Media - The Internet, Digital Media

Many editorial departments are on Facebook and Twitter by now. Photo: Viktor Senkov © iStockphoto

Communication with the Readers – Editorial Staff and Web 2.0

In recent years, interactive platforms including blogs, Facebook and Twitter have made once passive readers into active reviewers and critics. Established media outlets had a hard time at first, but that has changed now.More ...

Montage: megaphone in front of digital numbers; © Colourbox

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere 2.0? – Answers from Gerhard Schulze

Does the public sphere have a different structure in the digital age than in the past? Some answers from Bamberg sociology professor Gerhard Schulze.More ...

More than 34.5 per cent of people over 60 go online regularly. Photo: Jacob Wackerhausen © iStockphoto

ARD/ZDF Online Survey 2011: More Pensioners Online, Internet Television Increasingly Popular

More pensioners are online, public-service media libraries are being used more, and television on demand is becoming popular. These are the central findings of the latest ARD/ZDF online survey.More ...

MOGDy: Munich Open Government Day Photo: © Landeshauptstadt München MOGDy

Open government – An Interview with Marcus Dapp

In a contest called Open Government Day, citizens of Munich had the opportunity to write in their suggestions for improve- ments. We spoke with Marcus Dapp, board member of Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland about the event.More ...

Michael H. Spreng and his blog “sprengsatz” Photo: Peter Garbet © iStockphoto

From Niche Phenomenon to Successful Blog: “sprengsatz”

Journalist and political expert Michael H. Spreng’s blog sprengsatz (explosive) takes a refreshingly purist approach. He wields a sharp pen in his analysis of political events in Berlin.More ...

On the Internet History is Taking on Many New Facets – An Interview with Thomas Krüger

What role can academia and political education play in the digital age of remembrance.More ...

“A German E-Book Market Is Emerging”. An Interview with Alexander Skipis

E-books are slowly becoming established alongside printed books – says Alexander Skipis of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.More ...

Social Media – The Che Guevara of the 21st Century?

What role do the social media play in the changes taking place in political communication?More ...

The cultural studies researcher Michael Seemann Photo: André Krüger

“If You’re Part of the World, You’ll be Part of the Internet”. An Interview with Michael Seemann

Loss of control is the term Michael Seemann uses to talk about the uncontrollability of the mountains of web data. But he believes that “filter sovereignty” can help people.More ...

Mobile iPad services of the BSB; © Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

Parsifal on Smartphone – Libraries and the Mobile Internet

Smartpohnes and tablet PCs are rapidly conquering ever new user groups. The Bavarian State Library in Munich has responded to this in various ways.More ...

“Disclosure portals have outlived their usefulness” – Assessments by David Schraven

How do Wikileaks and other disclosure portals influence journalism? Not in the least, says journalist David Schraven. But they do point in the right direction.More ...

Screenshot of volkslesen.tv; © volkslesen.tv

Falko Reads Lenin, Gregor Reads Faust: Martin Scharfe on “volkslesen.tv”

In Search of readers, Martin Scharfe, founder and organiser of the platform Volkslesen.tv gets to know both people and books.More ...

Writing hand at the computer; © Colourbox

After the Hype: The Situation of German Bloggers

The German blogosphere is in a phase of consolidation. The number of bloggers is decreasing. Only a few voices have become established. But those who have made it are quite relevant.More ...

A Cultural Revolution In Journalism?

Print or online? This is no longer an issue for newspaper publishers and has not been for quite some time. The buzzword now is “crossover”.More ...

Facebook-Mitglieder gestalten die Inhalte des sozialen Netzwerks selbst; © Flickr.com - Michael Porter

Twitter, Facebook, Blogs & Co. – Is It All Just Prattle?

With the help of Twitter, Facebook, Blogs & Co. these days anybody can supply the world with the latest news in real time – or take us for a complete ride.More ...

Icon of Creative Commons; © Creative Commons

Copying Allowed: Creative Commons Licenses

Creative Commons is a licensing system that enables authors to grant the rights to use their own work. It opposes copyright with a culture of the free exchange of intellectual property.More ...

End of 2009: start of the Web radio station detektor.fm; one of the first guests in its studio was former federal minister Wolfgang Tiefensee; © detektor.fm

A Lot of Enthusiasm, Little Money: Internet Radios Stations

There are now about 2700 Internet radio stations in Germany: in 2006 there were only 450. Although this kind of radio is listened to more and more, it is still difficult to earn money with it.More ...

Website of the Heddesheim-Blog; © heddesheimblog.de

Against “Bratwurst Journalism”: the “Heddesheim Blog”

Applying a global medium locally: the “Heddesheim Blog” uses the Internet for local news coverage – and sees itself as a journalistic alternative to daily newspapers.More ...

German Lab: The Internet of the Future in a Test Lab

About forty years ago, the Internet was invented – and now threatens to have finally come up against its technical limits. In the German Lab, German researchers can test new Internet technologies in a realistic environment.More ...

Fished from the Net: 10 Years of “Perlentaucher”

For ten years the Internet site perlentaucher.de (i.e., pearl diver) has provided a summary of the feature pages of the German press. Now a legal dispute over this kind of cultural journalism could put an end to the Web pioneer.More ...

When Computers Learn to Understand: Semantic Search Engines

The need for search engines that actually help in finding what is sought has grown with the rapid development of the Internet. Semantic search engines are meant to do precisely that.More ...

“Weblogs Complement Journalism” – An Interview with Christoph Neuberger

What is the relationship between Internet blogs and conventional media? Do bloggers keep a watchful eye on journalists as a “fifth power”?More ...

The Electronic Reporter: An Interview with Journalist Mario Sixtus

When Mario Sixtus invented the “Electric Reporter”, the Internet format was conceived as a temporary video podcast for a newspaper editorial office.More ...

Copyright: PHOTOPQR/LE TELEGRAMME/CLAUDE PRIGENT LANDERNEAU; www.colourbox.com

StudiVZ - Germany's Largest Social Networking Platform for Students

"Member since May 2006, 193 friends, 454 messages in my inbox, 452 messages in 'sent items', 232 pinboard entries, countless wasted hours", is how student Frauke Lüpke-Narberhaus sums up two years of membership of the social networking site StudiVZ. She has opted out – but more than five million people are still joining in.More ...

Local Web Portals on the Internet: Community Instead of Information?

Local web portals on the internet are booming. With a market place, a dating section, communities, a job market and an events calendar they may be many things – but certainly not an intelligent alternative to a news site. And, just as in the area of the printed media, they are also subject to concentration trends.More ...

Mitmachen im Netz; Copyright: www.colourbox.com

The Social Web – where collaboration is the norm

The utopia that Bertolt Brecht described for radio in the 1930s has today become a reality for many with Web 2.0, the collaborative internet. Users are no longer condemned just to receive; they can also broadcast. And in Web 2.0 people no longer need to understand the technical background that makes this possible.More ...

Cybercity Ruhrstadt 2010 – How Do We Want to Live?

For this project on the European Capital of Culture 2010, children and young people from different cities and communities in the Ruhrgebiet are recreating their city as a "city of the future" in model form. The new centre of the model city is being designed by students, artists, architects, designers and urban planners.More ...

First and Foremost, it is Committedly European - cafebabel.com

cafebabel.com, the first pan-European news magazine, sets store by its readers’ and writers’ enjoyment of debate.More ...

Chaos Communication Congress at the BCC, Berlin; © Creative Commons/ Max Braun

From Internet Pirate to Security Consultant: Chaos Computer Club

What began as a forum for the hacker scene has now evolved to become an established organization linking system operators, the public and the political sphere: a portrait of the Chaos Computer Club.More ...

More Democratic Thanks to the Internet? Assessments by Thorsten Quandt

Thanks to the Internet anyone can speak his mind and share his knowledge. The communications expert Thorsten Quandt explains what this means for democracy and society.More ...

Social Networks: Software Can Filter Out Racist Remarks on the Internet

The filtering software Openbook makes public what Facebook members are going on about.More ...

Digital Worlds – Re:publica Champions Network Neutrality and Open Structures

Re:publica is now going into its fourth year. From 14th to 16th April it brought together about 2,500 bloggers and network activists in Berlin. The main point on the agenda - free access to the internet.More ...

“Copyright Law is Outdated.” An Interview with Till Kreutzer

German copyright law is not equal to the challenges of a digital age, in Till Kreutzer’s view at least. A lawyer and one of the people behind the Internet portal iRights.info, Kreutzer is calling for a revision of the law.More ...

Web site of netpolitik.org; © netpolitik.org

In Obama’s Online Footsteps: Web Election Campaigns in Germany

Winning elections through the Internet: American President Barack Obama has led the way. But it doesn’t always work. Web activists find the German Internet election campaigns boring and inefficient.More ...

University of Heidelberg; © Universität Heidelberg/Schwarz

Open Acces To Everything? Discussion On the “Heidelberg Appeal”

The “Heidelberg Appeal” of the literary scholar Roland Reuß, published in March 2009, has enflamed a debate over the question of copyrights.More ...

Internet user downloading pictures; © Colourbox

Free download for money: New Discussions of a Culture Flat Rate

The discussion of the introduction of a “culture flat rate” that would allow Internet users to download and share songs or films upon payment of a fixed monthly or annual fee has entered a new round in response to the results of a short report presented by the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group in mid 2009.More ...

Mediathek von ARD.de; © Copyright: ARD.de

Internet Ban for Non-Commercial Television?

Beginning in June 2009, a clear legal regulation comes into effect for Internet offerings from the public-law broadcasting corporations. This will avert initiation of abuse proceedings by the EU Competition Commission against the non-commercial broadcasters for receiving state aid.More ...

Internetauftritt ARD - Internetauftritt ZDF

Clear Limits to Online Expansion?

Public and commercial German broadcasters are debating the extent and significance of websites financed by licence fees.More ...

Borderless Hate – Right-wing Extremism on the Internet

Nowadays you are always finding more and more unpleasant sites on the Internet. Nazis and "Kameradschaften" (comradeships) are spreading their agitation through music, videos and various fora. They put chic offers online, ideal for mobile phones, and thus try to reach as many young people as possible. Those tasked with the protection of young people warn against this Nazi charm offensive.More ...

Protest in front of the Federal Constitutional Court (BVG) in Karlsruhe against remote computer searches; Copyright: Picture-Alliance; Fotograf: Uli Deck

Remote Computer Searches – Is the "State Trojan Horse" Really Here?

Too much security erodes civil liberties, the opponents of remote computer searches say. It is the only way to beat a group of high-tech terrorists, investigators say.More ...

Safety for Kids in the Net

In order to prevent children from accessing the wrong sites in their surfing forays there are special search engines for children.More ...

No Copy. Die Welt der digitalen Raubkopie (carbon copy books), Jan Krömer, Evrim Sen; Tropen-Verlag; ISBN-10: 3932170822; ISBN-13: 978-3932170829; Copyright: Verlag: Tropen

The New Copyright Act

The new Copyright Act has been in effect since January 2008. Not quite five years after the Act was last amended, a new balance has been struck between the interests of authors, exploiters, equipment producers and end-users, none of whom are, however, especially happy with the compromise solution.More ...

From Virtual Violence to Real Violence? – Controversial Attack on “Killer Games”

From time to time, the controversial discussion about banning particularly brutal computer games flares up again. The discussion is characterised by a lack of understanding on both sides.More ...

Are the Germans more security-conscious than other nations? Photo: Guenay Mutlu © iStockphoto

Unreserved or Anxious? The Germans and their Data on the Web

Google faced opposition when it tried to introduce its Street View, a navigation service already available elsewhere, in Germany. Are the Germans more security-conscious than other nations?More ...

“Hackers Are the Good Guys”: An Interview with Thorsten Holz

Hackers often succeed in gaining access to confidential data or are able to paralyze entire websites. Therefore the term hacker does not always have a particularly positive connotation. Is this in fact justified?More ...

Screenshotausschnitt der Smartphone-App von Facebook

The Virtualisation of Public Space – From the Mobile Phone to the Tracking Device

On geodata portals like Facebook’s “Places” it is theoretically possible to compile individual profiles of their users’ movements. Now growing resistance is beginning to stir against it.More ...

Woman on Facebook on her computer; © Colourbox

Data Striptease on the World Wide Web – Consequences of Carelessness

The “get involved” mentality of many Internet users undermines data security, as they voluntarily disclose all manner of private information in electronic networking sites. However, those who use other free services like search engines also give away a lot about themselves.More ...

Project website of the German Digital Library; © ddb

More Than Just a Dream: The German Digital Library

The German Digital Library, the project of the century that is to make Germany’s cultural heritage freely accessible to everyone, is gradually taking concrete shape.More ...

Education 2.0 – An Interview with Michael Maier

Media journalist Michael Maier is convinced that the Internet could revolutionize our education and restructure our sciences.More ...

EU Project “HUWY”: Winning Young People for Politics through the Internet

The goal of the project HUWY is to harness the Net skills of teenagers for optimising Net policy.More ...

Extract from the commercial “Where’s Klaus?”; © klicksafe.de

EU Project klicksafe.de: “We’re Strenghtening Media Competence.”

Banned and indecent content on the Internet is often only a few clicks away. Whoever is aware of this can protect himself. A European project wants to promote media competence.More ...

Blogging: The Democratic of Science Communication

Before, journalists used to blog in search of truth. Today more and more scientists and scholars are succumbing to the charms of blogging.More ...

Internet in the Children’s Room: Young People and the Media

The media behaviour of children and young people has changed greatly owing to rapid technical development and extension of the range of subjects. Will the Internet soon outstrip television?More ...

iTunes U at the LMU Munich; © LMU München

Lectures in the Park: German Universities on iTunes

Since the beginning of 2009, German universities and institutes have been presenting themselves on iTunes. As of now, any user world-wide can download information free of charge on the universities, lectures and the most recent research results in the form of a podcast – at home, on trips, in the park or in the train.More ...

Videojournalisten von Uni-bonn.tv bei der Arbeit; mit Projektkoordinator Klaus Herkenrath; © Uni-bonn-tv

Broadcasts from the Ivory Tower: Research TV

Scientific institutions are taking ever more frequently to the Internet with films and videos representing their work. Research results are becoming freely available to everyone. The moving pictures are intended to arouse especially the interest of the young in research.More ...

The Mobile Phone as Teaching Device – a Challenge for Media Education

A mobile phone can, of course, be used to make phone calls – but it can do a lot more besides, like play music, send text messages or make short video films.More ...

Plakat zur Ausstellung: Foto+Film im Deutschen Museum München, 2007; Copyright: Deutsches Museum München 2007

Digital Media at Museums – Places of Learning

People are attracted to museums because they want to learn. But often – especially in the case of natural science and technical museums – they have to grasp very complex facts. Here electronic and computer-supported media are the ideal go-betweens. However, what is important is not whether museums use the new technologies, but how they do so.More ...

Three Gigabytes of History – The Living Museum Online

Adolf Hitler's New Year's speech of December 31, 1944 on audio file, the document of the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize for Willy Brandt on PDF file or a commercial for a washing machine from the year 1956 on video – all this can be seen on LeMO (Lebendiges Museum Online, i.e. Living Museum Online). Tons of data are stored there and can be visited on the internet.More ...

New Online Literature

The major publishing houses are considering how best to make Web 2.0 (also known as the 'social web') work for them, with its many formats and possibilities. Too late: large numbers of writers are already having fun experimenting with forums and blogs. The latest thing is a literature podcast that anyone can download free of charge.More ...

For 10 years now, the Grimme Online Award has bestowed its coveted prizes on special websites and Internet projects. Photo: © Grimme Institut

Online Documentaries and Digital Playgrounds: Ten Years of Grimme Online Award

Since 2001, the Grimme Online Award has bestowed its coveted prizes on special websites and Internet projects.More ...

How Competent Is the “Net Generation”? – An Assessment by Heidi Schelhowe

Digital media require discerning users – and that from the outset. There is still much to be done, says education expert Heidi Schelhowe.More ...

“I Link, I Like” – Peter Kruse on Cloud Culture

Living in the cloud culture means being constantly online. How does that change society? How does it change friendship? What is the value of pressing an “I like” button? An interview with the psychologist Peter Kruse.More ...

Detail of the cover of “Payback”; © Blessing Verlag

Opinion Making in the Digital Age: Is the Internet Changing the Way We Think?

Frank Schirrmacher warns against the loss of important cognitive skills. Journalist Albrecht Müller, on the other hand, sees our thinking threatened by the “spin” put on the news by the key media.More ...

Copyright: www.colourbox.com; Fotografin: Bettina Brinkmann/MAXPPP

Hooks on the Net - Online Communities and German Kids

Why do teenagers find SchülerVZ, flickr or YouTube so fantastic? What are they finding in the communities on the internet that doesn't exist in real life, and what exactly are they doing with it? The JFF- Institut für Medienpädagogik (Institute for Media Education) looks into these questions and learns from a 15 year-old "I think the future will just be one big Second Life."More ...

Wolfgang Bergmann; Copyright: Michael Plümer

Computer Addiction – When Children Escape into Virtual Realities

Children and young people are spending more and more time on the computer. Many of them have crossed the line to addiction. Psychologist Wolfgang Bergmann explains in an interview how computer addiction manifests itself and which games have a particularly high addiction potential.More ...

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