Why humans must be the center of attention In care, at work, in the family: digitalization is increasingly changing our lives. What role should we humans play in this?
A morning at the Citizen Service Center. A young woman wants to re-register her residence, but she has missed the deadline. The new job, the move, the search for a childcare center - it's easy to forget about re-registering when you're under so much stress. The woman had actually hoped to describe her situation to a clerk. But since recently, you interact with an AI in the citizen service, a conversation with a human is not possible. The AI's conclusion: the woman has to pay.
The whole thing is merely a thought experiment, and nevertheless just such a scene can become real in the course of advancing digitalization: What if we interact with the state in citizen service only by AI, by chatbot? How does this change the role of citizens in relation to the state? Are there elements of unfairness? What is the actual benefit for society?
The OFFIS Research Division Society deals with precisely these questions - and stands out. A Institut for Information Technology, which dedicates such a large Division to the topic society, is so far unique in Germany. However, this perspective is urgently needed. After all, digital technologies now penetrate almost all areas of our lives.
Until now, the development of technologies has usually only been analyzed in retrospect to determine the consequences, how relevant the technologies are, and whether the population accepts them at all.
CITIZENS ARE THOUGHT ABOUT FROM THE BEGINNING
The OFFIS team wants to change this approach. The goal is to consider acceptance, the consequences of technology, and ethics from the very beginning, and to involve all stakeholders, especially citizens, in the design process.
How can this work? One example is real and digital citizen participation in large urban planning concepts. Until now, citizens have either been able to find out about a future project in the city hall or they follow the call on a city page to give an opinion.
But it is not known if a demographic representative participation has actually succeeded. The tools, the metrics are missing so far. Who was reached? How were they reached? What opinions were expressed? OFFIS wants to make a significant contribution here, to advance digital and real citizen participation.
Among other things, the OFFIS start-up project Digitopias is investigating how people can be won over for citizen participation processes with the help of digital technologies, for example for the decision on the construction of a stadium. In doing so, OFFIS is looking at various ways of reaching people, for example via information stands, via interviews or via QR codes located at bus stops. When scanned, users are taken directly to the interview process.
The goal here is to evaluate: Where and how many people were reached? How can more people be addressed? The data is collected and then analyzed. In the future, a map could be created in this way, showing in which areas people have participated and who these people actually are.
DIGITAL INNOVATIONS AS A BRIDGE WITHIN THE SOCIETY
Taking this a step further, it would even be possible to bring oppositional groups together. For example, supporters of the stadium construction would meet opponents and could engage in an exchange. The idea behind this: The development of new technologies should be shaped in the spirit of an open, participatory and democratic society. Digital technologies can thus be a bridge within society.
Digital technologies can strengthen participation in society; OFFIS is also working on this. Homeschooling, remote work, zoom meetings with family - in the Corona pandemic, we have learned as a society to stay in touch, to participate, at a distance.
Solutions need to be developed in the future to enable everyone to participate on an equal basis, including vulnerable people - for example, the elderly, those in need of care.
The OFFIS Social Computing group is working on this very issue, designing new participation formats for a broad base of the population. People can use mobile apps or web applications to make political decisions, for example. In this way, digital technologies can strengthen trust in online media, encourage democratic opinion-forming, and enable platforms for active participation in democracy and political decision-making.
The OFFIS Team also deals with the question of how closeness can be established over distance. One example: a virtual visit to the grandmother who lives in a nursing home far away from the grandchildren. Can technology help people who live in different places feel connected? Can avatars be used to do this?
TECHNOLOGIES AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR NURSING
These are precisely the kinds of technologies that could be used in nursing care. Again, the question is: Who is affected? Who is involved? How does technology affect people? The home visitors, the caregivers, the technology developers, the families of the cared-for can then be involved in the development process.
At OFFIS, people are involved from the beginning, in the survey, in the formulation of requirements, in the expression of concerns. In some projects, they can even actively participate themselves in a so-called "participatory design process". They themselves are strongly involved in the process of development, design and evaluation of the project.
OFFIS wants to make clear with its projects: Technology is an enabler and people urgently need to be involved in the development of innovations. Because the target group of new technologies is all of us, the society!
