailed, placed in relation to political and social topics. A non-fiction book for everyone interested in new media, ethics and politics.