🚨 New publication in International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction! 🤖 In this study, Alexandra Wölfle and @desireeschmuck.bsky.social investigate how users make sense of gender bias in chatbot interactions and what implications such bias may have: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

📣 New publication in Computers in Human Behavior Reports! 🤖 In this paper, Alexandra Wölfle and @desireeschmuck.bsky.social examine how gender stereotypes appear in AI-generated content — and whether these patterns differ from human-generated content: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New article out in Journalism and Media 🚨 In “Ordinary People over Journalists? Young People’s Use of Different Curating Actors for News”, we examine who curates news for young people on social media. 📲 The paper can be found here: www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/7/...

Last week, our VMCI Research Colloquium joined forces with the @polcomvienna.bsky.social team for a workshop on AI in research 🤝 We discussed AI as an object of study, as a tool for conducting research, and as a broader development shaping academia 🤖 Thanks for the many inspiring perspectives! 🙌

We were delighted to welcome @margotlissens.bsky.social to our VMCI Research Colloquium! She shared insights into the current state of her dissertation, future research directions, and the literature on knowledge gains through social media 📱📚 A very interesting talk and discussion, many thanks! 💡

Last week, Alexandra Wölfle and Team VMCI explored stereotypes in AI at the Long Night of Research. Visitors generated images and saw how strongly AI reproduces social clichés — spoiler: very strongly. A hands-on way to make algorithmic bias visible and discussable. 👏🤖

🎓 Interested in a PhD in Communication? The Vienna Media Change & Innovation Lab at the University of Vienna is hiring a University Assistant / Predoc to research digital media and society. 📅 Start: June 2026 ⏰ Deadline: May 4 👉 Apply: jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universi...

On April 24, from 5:00 to 11:00 p.m. at the Main Building of the University of Vienna, the VMCI team will host an interactive station as part of the Long Night of Research. Visitors can explore how gender stereotypes are reproduced in AI-generated images. langenachtderforschung.at/station/5626

Great time at the Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap! 📣 VMCI members @ellenvanhoutven.bsky.social , heleendekoninck.bsky.social and margotlissens.bsky.social presented work on political influencers, social media, AI & well-being. Thanks to Wageningen University for the fantastic organization 👏

Gestern war @desireeschmuck.bsky.social bei ORF Kulturmontag zu Gast und hat sich mit forschungsbasierten Einblicken zur Diskussion über ein mögliches Social-Media-Verbot für junge Menschen in Österreich geäußert. 📺💬 Das ganze Interview gibt es hier: on.orf.at/video/143098...

Many thanks to @dgarusi.bsky.social for the great talk at the VMCI Research Colloquium! The presentation on causality in qualitative research offered thought-provoking and reflective insights and led to a lively discussion. Thanks for sharing your perspectives and expertise! 🎓

Congrats to @ellenvanhoutven.bsky.social on completing the faculty open presentation of her PhD and taking another big step toward your PhD! 🎉 Your presentation was very insightful and gave listeners an excellent overview of your dissertation on digital super peers. Well done, Ellen! 👏

Closing out a fantastic year with a wonderful team ✨ From conferences to publications to lots of fun moments, we ended the year with our very own barbecue, Eisstockschießen, and Punsch at the Christmas market. Thank you to all our collaborators — looking forward to what’s next! 🎄❄️

Delighted to share that @ellenvanhoutven.bsky.social is a guest editor of the new special issue 24 Hours of Communication Science 2025 in Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap (Journal of Communication Science), featuring studies regarding media & well-being. Congratulations, Ellen! 🎉

Thank you @janabernhard.bsky.social for your talk at the VMCI Research Colloquium! Your presentation on Large Language Models & AI in research was super insightful and sparked a great discussion. Thanks, Jana, for sharing your expertise! 📚

Exciting new publication! 📚 In their study published in the International Journal of Communication, Alexandra Wölfle and Desirée Schmuck examine how adolescents use and trust news about the Middle Eastern conflict and how biased they perceive different news sources to be: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...

Yesterday @willembuyens.bsky.social gave an insightful talk on networked news exposure in our VMCI research colloquium showing how public figures act as online news curators who shape what we see on social media through different news curation patterns.📱 Thank you very much for your visit, Willem! 👏

Ab 1.3.2026 wird eine Studienassistenz für Prof. @desireeschmuck.bsky.social gesucht. 14h/Woche, befristet auf 2 Jahre. Sehr gute Deutschkenntnisse und aufrechtes Publizistikstudium sind Voraussetzung. Bewerbungsfrist: 07.01.2026. publizistik.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/us...

Gestern im vollen Audimax 🎓 Desiree Schmuck diskutierte mit @arminwolf.at, @klenkflorian.bsky.social und @brodnig.bsky.social über aktuelle Entwicklungen im Journalismus 🗞️ Viele Fragen, viel Interesse und richtig gute Einblicke für die Studierenden! Vielen Dank und bis nächstes Jahr! 🙌

Our team retreat last week included the best of both worlds: after discussing our long-term goals and visions on Thursday 🎓, we spent Friday by going to Bratislava 🛳️ , enjoying the beautiful city 🏙️ and delicious food! 🌯 We all had a wonderful time! 😊

🎉 Congrats to Dr. @heleendekoninck.bsky.social for obtaining her PhD in Communication Sciences at ‪KU Leuven‬! 👏 Her dissertation, supervised by @desireeschmuck.bsky.social ‬, explores how greenfluencers affect young people’s pro-environmental attitudes & behaviors. 🌱📲 Excited to see what’s next! 🎓🚀

Today at #ViennaChildrensUniversity: @kleslmax.bsky.social's & @desireeschmuck.bsky.social's seminar “Politics? Social Media? Who can I believe there?” With a group of 10–12 y/o, they discussed what politics are, who posts about them on socials, and how to tell who’s trustworthy. #KinderuniWien

Shortlisted for the Univie Teaching Award of Social Sciences! 🧑🏻‍🏫 The research seminar of @desireeschmuck.bsky.social, Christine Liebenwein and @kleslmax.bsky.social was voted as one of the faculty’s top three courses in the last year! We are delighted by this recognition! 🎉 🥳

During the last weeks, we hosted @lcjacobs89.bsky.social at our lab for a research stay. During this terrific time, she gave an insightful talk on authenticity in political communication! It was a pleasure hosting you and we all look forward to seeing you again soon, Laura!

The VMCI lab is very happy to welcome @lcjacobs89.bsky.social for a research stay! We hope you enjoy your time at our department and we look forward to exciting collaborations!

This week, we had two exciting presentations in our VMCI research talk series by our visiting PhD students, @puckguldemond.bsky.social and Arianna Colombo! Puck presented effects of political microtargeting, Arianna a novel classification of political influencers. Bedankt & Grazie to you two!

Honored to showcase our team's and our affiliated researchers' (@kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social) work at #ICA25 🎓✨ Catch us in sessions with the CAM, @icacat.bsky.social, @ica-hmc.bsky.social, MassComm, and @polcomm.bsky.social crowd 🤝

🌟 New year, new horizons: We’re extending our social media presence to BlueSky and LinkedIn 🔗 (www.linkedin.com/company/vmci...)! Excited to connect with fellow researchers and share updates on our research 😊✨ For more information, check out our website: mediainnovation.univie.ac.at