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To achieve the highest levels of immersion and presence possible in a Virtual Reality experience, all of the sensory input we receive in the real world must be simulatable in Virtual Environments (VE) as well. Foregoing the more popular audio-visual feedback, this project aims to better understand the benefits of adding tactile feedback (namely that of airflow) to the VR-developer‟s toolkit. Through user tests, involving a hairdryer to produce a strong airflow that is easily redirected and changed in temperature, feedback was collected on the user experiences and applications of airflow in a VE made to simulate a walk through river lands similar to the ones found in Sweden. While there was no singular way that the participants experienced the added sensory input, most reported the airflow as being equally important to feeling immersed as background music, and on average almost as important as other audio cues. Perhaps most importantly, rich insights were gathered that can guide further research.

I detta arbete undersöks på vilket sätt virtuella verklighetsglasögon förändrar en spelupplevelse. Primärt ligger fokus på vad fysisk immersion och sensorisk feedback kan tillföra till spelupplevelsen. Detta innefattar autenticitet och inlevelse.För att undersöka detta används en utav karaktärerna i multiplayerskräckspelet Strobophagia som är omgjord för att fungera med virtuella verklighetsglasögon. I varje test fick en försöksdeltagare spela den omgjorda karaktären och dess originalversion medan en försöksdeltagare fick agera som motståndare och spela den icke omgjorda karaktären.Resultatet visar tydligt på att versionen i virtuell verklighet föredras av försöksdeltagare då den har ökad immersion och användbarhet. Fortsättningsvis anses den även vara mindre av ett spel och mer som en upplevelse. I framtiden behöver detta testas på fler spel och genrer för att säkerhetsställa att resultatet inte är unikt för Strobophagia.

Syftet med denna studie är att besvara hur strategierna Repair och External Information Retrieval (EIR) används av spelare av varierande erfarenhetsnivå för att tackla impasse-drivna inlärningsmoment i actionplattformspel. En artefakt i form av en spelprototyp inom actionplattform-genren har skapats för att besvara frågeställningen. Studiens testgrupp bestod av tre mycket erfarna spelare, tre mellan-erfarna spelare och två icke-erfarna spelare. Testdeltagarna ombads att spela igenom spelprototypen och förklara hur de tänkte enligt think-aloud metoden. Intervjuer utfördes både innan och efter spelsessionerna för att avgöra deltagarnas erfarenhetsnivåer och tydliggöra varje deltagares bakgrund inom spel. Varje enskild spelsession spelades in med deltagarnas tillåtelse för att möjliggöra analys vid senare tillfällen. Studiens resultat var att de mer erfarna spelarna använde Repair oftare än mindre erfarna spelare, och att de presterade bättre när de gjorde det. Icke-erfarna spelare föredrog EIR, men det visades också att mindre erfarna spelare behövde mer detaljerad information för att utföra effektiv EIR.

Social media is valuable when searching for information or to ease communication but what about the health risks, loss of productivity and physical activity, imaginary ideals and addiction? One third of women 16-29 years old suffer from a lower mental health and according to a large number of studies, social media has a big part in it. This study investigates how Instagram can be modified in order to reduce the nega- tive effects on young women caused by the app. Through interviews and a workshop, five concepts were produced and tested. The preferred solution for the users was to add a symbol if the image has been retouched, this was made to be able to separate the fake from the authentic uploads in Instagram. Totally removing the phone from the process was not an option since it is used in more situations like communication. Another concept that was instantly popular was the option to keep follow or unfollow recently added accounts. This makes the user aware of the content and is given the possibility to evaluate the accounts. Along with these concepts, it could be suggested that people need to be more aware of the problems caused by social media. It could also be suggested for users to work on their self-compassion, to not critique oneself too much, since fitspo-accounts affect users substantially. It is not the time spent on social media that matters but what people are actually engaging with.

How can user experience as means support people in their struggle to keep up with their stressful life. This thesis cover how user experience can be used as method to develop a application that in short term reduce everyday stress, and in long term support a sustainable development. A literature study was conducted what stress is and what impact it has on people, also a compilation of sustainable development in everyday life together with the theory of user experience on a mobile platform was made. To create a prototype of a mobile application an iterative design process been conducted by design, test and evaluate prototypes in three stage from paper prototypes, lo-fi to hi-fi. Finally interactive prototype of a mobile application were created with functionality that reduce stress among people in their everyday life.  This applications functionality to ease the burden on chores that frequently accrued in the user study as source of stress. Mainly related to laundry, cleaning and food chores.

The emergence of the content overloaded internet creates a lot of new challengesfor users and service providers a like. To minimize the displayed amount of contentlike movies, music, or other products service providers like Netflix or Amazonare using recommender systems which aim to guide the user trough the availableinformation. These systems collect knowledge about the user and try to deliver personalized experiences. Most of the state-of-the-art recommender systems are using acontent focused approach but often fail to grasp the nature of users’ desires. Therefore,a mood-as-input model is developed which combines the existing research onhuman mood identification and the emotion classification of content in the domainof movies. In order to match these two components different machine learning modelsare evaluated and a Random Forest is selected as the main matching algorithm.The results of this study indicate that the mood of a user can be used to create personalizedcontent recommendations and that it can perform better than an Arbitrarysystem.

Eye‐tracking är en metod för användartester. Det kan visa var testpersoner tittar, vad de missar och  vad som väcker uppmärksamhet. Ett problem med eye‐tracking i nuläget är dess dåliga precision.  Mobiler och andra mobila enheters skärmyta kan vara väldigt liten, vilket resulterar i att det inte finns  mycket rum för fel i en eye‐tracker. Syftet med den undersökning som rapporteras här är att  utvärdera problemen med eye‐tracking i utvärderingar av användargränssnitt för mobila enheter. För  att utvärdera detta har några tester utformade av mig utförts, där testpersonerna har fått välja  mellan att använda sin egen telefon, en iPhone 7 eller en iPad och sedan utfört några uppgifter på  olika applikationer/hemsidor. Pilottester från ett projekt vid namn CREDENTIAL har även bidragit till  denna studie där testpersonerna har fått utföra eye‐tracking‐tester på en Microsoft Surface Pro.  Resultaten är presenterade i form av grafiska representationer av datan, med hjälp av heat maps och  gaze plots. Resultaten visar hur problemen med eye‐tracking för mobila enheter kan störa  användartester för system på mobila enheter.

An emotionally involved event may subsequently appear shorter than an event of relative indifference for people. How are time-related behaviors influenced while people are emotionally affected? The purpose of this study was to test if ongoing estimates and retrospective reports of duration are similarly affected by emotional states. To test, 30 s emotional video clips were rated for Valence and Arousal by six participants. The videos were then used in a timing experiment where a new set of participants (twenty-five persons) carried out a repetitive motor timing paradigm while watching the videos and subsequently reported the perceived duration of the clip. In each of ten trials, participants first synchronized to a 700 ms isochronous interval with their index finger, and then continued unsupported as five different video clips were played in sequence, with each clip lasting 30s. At the end of each trial, participants reported their retrospective duration judgment of every video clip, and rated every video chip for Valence and Arousal. Emotion ratings suggested that the videos affected the subjects’ emotional states. Repetitive motor timing was not reliably affected by emotional states. Instead, retrospective reports of durations were affected by emotional states such that the durations estimated under high arousal conditions were significantly longer than those under low arousal conditions. The difference in results between repetitive motor timing and retrospective reports may be accounted for by the interval of 700 ms being too short to be cognitive-related.

In this thesis we are exploring the possibilities to use new and modern interfaces to control industrial robotic hardware, in specific a single water cannon system called TARGA. Using a iterative Design-Build-Test cycle we have been able to build three different prototype interfaces for controlling this robotic water cannon. One touch based, one gesture based and one gamepad interface has been designed, built and tested on users. We found that with modern interfaces, touch, gestures and gamepads we are able to create user experiences easier to use than the standard physical water cannon joystick. Although our user tests showed that the standard joystick still was the preferred interface to use by the users we did find that these modern interfaces can act as great complements to the already existing interface for increased usability.