PD Dr. David Elsweiler

01 | Research

I am a private lecturer at the Chair of Information Science at the University of
Regensburg. My research focuses on the understanding of information behavior with the goal of designing information systems that align with the way people think and behave in a natural way.

Food recommendation systems

Two notable publications include Trattner and Elsweiler (2017) and Elsweiler et al. (2017a) by analyzing large-scale data collections from the Internet and proposing algorithmic solutions to influence users' health in food choices.

Information Sharing

Our group studied the information-sharing behavior of German politicians on social media in the 2017 election year.

Credibility and web search

Our group has studied how user bias affects the credibility of search results.

02 | Dissertation

In 2007, I completed my PhD at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. My work investigated the role of memory in managing personal information by examining what people remember when searching for documents and what factors influence what is remembered. I developed new systems that illustrate how different memories can be supported. Since completing my PhD, I have worked in a variety of areas, including leisure information behavior and trust and credibility in search and health recommendation systems. The underlying theme of my work is a desire to understand how people behave with information and why, and how systems can be developed to help users achieve their goals.

03 | Teaching

Advanced Seminar Information Science

Winter 2016/17 | Summer 2017 | Summer 2018 | Winter 2017/18 | Winter 2018/19 | Summer 2019 | Winter 2019/20 | Winter 2020/21 | Winter 2021/22 | Winter 2022/23 | Winter 2023/24

Advanced Seminar

Summer 2021 | Summer 2023

Analysis of Searchlogs I

Summer 2012 | Winter 2014/15 | Winter 2015/16

Analysis of Searchlogs II

Winter 2012/13

Building Information Retrieval Systems

Summer 2016

Case Studies I

Summer 2018

Conversational Agents for Behavior Changes

Summer 2022

Experimental Design

Summer 2020 | Summer 2021 | Summer 2022 | Summer 2023

Human Activity Recognition

Summer 2012

Human Information Behaviour

Winter 2012/13 |  Winter 2014/15 | Winter 2015/16 | Winter 2016/17 | Winter 2017/18

Information Behaviour

Summer 2014 | Summer 2015

Introduction to Information Science

Winter 2016/17 | Winter 2018/19

Introduction to Methods of Empiric Research

Winter 2010/11 | Summer 2011 | Winter 2011/12 | Summer 2012 | Winter 2012/13 | Summer 2013 | Summer 2014 | Summer 2015 | Summer 2016 | Summer 2017

Persuasion with Lingual Methods

Summer 2016

Research Practics of Information Retrieval

Winter 2012/13 | Winter 2014/15 | Winter 2015/16 | Winter 2016/17 | Winter 2017/18 | Summer 2019 | Winter 2020/21 | Winter 2021/22 | Winter 2022/23 | Winter 2023/24

Survey and Experimental Design

Summer 2018 | Summer 2019

Tutorial to Experimental Design

Summer 2020 | Summer 2021 | Summer 2023

Tutorial to Research Practice of Information Retrieval

Winter 2020/21 | Winter 2021/22 | Winter 2022/23 | Winter 2023/24

Tutorial to Understanding Information Behavior

Winter 2020/21 | Winter 2021/22 | Winter 2022/23 | Winter 2023/24

Understanding Information Behavior

Winter 2020/21 | Winter 2021/22 | Winter 2022/23 | Winter 2023/24

Web and Data Science

Summer 2017 | Summer 2018 | Summer 2019 | Summer 2020 | Summer 2021 | Summer 2022 | Summer 2023

I am a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Information Science. In my research, I use a variety of different techniques to learn how people behave with information, and use what I have learned to design tools that support them and work in ways that are consistent with their thinking and behavior.

I've written a few papers, including my dissertation on managing and retrieving personal information. I'm interested in how people search for fun because current systems don't really support that well. Also, information systems that help people lead healthier lifestyles have piqued my interest. You can read more about this topic in my publications.

Previously, I was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow and then a lecturer at the
University of Erlangen.

Services to the Community

• CHIIR 2022 (Conference Chair)
• ISI 2021 (Programmkomittee)
• CHIIR 2021 (General Co-Chair, Programmkommittee Co-Chair, Workshops Chair)
• CHIIR 2020 (Doctoral Consortium)
• CHIIR 2019 (Doctoral Consortium)
• UMAP 2019 (Co-Chair for Personalized Digital Health)
• ECIR 2019 (Tutorial)
• CHIIR 2018 (Tutorial)
• IIiX 2014 (General Co-Chair)
• ECIR 2014 (Senior PC Member)
• SIGIR 2013 (Best Paper Committee Member)
• ECIR 2013 (Senior PC Member)
• CIKM 2013 (Co-chair Living Labs for IR Workshop)
• ECIR 2012 (Co-chair Searching4FUN Workshop)
• Interact 2011 (Associate Chair short-papers track)
• ECIR 2011 (Co-chair Workshop on Evaluating Personal Search)
• Mensch und Computer 2010 (Co-chair Personal Knowledge Management Workshop)
• SIGIR 2010 (Co-chair Workshop on Desktop Search)
• PIM 2009 (Submissions Chair and Member of Organising Committee)
• CoLIS 2005 (Submissions Chair)

Ongoing Activities

• ACM CHIIR (Steering Committee Member, Senior PC Member)
• ACM SIGIR (Senior PC Member)

Committee Work

• Member of the research ethics board at the University of Regensburg

Tasks at the Chair of Information Science Besides Research and Teaching

• since summer 2021: study advisor for the Chair of Information Science at the University of Regensburg

PhD Student (Co-)Supervisions

• Dr. Florian Meier
• Dr. Hanna Knäusl
• Dr. Richard Schaller
• Melanie A. Kilian M.A. (current)
• Alexander Frummet M.Sc. (current)
• Dr. Qing Zhang
• Selina Meyer M.A. (current)