The Computational Communication Science Lab (CCL) is an interdisciplinary research network at the Department of Communication of the University of Vienna headed by Annie Waldherr and Hajo Boomgaarden. We aim to advance our understanding of various antecedents, processes, and consequences of mediated/unmediated communication behaviors on human attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors using computational approaches in a social science framework. In particular, we seek to advance various fields of communication science such as journalism and political communication through the use of computerized tools and algorithms for collecting, processing, analyzing, and visualizing large-scale, complex data.

The goal of CCL is to facilitate the development and application of computational methods through excellence in empirical research and advancement of novel theoretical and methodological perspectives. The research focus of our group includes areas such as (but are not limited to) computer-assisted content analysis, semi/fully automated textual data processing, topic modeling, information visualization, inferential network analysis, and computational modeling of communication behaviors.


APA-UNIVIE Data Project: Members of the University of Vienna now have the possibility to obtain data for scientific use from the media archive of the Austria Press Agency (APA), directly via an Application Programming Interface (API). CCL acts as an intermediary contact point between members of the University of Vienna and the APA. Get in touch if you have any questions on the API and check out our dedicated webpage with information of the application procedure. 

NEWS:

08.08.2025
 

Congrats to Jana Bernhard-Harrer and Katharina Pfaff on their new publication in Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology!

04.08.2025
 

Congrats to Annie Waldherr, Nicola Righetti, and their co-authors on their new publication in Social Science Computer Review!

29.07.2025
 

Huge congratulations to our lab member Noëlle for successfully defending her thesis!

29.07.2025
 

Congrats to Jana Bernhard-Harrer, Jakob-Moritz Eberl, Petro Tolochko, and Hajo Boomgaarden on publishing a new article in PSRM!

15.07.2025
 

She has defended her thesis with distinction, titled “I Do Not (Want to) Know! News Avoidance in Fragmented Media Environments.”

17.06.2025
 

We want to congratulate our lab member Aytalina Kulichkina! She has successfully defended her thesis.