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The Digital Society Initiative (DSI) of the University of Zurich (UZH) held its annual general meeting on November 2. Participants were offered a panel discussion entitled «The media world is changing rapidly: what does this mean for scientists?».
Adrienne Fichter from the online magazine Republik and Daniel Vogler, Head of Research at the Forschungszentrum Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft (fög) at the UZH, discussed the development of the media and its impact on science under the moderation of Markus Christen, Managing Director of the DSI.
Adrienne Fichter emphasized that social media is an important source for her. Especially because it is on such platforms that she comes across brief summaries of research findings relating to a current topic. In a flood of information, she is dependent on such summaries, which is why she encourages researchers to share their work on social media.
One challenge is «translating» scientific work into a language that laypeople can understand, explained Daniel Vogler. In this context, the question arose as to who is responsible for this translation. Experience has shown that this should ideally be done in two steps, said Daniel Vogler: researchers should make their work available to journalists in an understandable and reduced form and the journalists would then prepare the content for their audience.
Before the panel discussion, DSI Director Abraham Bernstein led the General Meeting and presented the DSI's activities. He also welcomed a total of around 270 new members to the DSI, who had joined since November 2022 and were now officially elected without a dissenting vote. The DSI now has more than 1100 members.
The new version of the DSI Roadmap was also approved without dissenting votes. In addition to the medium and long-term goals, the document also outlines the thematic focus of the DSI. After this vote, Abraham Bernstein gave an outlook on the future of the DSI, whose existence has been approved until 2029. In 2024, talks will begin with the UZH Board to discuss whether and how the Digital Society Initiative will continue after 2029.
An apéro after the official part of the General Meeting offered everyone the opportunity to exchange ideas in a relaxed atmosphere.
The minutes and the presentation of the DSI General Meeting 2023 can be found here.
