In the Summer 2021 issue of Informatik Spektrum, focusing on innovation in software development, the keyword article "Hybrid Knowledge Work" by Sarah Oeste-Reiß, Eva Bittner, Izabel Cvetkovic, Andreas Günther, Jan Marco Leimeister, Lucas Memmert, Anja Ott, Bernhard Sick , and Kathrin Wolter was published. This paper is the first joint publication of the AI junior research group "HyMeKI".

The journal "Informatik Spektrum", a scientific computer journal is published by Springer Verlag every two months. In addition, the journal is the official organ of the Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI) and is aimed at all readers who wish to explore new areas of computer science. Emphasis is placed on the comprehensibility of the articles so that they are understood by the majority of readers and appear to be worth reading. The topics are strongly oriented towards problems in practice, without losing a solid scientific basis.

Abstract: Due to advances in artificial intelligence (AI), new design opportunities are emerging for reorganizing knowledge work at the interface of humans and machines. By merging human and artificial intelligence, complementary strengths can be combined to solve work tasks. Novel knowledge work systems are needed to support knowledge workers in performing both routine and non-routine tasks. The keyword article outlines the fundamentals of knowledge work and elaborates on the characteristics of routine tasks and non-routine tasks within work processes. It outlines limitations of classical IT-supported knowledge work systems as tools that support knowledge workers in the work process. Building on this, the article discusses that technological advances allow for work process-integrated and personalized support of knowledge workers. To this end, the article refers to the characteristics of collaborative interactive learning systems. Based on this, hybrid knowledge work systems are presented that support both AI-assisted human learning and human-assisted machine learning. In this context, the article describes definitional foundations of human, artificial, and hybrid intelligence, introduces three archetypes of human-machine tasks within hybrid knowledge work systems, and outlines three design dimensions of such systems. Using a practical example of collaborative writing by journalists, the article provides an exemplary description of hybrid knowledge work. The article concludes with an outlook on future research needs.

Link to the article: https://dl.gi.de/handle/20.500.12116/36518