This week, the new Journalists-in-Residence, Dr. Anna Henschel and Willem de Haan, start their research residence Tübingen. Anna Henschel works at wissenschaftskommunikation.de (eng.: science communication) as an editor and writes about topics around science communication. She also got her PhD in psychology on human-robot-interaction. Willem de Haan works at the MDR for the competence center "digital distribution". There he is inter-departmentally responsible for the development and optimization of digital content.
Die neuen Journalists-in-Residence und ihre Recherchethemen
Dr. Anna Henschel
Anna Henschel views the linguistical anthropomorphization of AI as a huge communicative challenge, especially through visual language. In her research she will investigate, which linguistic alternatives exist.
"It is an understandable impulse to humanize AI, when we want to explain it. I want to find out, how we can cover the topic of AI journalistically, without promoting misunderstandings."
Willem de Haan
Willem de Haan wants to develop an AI-based target group testing for journalistic content. Guaranteeing the reach of a widespread audience and focusing on user needs are becoming increasingly important in journalism.
"Can AI-based tools assist with the optimization of distribution and if yes, to which capacity? That is what I want to find out in dialogue with different experts", says Willem de Haan.
Anna Henschel and Willem de Haan will present their projects on October 22nd, 2024, 6 pm at Doblerstraße 21 in an Open House.
WelcomeParty for the new Journalists-in-Residence on October 22nd, 2024, 6 pm
Project presentation at Doblerstraße 21
Presentation of the Journalist-in-Residence research projects by Willem de Haan and Anna Henschel with reception. Those interested can register with Patrick Klügel (patrick.kluegel@uni-tuebingen.de) (places are limited, event will be in German).
What is the Journalist-in-Residence-Programm?
The Journalist-in-Residence programme (in short JIR) of Cyber Valley is aimed at experienced journalists, that want to engage with research on intelligent systems and the relationship between journalism and AI. During their stay, the Journalists-in-Residence have the opportunity to inform themselves about the newest developments in areas such as machine learning, computer vision and robotics within the Cyber Valley Community. They have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to get access to excellence research at institutions of the Max-Planck-Institute for Intelligent Systems, the University of Tübingen, as well as the University of Stuttgart. The stay offers space for creativity and free thinking about methods, future tools and developments for AI-steered or AI-supported journalism.
Thanks to the cooperation between the Center for Rhetorical Science Communication Research on Artificial Intelligence (RHET AI) and Cyber Valley journalists can do research on their own projects on reporting on artificial intelligence. The VolkswagenStiftung promotes the Journalist-in-Residence Programm.
"I recommend the application for everyone who is willing to dive deep into the research on intelligent systems – and at the same time work in a city, that pays close attention to these developments", says data journalist Christina Elmer, who was Journalist-in-Residence in 2021 and is now Germanys first professor for data journalism at the Technischen Universität Dortmund. Since the pilot project of 2021, the JIR-program has been established as a fixed part of the strategic direction of Cyber Valley public engagement. Other former Journalists-in-Residence include Julia Merlot of Spiegel, Bettina Friedrich of MDR, the free journalist Tobias Asmuth and data journalist Elena Riedlinger of WDR.
The RHET AI Center and the Cyber Valley welcome Anna Henschel and Willem de Haan in Tübingen for the fifth round of the Journalist-in-Residence Programms and wish them best of luck for their work!
Photo credits
1 Photograph Anna Henschel: Alexander Walberg
2 Photograph Willem de Haan: Kirsten Nijhof
