#DigiWomenKA: Sonja Thiel
By Katharina Iyen
Female role models are important. They show possibilities, they help to define your own goals and we can learn from your experiences. In our blog series #DigiWomenKA, Katharina Iyen meets one such role model from Karlsruhe’s digital sector once a month to find out more about them, their experiences and their commitment. Today she talks to Sonja Thiel, Project Manager AI & Museum / Creative User Empowerment at the Badisches Landesmuseum.
I meet DigiWomanKA Sonja Thiel in the Badisches Landesmuseum – more precisely in the foyer of Karlsruhe Palace, which houses the museum. Relaxed, she strolls down the monumental staircase at 2 p.m. sharp and greets me with a hearty laugh. As this Friday is so wonderfully sunny and mild, we grab a coffee and chai latte to take a mint and sit down for the interview on the steps in front of the Landesmuseum – many other sun-hungry Karlsruhe residents do the same.
We start with a lively conversation about the possibilities of artificial intelligence. “Imagine if I could use AI to write my blog posts,” I say enthusiastically. Sonja nods in agreement. “This is an exciting opportunity. Let’s write a section of this blog post from ChatGPT and see how well it works and what it means for us.” We decide to try the experiment and are excited to see the results. While we wait for Chat GPT’s response, we sit back and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere in front of the castle.
Digital Catalyst for Artificial Intelligence – a job with many facets
Sonja Thiel currently works as a digital catalyst for artificial intelligence and project manager for “Creative User Empowerment” at the Badisches Landesmuseum. In cooperation with Allard Pierson, the museum of the University of Amsterdam, she is developing a tool that supports the curation of museum content with the help of artificial intelligence. The project will be completed at the end of 2023 with a corresponding software product.
“The Creative User Empowerment project focuses primarily on empowering users in dealing with digital collections and on co-designing artificial intelligence,” my interview partner explains. After all, an important basic idea of the project is that AI should benefit people. The way in which the technology is used should be defined by the users themselves.
She describes her work in more detail for me: “I am not a classic curator in the physical exhibition sector. Ultimately, I do development. For me, it’s about making information accessible and developing it, taking into account how people search and find things and what their individual interests are. That’s basically the starting point.” That’s why Sonja Thiel works mainly with metadata on museum objects, such as digital images and texts, and in exchange with user groups and developers.
From history to future technology
The project manager was born and grew up near Ulm. Her studies in history and philosophy led her via Leipzig to Berlin. She completed her Master’s degree in Philosophy and Modern and Contemporary History in the capital.
She was originally interested in the culture of remembrance and working at memorial sites and with contemporary witnesses. She therefore completed her FSJ in the Netherlands, at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. She later moved into the field of participatory exhibition development. At the Historisches Museum Frankfurt, Thiel experimented with how a broad public can participate in the storytelling of a city and how Frankfurt can be told and understood.
As a research assistant at the University of Freiburg, she was the coordinator for the blended learning program museOn, an academic continuing education program.
Providing, making accessible and negotiating culture are very close to Thiel’s heart. “The question of which culture we create and live is linked to our knowledge and horizons and also to the access we have to the past.” Her current project focuses on the question of how the future technology of artificial intelligence should be understood and used and who is capable of dealing with it actively and consciously. At the same time, she is taking a look at the tension between AI-generated online content versus scientifically sound research. For the researcher, the current question is the quality and usefulness of AI-generated content and how we will be able to assess it in the future.
“Culture can build bridges between research, tech and the public and create a space in which we can learn from and with each other – but also discuss and shape the use of technology. A free society needs the ability to engage in discourse, to tolerate different positions and the resulting negotiation.”
Access to education is crucial
A cornerstone of Thiel’s work is to facilitate access to education and knowledge. She focuses on participation in and accessibility to (digital) learning spaces. The AI project manager is driven by the question of educational equality. She wants to break down barriers and provide analog and digital exchange spaces for trying things out and experimenting. Bringing people into spaces of opportunity and making them visible is an important driver for her. This could promote equity in education.
Her own field of activity, culture, is just one example of the fact that there is still room for improvement when it comes to justice: “The opportunities for women* are still not equal,” she says. However, the cultural sector in general is still not well positioned when it comes to diversity. In addition, the cultural sector is chronically underfunded, which, according to Thiel, requires a lot of intrinsic motivation: “Learning from each other and common goals are my driving force. Others often perceive me as a well-connected and communicative person. That always makes me happy.”
Karlsruhe, so private and so beautiful
I would like to know from Sonja Thiel how she perceives the city of Karlsruhe and what opportunities she sees here for herself and her work. “I like Karlsruhe, but I came here during the coronavirus period and therefore perceived it as a city that withdraws into the private sphere,” she says with a smile. “But I am interested in its history as an administrative and planned city and the impact of the various universities and art colleges.”
She is particularly impressed by the digital location: “The networking of research, IT and culture make Karlsruhe a very attractive place with great potential for the future.” She also really likes the high quality of life thanks to the surrounding nature, the abundance of greenery and the proximity to France and the Black Forest.
After our conversation, as we climb up the castle tower together, where the door to Thiel’s office branches off in the middle of the spiral staircase, I immediately know what she means: once at the top, we marvel at the beautiful panorama. And even when Sonja Thiel says goodbye and goes back to her office in the castle tower, I stay a little longer and enjoy the view of the private, but also very beautiful fan-shaped city.
One section is written by Chat GPT 4. I simply shortened and adapted it a little. The resolution can be found in the following picture. Perhaps you have already noticed it while reading?
