Team

Unit 1
Discourse & Narratives 

Com­mu­nic­a­tion on arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and its explor­a­tion is shaped and trans­formed by top­ic­al and nar­rat­ive struc­tures. This fun­da­ment­al assump­tion will be explored by the inter­dis­cip­lin­ary Research Unit 1.

Unit 2
Visual Communication

To address the import­ance of visu­al­ity in sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion, Unit 2 exam­ines audi­ovisu­al rep­res­ent­a­tions of arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and how these rep­res­ent­a­tions influ­ence cur­rent dis­courses on AI.

Unit 3
Communicative Competence

Sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion needs thought­ful and exper­i­enced com­mu­nic­at­ors. This is espe­cially true in AI research. Unit 3 wants to raise the com­mu­nic­at­ive judg­ment of the sci­ent­ists involved.

Unit 4
Events Unit

The Event Unit will devel­op and imple­ment sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion formats on a loc­al as well as a nation­wide level. For the com­mu­nic­a­tion of AI top­ics, we will draw on a rich exper­i­ence of the par­ti­cip­at­ing institutions.

Unit 5
Future Strategies

A cent­ral goal of Unit 5 is to mon­it­or devel­op­ments in AI research and the pub­lic dis­course on AI. Such mon­it­or­ing will serve as a basis for the pro­spect­ive devel­op­ment of com­mu­nic­a­tion that takes into account social issues and eth­ic­al considerations.

Research Unit 1: Discourse and Narrative Unit

Activities

Com­mu­nic­a­tion on arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and its explor­a­tion is shaped and trans­formed by top­ic­al and nar­rat­ive struc­tures. This fun­da­ment­al assump­tion will be explored by the inter­dis­cip­lin­ary Research Unit 1. In close cooper­a­tion with Unit 2, a total of three cor­pora on them­at­ic, top­ic­al, but also fic­tion­al, and fig­ur­at­ive struc­tures in AI dis­course will be built and ana­lyzed. These will serve as a found­a­tion for research on spe­cif­ic char­ac­ter­ist­ics of sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion in AI dis­course. The Cen­ter itself will yield new mater­i­al, e.g., by con­duct­ing focus groups, cit­izen con­fer­ences, or online chats with sci­ent­ists and pupils, which will also be incor­por­ated and will form the basis for rhet­or­ic­al and dis­course-ana­lyt­ic­al research work.

In cooper­a­tion with Cyber Val­ley, Unit 1 also offers an in-res­id­ence pro­gram for exper­i­enced sci­ence journ­al­ists. Dur­ing the stay, the journ­al­ist-in-res­id­ence gains the oppor­tun­ity to learn about the basics and the fron­ti­ers in machine learn­ing, com­puter vis­ion, and robotics.

Participating institutions

  • Chair of sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion with a focus on lin­guist­ics at the Depart­ment of Sci­ence Com­mu­nic­a­tion (Karls­ruh­er Insti­tute for Technology)
  • Sem­in­ar for gen­er­al rhet­or­ic (Uni­versität Tübingen)
  • Cyber Val­ley

Research Unit 1: Discourse and Narrative Unit

Members

Prof. Dr. Annette Leßmöllmann

Chair Sci­ence Com­mu­nic­a­tion with a focus on lin­guist­ics
Karls­ruhe Insti­tute of Tech­no­logy

Web­site

Dr. Monika Hanauska

Karls­ruhe Insti­tute of Technology

Web­site

Dr. Nina Kalwa

Post-Doc Dis­course & Nar­rat­ive
Karls­ruhe Insti­tute of Technology

Web­site

Anna-Marie Köhler

PhD can­did­ate
"Als Rhet­or­iker­in interessiert mich beson­ders der Zusam­men­hang zwis­chen Wis­senschaft­skom­munika­tion und Protest und der­en Wirkung auf den öffent­lichen Diskurs."

Franziska Buresch

PhD can­did­ate
"Imp­fange­bot, Imp­f­licht oder Imp­fzwang? Was mich als Lin­guistin fasziniert, ist, wie viel ein ein­zel­nes Wort über die Wahrnehmung von Wis­senschaft und Gesell­schaft ver­raten kann– viel­leicht aber auch nicht muss."

Patrizia Attar

PhD can­did­ate
"Wis­senschaft­liche The­men polar­is­ier­en häufig so stark, dass öffent­liche Debat­ten prakt­ische Kon­sequen­zen haben: Wissenschaftler*innen gehen in ihr­er Forschung auf Chan­cen und Äng­ste ein, Politiker*innen schaf­fen Richt­lini­en und Geset­ze. Mich interessiert, wie The­men wie KI dadurch bee­in­flusst wer­den, wie wir über sie sprechen."

Research Unit 2: Visual Communication

Activities

To address the cent­ral import­ance of visu­al­ity in sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion, Unit 2 is con­cerned with research­ing audi­ovisu­al rep­res­ent­a­tions of arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and how these rep­res­ent­a­tions influ­ence cur­rent mul­timod­al dis­courses on AI. In close exchange with the Dis­courses & Nar­rat­ives Unit, we will study recur­ring nar­rat­ives, motifs, and audi­ovisu­al rep­res­ent­a­tions related to AI in:
  1. iction film, tele­vi­sion series, and com­puter games
  2. sci­ence journalism
  3. the com­mu­nic­a­tion of aca­dem­ic and indus­tri­al AI research
  4. audi­ovisu­al rep­res­ent­a­tions mod­i­fied and gen­er­ated by AI.

To ana­lyze these rep­res­ent­a­tions, we will cre­ate a data­base of mov­ing and stat­ic images of AI.

Involved institutions

  • Insti­tute for Media Stud­ies (Uni­ver­sity Tübingen)

Research Unit 2: Visual Communication

Members

Prof. Dr. Susanne Marschall

Insti­tute for Media Stud­ies
Dir­ect­or Cen­ter for Media Competence

Web­site

Dr. Erwin Feyersinger

Dir­ect­or Research Cen­ter for Anim­a­tion and Emer­ging Media
Insti­tute of Media Studies

Web­site

Dr. Anne Burkhardt

Post-Doc AI and Visu­al Culture

Web­site

Micheal Pelzer

Pro­ject Man­age­ment & Research Know­ledge Design

Web­site

Former Members:

Lukas Kohmann

Research Unit 3: Communicative Competence

Activities

Sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion needs thought­ful and exper­i­enced com­mu­nic­at­ors. This is espe­cially true in AI research, a field of com­plex top­ics that are highly con­tro­ver­sial and hotly debated by the pub­lic. Unit 3 wants to raise the com­mu­nic­at­ive judg­ment of the sci­ent­ists involved. Through train­ing, they learn to adapt their com­mu­nic­a­tion to the know­ledge of the audi­ence, as well as to under­stand and take ser­i­ously the beliefs and emo­tions of the audi­ence towards AI. Rhet­or­ic­al research in this unit not only aims at the the­or­et­ic­al ana­lys­is of per­suas­ive present­a­tion but also at con­nect­ing the­ory to the prac­tice of sound train­ing for sci­ent­ists who come into con­tact with the pub­lic in the par­ti­cip­at­ory formats of the Cen­ter. Research with­in this unit uses the­or­et­ic­al reflec­tion as well as quant­it­at­ive ana­lys­is to look at the impact of indi­vidu­al train­ing. This way, we will ensure the con­tinu­ous devel­op­ment of the train­ing measures.

Involved institutions

  • Sem­in­ar für Allge­meine Rhet­or­ik (Uni­ver­sity Tübingen)

Research Unit 3: Communicative Competence

Members

Prof. Dr. Olaf Kramer

Pro­fess­or of Rhet­or­ic and Sci­ence Com­mu­nic­a­tion
Rhet­or­ic Department

Web­site

Dr. Markus Gottschling

Rhet­or­ic Department

Web­site

Dr. Fabian Erhardt

Web­site

Rafaela Pfeil

PhD can­did­ate

Viktorija Völker

Pro­ject Man­age­ment & Research Com­mu­nic­at­ive Competence

Web­site

Salina Weber

Pro­ject Man­age­ment & Research Com­mu­nic­at­ive Competence

Research Unit 4: Event Unit

Activities

The Event Unit will devel­op and imple­ment sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion formats on a loc­al as well as a nation­wide level. For the com­mu­nic­a­tion of AI top­ics, we will draw on a rich exper­i­ence of the par­ti­cip­at­ing insti­tu­tions: with the help of the event port­fo­lio of the Pub­lic Engage­ment Depart­ment of the Cyber Val­ley eco­sys­tem, Tübin­gen becomes an exper­i­ment­al field of innov­at­ive sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion formats. At the same time, school stu­dents through­out Ger­many bene­fit from Sci­ence in Dialogue’s pro­jects “I am a Sci­ent­ist” and the "Juni­or AI Cafés". In addi­tion, the Rhet­or­ic Depart­ment can not only draw on its own suc­cess­ful sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion events but also ensure sci­entif­ic sup­port with the help of qual­it­at­ive ana­lys­is and auto­mated rat­ing tools.

Involved institutions

  • Sem­in­ar für Allge­meine Rhet­or­ik (Uni­ver­sity Tübingen)
  • Cyber Val­ley
  • Wis­senschaft im Dialog

Research Unit 4: Event Unit

Members

Prof. Dr. Olaf Kramer

Pro­fess­or of Rhet­or­ic and Sci­ence Com­mu­nic­a­tion
Rhet­or­ic Department

Web­site

Patrick Klügel

Pub­lic Engage­ment Man­ager Uni­ver­sity Tübingen

Web­site

Kerstin Grundhöffer

Pro­ject man­age­ment I’m a Sci­ent­ist and Juni­or Sci­ence Café KI
Wis­senschaft im Dialog

Web­site

Alissa Schüller

Pro­ject man­age­ment I’m a Sci­ent­ist and Juni­or Sci­ence Café KI
Wis­senschaft im Dialog

Web­site

Leya Safian

Stu­dent assist­ance I’m a Sci­ent­ist and Juni­or Sci­ence Café KI
Wis­senschaft im Dialog

Anika Kaiser

Former Members:

Kim Luth­er

Research Unit 5: Future Strategies

Activities

A cent­ral object­ive of the Future Strategies Unit will be to mon­it­or devel­op­ments in the field of AI research and the social dis­course on AI top­ics. Such mon­it­or­ing will serve as a basis for the pro­spect­ive devel­op­ment of com­mu­nic­a­tion which takes into account import­ant social issues and eth­ic­al con­sid­er­a­tions. This will be sup­por­ted by the research exchange with the "Obser­vatoire inter­na­tion­al sur les impacts sociétaux de l’IA et du numérique" (OBVIA). The Unit will make use of our rhet­or­ic­al approach and take ser­i­ously how the effects of fram­ing, as well as indi­vidu­al interests and motiv­a­tions, influ­ence the dis­course on AI. The aim will be to find altern­at­ives to the pre­dom­in­ant dicho­tom­ous com­mu­nic­a­tion struc­ture around AI, without allow­ing the unre­flec­ted euphor­ia of sci­ence or false pos­it­iv­ism to infilt­rate the dis­cus­sion. Addi­tion­ally, the Future Strategies Unit will ana­lyze, if and how AI could act as a driver of innov­at­ive meth­ods in sci­ence com­mu­nic­a­tion – e.g. lib­rary search, text recog­ni­tion, big data research, and visu­al analytics.

Involved institutions

  • Rhet­or­ic Depart­ment (Uni­ver­sity Tübingen)
  • Excel­lence Cluster Machine Learn­ing (Uni­ver­sity Tübingen)

  • OBVIA Mon­tréal

Research Unit 5: Future Strategies

Members

Prof. Dr. Olaf Kramer

Pro­fess­or of Rhet­or­ic and Sci­ence Com­mu­nic­a­tion
Rhet­or­ic Depart­ment

Web­site

Prof. Dr. Philipp Berens

Com­pu­ta­tion­al Neur­os­cience and Data Sci­ence
Excel­lence Cluster Machine Learning

Web­site

Prof. Dr. Matthias Bethge

Com­pu­ta­tion­al Neur­os­cience and Machine Learn­ing
Dir­ect­or Tübin­gen AI Center

Web­site

Dr. Fabian Erhardt

Web­site

Beteiligte Institutionen

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