Cycling is recognised as a mode of transport with many health and environmental benefits yet remains relatively underfunded and lacks priority in many Swedish municipalities. Despite a will from the government to enhance sustainable transport, cycling is not given its rightful place in urban areas. This implies a presence of bottlenecks and barriers in cycle planning. Cycle advocacy organisations try to change this paradigm and develop tools, methods, and processes to improve this process. Cycling advocacy Cykelfrämjandet recently released a new process called Cyklisternas Cykelvägsanalys, cyclists’ cycle route analysis. This process can be used by any usual cyclist who will invite decision makers to experience the cycling environment and evaluate it together using a quality assessment method. A report is handed over to the municipality afterwards and a follow up is done one year after.To fully grasp what this new process entails, a thorough document analysis was conducted. Through an international review exploring similar initiatives developed by NGOs, individuals or governmental entities, the degree of innovation this process was assessed. This was then built upon using semi constructed interviews with participants of the three trial Cykelvägsanalys happening in Marks Kommun, Pitea and Varberg. The interview results were also used to evaluate how Cyklisternas Cykelvägsanalys can work on bottlenecks and use action levers to improve the cycling environment. Results show that whilst other methods to assess the quality of cycling environmentsexist, none are tied into a process, or at least nothing of the official kind. This emphasis on the process, the communication that it creates between politicians, planners, and everyday cyclists can help lift bottlenecks related to cycle planning linked to a lack of political support and the weak cycle lobby. In the three municipalities, it seems that CVA has more impact on municipalities that are less advanced on the cycling question. The results are very promising, and the participants on the municipal side willing to act on recommendations issued from the workshop. A big drawback however is the presence of very few politicians in the workshops which is what would have the most impact. A bigger emphasis on the necessity of getting these actors to participate in the methodology would be beneficial. More research can be done in a few years to assess the impact of follow up and if everyday cyclists took the initiative of trying out the method in their municipalities.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur några specifika spelelement kan användas för att öka användares engagemang för att lämna in förbättringsförslag relaterat till deras arbetsplats samt hur användningen av dessa spelelement påverkar användarupplevelsen inom denna kontext. Detta undersöktes kvalitativt utifrån två frågeställningar där undersökningsdeltagarna fick utföra användartester av en icke-spelifierad och tre spelifierade webbapplikationer för inlämning av förbättringsförslag relaterat till arbetsplatsen samt besvara frågor om användarupplevelsen och engagemanget vid fyra intervjutillfällen.   Av de tre spelelementen berättarröst, förloppsindikator och feedback som undersökts har samtliga påvisats öka användarnas engagemang för inlämningen av förbättringsförslag. I denna undersökning var spelelementet feedback mest engagerande, följt av spelelementet förloppsindikator och slutligen spelelementet berättarröst. Samtliga undersökta spelelement har överlag gett användarna en positiv användarupplevelse. Berättarrösten förmedlade vikten av uppgiften och fick användarna att uppleva att de var en del av någonting större. Förloppsindikatorn visade vad varje användare presterat och utmanade användarna till att lämna in fler förbättringsförslag och till att nå de uppsatta målen. Det upplevdes positivt att nå mål och användarna upplevde även att detta gav en känsla av avslut. Spelelementet feedback gav inspiration och fick användarna att känna sig sedda och som en del av en gemenskap. / The aim of the study is to examine how a few specific individual game elements could be used to increase users’ engagement to submit improvement suggestions related to their workplace as well as how the use of these game elements impacts the user experience within this context. This was examined qualitatively through two research questions where the research participants had to perform user testing on one non-gamified and three gamified web applications for submission of improvement suggestions related to the workplace as well as answer questions about the user experience and engagement at four interview occasions.   Out of the three game elements narrative, progress bar and feedback that have been examined have all proved to increase the users’ engagement for the submission of improvement suggestions. In this study was the game element feedback found to be most engaging, followed by the game element progress bar and lastly the game element narrative. All examined game elements have overall given the users a positive user experience. The narrative conveyed the importance of the task and made the users experience that they were a part of something bigger. The progress bar showed what each user performed and challenged the users to submit more improvement suggestions and to reach the defined goals. It was perceived positively to reach goals and the users experienced that it also gave a sense of completion. The game element feedback gave inspiration and made the users feel seen and as a part of a community.

Chatbots are computer programs that interact with users utilizing natural language. Businesses benefit from using chatbots as they can provide a better and more satisfactory customer experience. This thesis investigates differences in user satisfaction with two types of e-commerce chatbots: a keyword-based chatbot and a GPT-based chatbot. The study focuses on user interactions with IKEA's chatbot "Billie" compared to a prototype GPT-based chatbot designed for similar functionalities. Using a within-subjects experimental design, participants were tasked with typical e-commerce queries, followed by interviews to gather qualitative data about each participants experience. The research aims to determine whether a chatbot based on GPT technology can offer a more intuitive, engaging and empathetic user experience, compared to traditional keyword-based chatbots in the realm of e-commerce. Findings reveal that the GPT-based chatbot generally provided more accurate and relevant responses, enhancing user satisfaction. Participants appreciated the GPT chatbot's better comprehension and ability to handle natural language, though both systems still exhibited some unnatural interactions. The keyword-based chatbot often failed to understand user intent accurately, leading to user frustration and lower satisfaction. These results suggest that integrating advanced AI technologies like GPT-based chatbots could improve user satisfaction in e-commerce settings, highlighting the potential for more human-like and effective customer service.

<p dir="ltr">Recent advancements in large language models such as ChatGPT and AU Large allow for the effective integration and application of LLMs into network devices such as switches and routers in terms of the ability to play a role in configuration and management. The given devices are an essential part of every network infrastructure, and the nature of physical networking topologies is complex, which leads to the need to ensure optimal network efficiency and security via meticulous and precise configurations.</p><p dir="ltr">The research explores the potential of an AI-driven interface that utilizes AU Large to streamline, enhance, and automate the configuration process of network devices while ensuring that the security of the whole process is guaranteed by running the entire system on-premise. Three core areas are of primary concern in the given study: the effectiveness of integrating the AU Large into network management systems, the impact on efficiency, accuracy, and error rates in network configurations, and the scalability and adaptability to more complex requirements and growing network environments.</p><p dir="ltr">The key performance metrics evaluated are the error rate in the generated configurations, scalability by looking at the performance as more network devices are added, and the ability to generate incredibly complex configurations accurately. The high-level results of the critical performance metrics show an evident correlation between increased device count and increased prompt complexity with a degradation in the performance of the AU Large model from Mistral AI.</p><p dir="ltr">This research has significant potential to alter preset network management practices by applying AI to make network configuration more efficient, reduce the scope for human error, and create an adaptable tool for diverse and complex networking environments. This research contributes to both AI and network management fields by highlighting a path toward the “future of network management.”</p>

Designing good digital experiences for children can be difficult; designers have to consider children's cognitive and motor skill limitations, understand their target audience, create something entertaining and educational, comply with national and international jurisdiction, and at the same time appeal to parents. We set out to create a general framework which designers and developers can use as a foundation and testing ground for their digital products in the field of user experience. The methods used during the thesis include interviews, literature studies, user testing, case studies, personas, prototyping, and more. The results created are primarily user experience guidelines packaged in a Theoretical Framework, user testing conclusions, along with suggestions on improving the current Lego Star Wars: Force Builders application, a few in the form of prototypes.

Denna studie utforskar användningen av scrollytelling, en metod inom digitalt berättande, i jämförelse med ett traditionellt statiskt webbformat. Studien syftar till att undersöka i vilken utsträckning interaktivt och multimedia-integrerat innehåll påverkar användarupplevelse, användarengagemang, kunskapsförståelse och retention. En prototyp för respektive format skapades för att genomföra den komparativa studien. Med en blandad metodansats som kombinerar ett kvantitativt frågeformulär och kvalitativa intervjuer, samlades data från en grupp unga vuxna inom en akademisk miljö. Utöver detta genomförde deltagarna även ett kunskapstest för att mäta kunskapsförståelsen och retentionen. Resultaten visar att scrollytelling ökar både engagemang och upplevd förståelse bland deltagarna, med en tydlig förbättring av användarupplevelsen jämfört med statiska formatet. Samtidigt som kunskapstestet indikerade på en aningen bättre retention av informationen som presenterades i det traditionella statiska format. Slutsatserna pekar på att scrollytelling erbjuder fördelar för digitalt berättande, där dess dynamiska och interaktiva format kan öka engagemanget och förståelsen i jämförelse med det traditionella statiska formatet. Men det går inte i denna studie att konstatera en direkt ökad retention av information. Studiens fynd understryker dock potential för scrollytelling i kontrast mot det traditionella statiska formatet, och därför rekommenderar ytterligare forskning att utforska dess optimala design och effektivitet över olika kontexter. / This study explores the use of scrollytelling, a method within digital storytelling, in comparison to traditional static web formats. The study aims to examine the extent to which interactive and multimedia-integrated content affects user experience, engagement, knowledge comprehension, and retention. A prototype for each format was created to conduct the comparative study. Using a mixed-method approach combining a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews, data were collected from a group of young adults in an academic setting. Additionally, the participants also took a knowledge test to measure their comprehension and retention. The results show that scrollytelling increases both engagement and perceived understanding among participants, with a clear improvement in user experience compared to the static format. While the knowledge test indicated slightly better retention of the information presented in the traditional static format. The conclusions suggest that scrollytelling offers advantages for digital storytelling, where its dynamic and interactive format can enhance engagement and understanding in comparison to the traditional static format. However, this study does not establish a direct increase in information retention. Nonetheless, the findings underline the potential for scrollytelling in contrast to the traditional static format, and therefore, further research is recommended to explore its optimal design and effectiveness across different contexts.

Digital health tools, platforms, and artificial intelligence– or machine learning–based clinical decision support systems are increasingly part of health delivery approaches, with an ever-greater degree of system interaction. Critical to the successful deployment of these tools is their functional integration into existing clinical routines and workflows. This depends on system interoperability and on intuitive and safe user interface design. The importance of minimizing emergent workflow stress through human factors research and purposeful design for integration cannot be overstated. Usability of tools in practice is as important as algorithm quality. Regulatory and health technology assessment frameworks recognize the importance of these factors to a certain extent, but their focus remains mainly on the individual product rather than on emergent system and workflow effects. The measurement of performance and user experience has so far been performed in ad hoc, nonstandardized ways by individual actors using their own evaluation approaches. We propose that a standard framework for system-level and holistic evaluation could be built into interacting digital systems to enable systematic and standardized system-wide, multiproduct, postmarket surveillance and technology assessment. Such a system could be made available to developers through regulatory or assessment bodies as an application programming interface and could be a requirement for digital tool certification, just as interoperability is. This would enable health systems and tool developers to collect system-level data directly from real device use cases, enabling the controlled and safe delivery of systematic quality assessment or improvement studies suitable for the complexity and interconnectedness of clinical workflows using developing digital health technologies.

<p dir="ltr">Since the Electronic Software Association (ESA) began reporting data for the video game industry in 2002, women have represented nearly half of the game playing population. However, despite this stable statistic, the industry’s ideal “Gamer” is consistently depicted as a young, white, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied male, and the games industry frequently targets this idealized identity through advertising and game design. This has resulted in a culture that is notably toxic towards women and marginalized players, built on an assumption of meritocracy within games—or the expectation that every player begins each game with the same advantages, disadvantages, and skills as every other player. While the construction of gamer identity has received extensive scholarly attention, gaming peripherals—such as video game controllers—are either minimized or left entirely out of the conversation. This dissertation, informed by feminist methodologies in technical communication and game studies, uses a mixed-methods approach involving archival research, visual analysis, surveys, and interviews to understand the intersections of video game controllers and gamer identity. Using Microsoft’s Xbox as a case study, the findings demonstrate how a dominant narrative has controlled controller design decisions through iterative processes. This has resulted in controllers that are more uncomfortable, more unusable, and more frustrating for and viewed more negatively by women and marginalized players. For each controller iteration, women and marginalized participants rated controllers significantly lower. Though the total improvement score (TIS) from first iteration to current iteration were similar between women and marginalized participants and cismale participants, the lower starting point for women and marginalized participants resulted in a lower ending point. Design decisions across controller iterations privilege cismale experiences, reifying gamer identity through controller design and resulting in not just an ideal gamer identity, but an ideal gamer body. </p>

This study investigates readability and perceptions of heads-up displays (HUDs) in video games among players with varying levels of gaming experience. Additionally, it discusses strategies for designing user interfaces that fulfil the needs of both experienced players and individuals without prior gaming experience. Four different video game HUDs were redesigned to examine the influence of layout, grouping, size, and visual elements. Nine participants viewed static images of the HUDs, followed by semi-structured in-depth interviews to collect data. Thematic analysis revealed patterns regarding layout, structure, usability, and visual elements in relation to readability, genre, player preferences and experience. Results indicate that prior gaming experience influences layout preferences, with experienced players exhibiting greater variability based on individual gaming styles, while inexperienced players favour larger, simplified icons in easily accessible locations. The study suggests the implementation of multiple HUD pre-sets or customisable UI tools in games to accommodate diverse player preferences and enhance user experiences. Drawing parallels to existing practices in games, this research proposes a grid-based UI system for players to create personalised HUD layouts. / Denna studie undersöker läsbarhet och uppfattningar av användargränssnitt i datorspel bland individer med olika nivåer av tidigare spelerfarenhet. Studien diskuterar även strategier för att designa användargränssnitt som uppfyller behoven hos både erfarna spelare och individer utan tidigare spelerfarenhet. Användargränssnitt från fyra olika datorspel omredigerades för att undersöka inverkan av layout, gruppering, storlek och visuella element. Nio deltagare visades statiska bilder av gränssnitten och data samlades in med semistrukturerade djupgående intervjuer. Den tematiska analysen avslöjade mönster gällande layout, struktur, användarvänlighet och visuella element i relation till läsbarhet, genre, preferenser och erfarenhet. Resultaten indikerar att tidigare spelerfarenhet påverkar preferenser för layout, där erfarna spelare uppvisar större variation baserat på individuella spelstilar, medan oerfarna spelare föredrar större och förenklade ikoner på lättillgängliga platser. Studien föreslår att datorspel implementerar flera varianter eller anpassningsbara användargränssnitt för att tillgodose fler spelares behov och förbättra användarupplevelsen. Forskningen drar paralleller till befintliga metoder i spel och föreslår ett rutnätnätsbaserat system där spelare kan skapa skräddarsydda användargränssnitt.

En del förare ägnar sig åt sekundära aktiviteter som bidrar till en minskad trafiksäkerhet när de kör. User Experience kan informera och hjälpa människor till att göra säkrare och mer medvetna val i trafiken. Forskning från självrapporterad mobiltelefonanvändning visar att ett förbud mot mobilanvändning under bilkörning inte har lett till att människor helt upphört från beteendet. Arbetet undersökte om ett förarövervakningssystem bidrar till säkrare bilkörning när bilförare är distraherade av mobiltelefoner och om systemet påverkade deras känsla av säkerhet. En ytterligare frågeställning undersökte om det fanns någon skillnad mellan kvinnor och mäns förarbeteende och uppfattning av förarövervakningssystem. Detta undersöktes meden experimentellt mixad metoddesign med tester i simulator, enkäter och intervjuer. Simulatorstudien hade en mellangruppsdesign där 16 deltagare delades upp i tre grupper och körde tre banor i tätort och stadstrafik: deltagarna delades in i en kontrollgrupp (grupp A) utan mobil eller förarövervakningssystem, grupp B fick distraherande SMS och grupp C fick distraherande SMS och varnades av förarövervakningssystemet AIS12. Deltagarna intervjuades och fick fylla i en utvärderande enkät efter simulatorn. En enkät skickades ut online för att ta reda på förarbeteende och åsikter om förarövervakningssystem. Trots att resultaten från simulatorn ej var signifikanta så framkom åsikter om för- och nackdelar med förarövervakningssystem från intervjudeltagarna. Simulatorexperimentet hade ett litet stickprov, vilket kan bidragit till att resultatet inte visade sig vara signifikant. / Some drivers engage in secondary activities that contribute to decreased traffic safety. User Experience can inform and help people make safer and more conscious choices in traffic. Previous research on self-reported mobile phone use shows that a ban on mobile phone use while driving has not led people to completely cease the behavior. The study investigated whether a driver monitoring system contributes to safer driving when drivers are distracted by mobile phones and whether the system affected their sense of safety. An additional question examined whether there was a difference between male and female drivers' behavior and perception of the driver monitoring system. This was investigated using an experimental mixed-method design with a simulator, surveys, and an interview. The simulator study had a between-groups design where 16 participants were divided into three groups and drove three tracks in urban and city traffic: group A was a control group without mobile or driver monitoring system, group B received distracting SMS messages, and group C received distracting SMS messages and were warned by the driver monitoring system AIS12. Participants were interviewed and filled out an evaluative survey after the simulator. Another survey was sent out online to investigate driver behavior and opinions about driver monitoring systems. Although the results from the simulator were not significant, opinions about the pros and cons of the driver monitoring system emerged from the interview participants. The simulator experiment had a small sample size, which may have contributed to the result not being significant.