Make an impression with 140 characters? New ways of communication are changing politics and culture

Political spin has changed – does that mean different politics too? The trend of the majority of citizens informing themselves through social media, some exclusively, is emerging in Europe too. Since the last presidential elections in the USA and Brexit at the latest, the question arises: How does political spin actually work on the web and which targeted influencing techniques is it exposed to?

On November 30, 2017 an interdisciplinary conference is being held at ZKM on these current developments and new forms of communication in cooperation with the Karlsruher Forum für Kultur, Recht und Technik e.V., the City of Karlsruhe Cultural Administration and ZKM.

The public is puzzled about the role of fake news and bots, echo chambers and filter bubbles. This raises questions: Has the well-established information media, has analogue political discourse in fact served its time? What can the European model of democracy do to oppose demagogic threats?  Which trends are emerging and how can they be reconciled with our understanding of democracy and our constitution? Are algorithms and bots a decisive factor for victory or defeat in political elections – not least also with this year’s parliamentary elections? And how do media representatives rate the development themselves?

What does culture say? What are the artists’ stances when engaging in the discussion and with what input are they contributing to reflecting on ever more powerful big data processes?