Applied research
Our research investigates application-oriented issues in journalism, PR, online communication and social media. As many of our research projects have an interdisciplinary or a transdisciplinary focus, we cooperate closely not only with partners from technological disciplines but also with other institutions working in the humanities, and the cultural and social sciences. This is also reflected in our methodological approach: our analyses are based on a combination of methods used in the empirical social sciences and digital methods used in internet research.
The following research projects are currently carried out at the Web Literacy Lab:
- U-YouPa – Understanding Youth Participation and Media literacy in Digital Dialogue Spaces (2020–2024)
Recently completed projects:
- Inside – Social Media Empowerment in the Context of Young People‘s Health (2022-2023)
- FIT4BA – Big Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence Research Center (Cooperation) (2018–2023) (2018–2023)
- SEVA – Self-Exploratory Visual Analytics for Data-Driven Insights Discovery (2020–2022) (2020-2023)
- Digi-T – Digital Literacy in Styrian tourism (2019–2021)
- NoHate@WebStyria (2019–2021)
- Digi@Work (2018–2020)
Innovative services
We also offer companies and organisations a range of innovative services such as the development of customised, empirically-based content strategies. The aim of a successful content strategy is to establish the preconditions for a web presence which provides helpful and usable content that meets its users’ wishes and needs. This approach allows businesses to communicate with their customers in a targeted and integrated manner over the long term, and to assume their own quality controls.
Furthermore, we provide knowledge transfer and journalistic support for projects, as well as undertaking the organisation and design of content for communication activities on behalf of businesses. Joint projects have already been completed with different companies and organisations.
Digital methods & tools
Our activities include specialization in digital methods and tools. We employ innovative methods of online research, organization of communication processes and empirical social research both in our research projects and in various collaborations with businesses and organizations. Extensive expertise has been acquired in past and ongoing projects especially in the field of participatory and qualitative (online) media research. The competencies we have gained are disseminated in workshops, presentations, scientific articles, and teaching.