At the turn of the century, photographers started a transition from analogue to digital photography: a transition which took years to complete. The photographic landscape is now in a new period of development, with new AI-programs based on machine learning. These programs can be about (I) editing programs that aim to streamline the photographic workflow or correct pictures with technical flaws, such as reducing grain from a high ISO or enlarging pictures. The programs also incorporate (II) AI generated images based on prompting from an AI-artist, so called text-to-image programs like DALL-E 3, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and Firefly 2. In this study we have done seven semi-structured interviews with Swedish photographers. We have used a postphenomenological theory based on Don Ihde’s philosophy. In analyzing the material from the interviews we have used narrative analysis. The results showed that photographers who worked in advertising, with organizations or clients had a higher tolerance for image manipulation with (II). These photographers valued effectiveness in their workflow and saw a larger need to adapt to new technology. While nature photographers valued authenticity and used (I) sparingly. Another result from the study was that Swedish photographers do not consider (II) photography and do not think that AI generated images should be allowed to compete in photo competitions, only in certain categories with only AI generated images.

The location-based social network (LBSN) Snapchat allows millions of users to share their locations to others through Snap Map: a digital map that updates their position each time they open the app. While social science studies have explored sentiments, behaviors and norms among Snap Map users, there is limited research on this type of location-based social network in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI), indicating a need for expanding the understanding of the roles that this technology and its design play in shaping the experiences and interactions among users. To address this need, this dialogical study applied a mixed-methods approach consisting of autoethnography and semi-structured interviews with two co-participants over the course of five weeks. The outcomes were analyzed using concepts from postphenomenology, introducing the main stabilities being seen and seeing others that were leveraged to nuance how Snap Map impacts e.g. communication, agency and what it means to act. The postphenomenological findings where then discussed from the lens of the spatial self to unpack how Snap Map mediates identity and performance. This combination of methods and lenses applied to a social media platform is a novel and fruitful approach in HCI, that led to discussions on how the design of Snap Map leads to concepts such as spatiotemporal ambiguity and the nexus of selves, shaping users’ relations to each other, themselves and their identity. / Miljontals användare på det platsbaserade sociala nätverket Snapchat delar sin plats med varandra via Snapkartan: en digital karta som automatiskt uppdaterar användarens position varje gång de öppnar appen. Studier inom samhällsvetenskapen har kartlagt känslor, beteenden och normer bland Snapkartans användare, men inom fältet människa-datainteraktion (MDI) finns det idag lite forskning tillägnad denna typ av teknologi, vilket indikerar ett behov av att utvidga förståelsen för de roller teknologin och dess design spelar i påverkan av dagliga upplevelser och interaktioner bland användarna. För att adressera detta använde denna dialogiska studie en blandad metod som bestod av autoetnografi och semi-strukturerade intervjuer med två deltagare under fem veckor. Resultaten analyserades med hjälp av begrepp från postfenomenologi, där de huvudsakliga stabiliteterna "att bli sedd" och "att se andra" introducerades och användes för att nyansera hur Snapkartan påverkar exempelvis kommunikation, agens och vad det innebär att agera. De postfenomenologiska resultaten diskuterades sedan utifrån perspektivet av den rumsmedvetna aspekten av ens identitet (the spatial self) för att bryta ned hur Snapkartan förmedlar identitet och performativa handlingar. Denna kombination av metoder och perspektiv som tillämpas på en social medieplattform är ett nytt och fruktbart tillvägagångssätt inom MDI, som ledde till en diskussion om hur Snapkartans design ger upphov till begrepp som rumslig och tidsmässig tvetydighet och sammankopplingen av flera självuppfattningar som formar användarnas relationer till varandra, sig själva och deras identitet.

In today’s society we depend on technology to perform the simplest tasks. Whether we are engaging in conversation with a friend or are navigating in traffic, we are likely to be found with some technological device in our hands. This dependence has grown over a period of time, and many of us have failed to reflect on the impact technology has had on our lives. The emergence of so-called One-to-One projects, where teachers and students gain access to a personal laptop, does however provide an excellent opportunity to do so. In this study we aim to highlight the teachers’ experiences of work with education after giving each staff member and student access to a personal laptop. We engage in this task by combining two analytical tools, and in doing so manage to bring forth an understanding of the effects of technology as something far more unpredictable than what can be found when presupposing that computers are mere tools used to achieve planned goals. Instead we find that computers affect the way in which teachers engage in the twilight between work and privacy as well as the percieved boundary between the school and the world of information outside of it. Furthermore, the nature of interaction with their students both in the classroom environment and outside of it has been altered. These highlighted effects call into question new perspectives on the roles of the computer and the teacher in modern society.

(in English): This thesis focuses on the theories of Human-computer interaction, called by the selected authors "postcognitivistic", that react critically to the cognitivistic approach of the first- wave HCI. The working hypothesis of this work is to view the broader context of interface of technological objects as a medium of a sociotechnical relation between technological artefacts, human actors and the society. The goal of the thesis is to develop a theoretic-philosophical analysis and the comparison of how the primary sources focused on the HCI theory and sociotechnical systems, together with the chosen literature on the new media theory and philosophy of technology, contribute to the contemporary discussion about the contextual aspects of HCI, including the question of how seeing the interface as a sociotechnical relation influences the work of the designers who have to deal with the complexity of contemporary design problems.