Children with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) have difficulties in learning social and communication skills. This leads to impairments in social interaction, including lack of understanding others’ intentions, emotions, and mental states, and impairments in communication both verbal and nonverbal. One of the most widely used interventions that addresses social and communication skills is the “social story”. A social story aims to support children with ASC in coping with their own behaviour. Practitioners use social stories to present specific scenarios and to help children understand how they should respond. However, the development of social stories is time consuming, and teachers comment that it is difficult to share them as a resource for others or to customise them to individual children, using their current tools. This thesis explores how a social story authoring tool can be designed, developed and evaluated. The final aim is to better support practitioners in writing, using and assessing social stories for children with ASC compared with their current approaches. A series of studies with practitioners and researchers was carried out to inform the design of a social story authoring tool and to evaluate it. A framework for social stories was built with the purpose of informing the design. Based on this framework, a prototype was iteratively designed and developed. The final prototype (ISISSImproving Social Interaction through Social Stories) was evaluated with practitioners with experience in social story interventions. The evaluation showed that ISISS is perceived by practitioners to be a considerable improvement over their current approaches. The methodology employed in this research combines Action Research, User-Centred Design and Participatory Design. Practitioners and researchers were empowered with different roles at different research stages in order to maximise their contributions to the development process.

This study attempted to determine if there is a relationship between user's psychological personality types, measured by the Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) and distinct measures of usability measured by the Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI). The study was expected to provide an answer to the following basic research question: When interacting with a typical user interface, do different users perceive usability differently? Specific hypotheses were formulated to answer this research question. Hypotheses were tested to determine if there was any statistically significant relationship between specific MBTI® personality types and individual measure of usability as measured by the SUMI. Each hypothesis was tested using ANOVA analysis in two ways. The 16 MBTI® types were condensed together using two letters of the full MBTI® type. First, the data was grouped by MBTI® function pair: STs, SFs, NFs and NTs, then by Keirsey temperament: SJs, SPs, NFs and NTs. By grouping data, the effects of small numbers of certain individual types from the sample should be minimized. When grouping by MBTI® function pair statistical analysis indicated all six hypotheses were supported, indicating no significant relationship between personality type as measured by the MBTI®, and usability as measured by the SUMI in this sample. When grouping by Keirsey temperament, statistical analysis indicated five hypotheses were supported, indicating no significant relationship between personality type as measured by the MBTI®, and usability as measured by the SUMI in this sample. Data analysis showed a significant relation between MBTI® personality type and the SUMI sub-scale of Helpfulness in this sample. Since only a limited relationship was found between MBTI® types and SUMI usability scales, developers may need to rethink the process of including individual differences as a component of interface design, at least based on personality. However, this study used only one measure of personality- the MBTI®. Different personality measures could offer different results. Finally, this research provided another analysis of how the typical computer user envisions usability and provides a basic summary of usability scales by personality MBTI® types.

I dagens samhälle ses digitalisering som en självklarhet. Den ställer dock krav på organisationeroch människor att anpassa sig för att kunna ta del av de många fördelar som följer. Inom skolansker en del av digitaliseringen genom införandet av så kallade lärplattformar, eller LMS. Dessasystem har som funktion att underlätta såväl undervisning som kommunikation mellan olikaparter. Många ställer sig dock kritiska till dessa system och anser bland annat att de utgör enbelastning för pedagoger inom skolan. Denna undersökning har fokuserat påanvändarupplevelsen av LMS. Målgrupperna har varit pedagoger inom för- och grundskolan,fritidshem samt vårdnadshavare. Undersökningen har utgått från olika UX-modeller och teorierinom interaktionsdesign samt användaracceptans. Datainsamlingen har skett med hjälp avintervjuer och enkäter. Undersökningen har visat att även om flera interaktionsdesignsprincipersaknats i aktuellt LMS har framförallt det organisatoriska stödet inom skolan varitstort nog att överbrygga konsekvenserna av detta. Inom användargruppen vårdnadshavare harsamma stöd saknats, men då användandet varit mindre omfattande och mer sporadiskt än inomskolans verksamhet har upplevelsen trots detta framstått som god.

Many practical applications of Virtual Reality (VR) technology rely on adequate immersive representations of 3D spaces and support of embodied, dynamic interactions with the virtual world. Evaluation of these properties remains an important research problem. This thesis aims at developing a method of conducting user evaluations of dynamic, full-body interactions in VR systems based on using support for perception and action coupling as a criterion for comparison. The thesis has three main components. First, the thesis starts by presenting an experimental perceptual evaluation study looking at distance perception in real and virtual environments. The results indicate that the choice of the method to report perceived distances (i. e. the type of action used to express perceptual variable of interest) may have a significant effect on the outcome of the study. We argue for the need to develop an approach to VR evaluation that holistically considers both perception and action. Second, we propose a theoretical framework to conduct such user evaluations based on the notion of affordances. The thesis presents the second experimental study that explores perception of affordances in a complex, realistic task of bicycling across two lanes of opposing traffic in a VR simulator. This experiments highlights methodological approach to studies of user's perception of dynamic affordances. Finally, we present an experimental study that builds on theoretical and methodological frameworks developed in the thesis to explore the effects of display type and locomotion modality on user performance in a dynamic VR task that involves synchronization of self-motion with motion of virtual objects. The results inform our understanding of the trade-offs involved in selecting major components of the VR system.

While most people usually tend to avoid thinking about their death, it can be beneficial to reflect on it. As technology is further integrated in our lives, HCI needs to consider that users eventually die. A concrete example for this concern is digital legacy. From a perspective of existential HCI and Thanatosensitivity, this thesis explores how young adults experience their own mortality and how they might be encouraged to reflect on their lives by engaging in their digital legacy. Subsequently, this exploration led to conducting expert interviews, sending out cultural probes, and sharing a collaborative matrix. Synthesizing and ideating on the gathered material concluded in a low-fidelity prototype that was tested by six users. The initial user feedback and individual workshops with three participants led to further explorations in the form of two workshops – one for ideation, the other for analysis. The thesis concludes in a series of conceptual design proposals that act as ground for discussion with implications for design opportunities and future research alongside an analysis of key findings.

Over 0.2% of all bicycle accidents that take place are caused by the cyclist removing their vision from the road by looking at their cellphone, watch, or cyclocomputer. By giving immediate and direct admittance to information associated within a user's view of the real world, Augmented Reality has the possibility to reshape and define the way information is accessed and displayed. By reading and analyzing scientific articles and empirical studies around Augmented Reality and cycling we got a good understanding of how the problem could be approached and how a solution could be designed. This thesis has developed and implemented an adaptive graphical user interface for a head-mounted display that shows relevant information for cyclists. This information was designed so that the user can easily grasp the content and avoid collisions by having his/her focus on the road, thus increasing safety. / Över 0,2% av alla cykelolyckor som inträffar orsakas av att cyklister tar bort sin syn från vägen genom att titta på sin mobiltelefon, klocka eller cykeldator. Genom att ge omedelbar och direkt tillträde till information, som är associerad med en användares syn på den verkliga världen, har Augmented Reality möjlighet att omforma och definiera hur information möjliggörs och visas. Genom att läsa och analysera vetenskapliga artiklar och empiriska studier kring Augmented Reality och cykling så fick vi en god förståelse för hur vi ska närma oss problemet och utforma en lösning. Denna uppsats har utvecklat och implementerat ett anpassningsbart användargränssnitt för en huvudmonterad skärm som visar relevant information för cyklister. Denna information designades noggrant så att användaren enkelt kan förstå innehållet och undvika kollisioner genom att ha fokus på vägen, vilket medför ökad säkerhet.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are large systems that handles, stores and manipulates geographical data. This report is based on the fact that GIS-applications, in general, tend to be quite complex and contain large quantities of data as well as lots of functionality. Because of this, it is a challenge to design a good user-interface for such applications and the ones who suffer from this are the users. Thereby, the motivation for this report is formed, which is about proposing improvements to a user-interface of existing GIS-applications in order to increase the users satisfaction with it. The GIS-applications that are the focus of this report are the applications of the company Digpro. The question that attempts to be answered in this project is: "What can be done to improve the user-interface of existing GIS-applications from a general HCI-perspective and from the perspective of the users?". The method for doing this is to research for theory about HCI, and also through interactions with the users. These interactions are done by using Query Evaluation Techniques in the form of interviews and questionnaires. By using the result of these Query Evaluation Techniques combined with the theory gotten from the research, a number of improvement ideas have been developed and presented as mock-ups and concept sketches. These ideas have been evaluated using Heuristic Evaluation and a final prototype has been developed. In the end, the final prototype is the result of this project. The prototype includes all, but one, of the improvement ideas and shows the interaction between the ideas and the already existing user-interface. Further, since the prototype has been developed with a lot of regard for the users opinions in order to increase their satisfaction with the user-interface, the results are very much in line with the motivation for this master thesis.

Klimatförändringar är idag en av de största globala utmaningarna. Därför finns det behov av att jobba med detta inom alla organisationer. Measure & Change är ett företag i Växjö som har arbetat fram ett verktyg som automatiskt samlar in utsläppsdata. Målet med den här studien var att undersöka användbarheten av ett gränssnitt innehållande eco-feedback, tillsammans med hur en designprocess kan implementeras. Detta gjordes genom att testa Measure & Change redan befintliga verktyg innehållande eco-feedback, med hjälp av A/B test och intervjuer, mot en ny utvecklad prototyp. På prototypen applicerades designprinciperna mappings, feedback och constraints för att undersöka effekten av dessa och se om de kunde bidra till ökad användbarhet. Under studien framkom det en indikation på att designprinciperna bidrog till ökad användbarhet, men också att en designprocess fortsättningsvis kan appliceras och gynna användbarheten av gränssnitt innehållande eco-feedback.

This thesis reports on a study to determine the viability of using a mobile tablet device as a brain concussion detection tool. The research builds upon the results of a prior method of collecting data for measuring motion sensitivity, where a user presses and releases a force sensor to balance a rising and falling line on a computer display. The motion sensitivity data collected using this force sensor device was shown to have less irregularity in persons with concussion. The MotionScan application, developed for this research, uses the accelerometer of a tablet device to record motor movement of a user while the user tries to control a free-moving ball on the tablet screen to trace a line. Data collection sessions were conducted with 20 participants, where researchers recorded motor performance data for similar tasks using both the MotionScan application and the force sensor device. Researchers analyzed the performance outcomes on the tablet application and force sensor device, and validated that they both record motor movements similarly. Participants were also asked for their feedback on the interface of MotionScan and the data collection process, which was used to improve the usability of MotionScan and data collection processes. The research demonstrates that a tablet device can measure the variability in a person’s motor sensitivity and with more research could be used as a concussion detection tool.

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