🤖 🔥 New preprint is out The paper, co-authored by Taehee Kim and @dgarcia.eu, demonstrates that AI-generated conversations can be remarkably convincing. 💡 For more insights check out the preprint: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🇪🇺 MEDem is on the ESFRI Roadmap 2026. Our new blog post takes a closer look at what this means for MEDem’s future and for the wider MEDem community. Thank you to everyone who has helped bring MEDem to this point. The work continues! 🤝 www.medem.eu/medem-on-the...

A major milestone for #DemocracyResearch. 🏛️ MEDem has been included in the ESFRI Roadmap, recognizing its role in advancing the empirical study of Democracy in Europe. 🇪🇺 Thank you to everyone who helped bring us to this point! 🙏 #ResearchInfrastructure⚙️

Holzleitner, Schütze: Austria set to become a centre for European democracy research

European research infrastructure MEDem included in the ESFRI Roadmap 2026 – headquarters at the University of Vienna

univie.ac.at

📢 DGPuK Advertising Conference 2026 Join us in Innsbruck, Austria (Nov 25–27, 2026) for the conference "Persuasion in Transition? Current Topics in Persuasion and Advertising Research." We welcome submissions on advertising & persuasion (e.g., AI-driven ads, influencers, social responsibility) 1/🧵

Rudolphina, the Science Magazine of @univie.ac.at is featuring our @what-if-horizon.bsky.social, where we use #ABM and #LLM -powered simulations to explore civic engagement in digital information environments: rudolphina.univie.ac.at/en/computer-... @aytalina.bsky.social @compcommlab.bsky.social

Computer models explore digital information environments to safeguard democracy

How do social media, algorithms and AI influence democratic discourse? Researchers at the University of Vienna are simulating digital information spaces to investigate ways of safeguarding democracy.

rudolphina.univie.ac.at

The #WHATIF 2nd General Assembly meeting in Bucharest came to an end Many thanks to Facultatea de Comunicare si Relatii Publice for the excellent organisation and hospitality, and to the city of Bucharest for the welcoming atmosphere. Stay tuned for upcoming project updates!

🔥 Happening now: The 2nd General Assembly Meeting of the WHAT-IF project is currently taking place in 📍 Bucharest, Romania. Over the coming days, partners from across the consortium will come together to share progress, discuss preliminary findings and explore new research ideas. Stay tuned!

🤖📊 On Tuesday, I somewhat spontaneously “raged against the machine” at @tuwien.at #Informatics. In short: replacing population surveys with generative AI is a bad idea. On many levels. Still, it's something that is currently being discussed in parts of the polling & market research industry.

Many thanks to Professor Alina Bârgăoanu for joining the WHAT-IF General Assembly Meeting and contributing to the scientific exchange with an insightful guest presentation 💡“Ways forward for Researching Information Ecosystems under Conditions of Algorithmic Mediation”💡.

One of the important part of the WHAT-IF General Assembly Meeting today was dedicated to plenary sessions. Collaboration is key to delivering impactful research, and we thank all partners for their valuable contributions and engaging discussions 🔥

🏛️ Kürzlich war ich im @parlament.gv.at. Dort wurde ich dann auch gleich für #HohesHaus zur Rolle von Emotionen in der Politik befragt. Kurzum Emotionen sind nicht der Gegensatz zu Vernunft. Sie sind oft die Voraussetzung dafür, dass Menschen pol. Themen überhaupt als relevant wahrnehmen.

Exiting news! 🙌

Hajo Boomgaarden@hajoboo.bsky.social · last mo.

Thrilled and grateful that SYNAPS has been selected for ERC Advanced Grant funding. @erc.europe.eu SYNAPS looks at how 14- to 16-year-olds develop political interest, knowledge and engagement in a networked world shaped by peers, social media, influencers and algorithms. @compcommlab.bsky.social

It was great to attend the Day of Parliamentary Research at the 🇦🇹 Parliament and share ongoing work on science and expertise in parliamentary debate: 1. Who refers to science, when, and in what contexts? 2. How do politicians draw on expertise, evidence, and knowledge in debate? @parlament.gv.at

Am Sonntag wählt Graz. Gerade dort gibt es viele #Jungwähler:innen. Wer sie erreichen will, muss auch auf Social Media sichtbar sein – mit ganz untersch. Strategien. Aber wer Likes mit Stimmzetteln verwechselt, überschätzt den Feed. My 2 cents an @annastockhammer.bsky.social in @wienerzeitung.at

Wahlkampf auf Social Media: Wie Graz um Stimmen scrollt | WZ • Wiener Zeitung

Der Grazer Wahlkampf findet längst auch zwischen Reels und Memes statt. Wer geht viral und wer unter?

wienerzeitung.at

Schwer erreichbare Gruppen sind kein Monolith. Wer ihre Perspektiven synthetisch modelliert statt erhebt, ersetzt Vielfalt durch Verflachung. Warum KI-Umfragen wohl nicht die derzeitigen Probleme der Markt- & Meinungsforschung lösen werden, habe ich mit @sndrschbr.bsky.social besprochen.

„Höchst fahrlässig“: Wenn KI-Umfragen echte Menschen ersetzen

Der Boom rund um künstliche Intelligenz (KI) hat nun auch die Meinungsforschung erreicht. Mit Hilfe von synthetischen Stichproben, also KI-generierten Antworten auf Umfragen, sollen ansonsten schwer z...

orf.at

Join us for the Data Science & AI Day 2026! 💻 🤖 ❤️ 🦉 Link to register: datascience.univie.ac.at/events/data-... Please also help us to spread the word! 🔄 🧪 #DataScience #AI

Universität Wien / University of Vienna@univie.ac.at · 2mo ago

📣 Event tip: Data Science + AI Day 2026 „Advancing Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust and Understand" 🔬 @ds-vienna.bsky.social invites to an #AI showcase on June 22 — panels & keynotes highlighting how Vienna's university researchers are advancing interpretable AI systems we can trust. 🔍 More: ⤵️

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of participating in the #TagDerParlamentsforschung at @parlament.gv.at. Rich discussions on the role of emotions in politics & how to understand #representation as something citizens feel, MPs navigate under pressure, & young people can learn through playful experience.

Looking forward to presenting at #EPSS2026 in Belfast this week! @klingelt.bsky.social and I hand-collected 10,000+ campaign posters in Berlin and use automated image analysis to study placement and content strategies across parties THU, 5:10–6:50pm, Brookfield (Hilton) @epssnet.bsky.social

Excited that my first peer-reviewed article, co-authored with @fabiennelind.bsky.social and @sonjablum.bsky.social is out! We ask how German and Italian parties used emotions in energy policy communication during the 2024 European Parliament elections. 👉Open Access: doi.org/10.1002/epa2...

EPA Journal@epa-journal.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Out now! This article by N. Habelitz, F. Lind & S. Blum explores the emotional dimensions of policy communication during the 2024 European Parliament elections, a critical period for energy policy- as part of the SI by K. Olofsson, K. Gabehart & C. Stefes. Link in the comments! #policyprocess

Thank you for the shoutout! I am really happy about this. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to Cape Town, but this recognition by @polcomm.bsky.social means a lot. Big congratulations also to my co-authors @ahrabhikat.bsky.social and @hajoboo.bsky.social! #ica26

Katrin Weller@kwelle.bsky.social · 2mo ago

More congratulations: @janabernhard.bsky.social, @ahrabhikat.bsky.social, and Hajo Boomgaarden won the Top Paper Award in the Political Communication Division at #ica26 for their paper "The Uneven News Landscape: Selective News Bias in Actor-Topic Interactions"

#ICA2026 has come and gone with amazing presentations from our team members and valuable discussions with colleagues from around the world. From content moderation to science communication and censorship, we are proud to share our work with this community and can’t wait to see what’s next! 🥳

I won something at #ICA 🍾 In case you want to know what for👇

Kicking off my #ICA26 experience with “Condoning, Intervening, Ignoring” – ongoing work with @jlegelhofer.bsky.social on how citizens respond to attacks against scientists on social media. Congrats to the organizing team for this wonderful and inspiring #SciComm pre-conference.

#ICA2026 is less than a week away! 🥳 I'll be presenting in Cape Town on June 7 (Panel @ 10:30 AM) & June 8 (Panel @ 1:30 PM) about factors shaping scientists' communication of uncertainty to the public. Safe travels to all and looking forward to connecting! #ScienceCommunication

Polcom Vienna@polcomvienna.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🌍 POLCOM is heading to Cape Town for #ICA2026! Our team will present new research from content moderation to misinformation, science communication and political communication. Hope to see you there! Full schedule here: polcom.univie.ac.at/news/news-de...

📢 Publication 📢 A mixed-methods study (Spielvogel et al.) revealed that awareness of traditional and social media reporting on security events influenced users' selective use. However, intensive security-related news consumption evoked anger and fear. 👉https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2026.2669528

🌍 POLCOM is heading to Cape Town for #ICA2026! Our team will present new research from content moderation to misinformation, science communication and political communication. Hope to see you there! Full schedule here: polcom.univie.ac.at/news/news-de...

POLCOM @ ICA2026, Cape Town

Members of the POLCOM team present their latest research at 76th ICA Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

polcom.univie.ac.at

This year's ICA annual conference is just around the corner and we could not be more excited! From June 4-8 our department members will present a total of 88 papers and serve as chairs, discussants, and respondents. See you in Cape Town! 🇿🇦 👋 @icahdq.bsky.social

ICA Annual Conference 2026: Cape Town

This year's annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) will be held in Cape Town, South Africa.

publizistik.univie.ac.at

I'm pleased to present with my fellow APART-USA colleague @mattminich.bsky.social at Pint of Science Wien next week! We will be speaking on our research & why science needs freedom. Our event sold out! See ya'll there! Pub quiz!!! tinyurl.com/wynn557p

No Democracy, No Discovery: why science needs freedom

Curiosity thrives where questioning is welcome. Join us to understand why science flourishes under a functioning democracy. We will listen to the stories o...

tinyurl.com

Huge congrats to Paul Balluff on successfully defending his dissertation “Applications of Transformer Models in Communication Research”! 🎉 compcommlab.univie.ac.at/news-detaila...

Successful CCL Thesis Defense!

We congratulate our lab member Paul Balluff! He has successfully defended his thesis.

compcommlab.univie.ac.at

50 years @oegk.bsky.social! At #KWT2026 @marvins.bsky.social & @janabernhard.bsky.social presented: “Paupers in the Papers” on how media reporting shapes perceptions of the welfare state recipients, a linkage-design study with @moritzsedlatschek.bsky.social.