Valuable works of art and historical documents are kept in secure locations that the general public can access only under certain conditions — if at all. If digital images capture what we consider essential about an object, it is often sufficient to view the copy. As is expected in democratic societies, access to these images should be as unobstructed as possible. Open access is the keyword here. Additionally, digital processing goes beyond mere reproduction, creating entirely new possibilities for access and potentially breaking down barriers to reception.

After more than 20 years of service, the INC mailing list facility listcultures.org was closed on 9 March 2026. This step is part of INC’s transition out of the polytech and toward becoming an independent organization: INC 2.0.
Over the past months we archived the 20 mailing lists; most are now closed, while some will continue elsewhere. If you’d like to take a trip down memory lane, you can explore the archived Mailman lists here: https://www.networkcultures.org/archives.

Cultural participation, including in literature, is a human right. Access to cultural assets and works of art, which can be individually enriching and shape our society, should be open to as many people as possible. ‘Access’ means, on the one hand, experiencing the essential aspects of a work through the senses, and, on the other hand, having the opportunity to understand it. However, sophisticated written language is an obstacle for many people when it comes to literature.

aau/MüllerDaniel Brosch, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Klagenfurt, is looking into some of the toughest open questions in discrete mathematics. For his research, he recently received a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, which will take him to the world’s northernmost university in Norway for two years.

In the thirteenth episode, we address the topic of trust. Trust has long been a buzzword in German digital policy, which is hardly surprising. After all, new data intermediaries designed to promote data exchange in business, science, and society will only be successful in the long term if people trust them. So what does trust mean in the context of digitalization and data sharing, and how can new data services create new reasons for trust?

Max van Drunen wordt geciteerd door Nieuwsuur in een artikel waarin hij reageert op onderzoek van de UvA over politieke advertenties op Facebook en Instagram.
The post “Meta’s verbod op politieke reclame werkt niet, partijen adverteren gewoon door” appeared first on IVIR.

Europe’s courts are busy with rightsholders' challenges to AI giants – but there's little prospect of clarity on IP use soon. João Pedro Quintais was interviewed for this Euractiv piece.
The post Comments by João Pedro Quintais in “Why dolphins are turning heads in Europe’s AI copyright debate” appeared first on IVIR.

Studierende lassen Experi­ment mit Höhen­forschungs­ballon steigen - Preis für Informatikerin Borrmann - JMU für Gleich­stellung ausgezeichnet - Programm für ausländische Gäste - Liturgie der Zukunft

The Crypto Holding Period – Germany’s Most Unnecessary Tax Privilege

By Co-Pierre Georg

10 March 2026

Almost two thirds of all private crypto gains in Germany remain tax-free – an almost unique special path in Europe. Four reform models show how the crypto gap could be closed – with additional revenues of up to 11.4 billion euros for 2024 alone.

La semaine dernière, le Laboratoire de cyberjustice et la Chaire LexUM en information juridique ont co-organisé deux événements d’envergure à Madrid, en collaboration avec leurs partenaires espagnols. Y ont notamment participé :

170 Wildbienen-Arten leben am Campus Hubland der Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU). Das ist die Bilanz einer Studie, die der Lehrstuhl für Tierökologie und Tropenbiologie des JMU-Biozentrums von 2012 bis 2023 durchführte. Die Ergebnisse sind nun im Fachmagazin Ampulex erschienen.

Wie sind Texte über Jahrtausende hinweg entstanden, wie haben sie sich verändert und wie haben sie das Verständnis zwischen verschiedenen Kulturen geprägt? Diesen Fragen widmet sich der neue Exzellenzcluster „Cross-Cultural Philology“, der zu Beginn des Jahres 2026 an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) seine Arbeit aufgenommen hat.

Titre : From Compliance to Innovation – Reforming the GDPR for Tomorrow’s Technologies
Auteurs : Yann Padova & Sebastian Thess
Résumé

Gender parity in the news? 30 years after The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (UNWOMEN, 1995), this is still a myth in the European Union. The call to revolutionise gender equality has certainly happened, yet without ever reaching gender parity, at least in the media. 
 

Interview with Diego García Ramírez
The introduction of Digital Tribulations, a series of intellectual interviews on the developments of digital sovereignty in Latin America, can be read here. 

Vilma started her PhD at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) in January 2026. Her research focuses on the tension between algorithmic transparency, access to information for public interest research and blanket trade secrecy claims of private technology companies.
The post Introducing…Vilma Margarit Nikolaeva appeared first on IVIR.

Stellenbosch University’s (SU) Policy Innovation Lab is part of an international partnership that has formally handed over a policy report tracing the evolution of the G20’s digital agenda to South African government partners.
The handover event, held on 26 January 2026, was hosted jointly by the Policy Innovation Lab and the TUM Think Tank at the Technical University of Munich, in collaboration with the Global Network of Internet & Society Centers.

Bei der Forschung zu Lebensräumen bestäubender Insekten fristen Dörfer bislang eher ein Schattendasein. Das Projekt „Summende Dörfer" , angesiedelt am Lehrstuhl für Tierökologie und Tropenbiologie (Zoologie III) der Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) möchte das ändern.

Vor dem Hintergrund des Klimawandels steht nicht zuletzt die Landwirtschaft vor einer beispiellosen Transformation. Während Deutschland über Jahrzehnte hinweg kaum von massiven Ernteausfällen betroffen war, hat sich das Bild seit 2015 drastisch gewandelt. Seitdem sind Hitzewellen und Trockenperioden in der Hälfte aller Fälle für Ertragseinbußen verantwortlich.