FAQ - BriComGap Suite

The project

What is the BriComGap Suite?

The "Bridging the Communication Gap" project uses artificial intelligence to bring together scattered data on research at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources (UNR) – as systematically and automatically as possible – and make it usable. The primary aim is science communication, but the project also helps UNR researchers connect with one another. The BriComGap Suite is the result of this work: it currently comprises four applications – Topic Search, Expert Search, Media Monitor Search, and the UNR Chat.

Who is behind the project?

"Bridging the Communication Gap" has been funded since 2023 by the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources (UNR) of the University of Freiburg. Its development partners are the University of Freiburg's Department of University and Science Communication and the Science Media Center Lab in Cologne.

People involved:

Who is the Suite for?

The applications developed by "Bridging the Communication Gap" are currently aimed above all at UNR researchers, supporting them in their science communication and in connecting with one another. They are also intended for the faculty's administration and for science communicators at both the faculty and the university, to help them research information about the faculty and its researchers.

Is the Suite a finished product?

The Suite is under active development. Features, data coverage, and answer quality are being improved continuously. Your feedback feeds directly into that work – write to us at bricomgap@unr.uni-freiburg.de.

The applications

How do the four applications differ?

The UNR Chat is the generalist application: it can draw on all of the Suite's data sources at once (see "Data sources"), pull the results together, and synthesise them into a coherent answer with source references. Simply ask your question about a topic, a person, or media coverage in natural language – the Chat decides for itself which databases to consult. You can also use the Chat to generate new content from the data it finds and to draft texts for science communication (for example, identifying key messages, writing responses to press enquiries, drafting social media posts, or simulating the questions different audiences typically ask in order to prepare for an interview). Because the Chat also has access to media coverage of the UNR, it can tell you whether someone has already commented publicly on a topic and what their key points were.

The three search tools are specialised applications, each opening up one particular data source:

As a rule of thumb: use the Chat for questions and syntheses – and the specialised searches when you want to browse a data source directly.

What language can I use the applications in?

Any language you like. The UNR Chat replies in whatever language you write in, and the searches understand queries regardless of language too. Only the user interface is in English.

Why did the Chat decline to answer my question?

The Chat is limited to topics relating to the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, the university, its people, and science. Questions that clearly fall outside this scope (as well as inappropriate content) are politely declined by an automatic safeguard. If a legitimate question was turned down by mistake, do write to us at bricomgap@unr.uni-freiburg.de – it helps us improve the system.

Does the Chat remember our conversation?

Within a session, the Chat keeps track of the most recent exchanges (roughly the last ten), so you can ask follow-up questions such as "What has she published on that?" without repeating names. It carries no memory over into a new session.

What kinds of queries produce good results?

The more precisely you state what you want, the better the results. If you are writing a text for science communication, for instance, be as specific as you can about: the audience you need the information for (the general public, policymakers, or journalists, say), what the communication goal is, what format you need the answer in (a press release or a plain summary, for example), how long the text should be, and whether there are any particular requirements regarding language or tone.

Data sources

Where does the information come from?

The Suite draws on several curated data sources:

How up to date is the data?

The data sources are updated at varying intervals, usually daily.

I'm a researcher at the UNR. Why don't I or my publication appear in the results?

Expert profiles and topic results are derived from the sources listed above. If a publication of yours that is relevant to your search is missing, first check that you have entered it correctly in FreiDok plus. If keywords for your research focus are missing, completing your research profile on the UNR website may help. If key details about you are still absent, write to us at bricomgap@unr.uni-freiburg.de – we'll look into it.

Providing publications

I'm a researcher at the UNR and would like to provide my publications to "Bridging the Communication Gap". How do I do that?

There are two routes:

The key questions:

AI, reliability, and citation

Which AI models are used?

The Suite uses both local open source models running at the University of Freiburg's computing centre and external models from OpenAI accessed via an API. The external models are used under an enterprise contract that the University of Freiburg has concluded with OpenAI, which among other things prohibits the use of the data for training purposes.

Can I trust the answers?

The system is designed to be strictly fact-based: for every query, the Chat consults the data sources, reports only what it actually found there, and says openly when it finds nothing. Every answer ends with a list of the sources used (with links); publications and people are listed with their identifiers (DOI, ORCID, OpenAlex, FreiDok plus) so that you can check everything. Even so, AI-generated text can contain errors – please check the cited sources before reusing any content. Also clear content with the researchers responsible before publishing it; figures, quotations, and recent developments in particular should always be verified.

Does the AI replace my scientific expertise?

No. The AI is meant to help you prepare your scientific content efficiently and in a way that suits your audience. Responsibility for the substance of statements, interpretations, and conclusions always remains with the researchers. You should review all AI-generated content before publication and adjust it where necessary.

Who owns the texts the AI generates?

The generated texts belong to no one, since copyright does not apply to purely AI-generated text. The ideas in your own texts, and quotations from them that the AI uses to create new text, naturally remain your intellectual property. As a researcher, you will always be named as the source.

Couldn't I just use an AI provider like ChatGPT, Claude, or the university's own Open WebUI instead of the "Bridging the Communication Gap" apps?

Of course you can. The advantage of our applications lies in the prepared, interconnected body of knowledge behind them: they draw on curated data repositories in which a great deal of information about the work of UNR researchers has already been processed and can be queried directly. What's more, this knowledge base is available not just to you, but to other users at the UNR and beyond. And finally, we use the University of Freiburg's computing centre infrastructure, which safeguards your data sovereignty.

Data protection and data management

Where is the data stored?

The data repositories, your queries and the texts generated are stored on the University of Freiburg's servers.

Access, feedback, and contact

Can I use the applications without the web interface?

Yes. We offer API endpoints that let you integrate the search and chat functions into your own applications and workflows rather than using our interface. Please direct enquiries about API access to bricomgap@unr.uni-freiburg.de.

I've found a bug, or have a question, feedback, or suggestions for future development – who do I contact?

Write to us at bricomgap@unr.uni-freiburg.de. Your feedback and ideas are very valuable to us.