Section: Partnerships and Cooperations

Regional Initiatives

We obtained ARED funding (40% of a PhD) from the region (starting 11-2015). The focus of the proposed research is how to preserve a free and independent quality press in the age of online distribution. We propose to tackle this challenge from two sides: First, we will broaden the online revenue stream by enabling convenient anonymous payments that preserve the reader's privacy and are more efficient and secure than traditional payment systems. Thus, the resulting system will allow for a larger fraction of the payment to arrive at the newspaper, and for a higher conversion of visitors to purchases. Second, we will consider an alternative means for distributing news, which integrates the typical Web-processes of third parties linking to, commenting on, translating and regurgitating stories while also enabling fair compensation of those involved in the creative process. A key challenge here will be to semi-automate the editorial process, leaving it to readers and decentralized, privacy-preserving algorithms to filter worthwile news. The ideal outcome will be a news distribution system that provides censorship resistance, financial compensation for quality (online) journalism and privacy for readers.