History of the Chair

Prof. Hammwöhner studied medical computer science at the Universtiy of Heidelberg and later completed his PhD thesis (1994) and habilitation (1996) at the University of Konstanz on the subject of information science. After a two year absence, Prof. Hammwöhner started teaching at the Faculty of Information Science at the University of Regensburg in 1998 . In 1999 he managed to establish information science as an independent degree at the University of Regensburg. In 2005 this degree was changed to a separate bachelor’s degree and master’s degree.

From the very beginning of his work in Regensburg, he was involved in establishing the I:IMSK (Institute for Information and Media, Linguistics and Culture). During the time he was teaching information science, the faculty rapidly expanded and gained popularity amongst students. Currently (2016) there are about 650 students enrolled in classes.

Over the years, Prof. Hammwöhner held several high ranking administrative positions:

• 09/2007 – 10/2009: Dean of the Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies
• 10/2009 – 09/2011: Member of the university senate and the university committee
• 10/2011 – 09/2013: Member of the university senate and assistant chairman of the university committee
• 10/2015 – 3/2016:  Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies.

Prof. Hammwöhner always encouraged interdisciplinary research projects: amongst others, he was responsible for the establishment of the Faculty of Media and Computer Science. He also was a leading member of the “Regensburger Symposium” and a committed member of the “Promotionskolleg”of the philosophical faculties at the University of Regensburg. Another one of his notable projects was his cooperation with the research group “Sehen und Verstehen”, which consists of members of the Faculty of Art History (Prof. Wagner), the Faculty of Experimental Psychology (Prof. Greenlee) and the Faculty of Pedagogy (Prof. Gruber).

Prof. Hammwöhner most recent research project was the statistical analysis of data gained from eye-tracking experiments.

Prof. Dr. Rainer Hammwöhner passed away March 4th, 2016.

The Faculty of Information Science at the University of Regensburg was established by Prof. Jürgen Krause in 1981. At that time, Prof. Krause, who received his doctoral degree in linguistic information science, was working at the Faculty of Linguistic Studies in Regensburg. Some of his most notable projects of that period were:

• PADOK: Studies to improve the search results of the German patent information retrieval system
• ComfoTex: Research into a more user-friendly design for office software
• WING-IIR: Design and comparison of multi-mode user interfaces for material information systems

Therefore, his focused and empirical approach to user interface design can be seen as defining for the research on information science at the University of Regensburg.

After his departure from the university, Prof. Krause lead the IZ institute in Bonn until his retirement.

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Krause passed away March 7th, 2016.