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This thesis explores potential strategies to enhance user control and satisfaction within the movie selection process, with a particular focus on the utilization of conversational generative artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, for personalized movie recommendations. The study adopts a qualitative user-centered design thinking approach, aiming to compre-hensively understand user needs, goals, and behavior. In-depth interviews were conducted, utilizing the "Thinking aloud"method and trigger materials to elicit rich user feedback. Participants interacted with ChatGPT and various prototypes, providing valuable insights into their experiences. The study found that participants felt more in control when given the opportunity to specify wishes. In addition, the users found that the experience of receiving recommendations through ChatGPT was more satisfying than their usual way of receiving recommendations for movies. Furthermore, participants expressed a desire for additional information about recommended movies and more novel suggestions. The prototypes, designed as triggers for user feedback, were generally well-received, providing an engaging and fun user experience. Despite some participants expressing challenges in specifying movie choices based on an emotion, this new approach to movie selection was viewed positively. Despite limitations concerning the study’s validity, reliability, and testing situation, the findings suggest the potential of generative artificial intelligence conversational agents in enhancing the movie selection process. It is concluded that iterative design improvements and further research is necessary to fully leverage the potential of natural language processing technologies in recommendation systems. The study serves as a preliminary investigation into improving movie recommendations using generative artificial intelligence and offers valuable insights for future developments.

OBJECTIVE: Immigrants to the United States represent a variety of ethnocultural backgrounds, experiences, and languages. They face stressors unique to migration that may exacerbate or cause mental health concerns. Despite this increased risk, immigrants access treatment at rates far below their native-borne counterparts. Structural and cultural barriers to mental health service utilization expound this disparity. The present thesis proposes a novel system to provide psychosocial support for US immigrants seeking treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).  METHODS: Recognizing the need for a new paradigm of care, an Immigrant Mental Health Center prototype was conceptualized using a Human-Centered Design approach. The foundations for this prototype align with the Patient-Centered Medical Home approach to integrated primary and mental healthcare. Narrative reviews informed the theoretical basis of the prototype. A brief review of the existing literature yielded five integrated care themes, forming the basis for prototype evaluation criteria. Communication materials for stakeholder meetings and expert advisory panels were prepared as the next step in the Human-Centered Design approach.  RESULTS: The prototype extended care to a diverse spectrum of US immigrants within the MGH healthcare network. It involved a multidisciplinary team of specialists, whole-patient orientation, a personal practitioner, increased accessibility, and viable internal (MGH) and external (community) linkages.  CONCLUSIONS: The next steps in the Human-Centered Design approach include iteratively designing solutions to co-optimize the prototype for implementation at the MGH Center for Immigrant Health. Recommendations for the iterative refinement stage include clarifying financial metrics and addressing structural barriers to treatment accessibility. A series of feasibility pilot trials and efficacy randomized-controlled trials precede implementation. Future directions include extending the target population to second or third-generation immigrants, attending to severe mental illnesses, and fostering inpatient mental healthcare linkages as a bridge to long-term care.

This master’s thesis aims to explore the potential of visual communication as a powerful tool for promoting change and impact in Namibia with a focus on sustainable agriculture and food security. The study analyzes how graphic design and visual communication may effectively explain best practices for sustainable farming and inspire young adults in rural communities to engage with agriculture through empirical research. The study employs a Research Through Design (RtD) methodology to answer the following question: How can design help vulnerable communities and promote long-term food security solutions in Namibia through subsistence farming or agriculture?  The study’s findings highlight the importance of design in promoting sustainable agriculture by raising awareness, empowering communities, and advocacy for policy changes. Through its innate ability to attract and captivate audiences, visual communication may successfully distribute information about sustainable farming techniques and highlight their benefits. This thesis demonstrates how appealing visual narratives may stimulate young people’s curiosity, build passion and inspire them to learn and embrace sustainable agricultural methods.  The conclusion of this thesis suggests key recommendations for improving disadvantaged group’s access to resources and training. Land reform policies that favor small-scale farmers and support their subsistence farming efforts which are critical for guaranteeing food security. Furthermore, resolving water scarcity and boosting access to irrigation systems are critical considerations for Namibia’s sustainable agricultural practices to empower disadvantaged groups and encourage positive change. / <p>Examensarbetet är utfört vid Institutionen för teknik och naturvetenskap (ITN) vid Tekniska fakulteten, Linköpings universitet</p>

Data visualisation can provide a user-friendly way to observe and understand data. It can make is easier to make well-informed decision and communicate findings in data. This study aims to research how to effectively structure and visualize a complex data sets in order to improve a battery discharge process. By implementing a dashboard and visualising a data set from electrical battery discharging, the following objectives are considered; analyse and identify which parameters and variables are most important in the battery discharging process. Analyse how data transformation and cleaning can support data visualisations. Define an interface that visualises the trends, anomalies and correlations of the data set. Evaluate how the visual representation is perceived by users in the battery recycling process?The study followed the User Centered Design method, which consist of five phases that are iterated. During the phases Identify needs and Specify context of use six stake holder interviews was held, theses were analysed through an Affinity diagram and Personas. In the phase Specify requirements requirements are established by conducting a user journey mapping. The data and insights from the previous phases was turned into ideas and solutions in the phase Produce design solutions. In total three low-fidelity and one high-fidelity prototype were created, as well as one implemented solution. In the last phase Evaluate design the design solutions were tested though, interviews, usability test and a survey. The result of the study strengthens the theory that data visualisations can be used to provide insights. The findings show that visualisation to some extent could help detect abnormalities, patterns and correlation between variables, which could be useful in improving a process.

Hearing impairments are a sensitive component of our society. Lots of people are affected by them and considering this aspect in imagining and designing how the future will sound like is important. In this research project, a suggestion on a soundscape design tool to be used and manipulated by people affected by hearing disabilities is proposed. Together with this, it will be described as well how to implement and define a user interface with the scope of managing and manipulating these soundscapes. This project also faces the task of creating a setup oriented towards a museum setting: this carries with itself several variables to be kept in account, such as an unpredictable and quite broad users' range, and a special consideration for the lower-age range users. These have been found to be the most attending the museum environment, as far as it concerns Tekniska Museet. A three-phase experiment was then carried out. It involved a class of hearing-impaired pre-teenagers, the visitors of Tekniska and other hearing-impaired testers. Both qualitative and quantitative data about the interaction with the interface and the perceptual experience with the soundscapes were collected. The final assessments are that a focus on a playful aspect and the simplicity of shapes was the key for a suitable interface design focused on children, and that the contribution of the hearing impaired is relevant, at least in the later stage of the soundscape design process. / Hörselskador är en känslig del av vårt samhälle. Många människor påverkas av dem och det är viktigt att tänka på den aspekten då man föreställer sig och designar hur framtiden ska låta. Inom det här forskningsprojektet ska ett förslag på ett ljudlandskapsdesign-vektyg, ämnat att användas och hanteras av människor påverkade av hörselskador, framföras. Tillsammans med detta så beskrivs också hur ett användargränssnitt, med omfattningen att hantera och manipulera dessa ljudlandskap, fastställdes och implementerades inom systemet. Det här projektet möter dessutom utmaningen av att skapa ett system byggt för en museiutställning. Med detta tillkommer några variabler som måste hållas i åtanke, som en oförutsägbar och ganska bred användarskara. Speciellt stor omtanke läggs dock på yngre användare, som visade sig vara majoriteten av besökarna hos museet i fråga, nämligen Tekniska Museet. Ett experiment bestående av tre faser utförs, bestående av en skolklass av hörselskadade elever i tidiga tonårsåldern, Tekniska Museets besökare samt andra hörselskadade användare. Efter en insamling av både kvalitativa och kvantitativa data på interaktionen med gränssnittet samt den perceptuella upplevelsen av ljudlandskapen, dras slutsatsen att ett fokus på lekfullt utseende och enkelhet inom formerna är nyckeln för en lämplig gränssnitsdesign som har i åtanke barnens deltagande. Dessutom dras även slutsatsen att bidraget av hörselskadade individer är relevant, åtminstone i senare skeden av ljudlandskapsdesign-processen.

Nonprofit organizations are faced with unprecedented challenges as they seek to accomplish their lofty missions in a complex environment, ripe with uncertainty. The global COVID-19 pandemic brought forth new problems for communities and workplaces. As a result, some old ways of working may no longer be useful. To make meaningful progress on their social missions while navigating an unfamiliar post-pandemic context, nonprofits need new tools to help them understand and respond to changing community needs. Evidence has shown design thinking to be an effective approach to developing innovative strategies tailored to real needs, however, it has not been widely practiced in the nonprofit sector. Therefore, the purpose of this action research study was to introduce design thinking to one nonprofit organization where new strategies were necessary to effectively support constituents’ evolving needs. Five action research cycles engaged staff and stakeholders in a design team to apply human-centered design to a real organizational challenge. Research questions sought to understand how design thinking practices were implemented, which attributes contributed to the development of a new strategy, and the ways in which design thinking influenced how the organization responds to evolving constituent needs. Qualitative data from participant interviews, observation, and focus groups found four themes addressed the research questions: Relevance, Leadership Expectations, Capacity, and Intentionality. By way of engaging in play and inquiry, participants saw design thinking as an opportunity to innovate and adapt, helping nonprofits become more relevant. Findings also revealed expectations for leaders to have the answers may hinder ideation and implementation, though data also suggest leadership communication may be a particularly powerful facilitator of design thinking implementation, providing clarity on organizational priorities and aligning leaders and team members. Capacity, including organizational resources and personal bandwidth, was also found to affect how the design team’s ongoing work was supported and implemented across the organization. Finally, intentionality was revealed through the application of empathy, collaboration, and testing assumptions to aid learning. Such attributes may have already been present, but following design thinking, became intentional practices. Taken together, this also suggests incorporating elements of design thinking may be beneficial for nonprofits, as well as easier to implement than a full design thinking process. Findings from this study provide insights into what helps and hinders the implementation of a human-centered design practice, based on real experiences of nonprofit practitioners attempting to innovate and adapt to better serve their communities. This study contributes to knowledge regarding how design thinking might impact nonprofit organizations and offers some actionable insights regarding team dynamics, leadership, and facilitation of design practices. Finally, these findings offer practical implications and recommendations for organizations seeking to address longstanding problems in new ways, which may be particularly important in complex times.

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