An introduction
Prof. Dr. Ben Wagner has been Professor of the Research Group Media, Technology and Society at Inholland since September 2021, within the Applied Research x Creativity Research Center. He is also Director of the AI Futures Lab on Rights and Justice at TU Delft and University Professor of Human Rights & Technology at IT:U.
Together with colleagues from the faculties of Technology, Design & Computer Science (RIC-TOI), Business, Finance & Law, and Creative Business, Ben founded the Inholland Digital Rights Research Team (DRRT) as well as the Sustainable Media Lab (SML) in The Hague. Both initiatives contribute to bridging the gap between research and education at Inholland. In addition, he is a member of the program board of the Centre of Expertise in Creative Innovation (CoECI) and is involved in the development of a new Master’s program in Data-Driven Business (DDB).
Collaboration
Ben actively seeks collaboration with partners from the public and private sector to explore alternative ways of organizing digital technologies and digital rights. This doesn't only involve media companies or tech-oriented organizations, but all parts of society. As the importance of digital technologies like AI grows in society, it is crucial to understand their impact in society and how citizens can gain greater control of technological change.
Ben Wagner's inaugural lecture
The ground beneath our feet
As digital infrastructures become increasingly complex, it is crucial that we strive towards more sustainable models which embed digital rights at the core of digital infrastructures. Ben Wagner, Professor Media, Technology & Society, delved into this topic during his inaugural lecture at Pakhuis de Zwijger. Read more about the lecture or watch the recording.
Animation video
Watch the short animation video that Ben Wagner showed at the beginning of his inaugural lecture. This video shows that we live in a hybrid world where our digital human rights are being continuously violated.
Who is Ben Wagner?
Expertise
Expertise
In addition to his work at Inholland, Ben is Director of the AI Futures Lab on Rights and Justice at TU Delft and University Professor of Human Rights & Technology at IT:U. His research at Inholland focuses on digital rights, the governance of AI and the role of the public and non-profit sectors in times of technological change.
Experience
Experience
Ben has been conducting research at the intersection of social sciences, technology, and human rights for many years. In 2013, he earned his PhD from the European University Institute in Florence with a dissertation on freedom of expression and the regulation of online content. Since then, he has published extensively in leading international academic journals on topics such as digital media governance, the societal impact of technology, and how digital media systems can support human rights.
He founded the Center for Internet & Human Rights at the European University Viadrina and was Director of the Sustainable Computing Lab at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He also served on the advisory board of ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity.
At Inholland, Ben and his team are involved in several major research projects, including ReSocial and fabricated. He is also a member of the policy advisory board for the European Cloud for Heritage OpEn Science (ECHOES).
About Ben
About Ben
Ben can often be found in the canals around Amsterdam, exploring the waterways with colleagues and imagining new ways to do academic research.
"We are at a time of great technological change and our experiences are changing as a result."
- Ben Wagner, lector Media, Technology & Society
Ben Wagner's publications
Research Handbook on Human Rights and Digital Technology
Bringing together perspectives from academia and practice, this second edition Research Handbook provides fresh insights into debates surrounding digital technology and how to respect and protect human rights in an increasingly digital world. New and updated chapters cover the issues...
Research Handbook on Human Rights and Digital TechnologyPlaying with Politics: Preliminary Results from Interactive Interventions on AI and Democracy in Five Countries with 2024 Elections
More people voted in 2024 than any other year in human history, while often relying on the internet for political information. This combination resulted in critical challenges for democracy. To address these concerns, we designed an exhibition that applied interactive experiences to...
Playing with Politics: Preliminary Results from Interactive Interventions on AI and Democracy in Five Countries with 2024 ElectionsFabricated: Unravel fact from fiction in your digital world
Fabricated is an award-winning, international exhibition on how digitisation is changing democracy. Through games and interactive moments, fabricated helps participants build their digital literacy and learn about AI, misinformation, and more. fabricated just completed a successful...
Fabricated: Unravel fact from fiction in your digital worldThe Ground Beneath our Feet
Can you remember the last time the ground gave way beneath you? When you thought the ground was stable, but for some reason it wasn’t? Perhaps you encountered a pothole on the streets of Amsterdam, or you were renovating your house and broke through the floor. Perhaps there was a...
The Ground Beneath our FeetThe Politics of Digital (Human) Rightslocked
Basic human rights, like freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and privacy, are being radically transformed by new technologies. The manifestation of these rights in online spaces is known as “digital rights,” which can be impeded or empowered through the design, governance,...
The Politics of Digital (Human) RightslockedResponsible and Accountable Data Science
Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of data science as a profession and an academic field. The increasing impact and societal relevance of data science is accompanied by important questions that reflect this development: how can data science become more responsible...
Responsible and Accountable Data SciencePaper vs. Practice: How Legal and Ethical Frameworks Influence Public Sector Data Professionals in the Netherlands
Recent years have seen a massive growth in ethical and legal frameworks to govern data science practices. Yet one of the core questions associated with ethical and legal frameworks is the extent to which they are implemented in practice. A particularly interesting case in this context...
Paper vs. Practice: How Legal and Ethical Frameworks Influence Public Sector Data Professionals in the NetherlandsContent governance on social networking sites: Battling disinformation and upholding values
Social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have millions of users logging in every day, using these platforms for commu nication, entertainment, and news consumption. These platforms adopt rules that determine how users communicate and thereby limit and shape...
Content governance on social networking sites: Battling disinformation and upholding valuesCo-design session
Websites placing cookies on your computer to track your browsing behavior. TikTok stores your personal data in China. Are you aware of what products, services, and organisations do with your personal data? It is often not obvious. Our digital lives are becoming more and more...
Co-design sessionEstablishing Auditing Intermediaries to Verify Platform Data
What you don’t know can’t hurt you: this seems to be the current approach for responding to disinformation by public regulators across the world. Nobody is able to say with any degree of certainty what is actually going on. This is in no small part because, at present, public...
Establishing Auditing Intermediaries to Verify Platform DataAI, Governance and Ethics
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology which is increasingly being utilised in society and the economy worldwide, but there is much disquiet over problematic and dangerous implementations of AI, or indeed even AI itself deciding to do dangerous and problematic actions. These...
AI, Governance and Ethics