MediaFutures

MediaFutures Seminar: Public expectations of transparency and accountability in citizens’ councils on data-driven media personalisation: Findings and methodological reflections with Ranjana Das, Professor at the University of Surrey
2023-01-26 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/Oslo)
Ranjana Das, Professor at the University of Surrey and currently visiting Erasmus fellow at the University of Bergen, will give a seminar on January 26th.
TITLE: Public expectations of transparency and accountability in citizens’ councils on data-driven media personalisation: Findings and methodological reflections
WHEN: 26 Januar, 12:00 – 13:00
WHERE: MediaFutures
ABSTRACT:

This talk presents findings and reflections across a set of three journal papers which emerged from a rigorous, three-wave series of qualitative research into public expectations of data-driven media technologies, conducted across locations in England, by a team bringing together sociology, engineering and media practice. Located within the contexts of the AI4ME project, through a range of carefully chosen scenarios and deliberations around the risks and benefits afforded by data-driven media personalisation technologies, we paid close attention to citizens’ voices, as our multi-disciplinary team sought to engage the public on what ‘good’ might look like in the context of media personalisation. We paid particular attention to risks and opportunities, examining practical use-cases and scenarios, and our three-wave councils culminated in citizens producing recommendations for practice and policy. In this talk, I will focus on citizens’ ethical assessment, critique and improvements proposed on media personalisation methods in relation to benefits, fairness, safety, transparency and accountability, particularly within the broader contexts of their expectations around algorithms and algorithmic systems. I will conclude with some reflections on our citizens council methodology, particularly the use of “vignettes” as scenarios as a method of data collection in user-centric algorithm studies, in terms of their potential in inviting users’ contextual experiences of algorithms but also enabling more normative reflections on what “good” looks like in contemporary datafied societies.
Note: The talk draws upon three journal papers from the team under review currently, and results presented should not be circulated further.
BIO:
Ranjana Das is Professor in Media and Communication, in the Department of Sociology, at the University of Surrey. Her research interests span families, parenting and parenthood, mental health, digital technologies and media audiences and users. Her upcoming book Anticipating algorithms: Algorithmic literacies of datafied parenthood will be published by Rowman & Littlefield. Link to project website: https://ai4me.surrey.ac.uk/
More information on the speaker: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/ranjana-das

The seminar is arranged by WP1 Understanding media experiences in SFI MediaFutures. At the seminar we will serve a light lunch on a first come first served-basis.

Seminar UiB AI: ChatGPT – trussel eller mulighet i forskning og utdanning?
2023-02-03 10:00 - 12:00
Chatboten ChatGPT har vært mye omtalt i media den siste tiden og skapt debatt blant forskere og undervisere. Hvilke potensiale har avanserte chatboter som ChatGPT, og hvilke implikasjoner kan det ha for vår måte å forske, undervise og lære på?
I årets første UiB AI seminar setter vi søkelyset på et aktuelt tema der verktøy basert på kunstig intelligens kan ha betydning for forskning og utdanning. Kunstig intelligens og maskinlæring har bragt store fremskritt innenfor vitenskapelige metoder og resultater, og noe av dette har vært tema under seminarene til UiB AI i 2022. Det nye med ChatGPT og lignende verktøy er at de har blitt veldig gode til å kommunisere på menneskelige språk og at de er gratis tilgjengelig for alle.
Deltakelse i seminaret er gratis og det blir servert lunsj. Påmelding innen 31. januar.
Program:
Velkommen
Pinar Heggernes, professor, prorektor og leder for UiB AI
Hva er ChatGPT og hvordan fungerer det og lignende verktøy?
Samia Touileb, forsker ved MediaFutures: Research Centre for Responsible Media Technology & Innovation, UiB
ChatGPT kan mange språk men kjenner ikke mange kulturer
Jill Rettberg, professor I digital kultur og leder av ERC-prosjektet Machine Vision in Everyday Life, UiB
Hva kan slike AI-verkyøy bety for læring, tilbakemelding og vurdering?
Arild Raaheim, professor i pedagogikk, UiB
Hvilke implikasjoner kan AI-verktøy som ChatGPT og Elicit.org ha for forskning?
Barbara Wasson, professor og leder for Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology (SLATE), UiB
Panelsamtale: ChatGPT – trussel eller mulighet i forskning og utdanning?
Eirik Vassenden, professor i nordisk litteratur, UiBDavid Grellscheid, førsteamanuensis i informatikk, UiBSamia TouilebJill RettbergArild RaaheimBarbara Wasson
Moderator: Pinar Heggernes

Innovation workshop with Vestlandets Innovasjonsselskap (VIS)
2023-02-07 09:00 - 13:00
MediaFutures and VIS would like to invite you to an innovation workshop taking place at MediaFutures on February the 7th.
Vestlandets Innovasjonsselskap (VIS) is a Technology Transfer Office (TTO) established in 2004 and owned by the University of Bergen, Haukeland University Hospital, the Institute of Marine Research, Siva, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, and NHH Norwegian Business School.
The goal of the workshop is to raise awareness of the value of intellectual property (IP) which is created through research, as well as management of rights in collaboration with industry partners.
The workshop is targeted at PhDs, PostDocs, researchers, Professors and industry partners who are curious about the process of bringing an idea/ a prototype to market, and who want to learn more about IP-rights.
Themes and topics for the workshop:

1. The commercialization process

Research-driven innovation (TTO)
Industry-driven innovation
Ability and reputation
Research collaboration with industrial partner

2. IP rights

IP and research at UiB
Strategies and management of IP

3. Software and IPR

Patenting – requirements and prerequisites
Other protection strategies

4. Case discussions / group work
Please see the attached preliminary program for more details.
The workshop will be held at MediaFutures 7th February from 09:15-12:00, followed by a lunch for all participants.
If you would like to participate, please sign up by sending an e-mail to Ola Roth Johnsen, ola.johnsen@uib.no, or Knut Risnes, knut.risnes@uib.no.

MediaFutures Seminar: Digital backbones: Data streams in the digital infrastructure and consequences for the media industries with Helle Sjøvaag and Raul Ferrer Conill from the University of Stavanger
2023-02-14 12:00 - 13:00
Helle Sjøvaag and Raul Ferrer Conill from the University of Stavanger will give a seminar on February 14th.
TITLE: Digital backbones: Data streams in the digital infrastructure and consequences for the media industries
WHEN: 14 February, 12:00 – 13:00
WHERE: MediaFutures & ZOOM:
https://uib.zoom.us/j/63852177471?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 638 5217 7471
Password: [REDACTED]

ABSTRACT:

Digital infrastructures consist of backbone structures comprising Internet Exchange Points, Content Delivery Networks, Data Centers, and subsea fiber cables. Contrary to access structures (typically broadband), these structures are not regulated beyond competition law. As the media industries grow more and more reliant on these structures, particularly for content streaming, the ownership, regulation, and data streams of the internet’s backbone remain serious blind spots in media infrastructure research. Helle Sjøvaag has spent the last year mapping these infrastructures for Norway. In this presentation, Sjøvaag will present her insights into these backbone structures, including their ownership and regulation, and discuss what the shifting ecology of the internet backbones means for media industries in Norway.In this talk, Helle Sjøvaag together with Raul Ferrer Conill, will present ongoing work from the project The datafication of communicative power: Towards an independent media policy for Norway’s digital infrastructures, funded by the Research Council of Norway.
Link to the project: https://www.uis.no/en/research/norways-digital-infrastructures
BIO:
Helle Sjøvaag is Professor of Journalism at the Department of Media and Social Sciences at the University of Stavanger.
Raul Ferrer Conill is Associate Professor at the Department of Media and Social Sciences at the University of Stavanger.

Cutting-edge AI: Large Language Models
2023-02-21 08:00 - 13:00
MediaFutures researchers Samia Touileb and Lilja Øvrelid will partake in a series event “Cutting-Edge AI” organized by the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA).
The event concerns Large Language Models such as ChatGPT; the technology, its implication on society and the ethical aspect, and will take place on February 21st at Domus Bibliotheca, Oslo.
For more information visit: https://www.nora.ai/events/cutting-edge-ai-large-language-models.html

Visual storyteller or brander
2023-03-24 12:00
En presentasjon om to måter for hvordan redaksjonelle miljøer kan bruke tredjepartsplattformer for å nå unge mennesker med kvalitetsjournalistikk og mulige utfall for disse veivalgene. Presentasjonen bygger på Peder Haugfos’ masteroppgave ved NTNU/TU Berlin, og er basert på intervjuer og innholdsanalyse av NRK P3 og VGs avdeling Z. Peder Haugfos er nå prosjektleder ved Media City Bergen.
Det vil bli servert en lett lunsj.
Sted: MediaFutures og Zoom: https://uib.zoom.us/j/63972035820?pwd=[REDACTED]

A presentation about two ways in which editorial environments can use third-party platforms to reach young people with quality journalism, and about possible outcomes of these choices. Peder’s talk builds on his master thesis founded on interviews and content analysis of the NRK P3’s and VG‘s Z departments.
Peder Haugfos is now a project manager at Media City Bergen.
There will be served a light lunch.

Place and date: MediaFutures and Zoom, 24 March @12:00.

MediaFutures Seminar: Computing Biases in Recommender Systems with Marko Tkalčič, University of Primorska
2023-04-14 13:30 - 14:15
Marko Tkalčič from the University of Primorska in Koper, Slovenia will give a seminar on April 14th.
TITLE: Computational Psychology in Recommender Systems
WHEN: 14 April, 13:30 – 14:1

ABSTRACT:

Recommender systems are systems that help users in decision-making situations where there is an abundance of choices. We can find them in our everyday lives, for example in online shops. State-of-the-art research in recommender systems has shown the benefits of behavioural modeling. Behavioural modeling means that we use past ratings, purchases, clicks etc. to model the user preferences. However, behavioural modeling is not able to capture certain aspects of the user preferences. Behavioral modeling can amplify existing biases in datasets. In this talk I will show how the usage of complementary research in computational psychology, such as detection of personality and emotions, can help recommender systems to mitigate both data/algorithm biases and cognitive biases.
BIO:
Marko Tkalčič is associate professor at the Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies (FAMNIT) at the University of Primorska in Koper, Slovenia. He aims at improving personalized services (e.g. recommender systems) through the usage of psychological models in personalization algorithms. To achieve this, he uses diverse research methodologies, including data mining, machine learning, and user studies. He is editorial board member of the Springer UMUAI and Frontiers in Psychology journals and PC chair of the ACM UMAP 2021 conference.

MediaFutures Seminar: Chatting Communities into Existence: Local Chat Groups as Emerging Civic Infrastructures with Emilija Gagrčin from the University of Mannheim
2023-04-28 12:00 - 13:00
Emilija Gagrčin from the University of Mannheim will give a seminar on April 28th
TITLE: Chatting Communities into Existence: Local Chat Groups as Emerging Civic Infrastructures
WHEN: 28 April, 12:00 – 13:00

ABSTRACT:

This presentation explores the civic potential of messenger groups. It zooms into the everyday communication in local chat groups, focusing on the case study of building chat groups in urban neighborhoods from a comparative perspective. Drawing on interviews with building chat group members in Israel and Germany, we investigate how building communities are co-constructed between platform affordances and user practices, and how civic norms are negotiated between online and offline communication spaces. We map the uses, gratifications, and constraints of the chat groups and their relations with the spatial organization, informational flows, and socio-political environment in each community.
BIO:
Dr. Emilija Gagrčin is a research associate at the University of Mannheim and affiliated with the ERC project PREPARE at the University of Bergen.
Her research focus is on political media use. In particular, she is interested in social, normative, and infrastructural aspects of digital political communication, such as on social media and messenger apps. She focuses on norms and competencies necessary for a democratic coexistence in networked societies.
Dr. Emilija Gagrčin is affiliated with the Digital Political Inequality Lab at the University of California in Santa Barbara and the Weizenbaum Panel research group at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society in Berlin. She is also a representative of Early-Career Scholars in the management team of the Political Communication Section of the European Communication Research and Education Conference (ECREA).
Organizer
This seminar is a collaboration between MediaFutures and the ERC project PREPARE.

SXSW 2023: Siste nytt om teknologi, medier og samfunn med Anders Hofseth fra NRKbeta
2023-05-09 12:00 - 13:00
SXSW 2023: Siste nytt om teknologi, medier og samfunn fra verdens største møteplass for smarte folk og klovner

Anders Hofseth fra NRKbeta går igjennom hovedlinjene fra SXSW 2023-konferansen.
Hvor: MediaFutures, Media City Bergen
Når: 9. mai, 12:00

Anders Hofseth er kommentator og strategisk rådgiver i NRKbeta, rikskringkasterens innsiktsmiljø for skjæringen teknologi – medier – samfunn. Mye av jobben hans er å samle innsikt, forsøke å forstå endringer, og sette dem i kontekst for NRK, så bedriften kan fortsette å løse allmennkringkasteroppdraget best mulig i skiftende tider.

MediaFutures Seminar: Hidden in Plain Sight: Microcelebrities navigating visibility and surveillance on Twitter with Özlem Demirkol Tønnesen, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bergen
2023-06-09 12:00 - 13:00
Özlem Demirkol Tønnesen from the University of Bergenwill give a seminar on June 9th.
TITLE: Hidden in Plain Sight: Microcelebrities navigating visibility and surveillance on Twitter
WHEN: 9 June, 12:00 – 13:00
WHERE: MediaFutures
ABSTRACT:
On social media, microcelebrities and influencers play various roles and hold immense power as “focusers of attention” (Tufekci, 2013). This project was formed as an intervention to the growing interest these content creators receive in academic research for their ability to guide their audiences towards products and lifestyles they promote, while the similar effects they may produce when sharing political opinions, viewpoints and behaviors are neglected.
This talk is based on Özlem’s PhD research into Turkish Twitter microcelebrities and how they express antigovernment viewpoints and navigate the tensions between self-expression and self-preservation under an authoritarian regimese. Drawing from an analysis of tweets by 97 microcelebrity accounts in the 3-months leading up to the 2018 Turkish elections, she discusses how these accounts consider sharing political opinions and news as a duty despite apparent risks and express their thoughts through a narration of everyday life and daily events by formulating a language that is understood by subgroups who are acclimated to the platform culture.
BIO:
Özlem Demirkol Tønnesen is a postdoctor fellow at the ERC-project PREPARE – Distributed and prepared. A new theory of citizens` public connection networks in the age of datafication. She completed her PhD at the University of Southampton.

MediaFutures Seminar: Metrics for Measuring Normative Diversity in News Recommendations with Sanne Vrijenhoek from the University of Amsterdam
2023-06-16 12:00 - 13:00
Sanne Vrijenhoek from the University of Amsterdam will give a seminar on June 16th
TITLE: Metrics for Measuring Normative Diversity in News Recommendations
WHEN: 16 June, 12:00 – 13:00

ABSTRACT: News recommenders have the potential to fulfill a crucial role in a democratic society, directing news readers towards the information that is most important to them. However, while much attention has been given to optimizing user engagement and enticing users to click, much less research has been done on incorporating editorial values in news recommender systems. I will talk about our interdisciplinary work on defining normative diversity for news recommender systems, challenges for implementation, and the way forward.

BI: Sanne Vrijenhoek is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam and a member of the AI, Media and Democracy Lab. Her work focuses on translating normative notions of diversity into quantifiable concepts that can be incorporated in news recommender system design.

MediaFutures Seminar: Reaching New Audiences with Generative AI with Lydia Chilton, an Assistant Professor from Columbia University
2023-06-29 15:00 - 16:00
Lydia Chilton from Columbia University will give a seminar on June 29th

TITLE: Reaching New Audiences with Generative AI
WHEN: 29 June, 15:00 – 16:00
Presentation:
https://mediafutures.no/wp-content/uploads/Chilton_ReachingNewAudiences_June2023.pdf
ABSTRACT:
Writing a news article is a significant investment of time, energy, and intellect. For an article to have the impact it deserves, it needs to reach the right audiences. We demonstrate that generative AI tools can help journalists broaden their audience by transforming their content. Unlike previous technology, generative AI is flexible enough to modify the length, tone, message, and medium of content. But it needs human values and contextual understanding to guide it. We show how to turn articles into news illustrations for visual appeal on social media. We show how language models (like GPT 4) help find hooks to motivate topics so that they appeal to different audiences. And we show how to transform a traditional news article into TikTok-style reels. We then reflect on how generative AI can breathe new life into existing content through transformation, reuse, and retargeting information.

BIO:
Lydia Chilton is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University. Her research is in computational design – how computation and AI can help people with design, innovation, and creative problem-solving. Applications include: creating media for journalism, developing technology for public libraries, improving risk communication during hurricanes, helping scientists explain their work, and improving mental health in marginalized communities. Dr. Chilton received her bachelor’s degree in computer science from MIT in 2007, her Masters in Engineering from MIT in 2009 and her PhD from the University of Washington in 2016. She was a post-doc at Stanford for 1 year before joining Columbia Engineering in 2017.

Liisa Ovaska: From permissive to resistive tactics: How audience members act, make sense and cope with audience-datafied journalism
2023-09-22 12:00 - 13:00 | MediaFutures HQ, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Media City, Media Futures HQ, 3rd floor, Bergen, 5008
We are pleased to invite to a seminar about Liisa Ovaska’s research paper on how audience members respond to audience-datafied journalism. Preliminary findings reveal a spectrum of strategies, ranging from resistance to acceptance, in how users engage with data-driven systems while consuming news.
Liisa Ovaska is a doctoral researcher at Tampere University. In her dissertation Ovaska studies the effects of audience metrics on audience members’ relations to digital journalism.
Where and When:
At MediaFutures, 22.september at 12:00
Abstract:

Although there exists a consensus of the fact that the usage of audience metrics has changed journalism, the audience’s perception to audience-datafied journalism has received less attention. In the newsrooms, metrics are used to collect data from audience and its behaviour, and further used to adjust the news outputs.
This talk will present Liisa Ovaska’s research paper, which examines how the audience members make sense, act and cope with audience-datafied journalism. Preliminary results suggest that the tactics varied from resistive to permissive: users tried either act against the datafied systems and minimise its impact to their news consumption or complied with the system by accepting it. The article is based on audience research conducted in the spring 2023. The data was produced by using group interviews and instant messaging group chats in which the participants reported of their encounters with datafied journalism for one week.

Irene Costera Meijer: TikTok as a case study to understand the layeredness of Media Experience:
2023-09-29 12:00 - 13:00 | MediaFutures HQ, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Media City, Media Futures HQ, 3rd floor, Bergen, 5008
Join our next Lunch Meeting with Irene Costera Meijer, Professor of Journalism Studies and head of the Journalism Studies section at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
She is also Work Package I Advisor and Key Researcher. Her research interests focus on audience studies and in particular on the impact of digitalization on changing practices of media consumption, media experiences and news use. When doing research she often collaborates with media organisations.
Where and When?
At MediaFutures, 29.september at 12:00
Abstract:
TikTok reaches around 44% of the 18-24 age group, with 20% explicitly saying they use it for news (Newman et al., 2023). It is not surprising, then, that (news) media have migrated to TikTok to engage with younger audiences. Yet, research shows that media struggle with reaching young people, because conventional formats do not always correspond with how young people use and experience social media platforms. Nordic researchers have argued that newsrooms would benefit from a platform-specific content approach: beyond merely (re)”packaging” the news and neglecting the content, they must learn to “speak the code of TikTok” to engage young audiences with their news.
We took a different non-news centric approach by analyzing how 99 young people (16 – 24) experience TikTok and whether there might be room for news in this experience. Experience may highlight positionality, temporality, embodiment, ambivalence and interaction (Costera Meijer & Groot Kormelink, 2021; Ytre-Arne et al., 2023). This approach allowed us to get insight into the RELATIVE value of news within their TikTok-experiences.
In my presentation I will show how the dimension of temporality – the discrepancy between love = ‘concurrent enjoyment’ and hate = ‘retrospective regret’ may offer valuable insights for public service media and news media to stand out on TikTok and be meaningful to a young audience.

Seminar on innovative human-computer interaction
2023-10-02 13:30 - 2023-10-03 16:30 | UiB Bergen, Norway
The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research group at the University of Bergen in cooperation with MediaFutures invites to a two-day seminar addressing innovative HCI.
Eight research and industry leader from Norway, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan will be holding presentations on topics such as medical sensing and human-workspace interaction.
The seminar will be rounded off with a panel discussion. No registration required.
We welcome all students, researchers, innovators, and industry representatives who are interested to participate in the seminar.
Speakers
Masahiro Takei, Chiba University, Japan
Laura Anna Garrison, Informatics, VisGroup, Univeristy of Bergen
Tor Gjøsæter, Ilder AS, Bergen, Norway
Mohammad Khalil, SLATE, UiB, Norway
Kazuyuki Fujita, Tohoku University, Japan
Where and When?

MONDAY 2nd October 2023Venue: Storsalen, Nygårdsgaten 5, UiB, Bergen

Room URL: https://www.uib.no/l%C3%A6ringsarenaen/162450/om-storsalen

The sessions are: 13:30 – 16:30: From Medical Sensing to Interactive Sensemaking
TUESDAY 3rd October 2023Venue: Auditorium 129 at Bjørn Christiansens house, Christies gate 12, UiB, Bergen (also shown in room 128)

Room URL: https://rom.app.uib.no/romInfo/q.php/206/129 and https://rom.app.uib.no/romInfo/q.php/206/128
The sessions are: 12:15 – 14:00: Smart Workspaces14:30 – 16:30: From Research to Innovation

More information can be found on uib.no

More Room for Language: Investigating the Effect of Retrieval on Language Models
2024-02-13 12:15 - 13:00 | UiO, Room 4118, Styrerom
The Language Technology Group (LTG) at University in Oslo is organising weekly RAG seminars. They do research on a number of topics related to Natural Language Processing (NLP), a subfield of Artificial Intelligence enabling computers to `make sense’ of human language. This weeks speakers for the LTG research seminar are David Samuel, Lucas Charpentier and Sondre Wold, PhD Candidates at the LTG.
They will present their work on investigating the effects of pretraining with retrieval on a language model.
The talk will be held in room 4118, Styrerom, from 12:15 to 13:00 on Tuesday 13th of February and also streamed on Zoom, you can join with this link: https://uio.zoom.us/j/66002313655?pwd=[REDACTED]
Abstract
Retrieval-augmented language models pose a promising alternative to standard language modeling. During pretraining, these models search in a corpus of documents for contextually relevant information that could aid the language modeling objective. We introduce an `ideal retrieval’ methodology to study these models in a fully controllable setting. We conduct an extensive evaluation to examine how retrieval augmentation affects the behavior of the underlying language model. Among other things, we observe that these models: {i) save substantially less world knowledge in their weights, (ii) are better in understanding local context and inter-word dependencies, but {iii) are worse in comprehending global context.

Launching NB-Whisper
2024-02-15 10:00 - 14:30 | Nasjonalbiblioteket – Store Auditorium, Henrik Ibsens gate 110, Oslo, 0254
Our partner, the National Library, invites you to a “launch seminar” for their newest speech-to-text model for Norwegian.
They have invited the police, Schibsted, and TV2 to share how they use speech-to-text. They have been part of their beta group and will discuss the model’s handling of Norwegian in various contexts.
After lunch, the seminar will become more technically oriented, especially suitable for those interested in deeper insights into the technical and linguistic aspects related to the development of such AI models.
The event is open to all and will be streamed on nb.no. To secure your spot, get your free ticket here!
Program
10:00 Welcome by Aslak Sira Myhre, National Library
Part 1: NB-Whisper and its usage
10:20 Brief introduction to Whisper by Per Egil Kummervold, National Library
10:30 Use of speech-to-text in the police by Bente Skattør, Police
10:50 Applications for speech recognition with NB-Whisper by Anders Haarr, Schibsted
11:10 Use and legal requirements for accessibility by Anne Cathrine Gotaas, TV2
11:30 Lunch break
Part 2: NB-Whisper: technological aspects
12:30 Status of ASR in Norwegian today by Marie Røsok, National Library
12:50 Evaluation and results by Per Egil Kummervold, National Library
13:10 How to build a dataset for training Whisper by Freddy Wetjen and Rolv-Arild Braaten, National Library
13:30 Advanced use of NB-Whisper by Per Egil Kummervold and Javier de la Rosa, National Library
14:00 Questions and discussion

Trends in news use and avoidance
2024-02-16 12:00 - 13:00 | MediaFutures HQ, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Media City, Media Futures HQ, 3rd floor, Bergen, 5008
In times of a rather negative-angled news landscape, NRK mapped Norwegians’ approach to news, and news avoidance, with extra focus on the young readers. With data from NRK’s ​​Youth survey, Reuters Digital News Report, Norsk Mediebarometer, Opinions UNG2024 and more, we see some new features in how news is consumed – and avoided.
On February 16th, MediaFutures work package 1 is inviting to a lunch seminar on the development of news use and avoidance.
The seminar will be held in Norwegian.
Seminar speaker is Ingvild Hjertaas, Media Researcher in NRK Analysis / NRK News. Ingvild worked 10 years in Aftenposten as product manager where she also was giving courses in digital tools and content production before she started in NRK in 2017. She has developed a highly effective understanding of what works and engages users online, and has played a key role in the development and operation of popular services such as quizzes and word games. The lunchseminar will start at 12 o’clock in MediaFutures office, 3rd floor in MCB. To join digital follow the link to zoom

News personalization with "Curate"
2024-04-05 13:00 - 14:00 | MediaFutures HQ, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Media City, Media Futures HQ, 3rd floor, Bergen, 5008
MediaFutures invites to a seminar on news personalization with Schibsted in MediaFutures headquarter, MCB, 3rd floor. The seminar will also be streamed.
The Curate project has been created to enable Schibsted media outlets to craft an optimal content selection for each individual user, delivering content tailored precisely to their preferences, in the appropriate format, location, and timing, all while upholding the journalistic integrity of the mission. Originally developed to curate Aftenposten’s front page in Norway, Curate has evolved into the central recommendation system for over 50 news brands within the Schibsted and Polaris Media groups.
Christoph Schmitz, Product Manager of Curate and Jacob Welander, Data Scientist at Schibsted will tell us in this seminar about the project itself, what has been done so far and how Schibsted has been utilizing such technology innovating media experience.
Join the meeting on zoom:
https://uib.zoom.us/j/69494993779?pwd=[REDACTED]

Mobilisation seminar on AI for trust and sustainability
2024-04-10 10:00 - 14:00 | Storsalen, Nygårdsgaten 5, første etasje.
In connection with the upcoming announcement of the AI billion, the Research and Innovation Department at UiB (Forsknings- og innovasjonsavdelingen FIA) invites academic communities researching artificial intelligence to a mobilization seminar. The purpose is to highlight AI environments and center initiatives at UiB, and identify opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration in future work.
The Research Council’s board decided at the meeting on February 7th that the Government’s billion-dollar investment “AI for Trust and Sustainability” will be announced in the form of 4-6 centers for artificial intelligence. The centers will be 5-year thematic, challenge-driven initiatives, promoting interdisciplinary, interinstitutional, and cross-sectoral collaboration. The announcement is divided into two parts, with a mandatory outline in the first step, to be submitted by June 7, 2024. Here you can read more about how the Research Council envisions the focus of the centers in each of the three main areas – societal consequences, technological development, and innovative use.
The keynote speaker at the event will be Anne Kjersti Fahlvik, Director of the Research Council’s area, followed by a question and answer session after her presentation.
We will also facilitate opportunities for environments interested in coordinating an AI center and planning to apply for the announcement to present a brief pitch with their idea for a center application in plenary. There will be ample opportunity to explore collaboration and synergies with other AI environments at UiB and external stakeholders and potential partners through a networking lunch session. All academic communities with an AI profile are invited to this event, and we encourage everyone interested in participating in a center application to join. Those wishing to present their pitch for an AI center on stage should register this in the registration form by April 2nd.
The deadline for registration for the general public is extended to April 5th.
**Program:**
**10:00-11:00**
– **Welcome and Information about the Announcement**
– Welcome by Vice-Rector Pinar Heggernes, UiB
– Presentation by Anne Kjersti Fahlvik, Director of Innovation in Business and Public Sector, Research Council
– Q&A Session
**11:00-11:20**
– **Coffee Break**
**11:20-12:55**
– **AI Center and Research Center Applications**
– Support System and Application Process at UiB by Birgit Falch, Research and Innovation Department, and Alexander Oltu, IT Department
– What Does it Entail to Apply for a Research Center? TBA
– Pitches for Research Centers for Artificial Intelligence at UiB
– Upon registration, participants in the seminar who wish to coordinate a center application are encouraged to indicate whether they will pitch their idea for an artificial intelligence center to the audience. The purpose of idea pitching is to open up collaboration opportunities and invite stakeholders and academic communities interested in contributing to further develop the idea.
**12:55-13:00**
– **Conclusion, Introduction to Lunch and Networking**
**13:00-14:00**
– **Lunch and Networking in the Lounge outside the Main Hall, with Opportunity for Posters/Stands**

Overview of Serendipity in Recommender Systems
2024-04-26 11:15 - 12:00 | MediaFutures HQ, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Media City, Media Futures HQ, 3rd floor, Bergen, 5008
MediaFutures and UiBs research group DARS which stands for Behavioral Data Analytics & Recommender Systems, is inviting to a seminar with the postdoctoral researcher Denis Kotkov from the University of Helsinki. Kotkov is working on recommender systems, exploratory search, user experience and machine learning.
In this seminar he will provide an overview of the Serendipity in Recommender Systems.
Abstract:
“Have you ever wondered why services like Spotify, Netflix or YouTube keep showing you recommendations on the same topic over and over again? One of the reasons for that is the lack of serendipity in recommender systems of these services. Recommender systems are software tools that suggest items, such as audio recordings or videos, of interest to users. Meanwhile, serendipity is the property of these systems, which indicates the degree, to which they suggest items that pleasantly surprise users. In this talk, I will provide an overview of serendipity in recommender systems. In particular, I will talk about how the concept of serendipity has been defined and measured in recommender systems, and what experiments have been conducted to investigate this concept. I will also touch on recommendation algorithms designed to suggest serendipitous items and discuss future directions of the top.”
More about Denis Kotkov.
The talk will take place at MediaFutures headquarter and takes 30 minutes, plus a 15-minute-long Q&A session. The seminar will also be streamed. You can find the link below.

MediaFutures seminar
2024-09-20 11:00 - 12:00 | Online
Title: Facing disinformation in social media with focus on its social impact
The integration of social media into our daily lives has been both transformative and essential, offering numerous advantages in how we communicate, share information, and engage with the world. However, alongside these benefits comes a growing concern: the widespread dissemination of misinformation. This challenge not only distorts public perception but can also significantly influence critical societal events, such as elections and public health crises. In this talk, we will present research from the UGRITAIlab at the University of Granada, specifically in the field of fake news detection and analysis. Our research spans several key areas, with a particular emphasis on the social impact of misinformation. Central to this work is our DESINFOSCAN Framework, which includes a social impact module and a credibility analysis module.
The social impact module focuses on analyzing the influence of misinformation by utilizing advanced topic detection and argumentation techniques to examine social media discussions. Meanwhile, the credibility module uses word embeddings to identify credible individuals and those whose contributions are valuable to the discourse on specific topics across social networks. By addressing these issues, we aim to offer insights into how misinformation can be mitigated and how trustworthiness in social media interactions can be enhanced.
The seminar is digital only. The zoom link can be found below.
SPEAKER: José A. Díaz-García
J. Ángel Díaz-García, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Computer Science and AI at the University of Granada (UGR). He graduated as a Computer Engineer in 2016, receiving an award for outstanding academic performance. Subsequently, he ventured into the professional field as an SQL analyst at Asexor, gaining professional experience in the private sector. In 2017, he completed the qualifying master’s degree in Computer Engineering. During this period, José Ángel began to specialize in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), leading him to pursue the master’s degree in Data Science at UGR, thereby consolidating his knowledge in AI. During this time, he made his first scientific contributions at international conferences as part of a research initiation scholarship for master’s students. After completing this second master’s degree, he participated as a data scientist in international projects at the Universities of Oviedo and Granada. In 2019, he was awarded an FPU scholarship from the Ministry, marking the beginning of his doctoral studies in the area of Natural Language Processing (NLP), which culminated in the defense of his thesis on October 27, 2023, with honors in international doctorate and CUM LAUDE. Throughout his research career, he has contributed to 4 publications (JCRD Q1, Q2) in the field of NLP and participated in 15 international and 4 national conferences. He has also collaborated on 6 projects, including NOFACEPS, of which he is the principal investigator, and two international projects, such as COPKIT, where he contributed with a significant unsupervised sentiment analysis method. José Ángel has completed research stays at the University of Lisbon with Professor Joao Paulo Carvalho and at Imperial College London, where he worked at the Data Science Institute with J. Amador Diaz-Lopez. As a result of the collaboration with Imperial College, a contribution was made to an international conference in the field of misinformation in networks. Additionally, the organization of a special session at a conference was initiated, and currently, this relationship continues with two publications under review.
Finally, it is worth highlighting the management and leadership skills demonstrated by José Ángel, which led to the acquisition of a research project at UGR, where he is the principal investigator, and which concluded with the publication of the NOFACE credibility analysis system in the journal Expert Systems With Applications (JCR Q1). He was also part of the organizing committee of the FQAS 2023 international conference and the program committee of the COMS2 international conference in India. He has organized special sessions at 3 international conferences, outreach workshops, and given interviews on radio and in the press.

UiB AI #12: Aligning AI with Human Values. Challenges and Solutions
2024-11-29 10:00 - 15:00 | Storsalen, Nygårdsgaten 5, first floor, Nygårdsgaten 5, Bergen, 5015, Norway
The event aims to bring together experts, researchers, and industry professionals to explore, discuss, and advance our understanding of the challenges and solutions related to aligning artificial intelligence systems with human values and goals.
The objectives and expected outcomes of this seminar are as follows:
– Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges associated with AI alignment, including biases, interpretability, and value misalignment.
– The workshop will facilitate interactive discussions to develop concrete solutions and strategies for addressing AI alignment challenges.
– Participants will have the opportunity to network with leading experts and build connections that can lead to ongoing collaborations and partnerships
This event is a collaboration between Universitetsfondet and UiB AI.
Programme:
09:00-09:30: Registration and coffee
09:30-09:40: Introduction by moderator Samia Touileb, Department of Information Science and Media Studies at University of Bergen
09:40-10:15: How can we prevent LLMs from behaving badly? Jan Broersen, Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Utrecht University
10:15-10:50: Value aware AI. Nardine Osman, Tenured Scientist at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (presentation by Zoom)
10:50-11:05: Coffee break
11:05-11:40: AI alignment of LLMs: a simple case study on detecting deceptive designs. Davide Liga, Post. Doc. at the Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine, Université de Luxembourg
11:40-12:15: Human Interactions and their Implications for Ethical and Responsible Robotics and AI. Dr. Emily C. Collins, Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow at the Department of Computer Science, The University of Manchester.
12:15-12:45: Lunch (included)
12:45-13:20: Towards a Critical Political Economy of Generative AI. Vinit Ravishankar, Independent researcher with a PhD in multilingual language technology
13:20-13:55: Enabling Responsible AI with Humans. Nadin Kokciyan, Director of the Human-Centered AI Lab (CHAI Lab) at the University of Edinburgh
13:55-1410: Coffee break
14:10-14:45: News in AI age: alignment with editorial values and ethics. Anastasiia Klimashevskaia, PhD candidate, MediaFutures: Research Centre for Responsible Media Technology & Innovation
14:45-15:20: Machine ethics and alignment. Marija Slavkovik, Professor at Department of Information Science and Media Studies at the University of Bergen
15:20-15:40: Wrap up and discussions

Bias in Hate Speech Detection: Challenges and Solutions
2024-12-12 11:15 - 12:00 | SFI MediaFutures, MCB
SFI MediaFutures invites to a seminar on bias in hate speech detection hold by Debora Nozza, on 12 of December in our office in Bergen.
Abstract:
Online hate speech is on the rise, often leading to offline harm. While NLP methods, including LLMs, offer tools for detection, fine-tuning these models can introduce severe unintended bias—performing inconsistently across comments involving specific identity terms (e.g., gay, Muslim, woman). This talk explores the risks of deploying off-the-shelf classifiers, methods for measuring and mitigating bias, and the ongoing challenge of balancing effective hate speech detection with fairness in online spaces.
Bio:
Debora Nozza is an Assistant Professor in Computing Sciences at Bocconi University. Her research interests mainly focus on Natural Language Processing, specifically on the detection and counter-acting of hate speech and algorithmic bias on Social Media data in multilingual context. She was recently awarded a €1.5m ERC Starting Grant project 2023 for research on personalized and subjective approaches to Natural Language Processing.
The event is free of charge.
If you want to join online, please open the following link: https://uib.zoom.us/j/64083511296?pwd=[REDACTED]

Opphavsrett for journalister – Hva du må vite om bruk og deling av innhold?
2025-03-06 12:00 - 17:00 | Media City Bergen, Medielaben i 9. etasje, tårn 3
Hva kan du bruke fritt, og hva krever tillatelse? Hva gjelder for lenking, embedding og bruk av innhold fra sosiale medier? Hvordan påvirker kunstig intelligens opphavsretten?
Bli med på en hands-on workshop med advokat Jon Wessel-Aas, en av Norges fremste eksperter på medierett. Her får du konkrete svar på de viktigste spørsmålene om opphavsrett – skreddersydd for journalister.

AI anno 2030: In the Public Interest?
2025-03-07 09:30 - 15:00 | Universitetsaulaen, Muséplassen 3
UiB AI is collaborating with NORA on a CuttingEdgeAI seminar in the University Aula in Bergen. The idea behind the seminar is to bring together some of the foremost AI researchers in Norway to discuss where we stand in terms of research, which areas Norway has the opportunity to make its mark on and what might happen on the AI front in the future. Where will the research front be in different branches of artificial intelligence in five years’ time? And does AI represent the public interest, for example when it comes to democracy, labour, welfare, the environment and culture? The seminar is mostly in Norwegian.

The seminar will be streamed, and the recording will be available through a link.
Program:
09:00 Arrival and light refreshments09:30 Welcome by Pro-Rector Pinar Heggernes, Pro-Rector at UiB and Chair of the UiB AI Steering Group
Part 1: Where is the research front in various branches of artificial intelligence headed?
09:40 AI research in Norway in 2025: Anne Kjersti Fahlvik, Director of Innovation in Business and the Public Sector, Research Council of Norway
10:00 Arnoldo Frigessi, Professor and Director of the Center of Excellence (SFF) Integreat, UiO10:15 Jill Walker Rettberg, Professor and Deputy Director of the Center of Excellence for Digital Narratives, UiB
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 Robert Jenssen, Professor and Director of the Center for Research-based Innovation (SFI) Visual Intelligence, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway11:15 Panel discussion with Anne Kjersti, Arnoldo, Jill, and Robert, moderated by Pinar Heggernes, Pro-Rector, UiB
11:45 Lunch
Part 2: Where does Norway have particular strengths in AI research?
12:30 AI at NAV – What are we doing, and what are we wondering about?Jon Vegard Sparre, AI Lead at NAV
12:45 Heri Ramampiaro, Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science, NTNU13:00 Marija Slavkovik, Professor and Head of the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, UiB
13:15 Coffee break
13:45 AI and regulation: From Norwegian marketing to research qualityMalcolm Langford, Professor at the Department of Public and International Law, UiO
14:00 Panel discussion with Jon Vegard, Heri, Marija, and Malcolm, moderated by Klas Pettersen, CEO of NORA
14:30 Food and networking15:00 Farewell
Moderator for the day: Dag Stenvoll, Coordinator for UiB AI

The Language of Coordination: From Humans to AI Agents
2025-03-21 12:00 - 13:30 | SFI MediaFutures, MCB
We are thrilled to welcome Luca Maria Aiello, Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, to the MediaFutures seminar series.
As global challenges like climate change, pandemics, and mass migration become increasingly urgent, the need for mass coordination has never been greater. In his presentation, “The Language of Coordination: From Humans to AI Agents,” Professor Aiello will delve into the fascinating intersection of social science, language, and technology, exploring how natural language can drive large-scale coordination in the public sphere. Drawing on his cutting-edge research, he will demonstrate how insights from psychology and linguistics can be harnessed to understand and predict collective behavior, and how these insights can be applied to artificial intelligence to create persuasive social agents capable of influencing public discourse on social media platforms.
Abstract:
A defining task for humankind is to achieve mass coordination to tackle global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, and mass migrations. Social science research has identified psycho-linguistic aspects of social interactions that can trigger spontaneous coordination when used strategically in the public debate. We created Natural Language Processing tools that can capture these social dimensions from conversations, and found that they can explain and predict outcome of consensus and coordination. Furthermore, we show that these dimensions can be used to prompt AI agents powered by Large Language Models to make them behave as persuasive social agents that could be seamlessly integrated in the public discourse of social media platforms.
Professor Aiello’s work is at the forefront of an emerging field that combines computational social science, network science, and artificial intelligence. By analyzing vast amounts of digital data, he seeks to quantify human well-being and build systems that can improve it—whether in the context of health, urban living, or digital interactions. In his talk, he will explore the psycho-linguistic aspects of human interaction and how they can be translated into actionable insights for both human and AI-driven coordination.
Professor Aiello will be visiting Bergen and the MediaFutures research center from March 19th to 22nd, with his presentation scheduled for Friday, March 21st. We encourage you to join us for this insightful seminar, either in person or via the Zoom livestream.

About Luca Maria Aiello
Luca Maria Aiello is an Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark, where he conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of computational social science, digital health, network science, and urban informatics. His work leverages large-scale digital data to explore and quantify key aspects of human life, with a particular focus on how language and communication shape our collective behaviors and well-being.
His research interests span multiple fields, including the role of language in coordinating social actions, the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) to study social dynamics, and the development of AI systems that can influence and improve social interactions. Through his research, Professor Aiello aims to better understand how people interact, how these interactions can be optimized to address pressing global issues, and how AI can be used to augment, rather than replace, human communication.
A recognized leader in his field, Professor Aiello has contributed to numerous influential studies on the role of language in social media and digital interactions. One of his notable contributions includes a study published in Nature on the language of persuasion in social media, which explores how certain linguistic features can be used to influence public opinion and behavior.
Currently, his research focuses on using NLP techniques to quantify social and psychological experiences, with applications ranging from improving public health to enhancing urban living environments. Through his work, Professor Aiello continues to push the boundaries of what is possible at the intersection of social science and technology.

Trust and trustworthiness: The Rhetorical History of Trust in the Nordics
2025-05-19 11:00 - 16:00 | University of Bergen, Lauritz Meltzers hus (SV-bygget), Room: Vesletinget (Floor 2)
With talks by some of the best national and international researchers in trust and trustworthiness, this seminar explores trust as a historical, societal, and rhetorical phenomenon.
What is trust and trustworthiness in a rhetorical perspective? Can we talk about cultures of trust? What is a culture of trust? How does trust develop historically, and how do digital cultures influence trust and trustworthiness? Furthermore, how may we theoretically account for rhetorical trust and methodologically explore it?
This open and free seminar explores such questions. The seminar is organized by the research project “Trustworthiness: The Rhetorical History of Trust in the Nordics”.
The project examines why the Nordics are consistently among the world’s most trusting countries and explores how this trust is used to explain the stability, prosperity, and even happiness of the citizens in the Nordic countries.
Today, however, a wide range of factors threaten to overturn Nordic people’s propensity to trust each other, including an increasingly fragmented media landscape, as well as a more conflictual political atmosphere.
The renowned speakers in this open and free seminar addressees such issues of trust and trustworthiness.
Program
11.00-11.05: Welcome
11.05-11.25: The working group on Trustworthiness in the Nordic Countries: “Rhetorical trust”
11:25-12.25: Ute Frevert (Max Planck Institute): “Rhetorics and Politics of Trust in Modern Societies – A Historian’s Perspective”
The talk asks why modern societies care about trusting relations? What do they need trust for? What kind of work does trust do? Is trust synonymous with calculativeness, or does it go beyond an instrumental attitude? How do political systems – democratic and non-democratic handle trust?
12.25-13.00: Lunch
13.00-14.00: Helge Skirbekk (Oslo Met): “The historical development of Trust in Norway”
Norway is still characterised by high levels of trust, both in general and in public institutions. Why is this so, and why did it become so? In what is referred to as the Nordic model, there are several things that distinguish Norway from other Western countries. Among these are the high degree of labour organisation, the relatively small income differences, and the large extent of the public sector and the high level of taxes. But the high levels of trust cannot be understood without examining the relatively peaceful historical interactions between elites and population. Belonging to networks built on civic engagement can strengthen norms of mutual trust. I will investigate the emergence of unions and lay organisations, and their interplay with political elites in order to find an answer to this question.
14.00-14.45: Dag Wollebæk (Institute of Social Research): “Trust as sacred rhetoric”
In Norway, trust has become a foundational element of the national self-image. In public discourse, trust is often framed not merely as a strength, but as a sacred value: a non-negotiable, inviolable resource that must be protected at all costs. Drawing on the concept of sacred rhetoric (Marietta, 2008), I argue that the way we talk about trust affects political debate and institutional accountability in profound ways. Sacred rhetoric shifts public argumentation from the weighing of evidence and compromise to the invocation of moral absolutes, the discouragement of criticism, and the protection of power. While this rhetoric may encourage compliance and cooperation, it undermines deliberation and weakens critical vigilance. In this keynote, I examine how the rhetorical sacralization of trust affects democratic discourse in Norway. I argue that desacralizing the rhetoric of trust and shifting the focus from preserving trust to deserving trust would be desirable — to cultivate a political culture where institutions are not shielded by sacred narratives, but held accountable through reasoned scrutiny.
14.45-15.00 Break
15.00-15.30: Esther Oluffa Pedersen (Roskilde University): The Digital Society and Trust
Increasing digitalization raises the question how digital technologies influence relations of trust. This calls for an empirical and conceptual approach. Conceptually I argue that trust evolves between humans but is anchored within the individuals encountering each other with either trust or distrust. Affective and epistemic attitudes of trust or distrust are influenced by the individual’s prior experiences (e.g. betrayals of trust) and future goals (e.g. goals’ dependency on collaboration). Besides interpersonal relations trust also unfolds in institutional trust, trust in oneself and trust in technology. Thriving interpersonal and institutional trust are characterized by mutual assessments of trustworthiness and thus by reciprocity. Trust in technology is different as the non-agential technology does not reciprocate. Many argue that we do not trust but simply rely on technology. It is, however, an empirical fact that the other trust relations are influenced by digital technologies. I will exemplify this with the case of the Danish tax authorities’ fully automated property assessments. The property assessments were digitalized with the explicit ambition to recreate trust in the system of property taxation. Besides exceeding the budget, and as until now not completely implemented, the system has also been sending erroneous assessments out to the citizens.
15.30-16.00: Panel with presenters: How to study trust rhetorically and historically.
Would you to attend the seminar? Please send an email to: Olivia.Akerholm@student.uib.no

Boosting User Trust to Increase the Uptake of Recommendations
2025-06-06 12:30 - 13:30 | SFI MediaFutures, MCB
We’re excited to welcome Professor Shlomo Berkovsky to MediaFutures for a special guest talk on June 6! Professor Berkovsky leads the Clinical AI and Sensing Technologies research stream at the Centre for Health Informatics, Macquarie University. His work explores the intersection of AI, health, and media technologies, including research on food recommender systems and user trust in recommendation interfaces.
Abstract of the talk:
The level of trust a user places in a recommender is crucial to the success of recommendations. Although prior work established factors that build and sustain user trust, their comparative power and impact on the uptake of recommendations received less attention. We conducted a user study examining the impact of various recommendation interfaces and content selection strategies on user trust. Following this, we conducted another study that evaluated the impact of including proponents (people or avatars) in the recommendation interface. We will discuss these results and implications on use and misuse in future recommendation interfaces.
About the Speaker:
Shlomo Berkovsky is the leader of the Interactive Medical AI research stream at Macquarie University. The stream focuses on the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning methods to develop usable patient models and personalised predictions of diagnosis and care. The stream also studies how clinicians and patients interact with health technologies and how Large Language Models can improve patient care. His other areas of expertise include user modelling, online personalisation, and behaviour change technologies.
We’ll meet you at 12:25 in the atrium of Media City Bergen and take you up to the MediaFutures office on the 3rd floor together.
Food will be served!
If you cannot join in person, you can follow the presentation on zoom by clicking here: https://uib.zoom.us/j/65067583768?pwd=[REDACTED]

fAIrgov-sluttkonferanse
2025-06-12 09:00 - 12:00 | Lillesalen, Kulturhuset i Bergen Vaskerelven 8, 5014 Bergen
Artificial intelligence is often described as the electricity of our time, and its development is accelerating. But what does this mean for the public sector, and what is needed to maintain public trust?

Public Fairness Perceptions of Algorithmic Governance (fAIrgov) is a research project at NORCE that, since 2018, has been exploring Norwegian attitudes toward the use of AI in the public sector. They now invite you to their final conference: a morning of reflections, insights, and discussion, featuring contributions from both researchers and public sector representatives.
Both academic and administrative staff at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies are welcome to attend the conference!
Registration form(Limited number of seats!)
Details of the fAIrgov Final Conference:

Date: June 12
Time: 09:00–12:00
Venue: Lillesalen, Kulturhuset i Bergen, Vaskerelven 8, 5014 Bergen
Afterwards: Lunch and informal research meetups from 12:00–14:00

Preliminary Program:

09:00–09:30 – Doors open, coffee and mingling
09:30–09:45 – Opening remarks by Camilla Stoltenberg
09:45–10:05 – Case: AI in the Norwegian Tax Administration, by Nina Serdarevic
10:05–10:25 – Case: AI in NAV (Labour and Welfare Administration), by Robindra Prabhu
10:25–10:45 – Break
10:45–11:05 – Public support for AI, by Mikael Poul Johannesson, NORCE
11:05–11:50 – Panel debate: What does it take for the Norwegian public sector to be ready for the AI revolution?– with Camilla Stoltenberg, Annette Fagerhaug Stephansen, Sveinung Arnesen, Nina Serdarevic, Robindra Prabhu
11:50–12:00 – Closing remarks by Sveinung Arnesen, fAIrgov project leader
12:00–14:00 – Lunch and informal networking with researchers

The conference is free and open to everyone. It is particularly relevant for public sector employees, researchers, policymakers – and anyone curious about how AI might transform the public sector and affect us as citizens.
Follow the event Is the Norwegian Public Sector Ready for the AI Revolution? on Facebook for updates and a link to the livestream if you’d like to attend digitally.
