Project course, Winter term 2026/27 · Mondays 8:00–10:00, US-A 016 · Start: 19 October 2026 · 9 CP
Lecturer: Parvin Ghadamighalandari · Responsible: Prof. Dr. Volker Wulf
When states filter or shut down the internet, people build their own ways around it: shared VPN servers, config distribution, mesh and offline messaging, help from the diaspora. In this project course we ask how such grassroots circumvention infrastructures are built, maintained and trusted under state control, and where they break.
You work in teams of 3–4 on one of two tracks:
- Interview track: literature review, semi-structured interviews and observation, thematic analysis, design implications.
- Simulation track: a model or lab testbed of circumvention tools under blocking, grounded in our research and public measurement data.
The course builds on the Socio-Informatics group's research on digital technology under authoritarian rule and in conflict settings. We meet in person several times during the semester; between sessions, teams work independently.
Assessment: paper presentation, interim and final presentation, final report with anonymised data or code. Please register for the exam in January.
- Dozent/in: Parvin Ghadamighalandari