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.
With funding from the Volkswagen Foundation, a new international research project on the strategic use of historical narratives in digital media will begin shortly. Together with partners in Italy and Spain, the research team will investigate how far-right actors instrumentalize history for political purposes and what this means for democratic public discourse.
The article “Epistemic Authority in the Digital Public Sphere”, co-authored by Thorsten Quandt, has received the 2026 ASCoR Denis McQuail Award. The award goes to first author Anne Bartsch.
A successful #ICA26 is behind us, and we look back on exciting presentations, inspiring discussions, and the Top Poster Award received by Felix Reer, Saïd Unger, and Thorsten Quandt.
The research team of the ERC project DANCE is now complete. Since the project's launch in March 2026, the researchers have been working together to investigate toxic dynamics in digital youth and online cultures. Learn more about the team.
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.
