The societal problem regarding the housing shortage has made the housing market inaccessible. With the reduced number of rental apartments and longer housing queues, people face more challenges finding a suitable home. Swapping intermediaries have emerged over the years to facilitate the search process to swap apartments. However, tenants are still struggling to find apartments to swap with. Limited research has been conducted about tenants' experiences and perspectives regarding the swapping process. Through an exploratory approach, this study examines what problems tenants encounter during the swapping process. The research findings indicate several opportunity areas for improving and streamlining the swapping process. The made recommendations were regarding the search process, listing information, and apartment viewings. Further, to create an efficient market, the platform needs to consider thickness, overcome congestion, and make participation safe and simple. / Det samhälleliga problemet gällande bostadsbristen har medfört en oåtkomlig bostadsmarknad. Med minskade antalet hyresrätter samt längre bostadsköer står människor inför större utmaningar att hitta ett passande boende. För att underlätta bytesprocessen av hyresrätter har antalet bytesplattformar ökat under åren. Dock kämpar fortfarande många hyresgäster med att hitta en lägenhet att byta med. Begränsat antal studier har genomförts på hyresgäster gällande deras upplevelser samt perspektiv på själva bytesprocessen. Genom användande av en undersökande metod, undersökte denna studie vilka problem hyresgästerna stöter på under bytesprocessen av hyresrätter. Forskningsresultatet indikerade att flera möjligheter finns för att förbättra och effektivisera bytesprocessen. De rekommendationer som gjordes inkluderade sökprocessen, annonssidan, samt lägenhetsvisningar. Vidare, för att skapa en effektiv bytesmarknad, måste plattformen beakta tjocklek, övervinna trängsel, samt göra användandet säkert och enkelt.

This thesis project is exploring future smartwatch use within elderly care. The user-centered designing phase uses a design intervention approach, where design and research happen simultaneously.The research question is: “How can a smartwatch be used within the elderly care, based on the existing TES mobile phone app, and how can these interactions be designed as smartwatch features?”. The results are four iteratively explored design opportunities, presented as design propositions with concept sketches, and two prototypes.The main participants in the field studies and workshops are end-users, caregivers within the elderly home care and an elderly care center. The outcome shows they are positive towards an imagined future containing smartwatches as a work tool. They see advantages with the wearable and glanceable technology, like freed hands, less to carry and simpler interactions in comparison to a smart phone.The study also shows positive effects of using interaction design for a company’s design process, and exploration of new technology.

This thesis presents a user-centred approach to data visualisation through a design project in collaboration with Inter IKEA Älmhult. Interaction Design is often included at the end of visualisation processes, but how could Interaction Design be included to affect the entire design process? The design presented here shows how approaching complex datasets from user perspectives allows Interaction Designers to contextualise data and design interactions that empower users. This was done by designing a proof-of- concept visualisation that displayed an overview of Inter IKEA’s digital solution landscape. As a result of the design process, a discussion of governance, employee ethics, data management, and accountability was brought up. The implication of a user-centred visualisation design for companies is better awareness of democratic data access and more efficient internal processes. The implication for Interaction Design is a future design space that encompasses Data Visualisation, Interactive Visualisations, and Software Development Governance.

Video games have become the largest portion of the entertainment industry and everyday life of millions of players around the world. Considering games as cultural artifacts, it seems imperative to study both games and players to understand underlying psychological and behavioral implications of interacting with this medium, especially since video games are rich domains for occurrence of rich affective experiences annotated by and measurable via in-game behavior. This thesis is a presentation of a series of studies that attempt to model player perception and behavior as well as their psychosocial attributes in order to make sense of interrelations of these factors and implications the findings have for game designers and researchers. In separate studies including survey and in-game telemetry data of millions of players, we delve into reliable measures of player psychological need satisfaction, motivation and generational cohort and cross reference them with in-game behavioral patterns by presenting systemic frameworks for classification and regression. We introduce a measurement of perceived need satisfaction and discuss generational effects in playtime and motivation, present a robust prediction model for ordinally processed motivations and review classification techniques when it comes to playstyles derived from player choices. Additionally, social aspects of play, such as social influence and contagion as well as disruptive behavior, is discussed along with advanced statistical models to detect and explain them. / <p>Note: The papers are not included in the fulltext online</p><p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbete opublicerat: delarbete I (manuskript).</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following paper was unpublished: paper I (manuscript).</p>

No description available.

There is a saying that we should not attempt to fix what is not broken, but we cannot afford to stick tothat mindset if we want to be able to design products and services that matter to the user. We shouldbroaden our views, explore new things and see what we can learn from them and use that knowledge toexpand on our existing methods. In recent years there have been a lot of work regarding how normsinfluence us to act and feel in certain ways, what if the knowledge behind norms could be utilized withindesign? To answer this question a study was conducted where two so called norm creative methodswere tested in a series of focus groups to see what potential the methods held in regard to improvingexisting methods or serve as basis for the creation new methods within user research.

Personas are fictitious characters that represent the needs of the intended users, and scenarios complementing the personas describe how their needs can be met. The present doctoral thesis considers the usage of personas and scenarios and how they are used in system development projects. The study is motivated by the relative lack of empirical data on the persona method in actual use. The study was carried out in the context of a large international research project called Nepomuk and involved two conceptually dif­ferent field studies. On the one hand, field studies in user settings were conducted, which aimed at creating personas and scenarios, and for which a user-centered design approach was applied using partici­pant observation, contextual interviews, video brainstorming and proto­typing. On the other hand, a field study in the setting of the Nepomuk project itself was conducted, which aimed at observing how the per­sonas and scenarios were received and used in the project work. The work conducted in the project setting was a multi-sited ethnographic field study, which was documented through ethnographic writing. The project setting field study showed that the persona method was difficult to put into consistent use, and the support of persona advocates guiding usage would have been helpful. The method was used without much effort to communicate about the needs and desires of the intended users, but was less successful in compelling project members to use personas and scenarios during various design activities. The field study also revealed alternative usages of the method that can be supported and utilized. The contributions of the thesis include an account of the effect the storytelling aspect has on the creation as well as usage of personas and scenarios. Also, the essential elements of constructing personas and scenarios are discussed as well as the prerequisites for making personas and scenarios support the design process in system development projects. Lastly, the thesis describes how personas and scenarios can support the communication of user needs and desires to project members and stakeholders as well as support design activities in system development projects. / QC20100629

Personas, fictional user profiles based on research data, have gained popularity in the design field over recent years. These profiles include names, personalities, behaviors, and goals that are representative of a unique group of individuals. This paper examines the creation and utilization of personas as a tool for understanding others, specifically within the context of product design. A review of current literature revealed published methods for creating and using personas, along with the challenges and benefits associated with this tool. Current design industry practices were investigated through 15 semi-structured interviews with design professionals. Topics included persona creation and implementation, the tools use, and perceived outcomes from the inclusion of personas in the design process. Participatory research examined persona creation methods including user data collection and the selection of topics to be included in these profiles. Additionally, persona utilization was investigated through the tools integration into a 12-week Industrial Design student project. Observations and interviews with 8 student groups and instructors revealed the tools impact on the design process and potential within the educational environment, with specific attention being paid to universal design applications.

Many people that would like to contribute at some level towards creating art in public spaces. However little is currently being done to make use of this untapped potential. The difficulties involved with collecting and coordinating dispersed talent often prevents it from being utilized. But now the Internet offers new opportunities to make harnessing latent talent much easier. Successful online platforms (such as Wikipedia and YouTube) demonstrate the potential value that can be derived from volunteers when appropriate systems are in place to utilize their contributions. Jeff Howe refers to this idea of harnessing distributed volunteered effort via the web as ‘crowdsourcing’. Which he explains as “the process by which the power of many can be leveraged to accomplish feats that were once the province of a specialized few” (2008). This thesis aims to investigate how an online platform might harness voluntary contributions in order to produce public art. The design objective for this project is to develop an online platform that allows people to contribute towards creating art in public spaces. My research explores the needs and motivations of potential contributors as well as techniques for harnessing voluntary contribution and coordinating group effort. As understanding human behaviour and user interaction is central to this project I have adopted a user-centered approach to research and development. To better understand the requirements of the proposed online platform user research was initially conducted in the form of focus groups with potential users and then via an in depth case study. In order to tackle the challenge of designing an entire platform the process was divided into distinct elements that could be addressed individually. These elements included the core functionality, the brand identity, the structural design, the interface design, and the visual design. For each element I consider what techniques might help to better harness voluntary contribution. The final result provides an online environment for people to get involved with specific art projects around their city. Projects are presented as separate challenges and users can contribute at many different levels such as sharing designs online, attending events, or simply providing feedback

Ο σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι η αξιολόγηση των παρεχόμενων υπηρεσιών και η μελέτη του βαθμού ικανοποίησης των ακαδημαϊκών βιβλιοθηκών όλων των ελληνικών ΑΕΙ. Η αλήθεια είναι ότι έχουν υλοποιηθεί πληθώρα ερευνών σχετικές με την αξιολόγηση των υπηρεσιών των ακαδημαϊκών βιβλιοθηκών στην Ελλάδα. Οι μελέτες που έχουν γίνει όμως, αφορούν σε κάθε βιβλιοθήκη ξεχωριστά. Δεν έχει γίνει κάποια συνολική προσπάθεια μέτρησης αξιολόγησης υπηρεσιών των ακαδημαϊκών βιβλιοθηκών και ικανοποίησης των χρηστών τους. Στην παρούσα έρευνα όπου συμμετέχουν εγγεγραμμένοι χρήστες των ελληνικών ακαδημαϊκών βιβλιοθηκών όλων των ΑΕΙ της χώρας, γίνεται προσπάθεια να αποτυπωθούν αξιόπιστα οι αντιλήψεις, οι προσδοκίες και η πραγματική κατάσταση διάφορων θεμάτων των βιβλιοθηκών αυτών. Ο καθορισμός του ερευνητικού προβλήματος και επομένως του σκοπού της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας, ορίζεται από: Γνώση και χρήση παραδοσιακών και ηλεκτρονικών υπηρεσιών των ακαδημαϊκών βιβλιοθηκών, καθώς και μέτρηση αξιολόγησης και σημαντικότητας των υπηρεσιών αυτών από την μεριά των χρηστών. Εντοπισμός προσδοκιών των χρηστών και πραγματικής κατάστασης σχετικά με τη συλλογή, το προσωπικό και τις εγκαταστάσεις των ακαδημαϊκών βιβλιοθηκών της χώρας. Δηλαδή των τριών διαστάσεων του μοντέλου LibQual, σχετικά με την ποιότητα στις βιβλιοθήκες. Καθορισμός παραγόντων ικανοποίησης χρηστών, καθώς και επιβεβαίωση του μοντέλου που χρησιμοποιήθηκε στην παρούσα εργασία. Ένας τελευταίος στόχος είναι η διαμόρφωση του προφίλ των χρηστών που χρησιμοποιούν τις ακαδημαϊκές βιβλιοθήκες. Το ερωτηματολόγιο διαρθρώνεται σε τέσσερις βασικές ενότητες. Η κάθε ενότητα περιλαμβάνει ερωτήσεις του κάθε στόχου. Τα πρωτογενή στοιχεία αντλήθηκαν με χορήγηση ερωτηματολογίου σε 950 χρήστες Στη συνέχεια κωδικοποιήθηκαν και ακολούθησε η επεξεργασία τους με το στατιστικό πακέτο SPSS 19.0. Επίσης πραγματοποιήθηκε έλεγχος των υποθέσεων που είχαν τεθεί, μέσω της ανάλυσης παραγόντων που ανέδειξαν νέες μεταβλητές οι οποίες μετά από την υψηλή αξιοπιστία και συνοχή τους ( α-Crombach > 0,9 ). Από τα ευρήματα της έρευνας προκύπτουν σημαντικά στοιχεία κατάλληλα για την διοίκηση της κάθε ακαδημαϊκής βιβλιοθήκης, προς βελτίωση των παρεχόμενων υπηρεσιών και κατ’ επέκταση παροχή ποιοτικότερων υπηρεσιών και τελικά ικανοποίηση των χρηστών τους. Είναι σημαντικό να πραγματοποιούνται παρόμοιες έρευνες κατά τακτά χρονικά διαστήματα, ώστε να εντοπίζονται και να αντιμετωπίζονται έγκαιρα τυχών αδυναμίες και προβλήματ / The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the services and the satisfaction of the users of all Greek academic libraries. A lot of users surveys have been made , however, relate in each library separately. There has been no attempt to measure overall assessment services for academic libraries and satisfaction of users. In the present investigation involving registered users of Greek academic libraries of all universities in the country, trying to reliably reflected the perceptions, expectations and the actual situation of different issues of these libraries. Defining the research problem and therefore the aim of this thesis is defined by: Knowledge and use of traditional and electronic services of academic libraries and measurement evaluation and significance of such services on the part of users. Locating user expectations and the actual situation on the collection, staff and facilities of the academic libraries in the country. Ie three dimensional model LibQual, on quality in libraries. Defining user satisfaction factors and confirmation of the model used in this work. A final goal is to develop a user profile using academic libraries. The questionnaire is divided into four main sections. Each section includes questions for each objective. The primary data are obtained by administering a questionnaire to 950 users Then coded and followed by treatment with the statistical package SPSS 19.0. Also took control of matters raised by analyzing factors revealed new variables after the high reliability and consistency. The survey findings show significant data appropriate for the administration of the academic library to improve services and thus provide better quality services and ultimately satisfaction of their users. It is important to undertake similar surveys at regular intervals in order to identify and address weaknesses early fortunes and problematic