How can information processing be made transparent and controllable again for individuals and institutions by new technologies?

In the current digital society, data are acquired, recorded and processed by new technologies in ever more areas of life. These types of data increasingly affect decision-making e.g. in economy, administration, and politics. In the cross-university project Information Governance Technologies, researchers from informatics, legal studies and ethics look into human-centered technical possibilities for a responsible handling of data. Aiming to establish a long-term thematic research network (DFG-Forschergruppe), the project financed by the Landesforschungsförderung Hamburg develops an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for Information Governance Technologies. The project also consists of applied-oriented modules, where new methods, patterns and mechanisms will be developed and tested that are able to counteract the loss of autonomy and impairment of democratic self-determination by the use of software.