Workshop on "Human-Machine Communication (HMC)" at the IWM

At the IWM, scientists pursue a research topic that has hardly been in the focus of science and yet is more relevant than ever: What do "smart speakers" - AI-supported language software – do to our communication and how can any insights be gained into such forms of interaction with machines?

These were precisely the questions discussed in the digital workshop "Human-Machine Communication (HMC)" on 22 February 2022 as part of the Annual Conference of the German Communication Association (DGPuK). Stefanie Klein, Franziska Gaiser, and Prof. Dr. Sonja Utz from the Junior Research Group Social Media in cooperation with Esther Greussing from TU Braunschweig organised the workshop. In addition to a theoretical discussion, the event offered participating scientists the opportunity to interact with AI-supported agents and to identify first-hand methodological and subject-related challenges that this research entails. The aim of the event was to develop possible solutions and implications for the field.

"The workshop was a great experience and we were able to get to know the German HMC community better, which led to exciting discussions and impulses", sums up co-organiser Franziska Gaiser. Feedback from around 20 participants was also consistently positive and confirmed the organisers' intention to organise a follow-up event this year's autumn.