MoWiKo at the "Tage der Demokratie" (Days of Democracy)

Alongside the exhibition  "...sag du es mir - Vertrauen in die Wissenschaft" (“…Tell Me—Trust in Science"), Anna Klassen spoke at the Tage der Demokratie about the current status of the MoWiKo project and engaged with citizens in a discussion about the dynamics of polarization in science communication.

June 26, 2026

Following a presentation on the MoWiKo project, the event focused primarily on dialogue and discussion with the public.
Visitors demonstrated particular interest in the project’s methodology.

The target audience for the guidelines based on the group's research was critically discussed: Given increasing polarization, it was unclear for whom these tools would be useful. Anna Klassen acknowledged uncertainties within the project and emphasized that the research had reached a clear boundary: guidelines for communication that promotes understanding are effective only in settings where everyone agrees that understanding should take place. However, institutions and their expertise are sometimes called into question.

Another topic of discussion was the tension between information content and attention: It is easy to pack messages with information without context, but anyone who wants to provide context risks making the message convoluted. There will be an upcoming workshop with professional science communicators where this is one of the main questions to be discussed. The workshop will also examine whether the guidelines are practical, since knowledge transfer does not take place in a vacuum and relational aspects always play a role.

Many thanks to the Zentrum für Mensch und Technik (Center for Human and Technology Studies) for the opportunity to practice science communication by means of a science communication project!