From finding a mate to booking a holiday, our lives are increasingly mediated by online platforms. Digital traces left by these interactions provide opportunities to study societal phenomena while creating challenges around data privacy. Beyond enabling new research, access to technology can support economic development, improve health outcomes, and facilitate political participation. Unfortunately, unequal technology access exacerbates existing power inequalities, and new technologies often create new problems most felt by people already disadvantaged.

At Saarland University, Dr. Weber advances critical Societal Computing research. This comprises (i) computing of society, i.e., using computational methods to understand societal phenomena, and (ii) computing for society, i.e., using digitally-assisted interventions to try and improve society. He collaborates closely with interdisciplinary academic and implementation partners from UN agencies and civil society to advance the research in this domain.