Heads:
Prof. Dr. Annette Leßmöllmann (KIT)
Dr. Monika Hanauska (KIT)

Institutions involved:
Department for Wissenschaftskommunikation (Karlsruher Institut of Technology)
Rhetoric Department
Cyber Valley

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.

Contact
Prof. Dr. Annette Leßmöllmann

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
Institut für Technikzukünfte
Department für Wissenschafts­kommunikation

annette.lessmoellmannspam prevention@kit.edu
Website

Heads: 
Prof. Dr. Susanne Marschall
Dr. Erwin Feyersinger

Institute of Media Studies

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) fiction film, television series, and computer games 2) science journalism 3) the communication of academic and industrial AI research as well as 4) audiovisual representations modified and generated by AI. To analyze these representations, we will create a database of moving and static images of AI.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Susanne Marschall
susanne.marschallspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de
Website

Dr. Erwin Feyersinger
erwin.feyersingerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de
Website

Heads:
Dr. Markus Gottschling
Prof. Dr. Olaf Kramer

Institution:
Rhetoric Department

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 judgement of the scientists involved. Through trainings, 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 the individual trainings. This way, we will ensure the continuous development of the training measures.

Contact:
Dr. Markus Gottschling
markus.gottschlingspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de
Website

Heads:
Prof. Dr. Olaf Kramer
Patrick Klügel

Institutions involved:
Rhetoric Department
Cyber Valley
Wissenschaft im Dialog (Science in Dialogue)

Activities:
The Event Unit will develop and implement science communication formats on a local as well as on 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.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Olaf Kramer
olaf.kramerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de

Patrick Klügel
patrick.kluegelspam prevention@cyber-valley.de

Heads:
Prof. Dr. Olaf Kramer
Prof. Dr. Philipp Berens
Prof. Dr. Matthias Bethge

Institutions involved:
Rhetoric Department
Excellence Cluster Machine Learning
OBVIA, Montréal

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.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Olaf Kramer
olaf.kramerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de
Website