I am currently working on my doctoral dissertation at the Computer Science Department of the University of Hamburg. I plan to finish early 2002. Browsing Icons will be the main subject of the thesis. My first supervisor is Prof. Dr. Peter Schefe.

In 2001 I spent three and a half month at the HCIL (Human-Computer Interaction Lab) at the University of Maryland. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Benjamin B. Bederson I was able to improve the prototype to a large degree and to conduct the first user study (see our publication on that).

In summer 2001 the prototype will be refined and a longitudinal study will follow.

I described the time at the HCIL in a short text - available only in German (Reisebeschreibung).
The philosophy of the HCIL is well described in Ben Shneiderman's text "Supporting the Process of Innovation: The Maryland Way".

July 2001