VHS Digital Day: "Bon Appetit: What the digital world eats and what we get out of it"

We humans believe that we decide for ourselves. But circumstances always play a role: For example, if you are considering hammering a nail into the wall, whether or not you have a hammer plays an important role (unless your name is Obelix). The hammer actually makes this decision possible in the first place.

Digital technologies are also tools. They also make many things possible and influence our decisions. However, they are usually much more complicated to use: "Oh, I have to click here first ... accept the cookies ... create a user account ... but actually I just wanted to ...".

Are these really still our decisions? Or are we being led through the ring on a digital leash?

It's not that simple. Let's take a closer look!

Prof. Dr. Michael Kühler is a philosopher and Professor of Applied Ethics of Social Responsibility at the Faculty of Applied Social Studies at Fachhochschule Dortmund. In addition to questions of ethics, he deals with the understanding of self-determination and the philosophy of love.

Do you sometimes get the feeling that digitalization is mainly something for politicians, ministries or large corporations? Do we really need it - or can it go away?

There are days when I can't fight these thoughts either. But luckily my job shows me that there is another way. I teach on the Master's degree course in Digital Design at Fachhochschule Dortmund, where I train young people who are actively shaping digital change.

In my presentation, I would like to take you on an honest tour of digitalization. Not an advertising tour, I promise! We'll talk about things that aren't going well - and about many things that are working surprisingly well. But hardly anyone notices. Time to change that!

Kim Lauenroth (born 1977) has been designing digital solutions since 2011 and has represented the Digital Design department at Fachhochschule Dortmund since 2022. As co-initiator and first signatory of the Digital Design Manifesto, he has been working at Bitkom since 2018 to establish digital design as a profession for shaping digital change. Kim Lauenroth studied computer science, business administration and psychology at TU Dortmund University and completed his doctorate in product line development at the University of Duisburg-Essen in 2009.