New ideas in journalism aim to strengthen democracy

The world of communication is in a state of upheaval: Fractured publics turn to different sources of information. Facts are no longer recognised as such, because confidence in the media is dwindling. This poses a threat to the stability of democratic societies. The project “Innovations in Journalism in Democratic Societies: Index, Influence and Prerequisites in an International Comparison”, brings together researchers from five countries who, for the past three years, have been investigating how new forms of journalism can strengthen democracy.

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Automatic detection of online insults

Hate speech in the digital sphere has the potential to silence voices and thereby threaten democracy. But hate is not always expressed through swear words online; implicit insults are also ubiquitous. Tracking these down efficiently by technical means, however, is extremely challenging. Michael Wiegand is currently working on the “Recognition of Implicit Insults” in a project funded by the FWF.

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Fewer empty kilometres on Austria’s railways

At present, an ÖBB dispatcher still has to manually assign empty freight wagons to requests from clients. The aim of the project “Partially Automated Empty Wagon Dispatching” is to support this process with software that suggests optimal utilisation. The research forms part of the TARO project, with which ÖBB aims to leverage automation and digitalisation to increase its capacities, boost productivity and thereby ensure high quality.

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Green Supercomputing: Processing large data volumes more energy-efficiently

Vast quantities of data also signify huge energy consumption. Developers face the task of processing so-called “massive graphs”, i.e. enormous amounts of information and relationships between information nodes, and they have to do this in times when energy is in increasingly short supply. For almost a year, researchers involved in an EU Horizon project have been working on a holistic model to address the ongoing challenges. The goal is, among other things, an energy label for software codes (just like on refrigerators).

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