Les actions que les individus réalisent dans leur vie quotidienne sont soumises à un ensemble de contraintes physiques et sociales qui donnent un cadre à leur réalisation. Le but de cette thèse était d'apporter des arguments empiriques en faveur d'une approche intégrative selon laquelle ces contraintes influencent la perception visuelle de l'espace. Nous avons pour cela réalisé deux études comportementales sur l'influence des contraintes physiques sur la perception des distances (Articles 1 et 2) et une étude sur la perception d'une de ces contraintes (Article 3). Nous avons également réalisé trois études comportementales sur l'influence des contraintes sociales sur la perception de l'espace et des possibilités d'action (Articles 4, 5 et 7) ainsi qu'une simulation en robotique pour étudier davantage une de ces contraintes (Article 6). À première vue, nos résultats semblent indiquer que les contraintes des actions influencent la perception de l'espace. Cependant, des limites méthodologiques nous incitent à nuancer cette interprétation dans la mesure où certains de nos résultats pourraient refléter des biais de demande expérimentale plutôt que des effets perceptifs. / Actions that people can perform in their everyday life are subject to a lot of constraints which limit their ability to perform these actions. The main purpose of these doctoral researches was to provide empirical evidences for an integrative approach according to which these constraints influence the visual perception of space. We conducted two behavioral experiments to investigate the influence of physical constraints on distance perception (Papers 1 and 2) and one experiment to investigate the perception of one of these constraints (Paper 3). We also conducted three other behavioral experiments to investigate the potential influence of social constraints on the perception of space and affordances (Papers 4, 5, and 7) and one robotic simulation to gain more insight into one of these constraints (Paper 6). Our results seem to provide some supports to the hypothesis that action constraints influence the visual perception of space. However, some methodological flaws prevent us to draw firm conclusions about this general hypothesis given that some of our results might be better explained in terms of experimental demand biases rather than in terms of perceptual effects.

Les travaux conduits dans le cadre de cette thèse ont pour but d’étendre le champ de validité des simulations de trafic en milieu urbain et péri-urbain, avec notamment une meilleure prise en compte du contexte de conduite, de l’hétérogénéité des véhicules (deux-roues motorisés, véhicule léger, poids lourd, etc.) et des comportements des conducteurs en termes d’occupation de l’espace au sol. Le but est de produire en simulation des comportements observés en situation réelle tels que les phénomènes de faufilement (deux-roues, véhicules d’urgence, cas des intersections). Nous abordons, la simulation du trafic routier en considérant une approche comportementale fondée sur les systèmes multi-agents. Des travaux précédents ont proposé des solutions non génériques, notamment pour le cas particulier des deux-roues motorisés. Nous proposons un nouveau modèle d’agent permettant de mieux prendre en compte le contexte de conduite et les comportements des conducteurs en termes d’occupation de l’espace. Nous dotons l’agent d’une représentation ego-centrée de l’environnement fondée sur le concept d’affordance. Nous utilisons ainsi les affordances pour identifier les actions possibles, en termes d’occupation de l’espace, offertes par l’environnement. Nous les utilisons en- suite pour construire une représentation ego-centrée de la situation. Le modèle d’agent proposé a été implémenté avec Archisim. Cette implémentation a permis de reproduire une situation de trafic réelle et de comparer les données simulées avec celles recueillies sur le terrain. Différentes expérimentations ont été menées afin d’évaluer la qualité de la solution proposée. / The work described in this thesis aims to improve the validity of traffic simulations in urban and suburban areas. We propose to consider the driving context, the heterogeneity of vehicles (motorized two-wheelers, vehicle, truck, etc.) and the driver behavior in terms of space occupation. The purpose is to produce in simulation the observed real world phenomena such as faufilement behavior (two-wheelers, emergency vehicles, cases of intersections). We address the traffic simulation byconsidering a behavioral approach based on multi-agent systems. Previous work have proposed non- generic solutions, for the particular case of motorized two-wheelers. We propose a new agent model to better take into account the context of driving and driver behavior in terms of space occupation. We endow agent driver with an ego-centered representation of the environment based on the concept of affordances. We use the affordances to identify the possible actions, in terms of space occupation, afforded by environment. The proposed agent model was implemented with ArchiSim. This implementation has allowed to reproduce a real traffic situation and to compare the results to real data. Different experiments were conducted to assess the quality of the proposed solution.

ABSTRACTObjectification of especially women have often been mentioned in connection to discussions concerning negative body image wherein individuals have been claimed to evaluate their body and look based on standardized societal ideals (Nash:2015, Hodgkinson, Wittkowski & Smith:2014). Studies have also shown that newspapers, magazines, and movies routinely present post-pregnancy bodies as something temporarily that women should strive to improve (Breda et al.:2015, Roth et al.:2012, Williams et al.:2017). Although, it has been stated that social media can work as a supportive and inspirational tool for this specific group of women (Baker & Yang:2017, Jarvis:2017) as well as platform of expression where users can shape and spread their own beauty standards (Cwynar-Horton:2016a, Guha:2014, Earl & Rohlinger:2018). Women’s thoughts of their post-pregnancy bodies in connection to the motivations behind their bodily exposure on social media platforms have not yet been examined, even though it has been claimed that this group is particularly vulnerable to body image concerns due to social media representations (Coyne et al.:2017). As a contribution to the field of post-pregnant body advocates affordances of Instagram, this paper has focused on Swedish post-pregnant women that have posted images of their bodies under the hashtags #mammamage (mum tummy) and/or #mammakropp (mum body). By applying affordance theory’s suggestion that environments afford different affordances for individuals, this paper has asked 94 post-pregnant women how they feel about their bodies and what they think of societal body ideals, as well as examined their motivations behind their use of Instagram with the aim to identify prominent emotional affordances. Here, objectification theory, comparison theory, postmodern feminism, and feminist reflexivity were used as supporting theories in the analysis of the data which was conducted through a mixed methods survey.The main findings have been that Instagram is seen as a platform that enables its users to experience emotional affordances of 1) criticism and comparisons, 2) inspiration and support and 3) acceptance, where post-pregnant body advocates are using the affordances primarily to visualize average post-pregnancy bodies, challenge standardized body ideals and get inspired or inspire other women into re-thinking the notion(s) of their post-pregnancy bodies. What this paper further has contributed with is a greater understanding of post-pregnant body advocates experiences of their own bodies, a broader perspective on post-pregnant body advocates thoughts of societal ideals, a more profound comprehension behind post-pregnant body advocates motivation(s) behind their use of Instagram, and new knowledge to the field of emotional affordances among Instagram users.Keywords: post-pregnant women, body advocates, Instagram, affordances, affordance theory, emotional affordances, objectification theory, feminist reflexivity, comparison theory, postmodern feminism, survey, mixed method

VR är ett växande medium men också ett medium som har stor potential för att utöka vår kapacitet som människor. Det finns olika designexempel inom fältet på hur gränssnitten ska se ut men enligt vår mening använder inte dessa gränssnitt mediets potential fullt ut. I denna artikeln använder vi oss av Affordances och en antropologisk vinkel för att hitta nya interaktioner i VR. Kan vi låta användaren interagera med innehåll på nätet och utökar det förmågan till personlig anpassning? Vi har baserat vår bedömning och vårt ramverk utifrån observationer av verklighetens interaktioner samt dom interaktioner som VR afforderar enligt arbetare inom fältet och dess användare.Vi har gjort en serie arbeten kring handtracking, kontextuella interaktioner, webbinnehåll och anpassning av det virtuella utrymmet. De prototyper vi har utvecklat har sammanställts i en gestaltning som söker att reproducera en hemmiljö för VR, alltså den miljö du ser när du startar ditt headset och motsvarigheten till skrivbordet i windows. / VR is a growing medium but also a medium that has great potential to expand our capacity as humans. There are various design examples in the field of what the interfaces should look like, but in our opinion these interfaces do not fully utilize the potential of the medium. In this article, we use Affordances and an anthropological angle to find new interactions in VR. Can we allow the user to interact with online content and does that increase the ability for personalization? We have based our assessment and our framework on observations of real-life interactions and the interactions that VR affords according to workers in the field and its users. We have done a series of works around hand tracking, contextual interactions, web content and customization of the virtual space. The prototypes we have developed have been put together in a design that seeks to reproduce a home environment for VR, i.e. the environment you see when you start your headset and the equivalent of the Windows desktop.

Near Field Communication (NFC) approach may be seen as a perspective way to improve user experience of quick data access with mobile devices to various services (secure payments, information exchange between users, etc.) in a city. This thesis concerns the topic of challenges which may be faced by interaction designers using this approach for creating a context-aware mobile solution for personalized data access in service-intensive urban environments. This research is based on considerations from researches, which explored which mobile information needs in particular seemed to be relevant for a modern user. Moreover, affordances and design blends concept are discussed in this work through a prism of the human-computer interaction in a city. ‘Research through design’ concept allowed performing the investigation of the given problem, starting from a user research, followed by prototyping an alternative solution and after - user evaluation of the prototype. Finally, a critical overview of the performed research gives suggestions for further improvement of the project.

Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur pedagoger resonerar kring organiseringen av inomhusmiljön i förhållande till barns inflytande. Detta har jag undersökt genom att ta reda på vilka handlingserbjudanden som pedagoger vill att deras inomhusmiljö ska förmedla samt vilket inflytande barn ges utifrån dessa handlingserbjudanden. Studien är genomförd via en gruppintervju med ett arbetslag på en svensk förskola i Mellansverige. Resultatet visar att det är lugna handlingserbjudanden som pedagogerna vill förmedla genom sitt sätt att organisera miljön. Detta visas dels genom vilka aktiviteter som pedagogerna erbjuder barnen och dels genom att de medvetet försöker möblera så barnen inte ska inbjudas till spring, hopp och rörelse. Resultatet visar vidare att barnen har inflytande inom de ramar som pedagogerna har satt upp. Eftersom pedagogerna vill att det är lugna aktiviteter som ska förekomma på avdelningen har barnen inflytande att påverka så länge det rör sig om just lugna aktiviteter. Barnen har alltså ett indirekt inflytande som dessutom varierar beroende på om det gäller möblering och tomma ytor, material, klimat eller aktiviteter och material som ska kopplas till nuvarande mål. Även barnens ålder spelar in på vilket inflytande de ges, framförallt gällande material. / The purpose of this study is to contribute with knowledge regarding teachers’ belief about the organization of the indoor setting in relation to children’s influence. I have examined this by observing what affordances teachers wish their indoor stetting to convey and what influence children are given based on these affordances. The study was conducted through a group interview with a team in a Swedish preschool in central Sweden. The result show that the affordances teachers wish to convey through their way of organizing the indoor setting are calm activities. This is shown partly through what activates teachers present to the children and partly through the way that teachers consciously furnish to avoid children from running and jumping. Further result show that children are able to practice influence within rules stipulated by the teachers. Since teachers convey affordances of a calm nature children may practice influence as long as activates are of a calm nature. This show that children have an implied influence witch also varies depending on if it relays to furnishing and empty spaces, material, climate or activities and material connected to present objects. Children’s age is also a factor which affects what influence they are given, especially regarding materials.

The current thesis explores semantic and action effects on visual perception and specifically how higher-level knowledge can co-affect the process of visual perception, along with the well established effects of low level image characteristics, such as colour, image/object saliency and general gist of the scene. Recent evidence on object recognition supports perceptual grouping effects of familiar pairings of functionally interacting objects. This leads to an advantage for their perception as compared with objects positioned in a non-interacting configuration, in cases where there are attentional limitations in perception. Similar effects were previously reported in clinical cases of people diagnosed with neglect (Humphreys & Riddoch, 2001, 2007; Riddoch et al, 2003, 2006), but the fact that they are also present in normally functioning individuals (Green & Hummel, 2006) makes them a clear example of higher order effects on perception. Given the evidence about the abstract nature of the information stored in visual memory and the fact that orientation is part of the spatial information related to an object representation, our first series of experiments aimed at further exploring the nature of this perceptual grouping and whether objects separation would have an effect on it. By combining this paradigm with a paradigm used to explore linguistic factors of perceiving space (Carlson-Radvansky & Radvansky, 1996; Carlson-Radvansky, Covey & Lattanzi, 1999; Carlson-Radvansky & Tang, 2000), we additionally explored the effect of functional interactions at higher levels of post-perceptual processing. We manipulated the locations of various pairs of objects as well as the semantic and functional relationship between them to explore if spatial configurations affect the way people talk about the relationship of the objects in the same way as they affect the same objects‟ recognition. The results revealed a difference, with the same distance manipulation affecting linguistic descriptions of spatial relationships between pairs of objects but having no effect in their perceptual grouping. One of the aims of this thesis is the interpretation of such effects according to a recently growing body of evidence on the interaction between action and perception systems. These systems which were traditionally considered to be two separate disciplines seem to connect, with information from action systems feeding on perceptual systems. Through such an interaction, for example, information about the functionally related objects could lead to their perceptual grouping. A series of experiments have demonstrated effects of action affordances on object perception and their combined results seem to imply pre-attentive effects on object perception independent of the person‟s intention to act on an object (Riddoch, Humphreys, Edwards, Baker & Wilson, 2002; Tipper, Paul & Hayes, 2006; Symes, Ellis & Tucker, 2007).To further explore the role of functional relationships and action affordances in natural scene viewing, a second series of experiments was designed. These experiments also provided evidence to an old debate about the nature of visual memory and its organisation, adding further evidence for the role of semantic relationship and action affordances in the memory encoding of a scene. This series of experiments took advantage of the phenomenon of object prioritization during unexpected object onsets or feature changes while viewing real world scenes (Brockmole & Henderson, 2005a). Using a variation of classic change detection paradigms, eye-tracking data were recorded to measure at which point action affordance manipulations would have an effect and to reveal whether object functionality changes can still produce attention capture (quantified as fixation probability to the object of interest), similarly to previously tested semantic changes. Functionality manipulation was achieved by orientation changes of a critical object in the scene, but in a way which constitutes it non functional to the specific context. By comparing action affordance interference during object onsets against interference during object orientation changes we differentiated between pre-attentive and post-selection mechanisms. Our results indicate that although there is no evidence of pre-attentive modulation of object prioritization, action affordances do have an effect in post-selection mechanisms, with functionally inconsistent objects attracting attention faster and affecting the encoding of an object in the scene representation during memory guided prioritization but not during oculomotor capture. Our results also support the existence of two separate mechanisms for object prioritization. As a summary, this family of semantic relationships, action affordances and the interplay between action and perception systems has been tested during my PhD research from the very early stages of perception until post perceptual and linguistic accounts of the perceived image. Their role in attention capture and their mediating role to visual memory have also been explored using eye-tracking technology and realistic and rich in information real world scenes. Overall my thesis is oriented towards the aspects that tie all these effects together and further explores the role of action affordances in memory encoding.

In recent times, higher educational institutions have faced a challenge from the radical demands of their students. With the spread of students’ use of Web 2.0 applications, educational institutions also need to move with this trend and adopt Web 2.0 applications in education. As a contribution to the field of innovation in higher education, this study explores the pedagogical affordances of a social networking site (SNS) in higher education in Saudi Arabia. A case study methodology informed by Design-Based Research DBR approach was used. This approach was characterized by iterations of design and evaluation. The study was applied in two phases: Phase One was applied in the University of Exeter to evaluate a previously designed course, “The ICT Future”, with the innovation of a social networking site. The result of this phase was a framework which was applied in Phase Two, in King Saud University, which contributed to the design of an innovative course using social networking site, on "Web design". The data were collected by mixed methods: using stimulated recall interviews, reflexive report, and observation of the interaction on the social networking site. The findings of the study were used to help revise the framework for the design of a course which utilised the social networking site. The framework developed in this study was based on the findings of the pedagogical affordances of the SNS. The study concludes that the pedagogical affordances of the social networking sites are: reflection, stimulation, content-creation, collaboration, and online discussion. These affordances support students in higher education. Some important challenges in implementing the social networking site in higher education were highlighted. The study presents the need to change pedagogical practices in universities, and discusses various ways in which these changes could be implemented.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine (Katie) Kingery-Page / According to Barbara Hendricks, play environment designer and consultant, “If we want children to grow up with a zest for living we need to give them living spaces that express life as a grand experience.” Hendricks emphasizes playtime is important for children to process formal lessons (Hendricks 2011). This applied design research project seeks to facilitate child development through an experiential learning playscape while addressing stormwater management for Bluemont Elementary School. The central research question of this project is: How can school playgrounds be designed to afford children improved social interactions and experiential learning? An exploration of landscape affordances theory (Sanseter and Hansen 2009, Heft 1988) and experiential learning (Kolb 1984), combined with social interactions and cognitive child development (Addo-Atuah 2012), formed a theory base for the project. Playground observations, stakeholder surveys, stakeholder interviews, and site inventory and analysis informed the eventual design. Major factors influencing students’ play include age, playground rules, equipment available for use, and weather. Site conditions, including topography and site drainage, can also influence students’ play. In current conditions, stormwater is a schoolyard liability restricting play and safe site circulation. The researcher gathered insights from student surveys, playground observations, teacher interviews, and site inventory and analysis to complete a comprehensive master plan. The comprehensive master plan and detailed stormwater management plan address the schoolyard over the next twenty to fifty year outlook. The designs resolve practical issues while increasing the variety of site educational and play affordances available to students and teachers for play and learning. A primary goal of the detailed plan is to convert stormwater schoolyard liabilities into amenities and educational tools.

Technological developments such as social media have created challenges for DMOs (destination marketing organisations or destination management organisations). DMOs are trying to keep up with development of new social media platforms including Instagram. Academic literature shows that there is very little known about the usage of Instagram by DMOs. Research on this topic is still in its infancy. This thesis aims to find out how Leeuwarden and Amsterdam, two cities in the Netherlands, are utilising Instagram by using affordances approaches of Kietzmann et al. and Spector. A qualitative case study, as well as a content analysis and interviews provide insight in DMOs usage of Instagram affordances, which is the purpose of this thesis. Findings show that both Leeuwarden and Amsterdam mostly use similar ways in utilising the affordances by Kietzmann et al. and Spector. The honeycomb model by Kietzmann et al. shows that the affordances of Instagram mainly focus on sharing, identity and relationships. Instagram does in a very limited way focus on groups. Spector’s affordances show that collaboration, interaction and creativity are most important. Reflection, dialogue, organisation and inquiry are not important.