Introduction to Digital Humanism

This open access textbook introduces and defines digital humanism from a diverse range of disciplines. Following the 2019 Vienna Manifesto, the book calls for a digital humanism that describes, analyzes, and, most importantly, influences the complex interplay of technology and humankind, for a better society and life, fully respecting universal human rights.

The book is organized in three parts: Part I “Background” provides the multidisciplinary background needed to understand digital humanism in its philosophical, cultural, technological, historical, social, and economic dimensions. The goal is to present the necessary knowledge upon which an effective interdisciplinary discourse on digital humanism can be founded. Part II “Digital Humanism – a System’s View” focuses on an in-depth presentation and discussion of the main digital humanism concerns arising in current digital systems. The goal of this part is to make readers aware and sensitive to these issues, including e.g. the control and autonomy of AI systems, privacy and security, and the role of governance. Part III “Critical and Societal Issues of Digital Systems” delves into critical societal issues raised by advances of digital technologies. While the public debate in the past has often focused on them separately, especially when they became visible through sensational events the aim here is to shed light on the entire landscape and show their interconnected relationships. This includes issues such as AI and ethics, fairness and bias, privacy and surveillance, platform power and democracy.

This textbook is intended for students, teachers, and policy makers interested in digital humanism. It is designed for stand-alone and for complementary courses in computer science, or curricula in science, engineering, humanities and social sciences. Each chapter includes questions for students and an annotated reading list to dive deeper into the associated chapter material. The book aims to provide readers with as wide an exposure as possible to digital advances and their consequences for humanity. It includes constructive ideas and approaches that seek to ensure that our collective digital future is determined through human agency.

 

Hannes Werthner is a retired computer science professor at TU Wien, where he also founded the Vienna PhD School of Informatics and the Informatics Innovation Center. His research focuses on e-commerce and e-tourism, recommender systems, and network analysis. He organized the first workshop on Digital Humanism in 2019 (that adopted the Vienna Manifesto on Digital Humanism), is a key figure behind the Digital Humanism Initiative and co-editor of the book "Perspectives on Digital Humanism" (Springer, 2022).

Carlo Ghezzi is Professor Emeritus at Politecnico di Milano. He is an ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow, member of Academia Europaea, and member of the Italian Academy of Sciences (Istituto Lombardo). He received several awards, including the ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award and the IEEE TCSE Distinguished Education Award. He holds an Honorary Doctorate from TU Wien. He has been doing research on software technology for more than 40 years and has more recently become active in digital humanism initiatives.

Jeff Kramer is Professor Emeritus of Computing at Imperial College London. His research work is primarily concerned with responsible software engineering, with particular focus on software architecture, requirements engineering, adaptive software systems, and ethical practice. In recognition of his research work and service, Jeff was awarded the 2005 ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award and the 2011 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Service Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the ACM, Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute, and a Member of Academia Europaea.

Julian Nida-Rümelin is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Political Theory at the University of Munich. He is Honorary Professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin, vice president of the German Ethics Council and President of the Humanistic University Berlin. In 2018 he published together with Nathalie Weidenfeld the book “Digital Humanism” that was translated into Korean, Italian, and English; a Spanish translation is on the way. He is a board member of the Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation. In 2023 he published his philosophical opus magnum “A theory of Practical Reason” (Palgrave Macmillan).

Bashar Nuseibeh is Chief Scientist of Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre, and Professor of Software Engineering at the University of Limerick (Ireland) and Professor of Computing at The Open University (UK). His research interests include software requirements and design, adaptive systems, and engineering security, privacy, and digital forensics. His interdisciplinary work on responsible software engineering explores cyber-physical and psycho-social dimensions of the development and use of socio-technical. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and Academia Europaea, and a fellow of the British and Irish Computer Societies and the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Erich Prem is a computer scientist, research strategy and policy advisor. Erich has a degree in managerial economics and holds doctorates in Philosophy (Epistemology) and in Computer Science (AI). He teaches digital humanism at TU Vienna and data ethics at the University of Vienna. He holds a research position at the University of Vienna in the Philosophy of Media and Technology. He was a guest researcher at the MIT AI Lab and at the Austrian Research Institute of AI (OFAI). 

Allison Stanger is Co-Director and Principal Investigator, GETTING-Plurality Research Network, Harvard University; Russell Leng ’60 Professor of International Politics and Economics, Middlebury College; founding member of the Digital Humanism Initiative; and an External Professor and Science Board member at the Santa Fe Institute. In November 2022, she was a visiting professor at TU Wien and a Digital Humanism Senior Fellow at IWM. Stanger is writing a book tentatively titled Who Elected Big Tech?