Despite significant research activity around mobile technologies and growing awareness of the potential of the mobile technologies for education, higher education institutions have not seen mobile learning happen on a large scale and in a sustainable manner. There is no guidance on how to create an environment that enables the use of personally owned devices in learning contexts to enable innovation in teaching practices in higher education institutions. There are many frameworks to guide the implementation of mobile learning initiatives in higher education institutions and evaluate the success of such initiatives. However, none of these frameworks or models provides a roadmap that considers all the processes systems, infrastructure and the people involved to incorporate a Use Your Own Device(UYOD) approach, which then helps to create an ecosystem where the use of mobile technologies to support learning and teaching is enabled. The frameworks also do not take into account the rapidly evolving nature of mobile device capability and the impacts of this on affordances that may be harnessed in learning and teaching contexts. This research aimed to determine how capacity for mobile learning can be created or enabled within an organisation such as a higher education institution in a manner that mitigates risks and creates the capacity to capitalize on the affordances of the technologies as organisations takes advantage of students bringing and using their own devices. The thesis presents guidelines for enabling a Use Your Own Device (UYOD) approach to creating a mobile learning enabled environment within an organisation such as a higher education institution. The guidelines proposed are the result of three cycles of Design-Based Research (DBR) based on Roger’s theory of Diffusion Of Innovation(DOI), while also taking into consideration issues around organisational culture as they influence the progression of innovation in using mobile devices and technologies. The Design-Based Research(DBR) approach (also known as design science research) took iterative steps to build the guidelines through three cycles which investigated the questions: •What are the obstacles around “Use Your Own Device” (UYOD) in learning and teaching •How can policy and practice in an institutional context for UYOD respond to these obstacles? •What leadership requirements would be adequate to implement helpful policy and practice to enable UYOD for mobile learning? The proposed guidelines present a novel approach, leveraging the integration of individually owned devices to enabling mobile technologies for learning and teaching in how it considers the organisational culture alongside the process of creating the enabling systems and processes for facilitating innovation with mobile technologies. The contribution from this research is of value to technology leadership, policy influencers and learning technologists in higher education institutions, who are interested in enabling sustainable mobile learning initiatives. The guidelines proposed give strategic direction, which can be customised at a local level to suit the conditions of a particular organisation.

This Ph.D. thesis is focused on the concept of ‘Augmented Space’ and its design sensitivities, not only by combining physical space and all kinds of AR technologies as the one, but also exploring this new spatial format in a broader sociological context of augmented interaction that flows between digital and physical layers inside museums. Throughout the article, augmentation is reconceptualised as an idea/concept and cultural/aesthetic practice rather than as the pure technology. It first articulates the notion of augmented space, highlights different dimensions of augmented space that visitors perceived from science exhibition settings, and further generates theoretical convergences; technical implications and practical reflections. Then aims at bringing novelty from spatial, technological and experiential perspectives to the co-productive exhibition-making. This thesis finally points out the shortcomings and limitation of this Ph.D. research and provides advice and directions for future curating works with AR.

Consumers can play a pivotal role in the development of new products and services. People are observed to independently create and modify existing products in order to meet their needs, unmet by current market offerings (Luthje 2004; Von Hippel & Urban 1988; Hienerth & Lettl 2011). Research into these innovative consumers has shown they can be differentiated from other consumers by a set of characteristics. This has enabled firms to identify and engage with these consumers, document their behaviour and integrate them into the process of developing new products and services. By doing so firms have experienced a range of benefits including an increase in product novelty, attractiveness and variety (Franke & Shah 2003; Schreier & Pruegl 2008; Franke et al. 2006). Today firms are utilising virtual communities to access consumer knowledge, discover their emerging needs and observe their own innovations. This has had a positive effect on a firm’s innovation output and performance (Ryzhkova 2015; Wadell et al. 2013; Carbonell et al. 2009). Many investigations have started to focus on virtual communities, and their utility for firms to identify consumers, but given the sheer size of virtual communities, and their heterogeneity, our understanding of how to exploit these resources are under-explored. This thesis conducted a series of investigations, seeking to contribute a new perspective on consumer innovation research in a number of different areas. The core aim is to provide a new understanding of how organisations can use virtual communities to help them efficiently identify innovative consumers in the pursuit of new insights and innovation. The investigation focuses on how to approach the identification of innovative consumers in virtual communities. Firstly the consumer’s choice of the virtual community, which reveals innovative consumers, specifically those who are more willing to collaborate with organisations, are more likely to exist in forum style virtual communities. These are free from functionality that facilitates acts of selling and professional endeavours, such as shopping carts and file exchange mechanisms. This has never before been considered as an influencing factor in the process of identifying innovating consumers, and shows that organisations could positively influence the overall outcome of the collaboration process with consumers if a consumer’s choice of community was also included in the identification process. Ultimately this could have a positive knock-on effect to the type, and success of, the resulting innovation produced when collaborating with consumers for new product development (NPD). This study suggests that organisations need to take into consideration the following factors: community functionality, to reduce the number of consumers with professional interests; and the community social systems, to understand the values and ideologies of virtual communities when it comes to external collaboration. Additionally, this investigation expands on the existing knowledge about using weblog data for identification, by analysing the relationships between their self-reported data and web-log data. This is the first time the observation of weblog data and its potential to influence the wider use of weblog data has been taken into consideration. Almost all previous investigations appear to observe data that is isolated to a specific community (Füller et al. 2008), and do not consider how metrics could be transferable across communities to influence the overall approach to online consumer identifications, across communities. Finally this study provides new knowledge on the application of the community manager in the process of identifying innovative consumers. The research concludes by highlighting novel insights gained from interviewing community managers. The significance, and arguably, the advantageous position held by the community managers, places them in a position to influence social systems that inform the perceptions of external collaboration; they understand the community dynamics and often individual characteristics of community members, and they act as a gatekeeper to the community. These findings show that, for organisations looking to collaborate with consumers of the community, they should approach the community managers first. They can provide organisations with insights about the community social system, their values and ideologies, which will indicate the effectiveness of the community for identification. Essentially, by collating the findings from the thesis, organisations can add timesaving steps in the process of identification.

Portfolio optimisation is the process of making optimal investment decisions, where a set of assets are selected and invested with certain amount of the capital in the portfolio. Since the milestone work, Markowitz’s Mean-Variance (MV) model, it has boosted the research for new portfolio optimisation models and applications for last 60 years. Despite its theoretical values, the MV model has been widely criticised for underlying simplistic assumptions which ignore real world conditions and fail to take the market uncertainty of the mean and variance into account. To correct these, a large number of models have been developed. When additional features are extended to the traditional MV model, normally it makers the problem more difficult to solve, such as the introduction of some practical constraints makes the problem NP-hard. The aim of this thesis is to study various techniques for solving portfolio optimisation problems with different features. In the first stage of this thesis, it is mainly focused on portfolio optimisation problems based on MV model with gradually more complex real world constraints. Firstly, a hybrid approach is investigated which utilises exact and metaheuristic methods to optimise asset selection and capital allocation in portfolio optimisation with cardinality and quantity constraints considered respectively. The proposed method is composed of a mathematical programming application and customised population based incremental learning procedure. Then the metaheuristic technique is studied where a variable neighbourhood search approach with compound neighbourhoods is developed to solve the portfolio optimisation problem with four additional practical constraints (cardinality, quantity, pre-assignment and round-lot). Due to the fast development of the state-of-the-art commercial solver, it motivates us to study the performance of exact solver for various practical constrained MV model based problems. In the second stage of this thesis, my interest of the portfolio optimisation problems focuses on a more complicated domain where stochastic programming is considered to capture the market uncertainties in terms of future asset prices. In addition, an alternative risk measure, one of the most recent downside risk measures, CVaR is adopted. Consequently a two-stage recourse model with CVaR as risk measure and a comprehensive set of practical constraints is investigated by a hybrid scheme which utilises exact and metaheuristic methods. In this study, two hybrid approach are implemented and studied.

Visual tracking is the task of repeatedly inferring the state (position, motion, etc.) of the desired target in an image sequence. It is an important scientific problem as humans can visually track targets in a broad range of settings. However, visual tracking algorithms struggle to robustly follow a target in unconstrained scenarios. Among the many challenges faced by visual trackers, two important ones are occlusions and abrupt motion variations. Occlusions take place when (an)other object(s) obscures the camera's view of the tracked target. A target may exhibit abrupt variations in apparent motion due to its own unexpected movement, camera movement, and low frame rate image acquisition. Each of these issues can cause a tracker to lose its target. This thesis introduces the idea of learning and propagation of tracking information over multiple temporal scales to overcome occlusions and abrupt motion variations. A temporal scale is a specific sequence of moments in time Models (describing appearance and/or motion of the target) can be learned from the target tracking history over multiple temporal scales and applied over multiple temporal scales in the future. With the rise of multiple motion model tracking frameworks, there is a need for a broad range of search methods and ways of selecting between the available motion models. The potential benefits of learning over multiple temporal scales are first assessed by studying both motion and appearance variations in the ground-truth data associated with several image sequences. A visual tracker operating over multiple temporal scales is then proposed that is capable of handling occlusions and abrupt motion variations. Experiments are performed to compare the performance of the tracker with competing methods, and to analyze the impact on performance of various elements of the proposed approach. Results reveal a simple, yet general framework for dealing with occlusions and abrupt motion variations. In refining the proposed framework, a search method is generalized for multiple competing hypotheses in visual tracking, and a new motion model selection criterion is proposed.

A fast expanding network of DIY music communities in the UK see digital technologies transforming ways in which part-time amateur musicians are able to collaborate creatively and form alliances, touring and distributing their music to an international audience and expanding the possibilities of a DIY approach to music making beyond its subcultural, micro-cultural past. Creative autonomy and control is sought to be retained and celebrated in shared non- commercial spaces run by the artists themselves. With an interview based approach, this thesis explores the continued importance of gaining a local audience in a digital age, exploring amateur music activities in two very distinct cities. These reveal how local traditions of amateur practice continue to influence musicians and their shared venues, both in their revival and reinvention. How DIY is defined in a digital age is also explored with both observation and interview data revealing the continued legacy of Punk and how this plays a part in DIY’s expanding definition. The approaches and motivations behind amateur musicians seeking out and establishing shared places for their DIY practice reveals a collective striving for creative control and the creative reimagining of disused urban spaces. Whilst there is a commitment to the upkeep of these spaces, there are also essential online activities shared by the amateur musicians that assist their own personal music promotion alongside the networking and expanding of the local DIY communities. This discussion also reveals how the musicians tackle periods of isolation from their peers, as increased opportunities to collaborate remotely with others changes the dynamics of bands and music scenes. In a combining of interview and observational data, the thesis also explores in depth the handcrafting and DIY activities practiced and celebrated in the shared DIY spaces. There is then further discussion as to how the musicians manage their peer networks and how they stay connected to other musicians in their local areas. This reveals more relaxed, open networking tactics widely adopted by amateur musicians in a digital age. There is a continued discussion then as to how the musicians are able to sustain their DIY practices on a part- time basis, with a focus on the co-operative strategies for creating a sense of community, shared values and ambitions amongst the musicians. In conclusion, I draw upon the themes of material, digital, local and global practices, revealing how amateurs seek to protect both a micro-scale, exclusive aspect to their music and opportunities for face-to-face live performance for real engagement with their peers and audiences.

This thesis addresses the following question: How should domestic networks be reinvented to support self-management by domestic users? It takes a user-centred design approach to redesign the underlying domestic network infrastructure to better fit domestic users. The overall aim of this work is to create user-centred mechanisms to support self-management of domestic networks by domestic users. Two areas of the domestic network are studied in detail, user-centred mechanisms for domestic network infrastructure control and user-centred presentations of network data. User-centred mechanisms for domestic network infrastructure control are explored to improve Wi-Fi device association in domestic environments. A user-centred design approach is adopted to create a new method for sharing Wi-Fi credentials between devices, specifically tailored for domestic environments called MultiNet. The network performance impact of MultiNet is quantified using the standard metrics of throughput, latency, and jitter in a lab based experiment. MultiNet's usability is then compared to Wi-Fi Protected Setup in a lab based usability evaluation. These show that better Wi-Fi device association methods targeted for domestic environments can be built. It also shows that user-centred networking infrastructure can support self-management by domestic users. User-centred presentations of network data address the poor legibility of domestic networks hinders configuration and maintenance of them. A user-centred approach is adopted to design and construct a network data visualisation and annotation platform, HomeNetViewer. Through a series of deployments in real households the HomeNetViewer platform is used to explore user-centred presentations of network data to support the local negotiation of domestic network policy. HomeNetViewer improves domestic network legibility by enabling the construction of user-centred presentations of domestic network data. Additionally, it shows that users are comfortable annotating their network data using activities, applications, and users as a vocabulary. Together this highlights, with the correct user-centred tools, that domestic users are able to gain new insight into their networks to support self-management. HomeNetViewer also shows that manually annotating domestic traffic place an ongoing burden on the users. Automating user-centred presentations of network data are explored to address the burden the annotation process places on users. The use of enterprise traffic classification techniques to generate user-centred presentations of network data struggle to classify the data annotated by HomeNetViewer participants. It concludes by suggesting two ways in which these difficulties could be addressed in future work. Overall the domestic access point provides an important point of configuration, visibility and control over the domestic network infrastructure. This dissertation demonstrates that taking a user-centred design approach to reinventing the domestic network, to support self-management by users, can resolve the existing problems and merits further research and exploration by industry and standardisation bodies.

This thesis argues for an enactive embodied approach to understanding in- teractions with Adaptive Architecture. The growing interest in Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing, including the current trends of wearable, sensor infused technology, shows the inevitable confluence of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Architecture. Specifi- cally, the availability of real-time physiological data allows environments to respond directly to the bodily behaviours of their users. This creates an in- teraction cycle or loop, which temporarily couples architectural environ- ment and human body. One instantiation of such an interaction loop are so called biofeedback environments, which reflect an inhabitant's physiological behaviour back to the inhabitant. Very few such environments exist, little empirical research has been done regarding their effects on inhabitants, and none have specifically engaged with, appropriated, and discussed the concept of enacted embodiment in this context so far, especially regarding multi-occupancy. To investigate enacted embodied interactions with adaptive environments I use a three-tiered, mixed-method approach. In an in-depth, quantitative study of an existing prototype (ExoBuilding) I first investigated the enacted control-relationship between environment and an individual inhabitant. I found that, by manipulating the control relationship between the biofeed- back environment and its occupant, the environment can actively influence the physiological behaviour of its inhabitant, which in this case was respira- tion rate. The reasons why participants changed their behaviour after having lost practical control over the interaction were found to either be a pre- cognitive bodily interaction with the environment or to be an intentional synchronising with the changing environment in order to maintain cognitive control of the situation. Secondly, these findings and interpretations lead to a research-based design of a new multi-inhabitant prototype environment allowing enacted embod- ied interactions between the inhabitants themselves and between them and the environment called WABI. While expandable, WABI currently envelopes two sections, each of which accommodates one inhabitant. Through further co-development of the software platform originally used for ExoBuilding, WABI can distribute biofeedback spatially to both its building sections in multiple ways. Thirdly, I investigated the effects of three feedback distribution modes on the two inhabitants of WABI in a qualitative exploratory study, which found that physiological synchrony is highest when the environment distributes real- time feedback such that participants are surrounded by their partner's phys- iology. I propose a model of triadic enacted embodiment that conceptualises the observed interactions between inhabitants and between them and WABI. This work makes three key contributions to HCI and Architecture. First, it provides empirical data to the limited existing knowledge of the effects of adaptive environments on their inhabitants. Specifically, it increases our un- derstanding of the control relationship between inhabitant and adaptive en- vironment. And for the first time it provides an insight into interpersonal physiological synchrony between inhabitants of adaptive environments. Sec- ondly, this work adds a new class of adaptive environment that enables shared biofeedback between its inhabitants. And thirdly, the previous two contributions expand the existing concepts of embodiment, which so far have ignored the bodily relationship between inhabitants and adaptive envi- ronments.

Field trips provide memorable experiences that help students to understand different aspects of natural sciences. They are considered as essential and effective teaching methods to use in environmental sciences such as geography, biology, and architecture (Rieger and Gay, 1997). Traditional methods for capturing experiences during field trips include documentation in the form of student note-taking and photographs. Whilst these are easy to use in the field, effort is required to convert this information into a format that can be easily shared with others and used to write up reports after the field trip event. Recent developments in digital and mobile technologies provide students with a range of software applications that could be used to facilitate capture and sharing of the field trip experience. These technologies offer additional advantages such as social interactivity, connectivity, individuality, portability and context sensitivity (Klopfer et al., 2002). The focus of this PhD research was to understand the role of smart mobile technology in supporting note taking activities during field trips. In addition, this research aimed to investigate the impact of using these devices to enhance field experiences in different contexts. A series of case studies were conducted with undergraduate students from different disciplines who conduct field studies as part of their coursework (geography and architecture). Consideration was also given to the clinical practice context for nursing students. Previous studies had examined the use of mobile devices in educational field trips but none had assessed the use of generic mobile technologies such as the new generation of smart mobile devices. In recognition of the increasing availability and use of these smart mobile devices, this research identified user requirements for information capture and sharing in field studies as well as the development of generic guidelines for design and implementation of mobile applications and tools in forthcoming years. The research provided an understanding of generic requirements (and context-specific requirements) in order to inform recommendations for use of mobile technologies in field study activities. This required understanding specific goals of the users to perform specified task in specific environments in the context of usability, effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction toward (Bevan, 1995). In the initial stages of the research, three contexts of use for development of knowledge and practical skills in undergraduate students were considered. Four main studies were conducted, utilising a qualitative approach and applying a variety of methods. The characteristics of the target users, the understanding and meaning of their field experience, the kind of support that the mobile technology could usefully provide in the fieldwork were identified. The later stages of the research focused on the field trip excursions made by geography students and architecture students and considered the applicability of the research outcomes to the nursing students context in order to examine generalisability of the recommendations. The overall outcomes of this research show that current generation of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets play a positive role in enhancing the capturing and sharing learning experience in undergraduate field trips. However, the enhancement is appeared when the participants are provided with training to familiarise them with use of the mobile devices before going into the field. The contribution of this thesis is the identification of user needs and requirements, and an understanding of what makes mobile technology good to use in the field. Recommendations are provided that could influence the education sector to consider the smart mobile devices as field equipment and to find ways to encourage students to use them in the field.

By enabling users to self-report their whereabouts and share it with a vast and diverse audience, location sharing systems can be useful means of projecting the self and expressing one’s social identity (an individual’s personal self-conception). Through three research studies, this thesis investigates how social identity influences the digital sharing of location. It does so by first exploring how people socially interact offline and then investigates how facets of this behaviour are enacted in location sharing systems. Thus, it offers insights into how offline social behaviour extends to digital spaces and how it impacts social interaction in the digital realm. This thesis finds that social identity not only influences digital location sharing, but in systems that enable social networking, is the very driving force behind the phenomenon. Users actively exhibit their identity through their location, using it as a means of communicating moods, emotions, activities, and experiences. Social identity impacts the places likely to be shared and those places, in turn, reflect one’s identity by revealing much about an individual’s personality and lifestyle. This research also discovers that aspects of offline social behaviour have not been replicated particularly well in the online world. Conventional location sharing systems often require users to broadcast their content to one homogenous ‘friends’ list. This model overlooks some of the key components of offline social behaviour such as multi-faceted identities, context-specific behaviour and the heterogeneity of human relationships. This can result in challenges when attempting to manage different facets of identity and can heighten anxieties about sharing as a whole. Recommendations are made on how such issues can be mitigated in future platforms. This thesis has implications for the design of future location sharing systems. By studying human interaction in digital environments, it also contributes to the Human Factors and HCI disciplines.