This paper explores the workshop as a tool to raise awareness about unconscious gender bias in AI voice assistants. To answer the research question of how tools can develop a norm-critical understanding of gender biases and stereotypes in AI voice assistants, a workshop was conducted. The workshop was executed with Computer Science students focusing on their perception towards voice assistants, different gendered voices, including a genderless voice, and the connection between biases and stereotypes within norms created by society. The results showed that the characteristics that students associated with female and male voices reflect earlier studies and are consistent with societal gender standards. Despite having people from many cultural origins, this demonstrates how deeply the common concept of gender norms are rooted. Participants were forced to confront their own underlying prejudiced thinking by pushing them to play extreme stereotypes, ask critical questions, and participate in a collaborative conversation. During the conversation, the students began to consider the origins of gender norms in society. After hearing a female, male, and genderless voice, all of the participants favored the female one, indicating that the genderless voice still need tweaking and improvement to meet market demands. Essentially, using a norm critical approach, the workshop forced unconscious biases to become conscious, spoken about, and collaboratively discussed. The students left the workshop feeling more aware and resolved to reflect on their unconscious gender thinking, according to the results of the reflective survey.

Co-design workshops (CDW) kan förbättra idégenereringen i designprocessen. CDW grundar sig i att människor ska arbeta tillsammans i realtid men vid forskning om stigmatiserade ämnen kan det vara svårt att genomföra den öga mot öga på grund av stigman. Tidigare forskning visar en större komplexitet med att forska om stigmatiserade ämnen inom human-computer interaction (HCI). Det finns en stor risk för att stigmatisera deltagarna ytterligare eftersom forskningen ofta involverar att designa tillsammans. Syftet med studien är att få kunskap om hur designers kan stöttas vid genomförandet av CDW om stigmatiserade ämnen för att inte stigmatisera deltagarna ytterligare, samt att främja inkludering av människor som upplever stigma i co-design vid design av digitala produkter och tjänster som berör dem. En designorienterad studie har genomförts där designförslag har tagits fram baserat på litteratur. Designförslagen har inkorporerats i en artefakt som i denna studie är en process i form av en CDW som också användes för att utvärdera och testa upplevelsen av CDW med stigmatiserade ämnen. Resultatet av studien är fyra designförslag kopplat till social sårbarhet, känslomässiga reaktioner, initiativtagande och skillnader i kunskap. Dessa kan användas vid genomförandet av CDW om stigmatiserade ämnen för att inte skapa obehag hos deltagarna eller stigmatisera ytterligare. / Co-design workshops (CDW) can improve the production of ideas in the design process. CDW is based on people working together in real time, but when researching stigmatized subjects, it can be difficult to carry out the research eye to eye due to the stigma. Previous research shows a greater complexity in researching stigmatized subjects in human-computer interaction (HCI). There is a great risk of further stigmatizing the participants because the research often involves designing together. The purpose of the study was to gain knowledge about how designers can be supported in the implementation of CDW on stigmatized subjects to prevent further stigmatizing participants, and to encourage the inclusion of people who experience stigma in co-design when designing digital products and services that affect them. A design-oriented study has been carried out where design suggestions have been developed based on literature. The design suggestions have been incorporated into an artifact which in this study is a process in the form of a CDW, which was also used to evaluate and test the experience of CDW with stigmatized subjects. The result of the study are four design suggestions connected to social vulnerability, emotional reactions, initiative and differences in knowledge. These can be used in the implementation of the CDW about stigmatized subjects to not create discomfort among the participants or further stigmatize.

This project seeks new forms of housing production that answer to the disappearance of the welfare state and provides structures for self-organization. It stretches the limits of the housing policies and explores new flexible design solutions. It addresses social and economical adaptability where both the city and the dwellers have responsibility for the process and development of new housing. The adaptable city is a city where dwellers co-create their housing environment.

This project is about storytelling, community building & management, and altering preconceived negative notions surrounding video games as a whole. Originally starting off as an idea of creating a game alongside people coming from both gaming and non-gaming backgrounds, the focus was then shifted towards creating with the former to be then exposed to the latter. More specifically, non-gaming individuals exhibiting doubt and criticism on video games and their legitimacy as a creative/entertainment medium, by showcasing the benefits and debunking instigated stereotypes with the games’ story-rich narrative.

Problemområdet för den här studien handlar om vilka särmärken eller attribut målgruppen (barn mellan ca 5 - 13) föredrar hos ett magiskt folktroväsen, mjölkhare. Känt från bland annat medeltida kyrkomålningar av Albertus Pictor. Arbetsmetoden har i studien varit bildanalys av ikonologisk karaktär. Efter den skapades tre olika gestaltningar av mjölkharetyper. En variant som i studien kallas normal mjölkhare, en variant kallad trasdocke-mjölkhare och en variant benämnd zombiemjölkhare. Dessa gestaltningar utvärderades kvantitativt i en online-enkät. I den fick respondenterna först välja adjektiv som de tyckte passade in på de tre olika framställningarna av mjölkharetyper och dessutom i ytterligare tre gestaltningar välja vilken potentiell bildillustration på hartyperna de hade velat se i en bok där äventyret rör mjölkharar.

The exploration of my topic grew out of curiosity of growing up and living so close to nature, arguing that being in nature have many positive health effects for both body and soul. Nature experiences also have an important social significance. The project evolved into exploring the value of the local elders knowledge and narratives connected to the local nature around Växjö - stories that are a subtle power of culture that shaped landscapes. What is unknown and what is unseen and how much do we really know about our local nature in Småland? Nature is not static, it is always changing and so is our society, and as a reminder of the natural world, this project is about generating a tangible meeting point between human and mind and portraying the individuals connection to nature inspired by local narratives, which in turn can inspire those who are unfamiliar with the region of Småland wilderness. The aim with my project investigate how to find new ways to interact with local nature through storytelling. The design is therefore a research method that empowers the elderlies generation stories about local nature.

This qualitative thesis work investigates in which way an immersive,embodied and interactive computer-based simulation can lead to an easierunderstanding of programming concepts. It also presents a concept for VRprogramming learning tool that could turn learning into a fun and engagingexperience for the students. The target group is Interaction Design bachelorstudents – programming is an important tool to create innovative andinteractive artefacts and interfaces, and yet, the students have hard time tounderstand many of the programming concepts. The current research relieson concepts such as embodiment and tangibility, which reflects on theprototype developed – a highly immersive, embodied VR platform with astrong illusion of tangibility. Additionally, the prototype was inspired byfeedback from students and teachers, result of a participatory approach.Finally, the research showed through usability tests that the studentsexperienced that the application made the concepts more graspable and morefun to learn.

Globalisation and fast evolution of technologies have driven people to immigrate and live outside their home country. The multicultural society is no longer extraordinary. This thesis project explores the role and form of technologies and interactive design in assisting the parents with an ethnic background to introduce their culture and language to their children, as well as in maintaining its application in their everyday lives. The primary focus group are parents whose originated from Indonesia and have been living in other countries for more than two years. This research has utilised the user-research method employed in the design research process. The result suggested that persistence, consistency and community support are primary in promoting the preservation of the parents’ cultural background and language. Therefore, technology and interactive design have a significant impact to support it. The design outcome is a physical prototype combined with digitalised media support such as a website and an application.

Social distancing due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused designers to rethink how they engage with users. This project involves a designer and users co-creating a digital workshop for ideating solutions through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The context of COVID-19 was used as a means to engage with users through digital co-design activities. However, the aim of the project was not to solve their problems of information sharing, but to understand what participants need from a facilitator in order to have more meaningful dialogues and contribute to the ideation process. The importance of trust and a sense of empowerment were identified as what participants need to better ideate and innovate. Trust and empowerment are valuable in any co-design situation, physical or digital. However, when interacting with participants through strictly digital means, it requires more time and energy to nurture trust between a designer and users. The knowledge gained through this digital co-design project resulted in not only a co-created digital prototype for remote co-design, but guidelines for how to develop trust with users when co-designing remotely.

Traditional news providers struggle to reach young millennials. Current research states that one reason for this is the growing divergence between news providers’ current online news presentation and how young millennials want news to be presented online. To explore possible ways to avoid a further growth of this so-called news gap, this study explored how young millennials like news to be presented online. For this purpose, generative sessions and semi-structured interviews were conducted within the framework of a co-design study with a service design approach. The results showed that there are three critical factors in online news presentation, which are trust, balanced opinion and time efficiency. Further, the results showed that features such as multimedia options or interactive infographics are ways of online news presentation that the participants would like to see more in online news offers. The results of this thesis were also presented in a prototype in the form of a digital application. The prototype makes the results more practical in order to support news providers in the practical implementation of the suggested steps.