Many of the roses in Volksgarten are currently in full bloom.

I thought a a lot whether I should publish this week’s newsletter with all its banalities and trivia due to the terrible and traumatising events in Graz.

Option 1 I was to pause the newsletter this week. Armin Thurnher has a very relevant text leading (somehow) into this direction.

Option 2 was to send a version different from the standard format highlighting issues that are (somehow) in my field of expertise and should, in my view, be discussed now, in particular: a) media coverage of the event with AUF1, Krone, Oe24, profil (“Daheim beim Amokläufer”), in particular, and their failure to comply with, in my view, basic ethical (and sometimes legal) standards of journalism (and the many claiming this now with no tanmgible further effect; 80 complaints so far at “Presserat” and counting) ) and b) needs for reform in our educational system. Die Tagespresse has the best text I read on problem a) so far.

Problem b) is hardly covered anywhere, and it will be difficult to discuss. What is positive in the debate, is, that issues of mental health in youth and how to react on such terror make it somehow, sometimes on the political agenda.

Option 3 was to stick (more or less) to the standard format. I finally decided to go for option three because I thought that showing some kind of “normality” would be the best way to answer to the situation.

I would appreciate your feedback on this decision.

NSFW

This wek’s s song is from Anna Mabo. She is is such an outstandingly gifted person - as a musician, actress and artist. I highly recommend to follow her; there will be several opportunities to see her during summer - one in the state opera with Alfred Dorfer in July (!).

The song

is somehow a nice example of a nice love song. It should be heard together with this song that is about the flip coin (and 1070 Vienna).

I learned from YouTube that Ernst Molden is the album producer. Another multitalent! Small world!

Retrospect

Good Scientific Practice

I attended a six hours working session of the Austrian Agency for Scientific Integrity (OEAWI). We are in the process of reforming the OeAWI Guidelines for Good Scientific Practice as the current version is ten years old. This is a really complicated and challenging, yet highly interesting endeveaour. Three areas are of specific interest: AI, data access and contract research. In all three domains it has become very clear very quickly how different scientific cultures in different scientific communities are and how difficiult it is to find some common principles that should be put into soft law. In particular in AI the situation seems to be that everything which goes beyond “Follow the culture in your field that might yet need time to develop” risks to be outdated and/or irrelevant and/or stifling innovation quickly. More work on this will be needed during summer. One of the already existing documents we take as reference is the ALLEA-code.

Medical Imaging

I joined an interdisciplinary conference with a very poetic title on Thursday.

Together with Prof. Lucian Beer and Prof. Georg Langs, I had the privilege to discuss some of the lessons learned and plans made in our Christian Doppler Laboratory.

Saskia - one of the many outstandingly bright people in this project - was so kind to send me a picture, showing that I really, really tried to think deeply :-)

© Saskia Kaltenbrunner

Langs is also the head of the newly founded Comprehensive Center for AI in Medicine that was opened just a week ago.

Some pictures as well es a very positive assessment of Meduni’s rector Markus Müller of the opening are on LinkedIn.

Ars Iuris

The Advanced Research School in Law and Jurisprudence had its yearly conference which was a very nice event. I was, in particular, impressed by two things: the really excellent average level of the presentations - formally as well as substantially - and the broadness of topics young legal scholars are interested in - from criminology to digital matters to legal history and back. The picture shows panel 2 - with topics that deal with digitalisation and, again, excellent presentations.

Legal Geek

UNIVIE’s law school’s students association (FV.JUS) awards prices to professors every year. Here are the categories:

Having a chair in law and digitalisation, I unfortunately have to report that I failed again to be funny or nice or the one to drink a beer with. Nevertheless, students were so kind to comfort me.

#arsboni

The LLP-Vienna project provides a 101 in contract law for non-lawyers

and we had a nice conversation on art law clinics in four universities on different continents

Messenger Surveillance

ORF Report had a piece on the draft law about messanger surveillance - on the day of the terrorist attack in Graz. No surprises to be seen there - Nicolas Stockhammer here, Nikolaus Forgó there, Jörg Leichtfried in the middle - , but additional information on the situation in France that might be interesting - as well as the fact that Nikolaus Scherak refused to give an interview (different from a few weeks ago in #arsboni in all length and detail). I haven’t heard a single word on the matter since Graz and can’t predict what next steps might be here.

Prospect

#arsboni

I will do another (see #arsboni 501 and #arsboni 530) #arsboni laundry-session with Walter Strobl on the governance of Austria’s public broadcaster ORF. One of the many reasons for this is the still rather “strange” composition of Publikums- and Stiftungsrat Hans Peter Lehofer writes so brilliantly about in his blog

On Wednesday, June 19, at 19.00 CET, the Vienna Legal Literacy Project will stream their next episode.

AI-Act

I am one out of four speakers (and the only academic) in a seminar on the new European Acts on digitalisation on Monday. My gig will be about the AI-act.

This is a paid event, no free stream.

Look and Feel

Emiliana Torrini was in Vienna, with a support act from Bernhard Eder. amd it was marvelous.

The concert took place in Arena Wien which was a good reason to read about the history of this institution. Wien Museum has a nice text about this. And they have a dragon there now, as I saw with my own eyes.

Here’s a nice review about her and the album, and here and here’s some background. It’s also due to her that I read a music review from Reykjavík Grapevine for the very first time in my life. And that’s how I found avery nice and very long text about Icelandic summer.

And while I am reading this text, dreaming of Iceland and finishing this weekly, I am listening to to the music recommendation given:

Sometimes, the internet is still beautiful.

Daisy

can do shakehands while smiling (and is left handed).

Have a wonderful week!

Kind regards

Nikolaus (Forgó)