Photo: Reimund Bertrams Briefly analysed
Public Engagement formats need time. The Tübingen Cyber Valley’s AI consultation hour addressed citizens in its second edition. The reason: Public Engagement Manager Patrick Klügel created a concrete topic with AI and ethics that is close to everyday life. Another important tip from him is to enter into collaborations with non-scientific institutions. So people outside the scientific bubble can be reached.
Public Talk to citizens about research. That’s the approach of Cyber Valley’s AI consultion hour from Tübingen, Germany. Public Engagement Manager Patrick Klügel shares his experiences.
Public Engagement needs time and concrete points of contact. These are two important insights of Public Engagement Manager Patrick Klügel. He has been organizing the AI consultation hour at Cyber Valley in Tübingen since March 2021. Once a month, citizens have the opportunity to meet scientists and ask them questions about artificial intelligence.
So far (as of June 2021), the consultation hour has taken place twice. “The first edition didn’t reach the goal that way,” Patrick Klügel sums up. Instead of interested laypeople, he says, it was mainly people with a specialist background, i.e. students or employees of companies specialized in AI, who attended. Curiosity brought them to the consultation hour.
Time and patience
In the second edition, Patrick Klügel and his team changed the format. It was given a thematic focus: ethics and AI. This had an effect. With over 40 participants, the interest was more than twice as great as in the first edition with 15 participants. Now citizens were present. Patrick Klügel notes that such formats have to develop. It takes time and patience.
In addition, concrete links to everyday life are necessary. They make the complex topic tangible. AI is perhaps not so interesting as the social consequences with which every citizen comes into contact.
Public Engagement is a process. “You have to think in steps,” explains Patrick Klügel. The first step is to get to know each other. After that, there can be more dialogue and exchange. Once this has been established, engagement projects can be organized.
More networking in Public Engagement
In Germany, there have been individual activities so far, such as open days. But there is a lack of a uniform structure. “The big task is to create connections and to network more strongly in the field of Public Engagement,” says Patrick Klügel. Strategies must be developed that lead to structures and ecosystems that sustain the idea of Public Engagement.
In order to reach as many citizens as possible, Patrick Klügel gives the following tip: enter into cooperations with other institutions – even non-scientific ones. For example, Cyber Valley cooperates with the adult education centre in Tübingen. This helps to get out of the scientific bubble.
Stronger presence in public space
Other formats have developed from the AI consultation hour. For example, the podcast Direct Dial. The aim here is to clarify what AI scientists are researching. Citizens also have their say. For Patrick Klügel, it is important to continue on this path and to rethink digital events. Some of them should be transferred to the analogue.
The Public Engagement Manager wants to create a stronger presence in public space. Cyber Valley wants to invite people to think about AI at places where Tübingen’s citizens happen to pass by. Because Public Engagement has to take place where the citizens are.