The Power of Written Words – Digital Transformation, A New Language?
“Digitaler Humanismus. Transformation gestalten” (Digital Humanism. Shaping the Transformation) is a public event series in Vienna that brings researchers, artists, writers, policy-makers, and the wider public into conversation about how to steer digital technologies toward human-centered values. Hosted primarily by the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus in cooperation with TU Wien’s Center for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (CAIML) and other Viennese institutions, the series features panel talks and lectures on topics such as language and AI, risks and opportunities of digitalization, and the governance of platform technologies. The aim is to clarify what Digital Humanism means in practice: aligning technology development and policy with human rights, democracy, inclusion, and diversity, and empowering society to actively shape digital transformation rather than passively accept it. In 2025, the City of Vienna highlighted the series with a dedicated “Month of Digital Humanism,” and related initiatives span a broader Vienna ecosystem that includes TU Wien’s long-running Digital Humanism initiative and conferences.
Prof. Laura Kovács took part in the panel discussion “Die Macht der geschriebenen Worte – Digitale Transformation, neue Sprache?” at the Lesesaal der Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, where she focused on the transformative and regulatory role of computer science in shaping language, culture, identity, and society at large. Speaking alongside writer Daniel Wisser and discourse scholar Ruth Wodak, Kovács connected advances in formal methods and automated reasoning with questions of how platforms, algorithms, and AI infrastructures govern what is written, what becomes visible, and what counts as credible knowledge. She emphasized that verifiability, transparency, and accountability—core principles in program analysis and theorem proving—are equally vital for safeguarding linguistic diversity, cultural expression, and civic trust in an increasingly digitized public sphere. The event was introduced by Stefan Woltran (TU Wien), moderated by Anita Eichinger and Wolfgang Renner (Wienbibliothek).
A recording of the discussion is available on YouTube.
