This research addresses the growing applications and impacts of AI-generated digital human avatars from software suites like HeyGen. By exploring the role of trust in mediating user interaction with such technology, this study establishes a basic hierarchical model which supports some foundational theories of human-computer interaction, while also calling into question some more recent theories and models previously used to evaluate avatar technology. By modeling user behavior and user preference through the lens of trust, this study is able to demonstrate how this emerging technology is similar to its predecessors and their relevant theories, while also establishing this technology as something distinctly new and largely untested. This research serves as an exploratory study, using notions of social presence, anthropomorphic design, social trust, technological trust, and human source-bias to separate this generation of AI Avatar technology from its predecessors, and determine what theories and models govern the use of this new technology. The findings from this study and their impacts on use-cases are then applied, speculating on prosocial as well as potentially unethical uses of such technology. Finally, this study problematizes the loss of “primary trust” that this technology may afford, highlighting the importance not only of continued research, but also rapid oversight in the deployment of this emerging technology.

Abstract: This thesis investigates the capacity of individuals to detect AI-generated text, and the indicators that enable them to do so. This inquiry is situated in the broader theoretical context of digital capital, the digitization of society, deep mediatization, and AI literacy. Using a quantitative correlation approach, the study tested participants’ accuracy in detecting AI content, and shared factors between participants with high scores on this task. Participants were assessed on a number of self-reported demographic, digital capital, and digital society-based benchmarks in conjunction with AI detection accuracy. The study employed a mix of statistical methods, including logistic regression and point-biserial correlation matrices. However, only a few specific questions within the digital capital and digital society framework had a statistically significant impact on a participant being in the high-accuracy group, and these correlations were weak. Furthermore, two aspects of digital capital actually had a negative effect on the odds of scoring high on the text detection task.  The findings reveal that there is room for more research into what indicators influence human AI detection capabilities, and whether these skills are learnable or inherent to certain individuals. Moreover, the research highlights the necessity of fostering AI literacy, particularly if these capabilities improve human AI detection. While AI systems can ‘catch’ AI-generated text, their efficacy is mixed, and producers of AI text and evaluators are constantly locked in a game of cat-and-mouse, using evolving AI to recognize evolving AI. Thus, human skills are pivotal, lest we become even more dependent on technology in our deeply mediatized society.

This study explores operationalizing UX practices in agile software development teams to integrate accessibility in B2B software products. We conducted a qualitative case study, collecting data through a user-centered approach with interviews, a workshop, prototyping, and user testing. Our findings highlight that the sporadic involvement of UX professionals, the B2B context’s restriction of communication with end-users, and the perception of accessibility as a non-critical concern, all limit the operationalization of UX practices. Additionally, the importance of implementing structured approaches to integrate UX practices. This study contributes theoretically by broadening the literature on integrating accessibility through UX practices within agile processes, providing insights into the challenges and strategies of B2B environments, and practically by introducing a prototype ecosystem to help product teams embed UX practices into their workflow for enhancing accessibility.

This thesis project, conducted in collaboration with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), investigates how safety-critical internal systems can be designed to enhance usability and user experience through an examination of the Aerodrome Approval system at SAS. Employing a research-through-design approach and utilizing heuristic evaluations, semi-structured interviews, contextual inquiries, and a redesign process, several guidelines for improving usability and user experience have been identified. Key insights reveal that optimizing login functionalities can enhance security and role-specific access, thereby reducing errors and improving the user experience. Consistency in design elements and adherence to standards play a critical role in usability, aiding in error prevention and improving system navigation efficiency. Additionally, effective strategies for error prevention, such as contextual warnings tailored to specific conflicts, help maintain workflow efficiency and prevent user fatigue, whereas ensuring a balanced and timely presentation of information is essential to prevent information overload while still ensuring access to critical data. The project illustrates how multiple usability principles are interconnected yet sometimes conflicting and emphasizes the need to further investigate safety-critical internal systems to a broader extent to be able to identify more generalizable design guidelines in the future.

Achieving product and process quality are among the central themes of software engineering, and quality is an important factor in the marketplace. Usability and user experience (UX) are two important aspects of quality, particularly for interactive products. To achieve usability means producing products that let users do things in a satisfactory, efficient and effective way. To develop products with good UX, means going beyond usability, in ways that are still not clear to us. Achieving good usability and UX is hard. This thesis is concerned with organizations which work towards these goals. This research is concerned with understanding and improving the processes by which technology is designed and developed, and understanding the demands and expectations users have. It is about how companies can and actually develop products with good usability and UX, and what stops them from working towards this as efficiently as they could. We have viewed the usability and UX challenge from the viewpoints of Quality, Organizations, and Institutions, with a focus on participatory design, user-centred design and wicked problems. The research can be characterised as empirical research performed over a period of seven years, in close cooperation with industrial partners. The research was performed using multiple data collection methods to create constructs and shape theory. The field methods have ranged from being a participant observer, to performing interviews and holding workshops with members of the participating organisations. A case study approach was initially used, but focus soon moved from case study methodology to a closer focus on grounded theory, and finally the focus shifted to constructivist grounded theory. The thesis contributes to the field of software engineering in several ways. Usability has a long history within software engineering, human computer interaction, and design science, but the different discourses within the fields have meant that communication between the fields was problematic. The research in this thesis has moved between the different fields, contributing to bridging the gap between the areas. It gives an illustration of how usability work actually takes place in different types of companies, from a developer of operating systems for smartphones, to a global engineering company, which knows that it must find ways of working with, and measuring, usability and user experience. It gives concrete knowledge about the way in which companies can work with usability testing, and how they can provide information to satisfy the information needs of different stakeholders. It provides a discussion of the state of UX today, taking up the problems that stop industry making use of the definitions and theories of UX that exist. Thus, it gives an illustration of the different factors in product design, development and sales, from dealing with organizational factors to satisfying user needs, that all make usability work such a rocky road to navigate.

Social media content, as well as how it is being used and the impact it has on the society, have underwent significant transformations and nowadays they are quite different from what they were when social media just came around. Analysing the transformations is important for understanding both the current state and further development of the technology that stands behind social media. One of the most noticeable aspects of today’s social media is the phenomenon of “internet memes”. An internet meme can be roughly defined as “a piece of culture, typically a joke, which gains influence through online transmission” (Davison, 2012). While memes play a substantial role in the use of social media and there has been growing interest in exploiting their potential for marketing and, more generally, conveying various types of messages, there has been a lack of HCI (Human Computer Interaction) research on memes. The understanding of how memes are perceived by social media users and how memes spread on social media is currently rather limited. The study reported in this thesis addresses the limitation of existing HCI research by presenting empirical evidence for the definition of memes, as well as memes' spreadability. Three online surveys (the total number of respondents:3161), targeting the users of the social media platforms Reddit and Facebook, were developed within the study. The social media platform Reddit was selected because it is a platform where memes are often created and also where they are moved to other platforms, like YouTube and Instagram. The study adopted a mixed method approach, combining the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. It is shown that memes are shared because they are found funny and that they are shared within the community or with friends. But if a meme spreads and becomes popular outside this original community, the meme loses its value to the original users. Some contents, like character memes, are much easier to spread, but just as soon as they become popular, they disappear.

Evolutionary knowledge is important to understand and address contemporary challenges such as loss of biodiversity, climate change and antibiotic resistance. An important aspect that is considered to be a threshold concept in teaching and learning about evolution is the time it involves. The history of evolution comprises several scales of magnitude, some of which are far from direct human experience and therefore difficult to understand. One way of addressing this issue is to use dynamic visualizations that represent time, for example, to facilitate teaching and learning about evolution. This thesis investigates how students’ comprehension of evolution and evolutionary time can be facilitated by visualizations in educational settings. Two different dynamic visualizations were investigated. In paper I different temporal versions of a spatio-temporal animation depicting hominin evolution were explored. The temporal information was expressed as one or several timelines along which an animated cursor moved, indicating the rate of time. Two variables, the number of timelines with different scales, and the mode of the default animated time rate (either constant throughout the animation or decreasing as the animation progressed), were combined to give four different time representations. The temporal aspects investigated were undergraduate students' ability to find events at specific times, comprehend order, comprehend concurrent events, comprehend the length of time intervals, and their ability to compare the lengths of time intervals. In paper II, perceptions and comprehension of temporal aspects in an interactive, multi-touch tabletop application, DeepTree, were investigated. This application depicts the tree of life. The focus was on the interactive aspects, especially how the zooming feature was perceived, but also on any misinterpretations associated with the interaction. The same temporal aspects listed for paper I were also implicitly investigated. The findings indicate that handling the problem of large differences in scale by altering the rate of time in the visualization can facilitate perception of certain temporal aspects while, at the same time, can hinder a correct comprehension of other temporal aspects. Findings concerning DeepTree indicate that the level of interactions varies among users, and that the zooming feature is perceived in two ways, either as a movement in time or as a movement in the metaphorical tree. Several misinterpretations were observed, for example the assumption that the zooming time in the tree corresponds to real time, that there is an implicit coherent timeline along the y-axis of the tree, and that more nodes along a branch corresponds to a longer time. The research reported in this thesis supports the claim that careful choice, and informed use of visualizations matters, and that different visualizations are best suited for different educational purposes / För att kunna förstå och ta ställning till utmaningar i form av exempelvis klimatförändringar, förlust av biodiversitet och antibiotikaresistens krävs kunskap om evolution. För att förstå evolution är det i sin tur viktigt att inse betydelsen av de tidsskalor som evolutionära processer omfattar. Detta utgör inte sällan ett problem vid undervisning om evolution eftersom det rör sig om tidsskalor som sträcker sig långt bortom vad vi själva kan erfara. Tidsskalor ingår i en grupp av begrepp som kallas tröskelbegrepp. Tröskelbegrepp utmärks av att de är svåra att ta till sig, men när väl förståelse uppnås så innebär det en radikal och permanent förändring av hur ett ämnesinnehåll, exempelvis evolution, betraktas. Av den anledningen är de också ”enkelriktade” i meningen att den nya förståelsen är bestående Ett sätt att bemöta problemen med att förstå tidsskalor av varierande storlekar är att använda dynamiska visualiseringar. Denna avhandling handlar just om hur elevers förståelse av evolution med avseende på tiden kan underlättas genom visualiseringar i undervisning. Avhandlingen baseras på två studier som var och en belyser evolutionär tid på olika sätt beträffande såväl innehåll som form. I den första studien undersöktes hur olika varianter av en tidsrepresentation i form av animerade tidslinjer påverkade 144 studenters förståelse av olika tidsaspekter. Representationen av tid hade två variabler, nämligen antal tidslinjer (en tidslinje respektive 3 tidslinjer med olika skalor) och hastighet för animationen av tidsförloppet (konstant hastighet respektive avtagande hastighet när animationen närmade sig nutid). De två variablerna kombinerades för att ge fyra olika varianter av tidsrepresentation. I studien jämfördes varianterna genom att undersöka studenters förmåga kring olika tidsaspekter; hitta händelser vid specifika tider, uppfatta ordning på händelser, uppfatta samtidiga händelser, uppfatta längden på ett tidsintervall och jämföra längden av två tidsintervall. I den andra studien undersöktes uppfattningar och förståelse av tidsmässiga aspekter hos 10 gymnasieelever med utgångspunkt från det interaktiva multi-touch-bordet ”DeepTree”. Det är en interaktiv visualisering av livets träd, det vill säga de fylogenetiska sambanden mellan organismer på jorden. I denna studie fokuserades de interaktiva aspekterna av visualiseringen, särskilt kring hur zoomfunktionen uppfattades av elever men också vilka missuppfattningar som var kopplade till interaktioner. Även tidsaspekterna från den första studien undersöktes. Resultaten från den första studien visar att det under vissa omständigheter kan vara en fördel att variera det animerade tidsflödet, till exempel genom att hastigheten på tidsflödet i animationen avtar under en speciellt händelserik period som behöver granskas noggrannare. Under andra omständigheter kan det däremot vara olämpligt att variera hastigheten för den animerade tiden eftersom det försvårar bedömningen av storleken på, och jämförelsen av, tidsintervall. Det är alltså viktigt att lärare är medvetna om vilken, eller vilka, tidsaspekter som är centrala i den specifika lärandesituationen. Resultaten från den andra studien visar två olika sätt att uppfatta zoomfunktionen när den används i applikationen DeepTree; antingen som en rörelse i tid eller som en rörelse i det metaforiska trädet. Flera missuppfattningar av interaktionen observerades hos eleverna. Till exempel tolkade en del elever den tid det tog att zooma i trädet som att det motsvarade hur lång tid som förflöt mellan olika evolutionära händelser. Ett antal elever verkade anta att det finns en implicit linjär tidslinje längs y-axeln på trädet, och att ju fler grendelningar som fanns längs en gren desto längre tid motsvarade grenen. Generellt är de flesta tidsaspekter svåra att uppfatta för användare av DeepTree. Evolutionära träd av denna typ är dock främst gjorda för att illustrera släktskapsförhållanden, men de tidsmässiga aspekterna skulle kunna förbättras. Applikationer av den typ som DeepTree utgör har potential att erbjuda goda möjligheter till lärande även beträffande evolutionär tid men hänsyn behöver då tas just till hur tidsaspekter beskrivs.

Todays technology provides the ability for people to interact with devices at all time, but it also makes them gaze down and loose touch with their surrounding while doing so.  This project explored alternatives to the current way of providing guidance while walking by designing in the context, rather than design for the context. This led to several iterations of prototypes that were tested with people in the context. The findings are showcased in a form of a multi modal guidance system called UP, that provides reassurance in all steps of the way without having to look down at the screen.

Studien som har bedrivits är ett resultat av den pågående digitaliseringen som sker i både samhället och skolan. Revideringar från Skolverket har försett läroplanen med mer integrering av digitala verktyg och möjligheter för hur eleverna ska kunna använda samt navigera på dem. Denna förändring har även gjort att kraven för lärares digitala kompetens måste utökas. Detta leder in på syftet med denna studie då den har som avsikt att söka en djupare förståelse för hur lärare upplever digitala verktyg i svenskundervisningen samt hur planering och utförande påverkas. Forskningsfrågorna som studien grundar sig i är: Hur använder sig några lärare av digitala verktyg i svenskundervisningen? Vilka möjligheter och utmaningar anser några lärare digitala verktyg medför i svenskundervisningen? För att få en djupare förståelse och höra djupgående argument har studien bedrivits i form av en kvalitativ studie där sex verksamma lärare har intervjuats. All insamlade data har transkriberats och analyserats genom tematisk analys för att få fram ett resultat. Studiens resultat visar att det främst är kompetensen som styr användningen av digitala verktyg i undervisningen. Lärarna anser att de har bristande kunskaper om de digitala verktygen de använder vilket kan leda till att de känner viss rädsla för att använda digitala verktyg. De möjligheter som lärarna beskriver är ökad motivation hos eleven, effektivisering samt att det verkar som ett bra stöd för elever i behov. De utmaningar som lärarna uppger är störningsmomenten samt bristen på digitala verktyg. / The present study is a result of the ongoing digitalization that has been taking place in both society and the school. Revisions by the National Agency of Education have provided the curriculum with more integration of digital tools and how the students should use and navigate them. This change has also made the demand for teachers’ digital skills to be increased. This leads to the purpose of this study as it is intended to seek a deeper understanding of how teachers experience digital tools in Swedish teaching and how planning and execution are affected. The research questions on which the study is based were: How do some teachers use digital tools in Swedish teaching? What opportunities and challenges some teachers find digital tools entail in Swedish teaching? In order to gain a deeper understanding and hear in-depth arguments, the study has been conducted in the form of a qualitative study in which six active teachers have been interviewed. All collected data has been transcribed and analyzed in the basis of thematic analysis to produce a result. The study's results show that it is primarily competence that controls the use of digital tools in teaching. The teachers believe that they have a lack of knowledge about the digital tools they use, which can lead to them feeling some fear of using digital tools. The opportunities that the teachers describe are increased motivation among the pupil, efficiency improvements and that it seems to be a good support for students in need. The challenges listed by the teachers are the disturbances and the lack of digital tools.

Over the history of interaction design, concepts and methods of prototyping have been significantly developed to address new challenges faced by the field and the ever-going advancement of new technologies. Some of the important developments are related to the notions of mixed-fidelity prototyping, experience prototyping, and prototypes as filters. Building upon these developments, this study explores a multiple-fidelity prototyping approach, that is, using progressively higher fidelity prototypes in iteration. The study focused particularly on the design of user engagement. It documented, and contributed to, an actual design process of Xplore, an augmented reality game-based learning application. Three participatory design-style workshops employing low-, mixed-, and high-fidelity prototypes were conducted respectively. Thematic analyses of participants’ interactions revealed sets of themes in the workshops, which reflected the changing focus and scope of the design space. The implications of the results obtained in the study highlighted the role of prototypes of each fidelity level in engaging users in a design process, as well as the potential benefits of combining multiple fidelity prototypes when designing for user engagement.