Research Fields

Innovation in media production and distribution: In collaboration with media organisations and media professionals, we investigate how data, algorithms, AI and other technologies are used in the production and distribution of media content, and what impact this has on institutional logics, processes, norms and the role of the audience within media organisations, particularly in journalism.

Information behaviour and media use in digital media environments: The focus here is on the audience’s perspective and the question of how information behaviour and media use are changing in dynamic, personalised and algorithmic media environments. Within this research area, we also examine how media use, information-seeking and media literacy can be promoted in order to empower citizens to participate in democracy.

Digital media and social and political dynamics: Technological developments go hand in hand with changes in the dynamics between supply and demand in digital communication, as well as between audiences, media organisations, platforms and their wider context. To gain a holistic picture of these transformations on both the production and consumption sides, we are interested in the structural context in which they take place, as well as the potential social and political consequences of these developments.

At the IDCMI, these key research areas are investigated through the integration of supply- and demand-side perspectives in communication research, based on cross-platform, cross-country and cross-temporal comparisons, and using a combination of qualitative, quantitative and computer-assisted methods within mixed-methods approaches. Such integrative and comparative approaches also require interdisciplinary and international collaborations, which are set to play a central role in the establishment and further development of the IDCMI.