Recommender systems have the potential of helping users in finding relevant items in the online environment, and in many ways, they impact which content we consume. Thus, how fair these systems are affects us. A common fairness issue in recommender systems is popularity bias. However, research on this issue has mostly been focusing on the algorithmic side, and the user perspective has been more or less neglected. In this study, the goal was to understand whether there is a correlation between algorithmic and perceived fairness in the context of popularity bias, and the study was conducted in a music recommender setting. Three different algorithms were used in the study, each generating recommended playlists with varying levels of fairness in terms of recommending both popular and less popular music items. By comparing how fair users perceived the different recommended playlists to be with the algorithmic fairness of the playlists, conclusions could be drawn on the relationship between perceived and algorithmic fairness. Moreover, it was examined whether two different factors, namely familiarity and satisfaction, have an impact on perceived fairness. An online survey was conducted, and it was concluded that there is no correlation between perceived and algorithmic fairness, as the participants could not notice any difference in fairness between the playlists. Familiarity was shown to only have an impact on perceived fairness in terms of one algorithm, while satisfaction was shown to have a significant impact on perceived fairness across all algorithms. The results indicate that fairness, in the context of popularity bias, may not be of high importance to users. As opposed to concentrating on how users perceive this type of fairness in recommender systems, it might be more important to focus on other stakeholders, such as the providers.

With a spatial haptic interface device and a suitable haptic rendering algorithm, users can explore and modify virtual geometries in three dimensions with the aid of their haptic (touch) sense. Designers of surgery simulators, anatomy exploration tools and applications that involve assembly of complex objects should consider employing this technology. However, in order to know how the technology behaves as a design material, the designer needs to become well acquainted with its material properties. This presents a significant challenge today, since the haptic devices are presented as black boxes, and implementation of advanced rendering algorithms represent highly specialized and time consuming development activities. In addition, it is difficult to imagine what an interface will feel like until it has been fully implemented, and important design trade-offs such as the virtual object's size and stability gets neglected. Traditional user-centered design can be interpreted as that the purpose of the field study phase is to generate a set of specifications for an interface, and only solutions that cover these specifications will be considered in the design phase. The designer might miss opportunities to create solutions that uses e.g. lower cost devices since that might require reinterpretation of the overarching goal of the situation with starting point in the technical possibilities, which is unlikely without significant material knowledge. As an example, a surgery simulator designed in this thesis required a high cost haptic device to render adequate forces on the scale of human teeth, but if the design goal is reinterpreted as creating a tool for learning anatomical differences and surgical steps, an application more suitable for the lower cost haptic devices could be crafted. This solution is as much informed by the haptic material "speaking back to" the designer as by field studies. This licentiate thesis will approach a perspective of spatial haptic interface design that is grounded in contemporary design theory. These theories emphasizes the role of the designer, who is not seen as an objective actor but as someone who has a desire to transform a situation into a preferred one as a service to a client or greater society. It also emphasizes the need for crafting skills in order to innovate, i.e. make designed objects real. Further, it considers aesthetic aspects of a design, which includes the subtle differences in friction as you move the device handle, and overall attractiveness of the device and system. The thesis will cover a number of design cases which will be related to design theory and reflected upon. Particular focus will be placed on the most common class of haptic devices which can give force feedback in three dimensions and give input in six (position and orientation). Forces will be computed and objects deformed by an volume sampling algorithm which will be discussed. Important design properties such as stiffness, have been identified and exposed as a material for design. A tool for tuning these properties interactively has been developed to assist designers to become acquainted with the spatial haptic material and to craft the material for a particular user experience. Looking forward, the thesis suggests the future work of making spatial haptic interfaces more design ready, both in software and hardware. This is proposed to be accomplished through development of toolkits for innovation which encapsulate complexities and exposes design parameters. A particular focus will be placed on enabling crafting with the haptic material whose natural limitations should be seen as suggestions rather than hinders for creating valuable solutions. / <p>QC 20130916</p>

Det här arbetet tar sin början i ett problem som rör en mekanism i ett spel som heter OfficeGame. Det finns en önskan att byta ut denna specifika mekanism mot något annat, och det här arbetet kommer fram till två potentiella ersättare. De här koncepten av mekanismer grundar sig i resultaten från en enkät, och testas sedan vidare i ett antal användartest. Slutsatserna skulle kunna sammanfattas med att de två nya koncepten egentligen inte är mer motiverande i sig själva. Men om någon skulle vilja ändra den ursprungliga mekanismen, skulle det kunna vara genom att göra den svårare, lägga till mervärden vid sidan av de virtuella värdena, samt göra kopplingen till hälsa tydligare. / This thesis takes off in a problem with a game mechanic in a game called OfficeGame. There is a desire to replace this particular mechanic with something else, and this thesis suggests a couple of potential replacements. These concepts of mechanics are derived from the results of a survey, and are further tested in a number of user tests. The conclusions could be summarized as that the two new concepts are not more motivational in themselves. But if one would like to change the original mechanic, it could be by making it more difficult, adding other values than just virtual, and making a stronger connection to health.

In Business-to-Customer as well as in Business-to-Business relationships, having a good communication with your customers is important to deliver good quality services to current customers as well as to attract new ones. In this thesis it has been investigated if the relatively new design practise “Gamification” implemented in a smartphone application(app) can be used to strengthen the communication between the swedish stock market NGM and its customers; multiple corporations from different industries listed at NGM. Gamification is using elements of game design in non-game contexts with the goal of enhancing the user’s value creation. It is most often seen in smartphone apps used in everyday life, such as when a built-in GPS helps a runner to beat his or her personal record. The idea behind gamification offered by businesses is to replace loyalty programs that only offers economic benefits and instead offer the customer a possibility of personal development eventually in combination with economic or social ben- efits. Thus, when implementing gamification the domain for the user’s value creation that is to be offered must be found, the so-called “core-offer”. By performing a qualitative analysis of interviews with NGM employees and representatives from corporations listed at NGM it was shown that gamification should be implemented in the new app if the core-offer was to help the corporations to better their investor relations.

I dagens samhälle är det ofta viktigt att kunna använda datorer och internet för att göra olika vardagssysslor såsom hålla kontakten med släkt och vänner, kontakta myndigheter, utföra bankärenden och boka resor. Fortfarande finns det dock många som saknar kunskaperna att använda en dator, en grupp som är överrepresenterade bland dessa är pensionärerna. Det finns många olika operativsystem och vissa lämpar sig antagligen bättre än andra om man är över 65 år och saknar tidigare datorkunskaper. I denna rapport undersöks huruvida det klassiska skrivbordsgränssnittet i Windows är bättre eller sämre än det nya gränssnittet Modern UI som återfinns i Windows 8 och Windows RT. I studien ingick fem par pensionärer i åldrarna 71-87 som utvärderades med hjälp av samupptäckarmetoden. Resultatet av studien visar att inget av de två undersökta systemen är optimalt för denna kategori av användare men att många av de nyheter som introducerades i Modern UI såsom levande paneler underlättade testpersonernas interaktion med datorn. / In today's society it is often important to be able to use computers and the internet to do various chores such as keeping in touch with friends and family, contact the authorities, bank errands and book air-plane tickets. Still there are many who lack the knowledge to use a computer, a group that is overrepresented among these are the retired. There are many different operating systems and some probably better suited than others for people that are above the age of 65 and have no previous computer knowledge. This report examines whether the classic desktop interface in Windows is better or worse than the new interface Modern UI in Windows 8 and Windows RT. The study included five pairs of retirees aged 71-87 who were evaluated with the Co-Discovery method. The results of this study show that neither of the two interfaces is optimal for this category of users but that many of the new innovations introduced in the Modern UI such as live tiles eased the test subjects’ interaction with the computer.

Sammanfattning Stora mängder information publiceras idag via olika kanaler utan hänsyn till tillgänglighet. Genom att inte aktivt göra information tillgänglig exkluderas stora grupper av individer från att kunna ta del av den vilket är ett problem både för dessa individer samt för dem som vill förmedla informationen. Det finns idag en mängd hjälpmedel som i vissa fall kan göra information tillgänglig i efterhand men det finns en stor fördel i om man redan från början kan tillgängliggöra den. Det här examensarbetet behandlar de tillgänglighetsproblem som personer med dyslexi-och autismspektrumdiagnos kan uppleva vid konsumtion av olika typer av nyhetsbrev. Nyhetsbrev kan i många avseenden jämföras med webbsidor varför tillgänglighet på webben och till texter är områden som tangeras i undersökningen. Via ett flertal kvalitativa intervjumetoder i form av fokusgrupper och djupintervjuer tillsammans med användartester av framtagna prototyper har ett antal nyckelfaktorer för kognitiv tillgänglighet till nyhetsbrev tagits fram. Dessa konkretiseras i form av funktioner i två prototyper som utvecklats; en för mottagare av nyhetsbrevet och en för redaktörerna. Slutsatsen är att det går att göra nyhetsbrev mer kognitivt tillgängliga för målgrupperna i projektet genom att ge dem möjlighet att kunna individanpassa vissa nyckelfaktorer för presentation av text och grafisk design. Undersökningarna har också visat att ett visst ansvar behöver läggas på redaktörerna att skapa ett tillgängligt innehåll. Kombinationen av tillgängligt innehåll och individuella anpassningsmöjligheter för mottagarna gör det möjligt för målgrupperna i projektet att kognitivt kunna ta till sig informationen. Nyckelord: Autismspektrumtillstånd, dyslexi, kognitiv tillgänglighet. / Abstract Large amounts of information is being published today through various channels without regard towards availability. By not actively making this information available, large groups of people risk being excluded access to the information. This poses a problem both for the individuals excluded and for those wanting to convey the information. Though there are a variety of tools available which in some cases could make the information available, there is a big advantage to gain if the information is available from the start. This thesis deals with the accessibility issues which persons with dyslexia and autism spectrum disorder may experience when consuming newsletters. Newsletters are much like webpages which is why availability to the web and texts also are being investigated in the research. A number of qualitative research methods including focus groups and in-depth interviews along with usability testing of prototypes produced a number of key factors for cognitive accessibility to newsletters.These key factors are used as functions in two prototypes which are developed; one for the recipients of the newsletter and one for the editors. The conclusion is that it is possible to make newsletters more cognitively accessible to the target groups by giving them the opportunity to individualize these key factors regarding presentation of text and graphical design. The studies have also shown that some responsibility also needs to be placed upon the editors of the newsletters to create accessible content. The combination of available content and customization options for the recipients makes it possible for the target groups to cognitively be able to consume the information. Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, cognitive accessibility.

This thesis takes off in a problem with a game mechanic in a game called OfficeGame. There is a desire to replace this particular mechanic with something else, and this thesis suggests a couple of potential replacements. These concepts of mechanics are derived from the results of a survey, and are further tested in a number of user tests. The conclusions could be summarized as that the two new concepts are not more motivational in themselves. But if one would like to change the original mechanic, it could be by making it more difficult, adding other values than just virtual, and making a stronger connection to health.

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This research explores how haptic feedback can increase the usefulness of microinteractions on touchscreen devices. With the importance of microinteraction in user daily lives and with the increase of availability of haptic generating devices, this thesis studies how a realistic user group perceive haptic feedback in microinteractions. It studied the perceived usefulness of haptic feedback in correlation to specific microinteractions. Microinteractions are defined as small actions responding to user interaction, examples tested in this study included, simple buttons, radio buttons, checkboxes and dropdown menus. The participants also test and evaluated generic haptic patterns currently available on iOS devices. A software prototype was produced in a prototype tool called Protopie and then tested on an iOS device (iPhone 11 pro). This study is of qualitative character meaning it relies on qualitative data. The collection method relied on a combination of two types of research methods, usability studies and in-depth interviews. Nine participants were interviewed and studied using these methods. This data was analysed using a qualitative analysis method called Applied Thematic Analysis (ATA). This method allows for the creation of themes to be used in the final discussion of the report. In this thesis, a number of four themes were found. These themes combined with previous haptic principles serve as the academic foundation on which answers to the research questions was made. The results show a general increase in the perceived usefulness of tested microinteractions. With microinteractions such as checkboxes and radio buttons benefitting greatly by the haptic enhancement.[A1]  The conclusion of the research found several future areas of research within HaXD.   [A1]Here are the results shortly describe as in previous version. Enough?