Our guiding principles
Our Mission
The Weizenbaum Institute wants to help ensure that digitalization and the networked society are not only better understood, but also shaped in a sustainable, self-determined and responsible manner.
That is why we stand for excellent, interdisciplinary, fundamental, independent and value-based digitalization research, whose topics, methods and formats we develop further in dialogue with social actors. We also research, test and promote open science and the digitalization of science.
In doing so, we question digitalization and networking with regard to the guiding values of digital self-determination and sustainability in the spirit of the institute's namesake, the German-American computer science pioneer Joseph Weizenbaum. We see the transfer of knowledge and value-based recommendations for action in politics, business and civil society as a central task.
Working principles
We want to work together in an appreciative, respectful and inclusive manner, conduct cooperative, independent and responsible research and communicate transparently. We have therefore adopted the following working principles:
- Interdisciplinarity
The research agenda combines economic, social and political science, legal, IT and design research approaches and perspectives. Social digitization processes are researched holistically in interdisciplinary cooperation. - Openness
The Weizenbaum Institute stands for open and transparent research. We rely on the approaches of open data, open source, open access and open science methods and develop them further. - Participation
The further development of the research agenda, the implementation of projects and the transfer of knowledge take place with the participatory involvement of citizens and other relevant stakeholder groups, for example in open labs, public events and with citizen science formats. - Long-term orientation
In its own activities, the Weizenbaum Institute is committed to well-founded basic research that is designed to generate lasting knowledge. The Weizenbaum Institute scientifically accompanies and supports change processes in society. - Sustainability orientation
The publicly funded Weizenbaum Institute is committed to the common good in the sense of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We make decisions in research, administration and IT infrastructure with sustainable development in mind.
