Department III: Media and Information Society

Heads of Department: Dr. Jürgen Danyel and Prof. Dr. Dr. Annette Vowinckel

The availability of audiovisual media steadily increased throughout the twentieth century, changing the daily lives of people, as well as social communication and politics. Department III researches the process of media transformation in European societies and the changes brought by the advance of new information technologies and digitalization.

Another focus is historiography itself, the question of how scholarly communication, the working methods of historians, and the communication of historical knowledge have changed in the digital age. The department’s work is closely linked to its own Internet resources on contemporary history (et al. Zeitgeschichte-online, Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History, Docupedia-Zeitgeschichte and other topic portals).