In a technologically overloaded world, is it possible to use technology to support well-being activities and enhance human flourishing? Proponents of positive technology and positive computing are striving to answer yes to that question. However, the impact of technology on well-being remains unresolved. Positive technology combines technology and positive psychology. Positive psychology focuses on well-being and the science of human flourishing. Positive computing includes an emphasis on designing with well-being in mind as a way to support human potential. User experience (UX) is critical to positive technology and positive computing. UX researchers and practitioners are advocating for experience-driven design and third wave human-computer interaction (HCI) that focuses on multi-dimensional, interpretive, situated, and phenomenological aspects. Third-wave HCI goes beyond cognition to include emotions, values, culture, and experience. This research investigated technology-supported meditation in a three-dimensional (3D) virtual world from a positive technology perspective to examine how technology can support engagement, self-empowerment, and well-being. Designing and evaluating technology for well-being support is complex and challenging. Further, although virtual worlds have been used in positive technology applications, little research exists that illuminates the experience of user engagement in virtual worlds. In this formative exploratory study, experienced meditators (N = 12) interacted with a virtual meditation world titled Sanctuarium that was developed for this research. Using a third wave HCI approach, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to understand the nature of engagement with a virtual world and the experiential aspects of technology-supported meditation. Results supported using virtual worlds to produce restorative natural environments. Participants overwhelmingly reacted positively to the islandscape including both visual and sound elements. Findings indicated that Sanctuarium facilitated the meditation experience, similar to guided meditation – although participants remarked on the uniqueness of the experience. Aspects of facilitation centered on the concepts of non-distraction, focus, and simplicity of design and instructions. Participants also identified Sanctuarium as a good tool for helping those new to meditation. Meditators described positive effects of their meditation experience during interviews and also rated their experience as positive using the scale titled Effects of Meditation During Meditation. Phenomenological analysis provided a rich description of the nature of engagement while meditating with Sanctuarium. Meditators also rated engagement as high via an adapted User Engagement Scale. This interdisciplinary work drew from multiple fields and contributes to the HCI domain, virtual worlds’ literature, information systems research, and the nascent areas of positive technology and positive computing.

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This comparative essay discusses feminist and post-feminist concepts in the novels Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (1973) and Trip Reports by Tone Schunnesson (2016) from a generational perspective. The term feminism embraces both second-wave and third-wave feminism, while the term post-feminism represents the contradictions between and within the two. The analysis centers on the first-person narrators, Isadora Wing, in Fear of Flying, and the anonymous narrator, in Trip Reports. A phenomenological close-reading was employed to uncover generational differences, contradictions, and similarities in the texts, which were then analyzed through the lens of feminism and post-feminism. Examination of the texts was facilitated through the use of three categories: love, the body, and artistry. The primary theory utilized in the analysis is Toril Moi’s feminist theory developed out of Simon de Beauvoir’s reflections on “the body as situation,” where it is argued that a person’s lived experience, one’s whole subjectivity, is dependent upon and reflected through one’s body. The body forms the relationship to ourselves and our experience of the world, as well as how others view us. Thus, the female lived experience and each woman’s individual project is in this regard connected to having a female body. The results define differences in the narrators’ lived experiences and how the two women view themselves and others, in relation to societal norms and each narrator’s specific generation. Furthermore, the narrators’ are both ambivalent in their thoughts and actions. The identified similarities center around male dependency, various degrees – or lack of - female identification and traditional gender norms, independent of generation. The results of the analysis could offer a cultural and generational contribution to the current feminist literary discussion. / <p>Godkännande datum 2019-06-03</p>

Der Begriff HipHop-Feminismus wurde von der amerikanischen Kulturkritikerin Joan Morgan etabliert und beschreibt einen Feminismus, der den Lebenswelten HipHop-sozialisierter Frauen (of color) gerechter werden soll. Neben der selbstreflexiven Auseinandersetzung mit der eigenen Positionierung innerhalb einer als sexistisch geltenden Kultur, zählen auch kritische Diskurse um rassisierte Repräsentationen von women of color und die Aufarbeitung weiblicher HipHop-Geschichte zu den Themen des HipHop-Feminismus.

This paper explores the social aspects of a new kind of mobile games where players interact with each other in a shared physical space as well as in-game. As technology spreads throughout layers of culture and everyday life, and gaming becomes increasingly widespread, we see a future in social digital games through the use of smartphones, because of their prevalence and their technical versatility. This poses new challenges for designers. By using the context of music selection in semi-public to public situations and with the help of prototypes, we explore the problems of making selections and connections in large groups as well as delivering feedback. As a result of this project we arrive at elements such as participation, competition, scalability and the importance of social interactions between participants which can be used when designing systems in similar contexts.

Electoral System Choice in the Context of the Democratic Transition and Consolidation Diploma thesis examines the influence of exogenous factors on motivation and preferences of electoral reform actors based on their power position and value-driven approach in Czechoslovakia. It deals with the relation among mode of transition, the electoral reform type and the electoral system type as outcome for the founding elections. It attempts to identify the difference of conditions for electoral system change during the democratic transition and the consolidation in Czechia; to compare their exogenous factors. It also examines which values were emphasized by electoral reform actors and which values were embodied by their preferred electoral systems. It classifies the type of electoral reform process. It also provides the overview of chosen electoral system parameters and evolution of its changes.

This thesis follows the development of the Ukrainian identity in Toronto since World War II. It explores the formation of collective memory by the Third Wave of Ukrainian immigration who arrived in Toronto in the early 1950s and the crystallization of a particular Ukrainian identity within this community. In particular, it looks at the role of the Ukrainian schooling system as an important institution shaping the community’s understanding of Ukrainian identity. It also discusses the challenges to that identity since the arrival of the Fourth Wave of Ukrainian immigration which began in 1991. It charts the intra-group tensions which arose in the community due to different understandings of what it means to be Ukrainian and describes how competing Ukrainian identities found within the Fourth Wave of immigration have shifted the dynamic in the Ukrainian community, explaining low involvement of Fourth Wave members within community institutions such as the Ukrainian school.

This thesis follows the development of the Ukrainian identity in Toronto since World War II. It explores the formation of collective memory by the Third Wave of Ukrainian immigration who arrived in Toronto in the early 1950s and the crystallization of a particular Ukrainian identity within this community. In particular, it looks at the role of the Ukrainian schooling system as an important institution shaping the community’s understanding of Ukrainian identity. It also discusses the challenges to that identity since the arrival of the Fourth Wave of Ukrainian immigration which began in 1991. It charts the intra-group tensions which arose in the community due to different understandings of what it means to be Ukrainian and describes how competing Ukrainian identities found within the Fourth Wave of immigration have shifted the dynamic in the Ukrainian community, explaining low involvement of Fourth Wave members within community institutions such as the Ukrainian school.