Responsibility and the Internet of Things

The aim of our research group is to comprehensively map the field of "Responsibility and the Internet of Things" and to make new contributions to unanswered questions concerning "ubiquitous responsibility and data platforms". While responsibility of technical actors has been a recurring theme in science and politics since antiquity, its scope is now expanding. Within the framework of our research, we consider the concept from an ethical-moral and legal point of view as well as with regard to technical feasibility.

In the era of the "Internet of Things"

The multidisciplinary research team identifies white spots in research, investigates buzzwords, keywords, and concepts from "Industry 4.0" or "Smart Citizenship" to data platforms with regard to responsibility, liability and regulation. Despite its name, the "Internet of Things" is not about "things on the Internet", but about a huge market with new products and a new currency called "data".

We tackle following questions:

When was the term "Internet of Things" coined by whom and in which context?
How is this topic reported on, which narratives can be observed, who participates in the discourse, which voices are heard?

We would like to ask these and other questions within the framework of a comprehensive discourse analysis and answer them satisfactorily. The "Topoi Catalogue", which we have designed, serves to simplify the finding of data, figures of thought and literature for a specific question.

We are currently developing a knowledge tool based on the Sustainability Development Goals of the United Nations for discovering data platform scenarios and recommendations for political action.