Presentations

Discover innovative methods and approaches to researching into digital communication through the presentations of our team members.

• Publications, presentations and more… (Q3 2025)
  Dear blog readers, please note that future blog posts will be uploaded on a quarterly basis. 13.07. – New Publication In the middle of July, Dr. Kilian Bühling (Universität Tübingen & Weizenbaum-Institut), together with colleagues Dr. Olga Pasitselska (University of Groningen, The Netherlands) and Dr. Emilija Gagrčin (Universität Mannheim & University of Bergen, Norway), published… Read more: Publications, presentations and more… (Q3 2025)
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  Winter School on Digital Political Communication in Roskilde, Denmark
  On March 17-18, 2025, Baoning Gong, Miriam Milzner, Daniel Thiele and Dr. Kilian Buehling (all from Freie Universität Berlin and Weizenbaum-Institut), as well as Dr. Annett Heft (Universität Tübingen and Weizenbaum-Institut) and Prof. Dr. Barbara Pfetsch (Freie Universität Berlin and Weizenbaum-Institut) took part in the Winter School in Digital Political Communication and the Digital Public… Read more: Winter School on Digital Political Communication in Roskilde, Denmark
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  70th Annual Conference of the DGPuK at Freie Universität Berlin and Weizenbaum-Institut
  From March 19th to 21st 2025, the Freie Universität Berlin, represented by the Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft and Weizenbaum-Institut, hosted the 70th Annual Conference of the German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies (DGPuK). This year’s theme – “Public Sphere(s) and Values”, aimed to shed light on significant events from the last few years… Read more: 70th Annual Conference of the DGPuK at Freie Universität Berlin and Weizenbaum-Institut
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  Fellow Talk on Fringe Dynamics: Studying Anti-Democratic Movements at the Margins of Platform Ecosystems
  The year of 2025 began with an engaging fellow talk by Dr. Daniela Mahl on January 14th at the Weizenbaum Institute, where she presented her work on Fringe Dynamics: Studying Anti-Democratic Movements at the Margins of Platform Ecosystems. Her talk was inspired by the growing uncertainty surrounding the epistemic standards by which reality is approached… Read more: Fellow Talk on Fringe Dynamics: Studying Anti-Democratic Movements at the Margins of Platform Ecosystems
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  Final Event of the NEOVEX Research Project
  On the 10th of December, our team members  Annett Heft (Universität Tübingen, Freie Universität Berlin/Weizenbaum Institute),  Kilian Buehling and Xixuan Zhang (both Freie Universität Berlin/Weizenbaum Institute) participated in the final event of the NEOVEX research project, which took place at the Representation of the State of Hamburg in Berlin. The event started with the presentation of the results… Read more: Final Event of the NEOVEX Research Project
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  Visual Framing of Climate Denialism: Kilian Buehling at Collegium Helveticum Workshop
  From November 26th to November 27th, Kilian Buehling (Freie Universität/Weizenbaum Institute) participated in a workshop about “Visual Aspects of Political Communication and Digital Platforms” organized by the Collegium Helveticum. The workshop was designed to create a dynamic interdisciplinary forum, bringing together researchers from diverse fields to explore the evolving challenges and opportunities in the discipline.… Read more: Visual Framing of Climate Denialism: Kilian Buehling at Collegium Helveticum Workshop
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  AoIR 2024 conference and pre-conference satellite event at the University of Sheffield, UK
  Two DigiMoD Team Members, Daniel Thiele (Freie Universität/Weizenbaum Institute) and Miriam Milzner (Freie Universität/Weizenbaum Institute), participated in a satellite event of the Association of Internet Researchers Conference (AoIR 2024) that took place at the University of Sheffield, UK. On October 29th, Daniel Thiele presented “Suspiciously similar. An embedding approach to capturing multimodal coordinated behavior,” co-authored with Miriam Milzner at… Read more: AoIR 2024 conference and pre-conference satellite event at the University of Sheffield, UK
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  Workshop on Misinformation Research at the Weizenbaum Institute
  From November 7th to November 8th, the DigiMoD team participated in a workshop at the Weizenbaum Institute titled “Contextualizing Misinformation Research: Theoretical, Empirical, and Legal Frameworks” that was organized by Elizaveta Kuznetsova and Martha Stolze of the research group “Platform Algorithms and Digital Propaganda.” The recent workshop on mis- and disinformation in digital political communication… Read more: Workshop on Misinformation Research at the Weizenbaum Institute
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  Workshop on Generative AI, Digital Publics, and Data Access at the Weizenbaum Institute
  From October 24th to October 25th, the DigiMoD team joined a workshop the Weizenbaum Institute hosted titled “Generative AI, Digital Publics, and Data Access: Advancing Collaborative Research”. This international workshop brought together researchers from the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland Tech University and the Weizenbaum Institute. Through a combination of research presentations and breakout… Read more: Workshop on Generative AI, Digital Publics, and Data Access at the Weizenbaum Institute
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  ECREA 2024 – 10th European Communication Conference at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
  From September 24th until the 27th the DigiMoD-Team attended the 10th European Communication Conference (ECREA 2024) at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Under the theme ‘Communication & social (dis)order’ the ECC 2024 conference invited the participants to rethink the state of communication in light of ongoing political, economic, environmental, health, and technological disruptions, reflecting on… Read more: ECREA 2024 – 10th European Communication Conference at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
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  European Violent Right-Wing Extremism Monitoring Project (EVREM)
  At the EU Internet Forum Technical Meeting on Terrorist and Violent Extremist Financing Activities Online II on September 10, 2024, Dr. Annett Heft (Freie Universität and Weizenbaum Institute) presented the European Violent Right-Wing Extremism Monitoring Project (EVREM) and shared key findings on funding trends in the far-right sector. The EU Internet Forum gathered EUIF members,… Read more: European Violent Right-Wing Extremism Monitoring Project (EVREM)
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  MISDOOM 2024 – Symposium at the University of Münster
  On the 3rd of September, our doctoral researcher, Miriam Milzner, participated in the 6th Multidisciplinary Symposium on Disinformation in Open Online Media (MISDOOM) held at the University of Münster, Germany. This event brought together an international community of disinformation researchers from diverse fields, including communication science, computer science, computational social science, political communication, and media… Read more: MISDOOM 2024 – Symposium at the University of Münster
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  ECPR General Conference 2024 at University College Dublin
  From August 12th to 15th, we had an amazing chance to participate in the ECPR General Conference at University College Dublin! The event featured a comprehensive program of 24 panel sessions, covering the full spectrum of political science and offering dynamic platforms for discussion and debate. We had the opportunity to be the discussant at… Read more: ECPR General Conference 2024 at University College Dublin
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  74th Annual ICA Conference “Communication and Global Human Rights”
  This year’s 74th Annual ICA Conference on “Communication and Global Human Rights” was held from June 20th to 24th in Gold Coast, Australia. This event focused on exploring the critical intersections between communication studies and human rights scholarship, showcasing current practices, research, and future directions. Topics ranged from the media’s role in advocating for marginalized… Read more: 74th Annual ICA Conference “Communication and Global Human Rights”
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  Discussions and exciting insights at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance (CDDGG), University of Canberra, Australia
  The Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance (CDDGG) at the University of Canberra, Australia, is a globally recognized leader in deliberative governance research, dedicated to exploring how inclusive and reflective communication can empower people in political decision-making. The center explores the impact of public deliberation in polarized and post-crisis contexts and advances  theoretical debates… Read more: Discussions and exciting insights at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance (CDDGG), University of Canberra, Australia
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  Affording Conspiracism. Particularities of Conspiracy-Related Communication Across Platforms
  The international symposium “Indicators of Social Cohesion in Social Media and Online Media,” hosted by the Social Media Observatory (SMO) at the Leibniz-Institute for Media Research, took place from April 24 to 26, 2024. It explored the pivotal role of social and online media in uniting and dividing communities, from supporting democratic movements to fostering… Read more: Affording Conspiracism. Particularities of Conspiracy-Related Communication Across Platforms
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  The Querdenken Telegram Dataset 2020 – 2022
  From March 13th to 15th the University of Erfurt hosted the 69. Annual Conference of the German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies (DGPuK). This year’s theme, “Visions for a Better Life,” aimed to stimulate a debate on the social relevance and future of communication science research. By exploring the roles that communication and media… Read more: The Querdenken Telegram Dataset 2020 – 2022
• Alliances and opportunity structures of gender contestations in Germany
  From the 22nd until the 23rd February 2024, Annett Heft (Free University of Berlin/Weizenbaum Institute) had the great opportunity of presenting her work in the International Conference Polarization and Beyond. What Comes Next in Political Communication Research. The event was organized by the I-POLHYS: Investigating Polarization in Hybrid Media Systems and hosted by the University… Read more: Alliances and opportunity structures of gender contestations in Germany
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  Presentation on ‘Mapping a Dark Space: Challenges in Sampling and Classifying Non- Institutionalized Actors on Telegram’
  On January 23, 2024, Prof. Dr. Pablo Jost (Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich) presented and discussed our collaborative work on Mapping a Dark Space: Challenges in Sampling and Classifying Non-Institutionalized Actors on Telegram, co-authored by Dr. Annett Heft and Dr. Kilian Buehling (both Freie Universität and Weizenbaum Institute), Maximilian Zehring and Emese Domahidi (both Ilmenau Technical University) as well as Heidi… Read more: Presentation on ‘Mapping a Dark Space: Challenges in Sampling and Classifying Non- Institutionalized Actors on Telegram’
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  Vox Populi(st): Contexts and consequences of populism in user comments on news media Facebook pages
  On December 13, 2023, Daniel Thiele (Freie Universität Berlin & Weizenbaum Institute, Berlin) presented his research titled “Vox Populi(st): Contexts and Consequences of Populism in User Comments on News Media Facebook Pages” at the Helsinki Conference on Emotions, Populism and Polarization at the University of Helsinki. The conference was organized by the Helsinki Hub on… Read more: Vox Populi(st): Contexts and consequences of populism in user comments on news media Facebook pages
• Light and Shadow of Participation and Mobilization in Networked Digital Public Spheres
  On November 30th and December 1st, Annett Heft (Freie University of Berlin/Weizenbaum Institute) had the opportunity to participate in the conference „Zwischen Gefährdung & Emanzipation: Demokratie unter Druck“ (Between Threat and Emancipation: Democracy Under Pressure) hosted by the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society, together with the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung,… Read more: Light and Shadow of Participation and Mobilization in Networked Digital Public Spheres
• Fellow Talk on Pandemic Activism with Prof. Dr. Shelly Boulianne
  We were honored to have Prof. Dr. Shelly Boulianne, Professor of Digital Political Communication at the Université Catholique de Lille and currently a Research Fellow in our research group, giving a talk on her latest research on November, 28. In her talk “Pandemic activism in comparative perspective: Exploring the roles of digital media uses, misinformation,… Read more: Fellow Talk on Pandemic Activism with Prof. Dr. Shelly Boulianne
• Twiplomacy and the War: Untangling networked practices of Russian diplomats during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
  From the 18th until the 21st of November Miriam Milzner (Freie University of Berlin/Weizenbaum Institute) had the great opportunity to participate in the three-day AoIR conference in Philadelphia, PA, USA. The 2023 AoIR conference explored the themes of revolutions, examining their inherent promises and failures in connection to digital technologies. It delved into the involvement… Read more: Twiplomacy and the War: Untangling networked practices of Russian diplomats during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
• Alternative Platforms/Platform Alternatives: Comparisons and Transnational Flows
  We were happy to conduct the workshop titled “Alternative Platforms/Platform Alternatives: Comparisons and Transnational Flows” on October 20th and 21st at the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin in collaboration with the Free University of Berlin! The workshop gathered approximately 20 international researchers, creating an intimate and relaxed atmosphere that fostered networking and great knowledge exchange. The… Read more: Alternative Platforms/Platform Alternatives: Comparisons and Transnational Flows
• International PhD Workshop in the University of Bern
  From October 10th to 11th, the University of Bern hosted a great opportunity to dialogue ideas and insights on various doctoral research projects in a PhD Workshop! In a colloquium format, the event presented a valuable chance for professional exchange and network building. It united researchers from four universities who shared a common investigation expertise… Read more: International PhD Workshop in the University of Bern
• Theoretical Concepts and the Querdenken Mobilization on Telegram.
  On October 5th and 6th, Annett Heft (Freie University of Berlin/Weizenbaum Institute) participated in the Conference “Value Conflicts in a Differentiated Europe: the impact of digital media on value polarization in Europe (ValCon)” in Florence hosted by the research group Media and political communication. The conference addressed transnational and domestic dimensions of the independence of… Read more: Theoretical Concepts and the Querdenken Mobilization on Telegram.
• ECPR General Conference at Charles University
  On a five-day conference from the 4th until the 8th of September, we had an amazing chance to participate in the ECPR General Conference at Charles University! The event counted with an extensive program of about 60 sections covering the full breadth of political science and over 400 panels offering an engaging platform for discussion… Read more: ECPR General Conference at Charles University
• 2023 ECREA Political Communication Section Conference
  On August 31st and September 1st, the Weizenbaum Institute and Free University of Berlin hosted the bi-annual ECREA Political Communication Section Conference! In an international environment, the event counted approximately 150 scholars from 23 countries in Europe, Australia, Asia, and America in Germany. The two-day conference was packed with exciting keynotes and insights into new… Read more: 2023 ECREA Political Communication Section Conference