Impulse by Anna Biselli, netzpolitik.org, and Dr. Otmar Lell, ConPolicy, on fair and consumer-oriented online design
CDR impulse on cookie consent on June 7, 2023
Consumers move in the digital space within decision-making architectures set by website operators – mostly companies. To what extent consumers have a choice at all, whether they are steered in the direction of a decision option and what consequences are associated with which decision – all this depends on the design of the online interfaces by the website operators. This is particularly evident in the example of cookie consent. Here, consumers are often pressured by various design elements (deceptive designs and dark patterns) into agreeing to the setting of cookies and the use of their personal data for various purposes, especially for personalized advertising, even though this does not correspond to their actual intention.
Therefore, the question of fair, user-friendly online interfaces will be the topic of a CDR Impulse, an online discussion event as part of the CDR initiative sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection. Anna Biselli, Co-Editor-in-Chief of netzpolitik.org, will speak on the topic 'From Dark to Good Patterns in Online Design', Dr. Otmar Lell, Project Manager at the ConPolicy Institute for Consumer Policy, will present proposals for a fair and consumer-oriented cookie design based on the Cookie Initiative moderated by ConPolicy.
The event will take place from 4 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. on June 7, 2023. The registration form for the event can be found here.
TUM School of Management Workshop
ConPolicy presentation on effectiveness and limitations of decision architectures for sustainable mobility behavior
From May 24 – 26, 2023, Prof. Christoph Ungemach (TUM School of Management) hosted a workshop on 'Facilitating environmental decisions using choice architecture: New lessons from the lab and field', which took place at the TUM campus in Heilbronn, Germany. The aim of the workshop was to integrate academic work and practical expertise on the topic of Choice Architecture. The international participants presented the latest findings and experiences from both theory and practice. The findings were discussed and contributed to the exchange of knowledge.
As part of the workshop, Marlene Münsch, project manager at ConPolicy, gave a presentation in the session 'Findings from the field' entitled 'Making changes in mobility behavior eas(ier): Complementary effects and limits of choice architecture'. In this talk, she presented the results of three field experiments in which changes to decision architectures were developed and implemented in a participatory manner with practice partners. The results show that the developed measures were effective as supplements to increase the use and acceptance of an already attractive basic offer but were not suitable for unattractive or complex contexts. Based on the results, it formulated recommendations for better integrating behavioral science findings into policy design.
The Mobitat project is currently funded by the BMBF's Research for Sustainability (FONA) strategy. More information about the project can be found here. The Green Nudging project was funded by the National Climate Initiative. More information on the project can be found here.
Project for the German Environmental Agency
New ConPolicy project to develop a communication concept for international climate protection issues
With the Climate Protection Act, Germany has committed itself to significantly reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and to being emissions-neutral by 2045. However, the emission reduction rates achieved so far are not sufficient to meet these climate protection targets. In the efforts to reduce emissions, it is particularly important that the legal and financial policy efforts are well communicated so that they are better supported by the citizens. Communication measures should aim to inform citizens about the global consequences of climate change and international climate policy, to sharpen the public's global perspective, to ensure public acceptance of climate policy decisions or to activate citizens to take action.
Against this background, the German Environmental Agency has commissioned the consortium of ConPolicy, klimafakten.de, co2online as well as Christopher Schrader and Dr. Mirjam Jenny to develop a communication concept for topics of (international) climate protection. This concept is intended to help UBA's communication measures reach the general public more effectively and to promote the societal acceptance of climate policy measures. In addition, approaches for a strategy to achieve the ACE for Germany are to be developed.
Further information on the project can be found here.
German Association Club of Rome
ConPolicy Managing Director becomes associate member
For more than 50 years, the Club of Rome has been working for sustainable development. The Club of Rome brings together people who develop solutions to the complex global challenges facing humanity today.
As a national offshoot, the German Club of Rome Association identifies relevant questions to the dramatic global developments and develops answers by creating spaces for the exchange of knowledge and ideas.
In May 2023, ConPolicy Managing Director, Prof. Dr. Christian Thorun, was accepted by the German Club of Rome Society as an associate member. Here he contributes his expertise in the areas of sustainable consumption, responsible and people-centered digitalization and behavior change.
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