At the OCL, we investigate digital communication processes from diverse theoretical perspectives and with a broad range of empirical methods. Among other topics, our work addresses questions such as:

• Which mechanisms and actors transform online groups into toxic communities?
• How do social issues and hashtags spread over time and across platforms?
• Who are the new epistemic authorities in digital environments?
• How does excessive media use affect psychosocial well-being, and how can maladaptive usage patterns be disrupted?
• How do conspiracy ideologies and esotericism merge on social media?

A substantial part of our research is conducted within third-party funded projects. Below, we present our ongoing projects; completed projects can be found in the drop-down menu. An overview of all publications from our working group is available on this page.

Ongoing Projects

• DANCE – Dark Nerd Communities: A multi-method exploration of toxic degradation in the adolescent technosphere (3/2026-2/31)

  Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt (University of Münster)

  Funding: European Research Council (ERC)

  The online world of nerd communities—once a refuge for fans of digital games, technology and fan cultures—has undergone profound change. Formerly harmless niche groups increasingly develop into “dark nerd communities” marked by exclusionary ideologies, misogyny and extremist beliefs. This project examines the mechanisms behind this toxic transformation, maps the diversity of such groups and analyzes individual, structural and group-dynamic factors, including the influence of manipulative actors (“dark agents”).

  Methodologically, the project combines computational approaches with classical quantitative and qualitative methods to uncover the social and communicative structures within these communities. Its goal is to develop intervention strategies that counteract the rise of toxicity and radicalization in youth online cultures.

  Further information can be found on the project page.

• Social Issue Emergence in the Hybrid Media System (10/2023–09/2026)

  Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt (University of Münster), Prof. Dr. Annie Waldherr (University of Vienna)

  Funding: DFG (WEAVE)

  Hashtag campaigns such as #MeToo or #BlackLivesMatter make socially relevant issues visible and allow them to spread virally online. This interplay between digital and traditional media—referred to as Social Issue Emergence (SIE)—shapes how societal problems gain attention and influence public debate. The project investigates the dynamics underlying the emergence and diffusion of social issues and the extent to which actors can shape their trajectory.

  The project combines qualitative interviews with activists, journalists and policymakers with automated content analyses of social media, alternative media and news. Longitudinal and dynamic network analyses capture how issues evolve over time, while agent-based modeling (ABM) is used to reconstruct, simulate and predict causal mechanisms.

  Link to Project page

• Conspiracy Theorists, Esotericists, and Patchwork Religions: An Analysis of New Ideological Movements in Online Environments Using Computational Methods (10/2023–09/2026)

  Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt

  Funding: Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics,” University of Münster

  Amid current crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the Russian invasion of Ukraine, online ideological movements with religious elements have gained prominence—ranging from harmless esoteric communities to democracy-hostile groups building wide-ranging hybrid ideologies. This project analyzes these movements, their narratives, recruitment strategies and networks, as well as the role of religious motifs in their reasoning.

  The study combines theoretical examination with empirical mapping, applying text and network analysis across social media platforms, forums and messengers. It further adapts NLP tools for specific analytical needs. The goal is to understand the structures and logics of these movements and to develop standardized analytical toolsets for the study of ideological-religious online groups.

  Link to project page

Completed Projects

• What is important to us: Real-time image analysis for social media content based on human attention mechanisms

  Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Grimme (University of Münster), Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt (University of Münster)

  Funding: Ideas Lab, University of Münster

  Research on online communication increasingly addresses the negative consequences of social media use. The rapid spread of disinformation—especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the Ukraine war—has highlighted risks to liberal democracies.

  This joint project between the Institute for Information Systems and the Institute of Communication Science at the University of Münster, funded by the University’s Ideenlabor, develops innovative approaches for analyzing images and videos in large communication data streams. Instead of processing full visual content, the project uses models of human attention to make analysis more efficient. Its aim is to produce a prototype applicable to future research on disinformation and security.

  Link to project page

• HybriD – Real-time detection and verification of hybrid disinformation campaigns in online media (10/2021–09/2024)

  Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Grimme (University of Münster), Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt (University of Münster), Prof. Dr. Christian Stöcker (HAW Hamburg)

  Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

  Disinformation has long been at the center of academic and public debate. Incidents such as the manipulation of journalistic forums during the early stages of the Ukraine conflict, the alleged role of disinformation in the Brexit referendum or the use of automated communication during the 2016 US election drew political and public attention to the issue. Research increasingly focused on automated communication, false information and hate speech—and how to detect them. Findings show that disinformation campaigns emerge not only from technological means but also from human actors and coordinated timing patterns. Effective detection and countermeasures thus require integrating both technical and human factors.

  Links to project pages:

  Website

  University page

• Smart for Science (04/2019–03/2022)

  Prof. Dr. Stefan Heusler (Physics Education, University of Münster), Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt (Communication Science, University of Münster), and collaborators

  Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

  Although smartphones play a central role in students’ everyday lives, their use in the classroom remains contested. Yet their targeted integration may foster learning outcomes and motivation. The project examined the conditions under which smartphones can be meaningfully integrated into science and mathematics education.

  Link to project page

• Identification, detection, and mitigation of covert propaganda attacks via online media/PropStop (05/2016–04/2019)

  Dr.-Ing. Christian Grimme (University of Münster), Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt (University of Münster), Prof. Dr. Konrad Rieck (TU Braunschweig)

  Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

  Political and societal developments are increasingly debated on social media, but these platforms also provide opportunities for manipulation. Semi- and fully automated systems such as propaganda bots exploit these infrastructures to distort opinion climates, simulate discussions or undermine genuine statements. An interdisciplinary team of communication scholars, IT security researchers, statisticians, journalists and industry partners developed an infrastructure for identifying these propaganda mechanisms, drawing on semantic and technical pattern detection, real-time analytics and simulated propaganda scenarios.

  Link to project page

• The Internet and Mental Health: Interdisciplinary Research Project (05/2016–04/2018)

  Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Heinz, Dr. Jan Kalbitzer (Charité – Berlin), Dr. Tobias Matzner (University of Tübingen), Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt (University of Münster)

  Funding: Daimler and Benz Foundation

  This project investigated how internet use affects psychological well-being, considering both positive and negative effects. A central component was the comparison between the general population and individuals with diagnosed mental disorders. Qualitative interviews with psychiatric patients were conducted in Berlin, parallel interviews with healthy participants in Münster, and a multi-wave representative panel study complemented the qualitative work. In Tübingen, the project team contributed conceptual reflection and design development.

• Research Training Group 1712/1 “Trust and Communication in a Digitized World” (04/2012–03/2021)

  Funding: DFG

  The Research Training Group examined how trust emerges and is maintained under conditions of digitally mediated communication. It focused on how new communication practices affect trust in the fields of media, business, science and sports. Doctoral researchers analyzed trust on individual, organizational and societal levels using a broad range of social-scientific methods, contributing empirical and methodological insights to the theoretical foundations of trust research.

  Link to project page

• Analysis of discourses in social media (2012–2015)

  Prof. Dr. Thorsten Quandt, Prof. Dr. Stefan Stieglitz (University of Münster), Prof. Dr. Christoph Neuberger (University of Munich), Prof. Dr. Manfred Stede (University of Potsdam)

  Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

  This interdisciplinary project investigated how public communication changes through social media and how automated methods can support discourse analysis. To complement manual content and discourse analysis, the project developed computational methods for large-scale data tracking, network analysis, text classification and sentiment analysis. This enabled more efficient and comparative analyses of public discourse across micro-, meso- and macro-levels.

  Link to project page

• The social fabric of virtual life: A longitudinal multi-method study on the social foundations of online gaming (SOFOGA) (2010–2014)

  Funding: ERC

  This large-scale EU-funded project investigated the real-world and in-game experiences of online gamers. The study included representative panel surveys across three waves, network analyses, in-game observations, in-depth interviews and focus groups. A dedicated research team and a GameLab were established to enable long-term observational work.

  Link to project page

• Cyber bullying at schools (2012–2015)

  Funding: DFG

  This project conducted a comprehensive investigation of cyberbullying among adolescents, analyzing individual, structural and systemic factors through a three-wave panel survey of students and teachers from different school types. Social network analysis was used to reconstruct school social structures and understand the dynamics of cyberbullying.

  Link to project page

• Foreign News on Television (2009–2011)

  Funding: DFG

  This DFG-funded project analyzed the production, content and reception of foreign news coverage in television. It was part of an international research consortium conducted simultaneously in 20 countries. Coordinated by Akiba Cohen (Tel Aviv University), the project involved scholars including Jürgen Wilke, David Weaver, Paolo Mancini and Ven-hwei Lo.

• Participatory Journalism in Online News (2007–2009)

  Funding: Helsingin Sanomat Foundation

  This comparative international project examined how mainstream online journalism integrates and perceives user-generated content. Methods included content and structural analyses as well as interviews with editors-in-chief, online editors and community managers at leading news outlets in ten countries (e.g., Le Monde, The Times, New York Times, El País, Der Spiegel). Collaborators included Jane Singer, Ari Heinonen, David Domingo and Zvi Reich.

• Integrative Theoretical Concepts in Communication Science (2005–2010)

  Funding: DFG

  This DFG-funded network aimed to integrate previously separate theoretical strands within communication science. Fifteen German scholars worked across several workshops to explore connections between micro-, meso- and macro-level theories, developing proposals for theoretically unified approaches.