Education

Tim Ockenga pursued both a bachelor's and a master's degree in Information Systems at the University of Cologne. Already during his bachelor's degree he discovered his interest in Information Systems research and started working as a student assistant at the Cologne Institute for Information Systems (CIIS). After completing his master's degree in 2021, he took a position as a research assistant and doctoral student/PhD student at CIIS.

Research

Tim is leading a research project focused on developing Information Systems (IS) that support and automate processes producing artifacts—such as newspaper layouts—with aesthetics as a key target variable. This research explores how to embed aesthetic considerations into automated systems or more general how to embed a sense of aesthetics into computers/machines. This is in contrast to the traditional focus of Information Systems research on efficiency and effectiveness, which has been the subject of much debate in the field. By integrating the dimension of aesthetics into the output of automated processes, the project aims to innovate system design principles and contribute to creating IS solutions that deliver both functional performance and visually appealing results.

Furthermore, Tim has been actively involved in several research projects that explore the intersection of technology, user experience, and innovative system design (see list of publications below).