The prevalent visions of ambient intelligence leverage natural interactions between users and available services in a smart space. In recent years, we have seen a huge interest from industry and academia in using handheld devices to interact with things, places and people in the real world. To facilitate such interactions, things are usually annotated with RFID tags or visual markers. These tags or markers are read by a handheld device equipped with an integrated RFID reader or a camera, in order to fetch related information and initiate further actions. Interacting with the Internet of Things (IoT) in a real environment has become increasingly desirable and feasible. This thesis contributes to the domain of physical interactions with IoT; however, we use a spatial-geometric approach instead of RFID or marker based solutions. Using this approach, for example, a user can point his/her handheld device to an annotated thing, from a distance, for the purpose of interaction. The pointing direction and location is determined based on the fusion of the mobile position and of the accelerometer data of the handheld device. To annotate things, their geometric coordinates are specified and related information or services are associated to them. In this thesis, we present a comprehensive and extensible framework to integrate various physical interactions with IoT into multimedia applications. The framework supports the implementations of pointMe, touchMe, and context-aware based interactions with geometrically annotated IoT. We define specific methods and practices that can be incorporated in order to build the interactions. We realize smart home, atlas learning, presentation interaction, smart haptic interaction, and learning based video interaction game prototypes in order to perform experiments and demonstrate the applicability and potential of the proposed geometric based annotation approach. In the analysis of the interaction techniques of the prototypes, we present the advantages and disadvantages of the geometric based annotation of IoT as seen by potential users, in comparison to RFID tags or visual markers based approaches.

Estudos atuais na área de Interação Humano-Computador evidenciam a importância de se considerar aspectos emocionais na interação com sistemas computacionais. Acredita-se que ao permitir agentes artificiais identificar emoções de usuários, em uma interação humano-computador, torna-se possível induzir e despertar emoções a fim de estimulá-los em suas atividades. Um dos grandes desafios dos pesquisadores em Interação humano-computador é prover sistemas capazes de reconhecer, interpretar e reagir de modo inteligente e sensível às emoções do usuário, para atender aos requisitos do maior número possível de indivíduos; um dos caminhos que se apresenta é o desenvolvimento de sistemas flexíveis. O principal objetivo de se promover essa interação emotiva é contribuir para o aumento da coerência, consistência e credibilidade das reações e respostas computacionais providas durante a interação humana via interface humano-computador. Nesse contexto, surge a oportunidade de explorar sistemas computacionais capazes de identificar e inferir o estado emocional do usuário em tempo de execução. Este projeto tem como objetivo desenvolver e avaliar um modelo que possa: i.) identificar o estado emocional do usuário; ii.) prover um mecanismo de persuasão com vistas a mudar o estado emocional do usuário (com um estudo de caso em player de música) e; iii.) explorar a abordagem flexível na persuasão (de acordo com o estado emocional particular de cada usuário) através de mecanismos persuasivos que poderão variar entre um player de música, jogos e/ou vídeos. Assim, ao longo do estudo, o modelo baseado em Comitê de Classificação se mostrou eficiente na identificação das emoções básicas (alegria, aversão, medo, neutro, raiva, surpresa e tristeza) com média de acurácia superior a 80% e, ainda, observou-se a satisfação dos usuários mediante a aplicação do modelo com o player de música. / Current studies in the field of Human-Computer Interaction highlight the relevance of emotional aspects while interacting with computers systems. It is believed that allowing intelligent agents to identify users emotions, they can induce and awaken emotions in order to stimulate them while interacting with computers. A major challenge for researchers in human-computer interaction is to provide systems capable of recognizing, interpreting and reacting intelligently and sensitively to the emotions of the user, to meet the requirements of the largest possible number of individuals. One of the ways presented in this project is the development of flexible systems to meet a large number of emotions/behaviors. The main objective of promoting this emotional interaction is to contribute to increasing the coherence, consistency and credibility of reactions and computational responses provided during human interaction via human-computer interface. In this context, the opportunity arises to explore computational systems able to identify and infer the emotional state of the user at runtime. This project aims to develop and evaluate a model that can: i.) identify the emotional state of the user/developer; ii.) provide a mechanism of persuasion in order to change the emotional state of the user (with a case study in music player) and; iii.) explore the flexible approach in persuasion (according to the particular emotional state of each user) through persuasive mechanisms that may vary from a music player, games and/or videos. Thus, throughout the study, the Rating Committee based model is efficient for identification of basic emotions (happiness, disgust, fear, neutral, anger, surprise and sadness) with average accuracy higher than 80% and also noted himself to user satisfaction by applying the model to the music player.

In recent years, low-code development has become increasingly popular, enabling developers to write less code and focus on the objective. However, while proven efficient, little attention has been given to how developers experience working in these development environments. This is significant as providing unpleasant experiences could reduce the benefits of low-code platforms by leaving the developers unhappy. As such, this study aims to gain an understanding of developer experience in low-code environments. The study was conducted with an IT-company recently specialized in low-code solutions, where participants were chosen based on having prior experience with low-code development. This ensued in interviews with six low-code developers as well as a project leader. Main positive experiences found were, feeling more productive, improved customer relations, focus on the objective, shared developer understanding, and quick learnability. Key negative experiences found were, having work constrained, limited freedom and creativity, inadequate documentation, and overview, and having poor and unsafe teamwork capabilities. To the best of my knowledge this is the first study to explore developer experience in low-code development environments and stands as groundwork for future studies in low-code developer experience.

An effective visualization can often give an insight into data that would otherwise be difficult to analyze. The company Assedon aims to make data understandable to their clients by using data visualization in an interactive user interface. The goal of this study was to create an interactive visual representation of data from the Swedish Public Employment Service with the use of dynamically created digital graphs that are considered credible and beneficial for data perception. Moreover, the goal was to study data perception of the digitally displayed and interactive graphs. The study was conducted by interviewing 19 people with different backgrounds, using a combination of a qualitative and a quantitative interview technique. The interviewees were shown three different designs of a graph type, and rated the graph as well as commented on the graph. The results of this study indicated that a graph is more likely to be perceived as credible if it looks modern and professional. This also means that the design of the graphs needs more attention than people might normally appreciate. The perception of data presented in digitally displayed graphs will be affected by several factors, but most prominently the choice of color can either enhance the perception or confuse. Lastly, interaction with the data will benefit the perception and create another dimension of the data, but only to a certain extent. If the graph is too difficult to evaluate, the purpose of the graph is lost and the interaction becomes a necessity instead of an asset. / En graf kan ge insikt i data som annars är svår att analysera. It-företaget Assedons mål är att konvertera data till digitala interaktiva lösningar som gör data förståelig för deras klienter. Målet med denna studie var att skapa en interaktiv visuell representation av Arbetsförmedlingens data i ett användarvänligt gränssnitt. Detta gjordes genom att skapa digitala grafer som anses trovärdiga och fördelaktiga för datauppfattningen. Målet var även att undersöka hur datauppfattningen av digitala grafer påverkades av interaktion med dessa grafer. Studien utfördes genom att intervjua 19 personer från olika bakgrunder med användning av kvalitativa och kvantitativa intervjutekniker. Deltagarna i studien visades tre olika interaktiva designer av en graf typ och betygsatte dessa samt kommenterade. Resultaten visade att en digital graf är mer sannolik att uppfattas som trovärdig om den ser modern och professionell ut. Datauppfattningen påverkades av flera faktorer, främst färgvalen som kan förtydliga data, men även förvirra läsaren. Avslutningsvis, så kan interaktion erbjuda en ytterligare dimension till grafer och därmed förbättra förståelsen av data. Dock till en viss gräns, är grafen för svår att evaluera utan tillgång till interaktionen så förloras syftet med grafen och interaktionen blir en nödvändighet istället för en tillgång.

This study explores how the interaction design techniques approach can contribute to enabling more transparency in physical shopping by creating bridges between consumers and various stakeholders. The aim is to empower the consumers to make informed decisions through obtaining and understanding health and environmental information for individual commodities. Through close collaboration with users, and with the support of active designers, the design process results in the development of an interactive mobile application proposal. The prototype aims to create a hub between consumers and different stakeholders concerning individual products. Furthermore, the prototype grants consumers access to the information they desire, sharing or requesting product feedback from stakeholders and consumers, focusing on the environment and health aspects.

Knowledge and its distribution are important for people to understand the world. In principle, science and academic research is the ultimate reliable source when knowledge is at stake, and an efficient way of communicating knowledge is through stories and narratives. As the use of digital devices is increasing, so are the use of digital devices for communicating storytelling. According to previous research, immersive and interactive forms of digital storytelling, such as video games, are beneficial for communicating knowledge. These media are, however, costly and time consuming. Communicating knowledge through more simple means is thus valuable too. The aim of this thesis was to investigate which method of communication, animated video, or comic strip, that leads to best performance, most knowledge, and is preferred. To do this a mixed method approach was conducted. The participants were asked eight questions related to the narrative. With each question three response options were provided for the participants to choose from. The collected data was analyzed through two statistical analyses, as well as a qualitative analysis. The findings suggest that there is no statistically significant difference between animated video and comic strip regarding the issue of developing knowledge, but that there is a difference in preference. These findings, as well as limitations, are further discussed in the paper.

This master's thesis deals with problems of testing, especially manual and beta testing. Further thesis discuss area of Human - Computer Interaction and looks for possibilities of effective managing of HCI projects. As solution project hosting area is proposed, explained and existing solutions are examined. In practical part of thesis system for managing HCI projects is designed and implemented based on previous research.

This master's thesis main aim is to design minimal Bluetooth stack for embedded applications running on an education platform FITkit. This paper contains a theoretical foundation for that work and implementation description. The main section includes Bluetooth protocol stack design and main opportunities which such a design raises.

Les modèles d’aptitude et maturité de processus logiciel (AMPL) sont actuellement largement utilisés dans l’industrie. Pour exécuter les pratiques définies dans ces modèles, des approches d’ingénierie logicielle sont appliquées. On constate également une grande définition en termes de méthodes, techniques, patrons et normes pour l’analyse, la conception, la mise en œuvre et l’évaluation de systèmes interactifs, axés sur les questions d’Interaction Homme-Machine (IHM). Néanmoins, il est bien connu que les approches d’IHM ne sont pas largement utilisées dans l’industrie. Afin de profiter de l’utilisation des modèles AMPL, cette thèse propose d’intégrer les questions d’IHM (concepts de conception, mise en œuvre et évaluation de systèmes interactifs) dans le modèle international le plus connu (CMMI-DEV – Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development) et dans le modèle brésilien (MR-MPS-SW – MPS for Software reference model). À cette fin, nous avons travaillé sur (i) l’identification des approches de l’IHM appropriées pour chaque pratique de l’ingénierie préconisée par ces modèles, (ii) l’évaluation et l’amélioration des approches de l’IHM identifiées avec des experts en IHM, (iii) la validation de la proposition dans un environnement académique, et (iv) la réalisation de deux études empiriques sur la perception de la connaissance et l’utilisation des approches de l’IHM dans l’industrie. En conséquence, nous avons obtenu 14 catégories d’approches de l’IHM avec des exemples de méthodes, techniques, patrons et normes propres à réaliser chaque pratique des activités d’ingénierie des deux modèles lors du développement de systèmes interactifs. De plus, l’étude empirique avec l’industrie brésilienne a confirmé statistiquement que les consultants de ces modèles AMPL ne connaissent et n’utilisent pas ou peu les approches de l’IHM, comme ils connaissent et utilisent des approches d’ingénierie logicielle. / Software process capability maturity (SPCM) models are currently widely used in industry. To perform the practices defined in these models, software engineering approaches are applied. We also have experienced a large definition of methods, techniques, patterns, and standards for the analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of interactive systems focusing on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) issues. Nevertheless, it is well known that HCI approaches are not largely used in industry. In order to take advantage of the widespread use of SPCM models, this thesis proposes to integrate HCI issues (concepts of design, implementation, and evaluation of interactive systems) in the most known international SPCM model (CMMI-DEV – Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development) and in the Brazilian SPCM model (MR-MPS-SW – MPS for Software reference model). To that end, we have worked on (i) the identification of appropriate HCI approaches for each practice of the engineering advocated by these models, (ii) the evaluation and improvement of the identified HCI approaches with HCI experts, (iii) the validation of the proposition in an academic environment, and (iv) the conduction of two empirical studies about the perception of knowledge and use of HCI approaches in the industry. As a result, we got 14 categories of HCI approaches with examples of methods, techniques, patterns, and standards adequate to perform each practice of engineering activities of the both models when developing interactive systems. Moreover, the empirical study, in Brazilian industry, confirmed statistically that consultants of those SPCM models do not know and do not use HCI approaches as well as they know and use software engineering approaches.

The threat of government and corporate surveillance around the world, as well as the publicity surrounding major cybersecurity attacks, have increased interest in secure and private end-to-end communications. In response to this demand, numerous secure messaging applications have been developed in recent years. These applications have been welcomed and publically used not just by political activists and journalists but by everyday users as well. Most of these popular secure messaging applications are usable because they hide many of the details of how encryption is provided. The strength of the security properties of these applications relies on the authentication ceremony, wherein users validate the keys being used for encryption that is exchanged through the service providers. The validation process typically involves verifying the fingerprints of encryption keys to protect the communication from being intercepted.In this dissertation, we explore how to help users enhance the privacy of their communica- tions, with a particular focus on secure messaging applications. First, we explore whether secure messaging applications are meeting the security and privacy needs of their users, especially in countries that practice censorship and restrict civil liberties, including blocking access to social media and communication applications. Second, we studied existing popular secure messaging applications to explore how users interact with these applications and how well they are using the authentication ceremony during lab studies. Third, we applied design principles to improve the interfaces for the authentication ceremony, and also to help users find and perform the authentication ceremony faster. Forth, we applied the lessons from our interviews with participants in our user studies to help users comprehend the importance of authentication. As part of the effort, we developed an authentication ceremony using social media accounts to map key fingerprints to social features, pushing the ceremony to a more natural domain for users. We modified the Signal secure messaging application to include this social authentication ceremony and used a user study to compare this method to other common methods. We found that social authentication has some promising features, but that social media companies are too distrusted by users. Based on our results, we make several recommendations to improve the use of security and privacy features in secure messaging applications and outline areas for future work.