Thomas Bayer

Soziale Medien fassen auch in der Wissenschaft Fuß, denn sie sind für die Kommunikation von Wissenschaftlern untereinander und mit der Öffentlichkeit zumindest teilweise funktional. Dieser Beitrag systematisiert den aktuellen Einsatz sozialer Medien in der Wissenschaft heute, wagt einen Blick in die nahe Zukunft und erörtert die bereits absehbaren Trends im Zusammenhang mit dem zunehmenden Gebrauch von sozialen Netzwerkseiten, Blogs, Microblogs, Wikis, Crowdsourcing-Plattformen etc. für wissenschaftliche Zwecke.

This article describes parliamentary technology assessment (PTA) in relational terms.1 We conceptualize PTA as fulfilling a mediating function between the spheres of parliament, government, science and technology, and society. This mediation is thought to take place through a set of interaction mechanisms on the institutional, organizational and/or project level that enable and constrain the involvement of actors from the above-mentioned four social spheres in shaping the practice of PTA. This enables us to model, map, and analyze how PTA in various European countries and regions is set up to interact with members of parliament, government, science and technology, and society. We found that the possible relationships between the PTA organization and each of the four social spheres have to be analyzed and carefully designed when thinking about setting up PTA. Countries with an interest in setting up PTA are not restricted to existing institutional models, but may create a model that is particularly suited to their own political and societal environment.

This article introduces an inclusive way of modelling (Parliamentary) Technology Assessment, (P)TA as developed in the European PACITA project. It incorporates interdependencies between and diversity among existing and potential (P)TA practices in a more inclusive and fine-grained way than existing literature does. We model (P)TA as a mediating function between the spheres of parliament, government, science and technology, and society. We suggest that this mediation takes place through a set of interaction mechanisms that include institutional, organizational and project dimensions. In this way, we distinguish among 15 potential interaction models for (P)TA. Our more inclusive way of modelling may be used to map and discuss fruitful evolutionary pathways for (P)TA in countries and regions where (P)TA already exists or where the ambassadorship for (P)TA is about to take off. In the conclusion, we reflect on the relevance of our modelling for the discourse on and practice of responsible innovation.

This interdisciplinary, social scientific analysis of the regulatory discourse on nanotechnology in the three German-speaking countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and in the EU between 2000 and 2013 has shown three distinct phases, characterised by shifts in the configuration of actors and in the thematic scope from nanotechnology to nano-materials. Compared to modes of governance based on traditional statutory law, modes of governance based on less binding forms of soft law and self-regulation (like codes of conduct, guidelines and certification systems) and newmodes of governance (like assessment studies, risk management frameworks as well as participatory and cooperative forms of communication and negotiation) have gained importance. Despite some similarities, two different cultures in governing nanotechnology can be distinguished: a product-oriented culture in statutory regulations (when speaking about products, the article is also referring to substances) and a risk-based culture in applying soft law based on new modes of governance. In addition, the different regulatory cultures have led to four strategic approaches: modes of governance mainly based on hard law and soft law at the EU level, modes of governance mainly based on cooperative and self-regulatory approaches in Germany, cooperative governance approaches in Austria and modes of governance mainly based on self-regulatory and soft law approaches in Switzerland.

With social network sites (SNS) becoming a pervasive phenomenon, already existing conflicts with privacy are further intensified. As shown in this paper, online and (once) offline contexts increasingly conflate, thereby posing new challenges to the protection of the private sphere. SNS quickly evolve their features and challenge privacy preferences, often without user consent; “social graphs” make social relations extensively transparent; social plugins interconnect user traces from inside and outside the SNS. As large amounts of personal information available in SNS are processed with rich context information, the individual’s informational self-determination is heavily strained. These data attract potential and real observers for behavioural advertising and profiling by security authorities alike. We argue that emerging SNS usage (social plugins, increasing role of biometrics, mobile computing) multiplies privacy challenges as all privacy types become affected. This raises additional demand for public policy to foster privacy-by-design combined with awareness-raising mechanisms to improve informational self-determination.

The OAW has been operating an institutional repository for years, its pub- lishing house is a Romeo green publisher and many OAW publications are freely available in digital format. In 2011 the OAW presiding committee adopted an explicit open access policy, advising its scientific staff to self-archive their publications according to the green road principle. Various organisational and technical measures aim at increasing the self-archiving rate considerably in the future.

This paper argues that the system of formal scholarly publication is entering its third phase of evolution. This phase has not yet taken full shape, but be characterised by a strong de-commodified core with only niches for commercial publishers – in contrast to phase II which was the age of increasing commodification. The main reasons for this development are economic, functional and ideational. The current economic crisis of academic publishing is driving academia to alternative models. From a functional perspective, the advent of E-publishing makes it possible that academia will take over most of what is currently done by the commercial publishers. Finally, the last decade has seen an increasing awareness of the research community that its products should not be treated as a commodity, but should instead be freely available to the whole community.

The scholarly community is witnessing a considerable increase in its daily use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The paper argues, first, that ICT affect virtually all forms of scholarly activity as well as its framework conditions; second, that the manifold developments faced by scholars do not only accelerate communication or increase the publication output, but also have the potential to lead to qualitative changes in research and its organisation.

On the occasion of its first ‘birthday’, I describe in this paper the common access point for a series of high quality online papers in the field of European integration research and its recently established policy vis-à-vis new series to be added to this archive. Reporting on our debates about this ‘enlargement policy’ gives me the opportunity to discuss the wider issue of quality filters in the digital age. I hereby develop several ideal-typical scenarios in order to analyse the balance between, on the one hand, promoting quality and, on the other, providing comprehensive access.