GovTechTalks: 5G, Conspiracy Theories, and Social Media Influencers
| When: | Th 03-12-2020 12:00 - 13:00 |
| Where: | Online |
This online and interdisciplinary talks series on digital government and society will take place twice a month on Thursdays at 12.00 CET. Registration is required and is free. The events will be widely publicized on social media and through different academic networks. Each session will include invited two speakerswho will present their research and engage with the audience’s questions.
Organizer: Prof. dr. Sofia Ranchordas
Seminar 3 December 2020, 12PM CET:
5G, Conspiracy Theories, and Social Media Influencers
Invited Speakers: Volker Stocker (TU Berlin/Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society) & Catalina Goanta (Maastricht University)
Dr. Volker Stocker: 'Evolution in the Internet Ecosystem and the Promise of 5G'
AbstractThe Internet ecosystem has evolved tremendously and is characterized by an unprecedented diversity and increasing complexity. While general-purpose all-IP broadband platforms support the delivery of an evolving range of (Internet-based and non-Internet-based) content, applications, and use cases, service provision is based on complex amalgam of (‘public’ and ‘private’) interconnected and complementary computing and communication network resources. 5G, the new generation of mobile communications, has been designed to become the ultimate enabler for a digital revolution. Making possible a variety of new applications and business models, 5G is expected to drive a disruptive transformation of societies and economies. In this talk, I will provide a brief overview of the evolution of the the Internet ecosystem and outline the promise of 5G as well as its technological underpinnings.
Volker Stocker is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Internet Network Architectures Group at TU Berlin and and head of the research group “Work and Cooperation in the Sharing Economy” at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society. Before, he was a doctoral researcher at the University of Freiburg and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbrücken.
Volker studied at the Universities of Freiburg and Mannheim and the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki (Finland) and holds a Diplom degree in Economics. During his time as a doctoral researcher, he spent time as a visiting researcher at the TU Berlin, the University of Northumbria in Newcastle (UK), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge (US). His major research interests are in the fields of sharing platforms and the digital economy, the network economics of the Internet, and Internet policy.
Dr. Catalina Goanta: Social Media Influencers & Conspiracy Theories
AbstractInfluencers are social media content creators who make a living out of the content they produce for their followers. Influencers have risen to fame in consumer-oriented media markets, such as life-style and beauty, e-sports or entertainment. However, 2020 has seen these spaces address consumers also in their quality as citizens, whether about voting and public health, or political conspiracies. This talk delves into the regulatory questions around how influencers monetise conspiracies, by zooming into the debate around 5G risks.
Bio
Catalina Goanta is Assistant Professor in Private Law at the Faculty of Law (Maastricht University) where she co-manages the Maastricht Law and Tech Lab, a unique research group with eight computer scientists in residence at a law school, where she currently supervises computer science and law PhD students. Between 2018-2019, she was a Niels Stensen visiting fellow and at the University of St. Gallen and Harvard University.
She is also non-residential fellow of the Stanford Transatlantic Technology Law Forum. Her research focuses on content/web monetization and social media governance, as well as digital consumer protection.