Web Science Trust

Untangling the Web of Humans and Technology

Annual Conference: ACM WebSci'24

Thanks to everyone who made WebSci’23 in Austin, Texas such a success – We are already looking forward to seeing you at WebSci’24: May 21 – 24, 2024 in Stuttgart, Germany. 

 

 

 

Web Science White Paper Series

WST has commissioned a new series of white papers by leading authors on current issues affecting society as it struggles to resolves its relationship with Technology.

Untangling the Web

Interviews: hosted by Noshir Contractor

Digital Modernity

Digital Modernity   “Modernity” is a social, cultural, or historical descriptor for a certain type of society or set of social arrangements. It is a contentious and disputed term, often understood implicitly. It is a way of describing and classifying highly...

WebSci’23 is now over and WebSci’24 is coming to Germany

WebSci'23 is now over and we thank everyone who made it such as success. We'll keep you posted on the proceedings and any follow-up news whilst keeping you up-to-date on preprations for the next event in Stuttgart, Germany May 21 – 24, 2024.

Web3 – the promise and the reality

Web3 describes a group of technologies for managing collective interactions on the internet while avoiding centralised control, granting users agency over access to their data, and managing distribution of value as digital assets. The technologies are distributed...

WST White Paper on Privacy

Law has granted individuals some rights over the use of data about them, but data protection rights have not redressed the balance between the individual and the tech giants. A number of approaches aim to augment personal rights to allow individuals to police their...

Web Science White paper – Building trust

Southamptons WSI have produced a collection of Web Science white papers. This white paper sets out how to embody a Data Governance Model which builds trust, particularly when used with large group data sharing, within and between different organisations through the...

What is Web Science?

Web Science is the study of the most complex piece of technology ever created. The Web comprises billions of technical and human components operating globally, with each piece subtly influencing the others. Multiple expert perspectives across scientific disciplines are required to build an understanding of how the Web changes society just as much as society changes the Web. 

Get Involved

WST works with universities. think tanks, research groups, governments, businesses and private individuals to better understand the nature and impact the Web will continue to have on society.

Click below to learn more about the research,  courses, events, training, conferences and outreach we offer, support and promote.

 

 

 

 

 

About Us

The Web Science Trust is a UK charity hosted by the University of Southampton which brings together world class thinkers and research in Web Science. We are a not-for-profit group representing 20 of the leading universities and research groups and headed by international thought leaders in Web Science and Socio-technical systems.

WSTNet Laboratories

Our global network of research labs

WST Newsletter

A round-up of News and Events

WebSci Courses & Summer Schools

Find WebSci and related courses

WebSci courses and WSTNet Summer School

Brave Conversations

Our international public outreach series

Join Anni Rowland-Campbell and her team ...

Untangling the Web

A podcast from the Web Science Trust.

Join Noshir Contractor for a new series ..

Web Science Policy & Advice

Our Trustee led think-tank

Advising leaders in Government & Business

ACM Web Science Conference

Our international academic conference.
Next conference to be held in Stuttgart, Germany May 21 – 24, 2024

14 years, thousands of researchers

The Video Vault

Watch videos from WebSci events and our YouTube channel

Publications & Research

Leading books, papers and talks on Web Science

Our Mission & Vision

Our vision and mission for the Trust is to help grow an understanding of the Web through interdisciplinary scientific methods.

We need to understand the Web, because it is evolving alongside society. Social and technical innovation drive each other. There is no longer a distinction between online and offline; the Web involves virtually all of us to some degree. If it is to benefit humankind, we need to understand the Web, engineer it sensitively and sustainably, anticipate its effects, and also anticipate the consequences of social change upon it. Web Science must therefore involve both engineering the technology, and analysing its impact.

Evolving technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things, new practices, such as social machines and telemedicine, and new contexts, such as the pandemic lockdowns, will only accelerate social and technical change via, and as a direct result of, the Web.

Web Science must therefore include, at a minimum, mathematics, network science, sociology, law, ethics, psychology, computer science, media studies, linguistics, geography, and so on. Virtually all disciplines have something to say about the Web. The Web, as a diverse network, demands a research community to reflect the diversity of cultural, legal, political, commercial and technical structures which affect, and in turn are affected by, the Web.

 

Why is Web Science important?

Listen to WST Trustee Danny Weitzner put the importance of Web Science into context.

Brave Conversations

Brave Conversations near you?

Brave Conversations have recently been to Barcelona, Sharjah and Texas.

The next event is in Brussels on Friday 12th May so Register for the next Brave Conversation and become part of the Conversation.

Summer School

TBA, 2023

Stay tuned for the next in the series of Web Science summer schools created by our wider WSTNet community to engage students from international research labs

 

WebSci Conference

May 21 – 24, 2024 STUTTGART, GERMANY

The ACM Web Science conference (WebSci’24) is coming to Stuttgart, Germany for #WebSci24, taking place May 21 – 24, 2024

 

Web Science News / Blog

News and Blog posts

Sep 20, 2023

UK regulator AI warnings

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued a warning about the potential risks of artificial intelligence (AI) foundation models. These AI systems, trained on massive, unlabeled data sets, underpin large language models and can be used for various...

Aug 8, 2023

WebSci’24 Call for Papers

Call for Papers Important Dates Thu, November 30, 2023: Paper submission deadline Wed, January 31, 2024: Notification Thu, February 29, 2024: Camera-ready versions due Tue-Fri, May 21 – May 24, 2024: Conference dates All dates are 23:59 Anywhere on Earth time...

Aug 8, 2023

WSTNet Interview: Matt Weber

Ian: Matt, it feels strange to welcome you as our newest Lab Director when I think I've known you as part of the Web Science community for at least 10 years Matt: Probably longer - I think my interest in Web Science and particularly Web data goes back to the very...

Jun 26, 2023

Brave Conversations London ’23

The next Brave Conversation will take place on Thursday 20th July at Newspeak House in London. Brave Conversations London 2023 This is our 22nd Brave Conversations event and our third in London. At our first in 2018 we had only just launched Brave Conversations and...

Jun 21, 2023

Dame Wendy Hall on AI

Dame Wendy Hall gives an interview on Sky News on the future of AI, the possibility of long-term dangers and how we can pragmatically engage with the risks of disinformation in the short term  

May 15, 2023

Digital Modernity

Digital Modernity   “Modernity” is a social, cultural, or historical descriptor for a certain type of society or set of social arrangements. It is a contentious and disputed term, often understood implicitly. It is a way of describing and classifying highly...

May 3, 2023

Wendy Hall on BBC News 24

Following the resignation of Geoffrey Hinton from Google and associated comments regarding his concerns around the direction of AI research WST CEO Dame Wendy Hall spoke to the BBC. Interview footage provided courtesy of BBC News.Prof. Dame Wendy Hall of the...

May 1, 2023

WebSci’23 is now over and WebSci’24 is coming to Germany

WebSci'23 is now over and we thank everyone who made it such as success. We'll keep you posted on the proceedings and any follow-up news whilst keeping you up-to-date on preprations for the next event in Stuttgart, Germany May 21 – 24, 2024.

May 1, 2023

ACM WebSci’24 comes to Germany

@ststaab and his team of local organizers invites the Web Science Community to Stuttgart, Germany for #WebSci24, taking place May 21 - 24,...

May 1, 2023

Web Science Trust selects 2023 winner of Test of Time award

The annual Web Science Trust (WST) Test of Time Award has been awarded to Nam P. Nguyen (Towson University), Guanhua Yan (Binghamton University), My T. Thai (University of Florida) and Stephan Eidenbenz (Los Alamos National Laboratory) for their work titled...