There has been a noticeable increase in people’s interest in open-world games, especially those that incorporate emergent gameplay. Emergent gameplay refers to activities performed by players to create properties that cannot be created without the interaction of multiple game components. While it is evident that emergent gameplay can arise from the interaction between multiple game components, the role of the environment in influencing its occurrence remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims to identify the role of the environment by utilizing the concept of affordance, which explains the relationship between how an actor interacts with an environment. To gather insights, a small open-world game prototype was developed to collect gameplay data from players, who were interviewed upon testing the prototype. A thematic analysis was conducted to gain insights from the interview data, which was complemented by visualizing the players’ gameplay data. The analysis results indicate that the occurrence of emergent gameplay can be enhanced by concealing the affordance and signifiers of the environment. Additionally, the environment acts as an extension of the players’ interaction space when the players can only interact with the environment through other game mechanics. / Det har varit ett märkbart ökat intresse för spel med öppna världar, särskilt de som inkluderar emergent gameplay. Emergent gameplay avser aktiviteter som spelare utför för att skapa egenskaper som inte kan skapas utan interaktion mellan flera olika spelkomponenter. Även om det är tydligt att emergent gameplay kan uppstå genom interaktionen mellan flera spelkomponenter, så är rollen som miljön spelar för att påverka dess förekomst fortfarande oklar. Därför syftar denna studie till att identifiera miljöns roll genom att utnyttja begreppet "affordance", vilket förklarar förhållandet mellan hur en aktör interagerar med en miljö. För att samla insikter utvecklades en liten prototyp av ett spel med en öppen värld för att samla in gameplay-data från spelare som intervjuades efter att ha testat prototypen. En tematisk analys genomfördes för att få insikter från intervjumaterialet, som kompletterades med en visualisering av spelarnas gameplay-data. Analysresultaten indikerar att förekomsten av emergent gameplay kan förbättras genom att dölja affordance och tecken i miljön. Dessutom fungerar miljön som en förlängning av spelarnas interaktionsutrymme när spelarna endast kan interagera med miljön genom annan spelmekanik.

Digitalization through the use of Information and Communication Technologies is a phenomenon which has a great influence on our way of living. Organizations and society at large are not left behind. With the ubiquitous nature of technological devices, the need for digital competency in the constantly changing and advancing digital landscape is of utmost importance. In 2020, people’s lives and everyday activities were altered on a global scale, due to the outbreak of a viral disease named COVID-19, which resulted in a worldwide pandemic. Educators were suddenly faced with teaching challenges, due to the need for adoption of electronic learning tools and technologies for delivery of learning activities. Transitioning from traditional face-to-face teaching to distance learning was seamless for teachers who were digitally competent. However, the same transition for those with little or no digital competence and experience, resulted in great challenges in the delivery of academic activities through electronic learning platforms.The educational system however is still recuperating from the COVID-19 induced online method of teaching. The digital competence of teachers and their perceived experience during the transitioning phase has therefore become of great importance to study in qualitative research within an interpretive case study. As a result, this research work aims to compare responses of teachers who serve at two secondary schools in Greece and Sweden, both of which are located in the European Union. By answering two research questions, this study follows an inductive approach, using educational technology affordance framework. This provides insight into effective delivery of online learning in the education sector. The methodological approach of this research follows data collection through semi-structured interviews, addressed to teachers and validated through IT personnel who work in the selected schools; and the use of additional data collection through documents available online, which are related to the context of study. The data collected were examined using thematic analysis, followed by a general discussion, answers to research questions, and analysis about the theoretical framework. The findings of this research work reveal that there are interrelationships between teachers’ experience with online learning and their digital competencies, and these interrelationships play a major role in determining the successful implementation of digital technologies in academic activities. This is because, despite the challenges faced by teachers during the transitioning phase from traditional teaching method to online delivery, teachers with significantly higher levels of digital competence managed the new digital procedures easily. On the contrary, those with little or no digital competence level found the new procedure a difficult task. Thereby resulting in professional stress during this transition. Hence, the successful implementation of digital technologies into the educational work procedures is highly dependent on the digital skills levels of the teachers who will implement these technologies, as well as suitable and user-friendly platforms.This research work is descriptive, and it contributes to the knowledge as it concerns the need for digital competence among teachers. It provides further clarification on what school management, education specialists and software developers are doing with respect to improving the digital competence level of teachers. In addition to this, the study provides insights on what education policy makers can do to support teachers’ readiness towards digital skill acquisition. This is seen as a necessity to achieve optimum results for a successful future delivery of online education.

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Nowadays, smartphones are considered an essential part of our everyday lives. However, as the use of them increases so does their presence in vehicle environments. Prior studies have found that interacting with mobile devices while driving can cause cognitive, manual, and visual distractions. These distractions have a significant effect on driving performance and can result in serious accidents. As a solution to this, some applications, such as Spotify, has taken a different approach by developing a simplified version of their graphica linterface that is specifically designed for driving.The aim of this study is to examine what impacts simplified graphical interfaces has on the user experience for car drivers, focusing on Spotify and their car mode. In order to examine this, an online survey and a feature analysis was conducted. The result of this study shows that Spotify's car mode is missing a lot of features that are important to the users, causing them not to use it. These results highlight the challenge of providing all features that are expected by the users while creating a simpler interface.

Le travail présenté dans cette thèse porte sur le rôle du cortex prémoteur dorsal (PMd) au sujet de la prise de décision (sélection d’une action parmis nombreux choix) et l'orientation visuelle des mouvements du bras. L’ouvrage décrit des expériences électrophysiologiques chez le singe éveillé (Macaca mulatta) permettant d’adresser une fraction importante des prédictions proposées par l'hypothèse des affordances concurrentes (Cisek, 2006; Cisek, 2007a). Cette hypothèse suggère que le choix de toute action est l’issue d'une concurrence entre les représentations internes des exigences et des atouts de chacune des options présentées (affordances; Gibson, 1979). Un intérêt particulier est donné au traitement de l'information spatiale et la valeur des options (expected value, EV) dans la prise de décisions. La première étude (article 1) explore la façon dont PMd reflète ces deux paramètres dans la période délai ainsi que de leur intéraction. La deuxième étude (article 2) explore le mécanisme de décision de façon plus détaillée et étend les résultats au cortex prémoteur ventral (PMv). Cette étude porte également sur la représentation spatiale et l’EV dans une perspective d'apprentissage. Dans un environnement nouveau les paramètres spatiaux des actions semblent être présents en tout temps dans PMd, malgré que la représentation de l’EV apparaît uniquement lorsque les animaux commencent à prendre des décisions éclairées au sujet de la valeur des options disponibles. La troisième étude (article 3) explore la façon dont PMd est impliqué aux “changements d'esprit“ dans un procès de décision. Cette étude décrit comment la sélection d’une action est mise à jour à la suite d'une instruction de mouvement (GO signal). I II Les résultats principaux des études sont reproduits par un modèle computationnel (Cisek, 2006) suggérant que la prise de décision entre plusieurs actions alternatives peux se faire par voie d’un mécanisme de concurrence (biased competition) qui aurait lieu dans la même région qui spécifie les actions. / This thesis examines the role of the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) in the process of decision making (action selection) and visual guidance of arm movements. The work describes electrophysiological experiments conducted in awake monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and tests a number of important predictions suggested by the affordance competition hypothesis (Cisek, 2006; Cisek, 2007a). This hypothesis suggests that decisions can be viewed as the result of a competition between internal representations of conflicting demands and opportunities for actions or affordances (Gibson, 1979). Specific interest is given to the interaction between spatial information and expected value (EV) in a proposed affordance competition mechanism for action selection. The first study presented (article 1) explores how EV is represented during the delay period in PMd. This study also describes how this area reflects the spatial metrics of the options and examines the interaction between value and spatial information. The second study (article 2) explores the mechanism of action selection in more detail and extends the results to ventral premotor cortex (PMv). This study also addresses the nature of value and spatial representations from a learning perspective. In a novel environment the spatial metrics of the actions seem to be invariably present in PMd, meanwhile EV representations appear only once the animals make behaviorally informed decisions about the value of the available options. The third study (article 3) explores how PMd is involved in “changes of mind” in which action selection is updated following a movement instruction (GO signal). III IV The major findings in all these studies are reproduced by a computational model (Cisek, 2006) suggesting that decisions between actions can be made through a biased competition process that takes place in the same region that specifies the actions.

The Viking age of Gotland has been subject to extensive studies. Research often addresses treasures, highly monetary valued objects, and changes in religion. In contrast, research on natural objects as fossils have received little attention. This bachelor’s thesis seeks to understand the usage of fossils in the Viking age of Gotland. With quantitative and qualitative analysis of fossils, this material shows us that people made elaborate choices in every step of utilization and with high probably created meaning through them. This study demonstrates that fossils are a heterogeneous archaeological material with capability to show us complementary view of the people who used them.

A wide literature of predominantly behavioural experiments that use Stimulus Response Compatibility (SRC) have suggested that visual action information such as object affordance yields rapid and concurrent activation of visual and motor brain areas, but has rarely provided direct evidence for this proposition. This thesis examines some of the key claims from the affordance literature by applying electrophysiological measures to well established SRC procedures to determine the verities of the behavioural claims of rapid and automatic visuomotor activation evoked by viewing affording objects. The temporal sensitivity offered by the Lateralised Readiness Potential and by visual evoked potentials P1 and N1 made ideal candidates to assess the behavioural claims of rapid visuomotor activation by seen objects by examining the timecourse of neural activation elicited by viewing affording objects under various conditions. The experimental work in this thesis broadly confirms the claims of the behavioural literature however it also found a series of novel results that are not predicted by the behavioural literature due to limitations in reaction time measures. For example, while different classes of affordance have been shown to exert the same behavioural facilitation, electrophysiological measures reveal very different patterns of cortical activation for grip-type and lateralised affordances. These novel findings question the applicability of the label ‘visuomotor’ to grip-type affordance processing and suggest considerable revision to models of affordance. This thesis also offers a series of novel and surprising insights into the ability to dissociate afforded motor activity from behavioural output, into the relationship between affordance and early visual evoked potentials, and into affordance in the absence of the intention to act. Overall, this thesis provides detailed suggestions for considerable changes to current models of the neural activity underpinning object affordance.

L’objectif de cette thèse est double. Premièrement, il s’agira de comprendre l’impact que l’internet peut avoir sur la démocratie, c’est-à-dire de montrer ce que cette technologie change à la démocratie, en développant un cadre conceptuel précis et en m’appuyant sur un corpus empirique important. Il s’agira ensuite de développer un projet normatif, afin de montrer ce qu’il est nécessaire de faire afin de garantir que l’impact de l’internet sur la démocratie sera positif. Pour mener à bien ces objectifs, il me faudra d’abord disposer d’une conception claire de la démocratie. C’est pourquoi je proposerai dans une première partie de la comprendre à partir du concept d’autonomie politique dont je proposerai une analyse conceptuelle au premier chapitre. J’analyserai ensuite deux éléments centraux de ce concept, à savoir la vie privée et l’espace public. Je proposerai dans une deuxième partie une analyse à la fois précise et empiriquement fondée de l’impact de l’internet sur ces deux éléments, afin de présenter un argument qui ne sera pas simplement a priori ou spéculatif. Les conclusions que je présenterai ne vaudront, cependant, que pour l’internet tel qu’il est aujourd’hui, car il est certain qu’il peut évoluer. Il est alors tout à fait possible que ses propriétés cessent de permettre l’augmentation de l’autonomie politique que je décris au cours de ma deuxième partie. Il est donc important de mener à bien une réflexion normative afin d’identifier dans quelle mesure il pourrait être nécessaire de faire quelque chose afin de garantir l’impact positif de l’internet sur l’autonomie politique. Je montrerai donc dans une dernière partie qu’il est nécessaire d’assurer à l’internet une architecture non-discriminante, mais qu’il n’est pas nécessaire de protéger outre mesure la générativité de son écosystème. Je conclurai en montrant l’importance d’offrir à tous des éléments d’une littératie numérique, si l’on souhaite que tous puissent bénéficier des opportunités offertes par le réseau des réseaux. / My goal in this thesis is twofold. First I want to understand the impact the Internet can have on democracy, that is to say, I want to understand what this technology changes to democracy. In order to do this, it is necessary to possess a clear and precise conceptual framework of the meaning of democracy and to ground my analysis in empirical literature. Second, I want to give a normative account of what needs to be done to ensure that the impact of the Internet on democracy will stay positive. To accomplish these goals, one first needs to have a clear conception of democracy. That is why I will offer, in the first part of my thesis, an understanding of democracy as political autonomy. I will offer an analysis of this last concept in my first chapter. I will then analyze two of its central elements, namely privacy and public space. In the second part of my thesis, I will offer an analysis that is both precise and empirically grounded of the impact of the internet on these two elements, in order to present an argument that will not simply be a priori and speculative. It is important to notice that the conclusions that I reach are only of value if the Internet doesn't evolve. It is therefore quite possible that the internet ceases to allow for greater political autonomy as I explain in my second part. It is thus important to carry out the normative part of my project to identify to what extent it might be necessary to do something to ensure the positive impact of the Internet on political autonomy. So, in the last part of my thesis, I show that it is necessary to protect the non-discriminatory Internet architecture, but that it is not necessary to protect its generative ecosystem. I will conclude by showing the importance of providing all the elements of a digital literacy, if we want that all benefit from the opportunities offered by the Internet.

The increased interest in relationship marketing and the potential of the Internet as a platform for relationship building activities have given rise to new ways for companies to interact with their customers, such as services based on a freemium pricing model. Based on the premise that relationships are processes consisting of interactive moments of value-creating activities, value is considered subjective, relative and dependent on the context in which the activity takes place. Value is therefore variable given its context and cannot be pre-defined without nuances being lost. Despite the Internet's given role in societal development, our understanding of what contributes to customers' intentions to build relationships with online services is yet to mature. As the music industry is well established on the Internet, alongside the change in how music is consumed, it is thus appropriate to examine activities in accordance with a freemium based service that distributes music online, since it still lacks in academic understanding. This study aims to provide insights about virtual relations and how online services that provide cultural content should relate to there users as well as contributing to the ongoing academic discussion regarding value and how it is manifested by highlighting contextual impact on relational activities. For a rapprochement of relations to online services in cultural industries, this study assumed a practice perspective. In accordance with practice theory and action research, primary data was collected through participatory observation set in users' natural social environment, with a targeted sample of informants well familiar with the object of study - the online service Spotify. The results show that value in virtual relationships arise inter-subjectively between users, where value is relative to past experiences, changeable over time, and expressed through individual and collective activities afforded by current context. If usage of a service is part of the daily routine, it also becomes a part of the user's identity, which the user, in order not to disrupt the routine, is willing to make sacrifices to uphold, thus maintaining their identity and ongoing relationship to the service provider. The more affordances a service provider manages to convey, the more meaningful a relationship is considered to be. The affective dimension of cultural products, especially music, allows for interpersonal coordination, and emotional convergence, where value is created inter-subjectively through collectively shared practices, allowing us to share feelings and experiences and enjoying how the closeness of interpersonal relationships contribute to our everyday lives. The inter-subjective value creation process thus also works as a process of humanizing the virtual relationship. / Det ökade intresset för relationsmarknadsföring och Internets potential som plattform för relationsbyggande aktiviteter har gett upphov till nya sätt för företag att interagera med sina kunder, till exempel genom freemium-tjänster. Utifrån premisserna att relationen är en process av interaktionsögonblick av meningsskapande aktiviteter, förutsätts värde vara subjektivt, relativt och beroende av kontexten i vilken aktiviteten utspelas. Värde är således föränderligt givet kontexten och kan inte på förhand definieras utan att nyanser går förlorade. Trots Internets givna roll i samhällsutvecklingen, saknas fortfarande förståelse för vilka parametrar som bidrar till kunders intentioner att bygga relationer med online-tjänster.    Då musikindustrin är väl etablerad på Internet, parallellt med att det skett en förändring av hur musik konsumeras, är det således motiverat att undersöka aktiviteter förenliga med en tjänst som distribuerar musik online, baserad på affärsmodellen freemium, då den akademiskt sätt ännu befinner sig i sin vagga. Studiens syfte är att ge insikter om virtuella relationer för hur online-tjänster med kulturellt innehåll ska förhålla sig till sina användare och bidra till den pågående akademiska diskussionen om hur värde manifesteras genom att belysa kontexters inverkan på relationer. För ett närmande av relationer till online-tjänster inom kulturella industrier, antogs för denna studie ett praktikperspektiv. I enlighet med aktionsforskning inhämtades primärdata genom deltagande observation i användarnas naturliga sociala miljö, baserat på ett målinriktat urval av informanter väl bekanta med studieobjektet - online-tjänsten Spotify. Resultatet visar på att värde inom virtuella relationer uppstår intersubjektivt mellan användare, är relativt mot tidigare erfarenheter, är föränderligt över tid, och kommer till uttryck genom individuella som kollektiva aktiviteter beroende av rådande kontext. Är användningen av tjänsten en del av den dagliga rutinen, blir användningen en del av användarens identitet, med påföljden att användaren är beredd att göra uppoffringar för att inte bryta rutinen och på så vis upprätthålla sin identitet och relation till tjänsten. Ju fler affordanser tjänster lyckas förmedla, desto mer meningsfull upplevs relationen.   Den affektiva dimensionen som kulturella produkter för med sig, särskilt musik, möjliggör för interpersonal koordination och emotionell sammanstrålning, där intersubjektivt värdeskapande kollektivt tillskjuter värde i den gemensamma upplevelsen, då vi tillåter oss att dela våra känslor och upplevelser och njuta av den närhet som mänskliga relationer bidrar till i våra vardagliga liv. Det intersubjektiva värdeskapandet bidrar till ett förmänskligande av den virtuella relationen.

有別於傳統新聞學研究探討記者與消息來源的互動關係，因礙於研究對象的預設限制，因而相關研究大多僅探討記者如何與消息來源培養、鞏固、強化及修補關係，對於記者如何尋覓至消息來源卻少有著墨。有鑑於此，本研究試圖跳脫以往僅以政治人物或公關人員作為研究對象，乃以低社會能見度之小人物作為消息來源，試以探究記者在尋找小人物消息來源的過程中，如何運用環境周遭的物質工具及人際關係網絡等中介資源以達成任務。 透過深度訪談及參與觀察方式，本研究發現記者尋找小人物消息來源乃是一種富涵新聞機構性的行為，在尋人初始階段，記者乃會對於尋找何種類型的小人物存有特定假設；然而，假設的形成並非全然由表徵系統進行控制，而是一循環建構的過程；另一方面，在新聞常規的作用之下，本研究發現小人物新聞乃需與其他新聞類型進行版面競爭，此時，在突發新聞不可獨漏的情況下，又需兼顧因時事議題所發展的小人物專題，記者乃會利用傳播或資訊科技工具來縮短一般新聞的處理時間，進而延長小人物新聞資訊素材的蒐集時間；再者，新聞常規亦會造成小人物新聞遺漏的現象產生，而記者亦會適時選擇特定傳播或資訊科技工具以彌補小人物新聞遺漏的缺口。 除此之外，人際關係網絡更是記者尋人不可或缺的資源之一。本研究發現記者在選擇資訊中間人時，乃會依據雙方之間的關係特質，以形成各式不同策略來與資訊中間人應對，藉以獲取尋人線索或相關資訊素材，尤其記者乃會利用與自身擁有弱連結關係的資訊中間人，作為新資訊擷取與流通的橋樑，而利用強連結關係作為與這些弱連結關係資源交換的籌碼。 綜言之，記者尋人行為乃是一種「配置型智能」的展現，將原先大腦所需承擔的認知負荷交由環境中各式中介資源分散處理；另一方面，記者尋人行為更加蘊含「行動中思考」之過程，任何中介資源的使用，乃是端視記者當下所處情境，是否賦予記者視見中介資源之功能性用途。由此可知，記者尋人的知識即是展現在記者審時度勢的功夫上，以適時運用環境周遭的中介資源，協助解決任務、尋覓至小人物消息來源。 / As previous studies have emphasized on journalist-source relationship for a long time, they provide a jumping-off point for this study to divert from them. In terms of traditional research subjects (politicians and public relations), most of those studies mainly focus on how journalists develop, cement, augment and repair mutual relationship with their sources. However, the question of how journalists seek for their sources has been rarely discussed. Therefore, this study attempts to turn to low-status sources (i.e. ordinary people) and examine how journalists manipulate artifacts and social networks to seek for them. This study conducted by in-depth interview and participant observation shows that the institutionalization of newspapers makes big impacts on journalists’ people-seeking behavior. At the first phase, journalists will be cultivated to form specific hypotheses for the type of sources they are seeking for. Second, it may cause ordinary people news necessary to compete with other news genres for news pages. Finally, it may also cause some of ordinary people news stories to be omitted. However, even though journalists’ people-seeking behavior is constricted to the social structure, they are still able to exercise their agency in the use of information and communication technology to extend the time of newsgathering and to ensure all potential ordinary people news will be found. Moreover, those hypotheses for the people they are seeking for are not totally controlled by journalists’ representational systems either but constituted recursively. In addition, social networks are also one of indispensable resources for journalists’ people-seeking behavior. According to research results, the factor that impacts journalists on deciding which intermediary they will ask help for is based on mutual relational characteristics. Journalists will use weak ties to access new information and strong ties as a bargain chip to negotiate with weak ties for resource exchange. In sum, during the process of people-seeking, journalists’ cognitive functions will be distributed and offloaded to the mediated resources in the situation in a cooperative way to ease the cognitive burden imposed on their brains. In addition, the usage of mediated resources also depends on the situation journalists stay in, which enables them to perceive the function of each mediated resource. All in all, journalists’ knowledge of people-seeking behavior rests on how they consider the situation and manipulate mediated resources properly to solve their tasks.