Digital Enlightenment

How we come to our project?

Since the call of 2019 was based on the assumption that there was a problem of science communication in our societies: there was a gap between the large population and science. Many important topics were discussed by scientists but not well-known in public. There were many reasons, such as the lack of motivation and interest, the lack of accessibility, the complexity of science, etc., and the most important reason in our opinion: the way to present science was not efficient enough. Therefore, we hoped to develop a platform that combined various communication possibilities to communicate science in a more proper and creative way, that motivated people to get in touch with science.

We also reached an agreement that due to the different content of each area of science, the format of communication should not be the same for all fields. We should focus on one important issue that we were able to evaluate the effect of each action. After an iterative process of group discussion, literature review, and meetings with our supervisors, we decided to focus on one topic, which was closely related to our life, but ignored by most of us despite its importance: Cyber Security (Data Privacy).

Why Cyber Security (Data Privacy)?

Ever since the inception of the Internet, distance communication and resource sharing have brought one much comfort and convenience. However, in recent years, data scandals of giant companies such as Facebook and Google have casted doubts on personal data protection and cyber security. However, most of people did not really know what it actually was. To evaluate these concerns and raise public awareness, we decided to kick-start our project on this topic.

Our Goal

Within the framework of our project and the planned actions, we aimed to:

• Introduce the topic of Cyber Security in scientific terms to the general audience.
• Raise awareness about Cyber Security (Data Protection) among young people
  • by explaining its scientific and technological background and exposing them to basic scientific knowledge related to the topic.
• Determine factors that had an impact on the efficiency of science communication in the field of Data privacy through the analysis of the outcomes of the implemented actions.

Idea of the project

Our research had indicated the absence of a multifunctional platform focused on cyber security. To facilitate the organization of events and equip users with a comprehensive network of information on cyber security, we had decided to create an online platform named “Digital Enlightenment”. On this platform, we had aimed to present scientific knowledge about Cyber Security (Data Protection) to young individuals (university or high-school students) innovatively through various mediums and activities. It had also served as our communication tool to engage our target audience and increase our visibility. Generally, the online platform had served as the foundation to generate awareness, foster a community, and initiate events to raise awareness about the subject.

The overall theme was already decided, but the specifics of the content were scheduled to be discussed in the following month as indicated in the Project Plan. The project was to include an event conducted either in a High School or a Youth Center (Jugendzentrum).

 

Project plan

Our preliminary project plan was shown in the following chart. Our project was categorized into three phases, which all highlighted different aspects of implementation and research. The plan was subject to changes based on our further research and brainstorming results on awareness-raising activities.

Current status

Currently, we were still in the research phase. Interviews were conducted with specialized professionals, and short pre-surveys were carried out on a small sample of people (awaiting response) for insight generation. In the workshop Intermediate Evaluation in May, we tried to develop concrete ideas on how we could conduct our project and focused on work packages.

Our team

We were a highly diverse team of students from various faculties of Technische Universität München. Each of us displayed motivation and enthusiasm for interdisciplinary research and social engagement:

• Ho Huang, a master's student of Sport and Health Sciences;
• Rebeca Marichalar Quezada, a master's student of TUM School of Management;
• Xinyi Huang, a master's student of Chemical Engineering;
• Yousef Walha, a bachelor's student of Munich School of Engineering;
• Yushu Yang, a bachelor's student of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Supervisors and Tutors

We thanked TUM: Junge Academie and our supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Maria Bannert
• Prof. Dr. Lisa Herzog
• Prof. Dr. Maximilian Schiffer

and our tutors

• Danilo Hackner
• Andreas Heimfarth

for their support during our project phase. Their guidance and advice were consistently beneficial for us.