Digital communication shapes how people interact, process information, negotiate topics, and organize social life. The Online Communication Lab (OCL) at the Department of Communication at the University of Münster, led by Prof. Thorsten Quandt, explores these developments and their impact on individuals, groups, and society.
Our goal is to make digital communication processes visible and understandable - for researchers, students, societal stakeholders, and the wider public.
At the annual conference of the International Communication Association, we present current research from a range of thematic areas. We have prepared an overview of all OCL presentations for you.
Anastasia Glawatzki and Paula Philine Jung have investigated usage practices of ChatGPT and anthropomorphic role attributions. The interview study was published in the journal Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft.
In May, the new collaborative project “SynDIKAT” on synthetic disinformation data for social media research was launched. Paula Philine Jung and Malin Zoe Richter are joining the OCL team as part of this project.
In a newly published article, Shangyuan Wu, Saïd Unger, and Thorsten Quandt analyze how alternative media are understood, practiced, and used in different social and political contexts beyond dominant Western perspectives.
A new book chapter by Thorsten Quandt, Johanna Klapproth, Saïd Unger, and Svenja Boberg examines the growing role of Generative AI in disinformation and public communication through the lens of the five dimensions of Dark Participation.
Prof. Axel Bruns (Queensland University of Technology) visited the OCL. The program included an internal workshop on “Practice Mapping” and a guest talk titled “Revisiting ‘the’ Public Sphere and Its Algorithmically Shaped Publics.”
