Sustainability in the Age of Digital Transformation
Digitalization and the increasing development and use of Artificial Intelligence cause severe social, ecological, and economic effects, e.g. exploitation of humans and nature through mineral extraction, immense carbon emissions caused by digital communication or the training of AI, or the poisonous littering of electronic waste on huge waste dumps in Africa and Asia.
There are actors in different societal fields who address these effects and aim at shaping digitalization and AI sustainably, i.e. socially, economically and ecologically just. Among them are scholars from different research fields who cooperate transdisciplinary and transformatively with actors located outside research institutions. One main group of collaboration partners are political activists.
The project aims at investigating the practices in transdisciplinary-transformative sciences with which scholars and political activists collaborate to gain knowledge about ways of shaping digitalization and AI sustainably (transdisciplinary) as well as taking an active part in creating both processes sustainably (transformative).
To follow this aim, e.g. the Bits and Bäume NRW conference 2026 is organized at the Ruhr-University and CAIS on 5 and 6 March 2026 aiming at bringing together scholars and activists focussing sustainable digitalization.
Literature:
- Mollen, A., & Kannengießer, S. (2025). Shaping AI (more) sustainably. Socio-technological perspectives on AI infrastructures. In Kox, T., Ullrich, A., & Zech, H. (Hrsg.), Uncertain Journeys into Digital Futures: Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research for Mitigating Wicked Societal and Environmental Problems (S. 207–218). Nomos. doi: 10.5771/9783748947585.
- Kannengießer, S. (2021). Sozial-ökologische Transformationsforschung: Desiderata der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft. In Borchers, N., Güney, S., Krüger, U., & Schamberger, K. (Hrsg.), Transformation der Medien – Medien der Transformation (S. 245–258). Westend-Verlag. doi: 10.53291/QNCO5200.
- Kannengießer, S. (2020). Consumption-critical media practices: acting on media for sustainability. In Stephansen, H., & Treré, E. (Hrsg.), The turn to practice in media research: implications for the study of citizen- and social movement media (S. 176–188). Routledge.
Main Research Topics
- Digital technologies
- AI infrastructures and sustainability
- Critical data studies
- Transformative methods
Research Results
Using a transdisciplinary and transformative research approach, I investigated how actors from academia, civil society, and education collaborate to shape digitalization and the use of artificial intelligence more sustainably. Therefore, I organized a network event within the “Bits and Bäume” movement (Bits and Trees movement) – a political movement of academics and activists in Germany focusing sustainable digitalization in collaboration with members of my team at the University of Münster and the NGRo “Eine Welt Netz NRW”. The event took place at the Maker-Space of Ruhr University Bochum in March 2026 and focused on the regional “Bits and Bäume” movement in North Rhine-Westphalia – the federal state in which CAIS is embedded. It aimed at bringing together the different actors mentioned to investigate their collaborative practices and at the same time support their networking through transformative methodologies. Moreover, within this event, a “Catalogue of Demands for Sustainable Digitalization” addressing the federal government of North Rhine-Westphalia was discussed which was written by the organizers of the event.
The results of the projects show that the actors share political aims and a feeling of belonging to this movement which sets free an impressive motivation and energy to strive for just digitalization and AI.
Mollen, A., Glawatzki, A., & Kannengießer, S. (2026). Für eine selbstbestimmte und gemeinwohlorientierte Digitalisierung in NRW in den planetaren Grenzen. Forderungen für eine nachhaltige Digitalisierung an die NRW-Landespolitik. https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/kowi/institut/bits_und_baume_nrw-_politische_forderungen.pdf
Kannengießer, S., Glawatzki, A., Schmitt, J. (in preparation): Transformative ecocultural methodology: Civil society and academia collectively shaping digitalization and AI more sustainable. In: Milstein, Tema et al. (eds.): Handbook of Ecocultural Methodology and Transformation. Routledge.
Curriculum Vitae
Prof. Dr. habil. Sigrid Kannengießer is professor of Communication Studies with a focus on Media Sociology at the Institute for Communication Science at the University of Münster. Previously, she was professor of Communication and Media Studies with a focus on Media Society at the University of Bremen. She was scientific manager of the artec Sustainability Research Center at the University of Bremen and research associate at the Center for Media, Communication and Information Research at the University of Bremen, at the Center for Transnational Studies at the Universities of Oldenburg and Bremen, and at the Department of Language, Literature and Media at the University of Hamburg.
Publications and Presentations
- Mollen, A., & Kannengießer, S. (2025). Infrastrukturen generativer KI und Nachhaltigkeit: Ein Forschungsdesiderat in der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft. in Hepp, A., Kannengießer, S., Pfadenhauer, M., & Wimmer, J. (ed.), Zukunft der Medien – Medien der Zukunft. (pp. 301–314). Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-47029-6.
- Mollen, A., & Kannengießer, S. (2025). Shaping AI (more) sustainably. Socio-technological perspectives on AI infrastructures. in Kox, T., Ullrich, A., & Zech, H. (ed.), Uncertain Journeys into Digital Futures: Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research for Mitigating Wicked Societal and Environmental Problems (pp. 207–218). Nomos. doi: 10.5771/9783748947585.
- Kannengießer, S., Mollen, A., & Glawatzki, A. (2024). Imagining Sustainable AI.. Proceedings, Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers, Sheffield. doi: 10.5210/spir.v2024i0.14086.
- Kannengießer, S. (2022). Digitale Medien und Nachhaltigkeit: Medienpraktiken für ein gutes Leben. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-36167-9.
- Kannengießer, S. (2021). Sozial-ökologische Transformationsforschung: Desiderata der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft. in Borchers, N., Güney, S., Krüger, U., & Schamberger, K. (ed.), Transformation der Medien – Medien der Transformation (pp. 245–258). Westend-Verlag. doi: 10.53291/QNCO5200.