Multi-display environments (such as the pairing of a digital tabletop computer with a set of handheld tablet computers) can support collocated interaction in groups by providing individuals with private workspaces that can be used alongside shared interaction surfaces. However, such a configuration necessitates the inclusion of intuitive and seamless interactions to move digital objects between displays. While existing research has suggested numerous methods to bridge devices in this manner, these methods often require highly specialized equipment and are seldom examined using real-world tasks. This thesis investigates the use of two cross-device object transfer methods as adapted for use with commonly-available hardware and applied for use in a realistic task, a familiar tabletop card game. A digital tabletop and tablet implementation of the tabletop card game Dominion is developed to support each of the two cross-device object transfer methods (as well as two different turn-taking methods to support user identification). An observational user study is then performed to examine the effect of the transfer methods on groups’ behaviour, examining player preferences and the strategies which players applied to pursue their varied goals within the game. The study reveals that players’ choices and use of the methods is shaped greatly by the way in which each player personally defines the Dominion task, not simply by the objectives outlined in its rulebook. Design considerations for the design of cross-device object transfer methods and lessons-learned for system and experimental design as applied to the gaming domain are also offered.

This thesis aims at developing a better understanding of the design process and the tools required to support it. Specifically it focuses on the early or conceptual stages of the industrial design process and the role of emerging technology based artifacts in supporting this activity. The starting point for this thesis is that industrial design focuses on discovery of new knowledge and that this process of discovery is reflective in nature. Further designers make use of artifacts throughout the design process to support them in this discovery and their reflection. To reveal the role of artifacts in this process, a study of the interaction between designers and their artifacts has been undertaken. To intensify these relationships this thesis has focused on design review activity undertaken in the early stages of industrial design process. Two ethnographic case studies were conducted which allowed for teams of final year industrial design students to be observed during a conceptual design review. The first case study focused on the student designers interacting with traditional artifacts such as sketches, form studies and illustrations as part of the design review session. In the second case study, the student designers made use of low fidelity digital models which were displayed in a highly immersive virtual reality environment to support the design review. Both case studies captured a time slice of a larger design project which the students were undertaking as part of their university studies. The design project focused on the redesign of a consumer product where the students were required to innovate on an existing design based on a number of technology and market constraints. The design review session which formed the basis of the case study was part of a weekly design critique which required the students to bring to the class all of their design development progress. Students were offered an additional review session which was held in a virtual reality facility to supplement their weekly design review session which formed the basis of the second case study. The objective of the review sessions were for the designers to discuss their progress, identify where they were having difficulty, be challenged on design decision and develop a shared understanding of their direction with the class. The case study approach has allowed for an authentic in situ account of how designers make use of artifacts within the early stages of an industrial design process. It has allowed for a comparison between traditional and technology based artifacts and has revealed how they impact on the nature of discovery and reflection. Through a detailed qualitative analysis of the video data which was captured from the case studies, this thesis makes a number of substantial contributions to the current knowledge gaps on the role of artifacts and to our understanding of this phase of design activity. It substantiates conceptual design activity as a reflective process allowing for new discoveries to be made by representing our existing knowledge and understandings in artifacts which can be reflected upon and extended to create new meaning and innovation. From this grounded perspective it has enabled further understandings into the role of the artifact in supporting the design activity. Artifacts are seen as critical in supporting early stage design activity. However it is the nature of the interaction between the designers and their artifacts within the different settings which have been revealed through this research which is of significance. The affordances of the different artifacts have been shown to alter how the students situate their activity and modify their actions within a design review. page 5 of 171 Further designers are required to make use of additional resources such as gestures and rich design language to supplement their design engagement; and they are required to adapt to the environment where the review is being undertaken to ensure that the objective of the design review can be achieved. This thesis makes its primary contribution in outlining the differences between the various types of artifacts and how they can be used to positively support early stage design activity. It is recommended that both traditional and virtual artifacts have a role in supporting activity, but future approaches should consider them as complimentary and consider ways in which they can be merged. The significance of the research is three fold. Firstly, from a pedagogical perspective, within an educational or practiced based setting, it provides a framework to consider the use of emerging technology based artifacts to support early stage design activity. Secondly, from a technology development perspective the grounded observation in authentic experience of design activity, it provides the foundation to inspire and develop new interfaces to support designer interactions with artifacts. Finally, it makes a substantial contribution to the growing body of design research substantiating and revealing new understanding between designers and their artifacts to support early stage design activity.

Ubiquitous computing aims to make human-computer interaction as naturalistic and functionally invisible as possible through embedding computing potential within a particular context to support human activity. However, much of ubiquitous computing research is focussed on technical innovation due to the challenges involved with deploying embedded computing, thereby reducing the commitment to the philosophical ideals of ubiquitous computing in research. This dissertation describes the investigation of a participatory approach to technically-complex research in order to understand how our view of the engineering and human challenges changes when the two are approached hand-in-hand. The domain chosen for this system was a dental surgery. Dentistry involves a complex workspace with computer interaction constrained by surgery hygiene. Ubiquitous computing offers a compelling interaction alternative to the keyboard and mouse paradigm in such an environment. A multi-method approach that employed ethnographic research and design prototyping was undertaken with dentists from several different private practices. A series of field studies used ethnographic methods such as observation and interview. Design events explored prototypes with activities such as design games, contextual interviews, role-playing and contextual prototyping. Activities were devised with the aim of providing a level playing field, whereby both designers and participants feel they can contribute equally, with their respective disciplinary knowledge. It was found that methods needed to be carefully chosen, devised and managed, in order to communicate complex concepts with participants and to constrain the design to technically feasible options. The thesis examines the design problem from the perspectives of a variety of different stakeholders within a participatory design framework, reflected upon by means of human-centred action research. Data was gathered through design speculations and observation, and explored using methods such as the Video Card Game and Video Interaction Analysis. Fieldwork was analysed using a multi-stage qualitative analysis process which informed further design collaboration with participants. The analysis of data gathered during design studies with dentists also contributed to the development of a prototype system to validate methodological contributions. The resulting prototype utilised off-the-shelf hardware and software which allowed for innovative customisation and development. In-situ prototyping (defined by the author as “participatory bootstrapping”) and a comprehensive knowledge of the domain afforded the creative application of technology. In addition to contributing to the prototype design, the interpretive understandings drawn from analysis identified how technical ideas were presented and utilised by participants of the studies, and how best to engage busy professionals. The final outcomes of the research were a multimodal ubiquitous computing system for interacting within a dental surgery; the development and implementation of a variety of methods aimed at communicating technical concepts and eliciting user motivations, practices and concerns; and a set of design principles for engineers engaging in design of systems for human use. The research presented within this thesis is primarily part of the field of human-computer interaction, but provides evidence of how engineering development can be influenced by a user-centred participatory approach. The benefits that derive from inclusive methods of design are demonstrated by the evaluation of a prototype that employed such methods. The contribution of this thesis is to demonstrate and delineate methods for developing ubiquitous computing technologies for the context of human use. This led to a set of design principles for the engineering of systems for human use: 1. Technology needs to be robust and simple to appropriate. This allows users to give insights on technology developments and also to allow users to discover for themselves how they would use the technology. 2. An evolving and carefully considered set of methods are needed to elicit communication between practitioners and across disciplines. The gaps in understandings and the different representations that arise across the disciplines provide essential clues to next steps in design. These gaps and differences form tensions that can be exploited productively. 3. Context is important for determining which design steps to take. Rather than abstracting a problem in order to solve it, as is usual in engineering design, the problem should remain grounded in the context of use. It reveals what the real problems are that need to be solved rather than the imagined ones. This requires an appreciation of the situated nature of action and of the variability of work. In turn it also requires an appreciation of what the human can and does do and what the machine should support. 4. Accountability in design is required. There is a fundamental tension between trying to make something work and seeing what really does work; specifically it is necessary to understand when automation is worth it in human machine systems. While engaged in the design process, engineers should ask how much technology should reconfigure human practices because of a useful outcome, rather than attempting to automate and converge devices for its own sake. A clear understanding of the constraints and workings of the work space needs to be balanced with the understandings of the limitations of the technology in order to design a system that improves work practice and empowers the practitioner.

This thesis presents an application-oriented theoretical framework for generalised and specific collaborative contexts with a special focus on Internet-based mass collaboration. The proposed framework is informed by the author’s many years of collaborative arts practice and the design, building and moderation of a number of online collaborative environments across a wide range of contexts and applications. The thesis provides transdisciplinary architecture for describing the underlying mechanisms that have enabled the emergence of mass collaboration and other activities associated with ‘Web 2.0’ by incorporating a collaboratively developed definition and general framework for collaboration and collective activity, as well as theories of swarm intelligence, stigmergy, and distributed cognition. (For complete abstract open document)

The relationship people have to electronic devices relys on their passive acceptance rather than an understanding of their functioning – often leaving the users alientated and helpless as their products break. Which qualities do electronic artifacts need to embody in order to be repairable? As opposed to a black-box, the metaphor of a white-box can describe this repairable ideal: A white-box is meant to be opened and allows easy access to all inner parts. It is designed to communicate functions and connections and aids the user in understanding. Therefore, a white-box is designed to allow the consumer to act. How «open» can household electronics be?

abstract: This thesis describes research into the application of socially reflective, or "Slow", design principles to modern mediated systems, or "Fast" technology. The "information overload" caused by drastic changes in the nature of human communications in the last decade has become a serious problem, with many human-technology interactions creating mental confusion, personal discomfort and a sense of disconnection. Slow design principles aim to help create interactions that avoid these problems by increasing interaction richness, encouraging engagement with local communities, and promoting personal and communal reflection. Three major functional mediated systems were constructed to examine the application of Slow principles on multiple scales: KiteViz, Taskville and Your ____ Here. Each system was designed based on a survey of current research within the field and previous research results. KiteViz is a visually metaphorical display of Twitter activity within a small group, Taskville is a workplace game designed to support collaboration and group awareness in an enterprise, and Your ____ Here is a physical-digital projection system that augments built architecture with user-submitted content to promote discussion and reflection. Each system was tested with multiple users and user groups, the systems were evaluated for their effectiveness in supporting each of the tenets of Slow design, and the results were collected into a set of key findings. Each system was considered generally effective, with specific strengths varying. The thesis concludes with a framework of five major principles to be used in the design of modern, highly-mediated systems that still apply Slow design principles: design for fundamental understanding, handle complexity gracefully, Slow is a process of evolution and revelation, leverage groups and personal connections to encode value, and allow for participation across a widely distributed range of scales. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.D. Design 2011

The interest in the complex relationship between the behaviour of users and the design of interactive system has been significantly increased as the digital technology has advanced. This has led to usability becoming one of the key elements in user-centred interaction design. Systems need to be designed in a usable way; efficient, use-enhancing, flexible and learnable and the design should also meet the user’s needs and aspirations. This thesis aimed to develop a more usable prototype of the Maintenance Ground Support System (MGSS), using prototyping and a user-centred design approach. The prototype was developed using an adaptation on the evolutionary software development process that consisted of four iterative steps. The prototypes were created, tested and evaluated with surrogate and end-users. The design of the prototype is based on a customizable and simple dashboard application that supports multiple user needs and requirements, in a familiar environment where the user can feel confident and be in control. Based on usability testing, the prototype was concluded to be more efficient, understandable as well as easier to use than the existing system.

In today’s society there are problems with how women look at themselves and their appearance, not least the appearance of their genitals. There are norms that say that genitals should look in a certain way. To prevent these problems, young persons need to learn in school how much variation there may be on the appearance of the genitalia. Therefore, this study aimed to create a design proposal on a digital teaching material which was based on the questions that young boys and girls have about the appearance of women’s genitals, and also what information today’s educational books contain. The result showed that girls have questions regarding, among other things, labia, pubic hairs and operations. The educational books which was analysed contained information restrained to a picture of the female genitalia, or a few sentences. The design proposal presented was a website where the user can see different looks on the female genitalia, read and answer questions that young girls have, as well as discuss issues with classmates. / Är jag normal?

A presente pesquisa objetiva propor uma metodologia que oriente o design de interface de ambiente virtual centrado no usuário que seja sistematizada como processo de desenvolvimento de produto, com princípios de design de interação e considerando aspectos de usabilidade e ergonomia, de modo a favorecer o trabalho do usuário, permitindo a apropriação do conteúdo e a execução das tarefas através das funcionalidades do sistema. Para consecução do trabalho foram investigados: os Elementos da Experiência do Usuário; as ferramentas de processo de desenvolvimento de produto; as técnicas da Engenharia de Software e os conceitos do Design de Interação. A combinação desses estudos deu origem à metodologia proposta nesta pesquisa. Destaca-se que essa metodologia integra a técnica do desdobramento da função qualidade (quality function deployment) a estudos usualmente adotados para o design de interface gráfica. Dessa forma, garantiu-se que as heurísticas de usabilidade encontrassem forte embasamento científico e que os requisitos técnicos refletissem as reais necessidades do usuário. O uso dessa ferramentas de projeto de produto garante, ainda, que a qualidade seja mantida em todas as etapas de design da interface. A aplicabilidade da metodologia foi verificada mediante o projeto de interface do módulo do desenvolvedor (professor/instrutor) do HyperCAL online. / This research aims to propose a methodology to guide the user-centered interface design of virtual environment that is systematized as product development process, with interaction design principles and considering aspects of usability and ergonomics, in order to promote the user's work, allowing the appropriation of content and execution of the tasks through system functionality. To achieve the study were investigated: the Elements of User Experience; the tools of product development process, the techniques of Software Engineering, and the concepts of Interaction Design. The combination of these studies gave rise to the methodology proposed in this research. It is noteworthy that this approach integrates the technique of quality function deployment for studies usually adopted for the interface graphical design. Thus, it was ensured that the usability heuristics had strong scientific basis and that the technical requirements reflect the real needs of the user. Using these tools of product design also guarantees that the quality is maintained at all stages of interface design. The applicability of the methodology was verified through the interface design of the developer's module (professor/instructor) of HyperCAL online.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo estabelecer requisitos para o desenvolvimento de projeto de interfaces para Objetos de Aprendizagem para Educação a Distância (EaD) fundamentados nos princípios do Design de Interação e na Motivação. Para isto, foram investigados: conceitos que envolvem EaD, Objetos de Aprendizagem, Design Instrucional, bem como as metodologias que compreendem o seu desenvolvimento; princípios de Design de Interação que devem ser levados em consideração no desenvolvimento da Interface Gráfica do Usuário; motivação aplicada no Design de Interação de Objetos de Aprendizagem para EaD. Baseados nesta investigação, foram estabelecidos critérios de avaliação de Objetos de Aprendizagem utilizados em EaD, de acordo com os princípios do Design de Interação e Motivação. A partir da relação estabelecida entre as análises de metodologias, trabalho dos projetistas e princípios do Design de Interação e Motivação, formularam-se os requisitos para o desenvolvimento de projeto de interfaces para Objetos de Aprendizagem para EaD fundamentados nos princípios do Design de Interação e na Motivação. / This study aims to establish requirements for the development of interface design for Learning Objects for distance education based on the principles of Interaction Design and Motivation. For this were investigated: concepts that involve distance education, Learning Objects, Instructional Design and the methodologies involving its development, principles of interaction design that must be taken into consideration in the development of Graphical User Interface; motivation applied in Design Interaction of Learning Objects for distance education. Based on that research were established evaluation criteria of learning objects used in distance education in accordance with the principles of Interaction Design and Motivation. From the relationship established between the analysis of methodologies, work of designers and principles of Interaction Design and Motivation are settled the requirements for the development of interface design for Learning Objects for distance education based on the principles of Interaction Design and Motivation.