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.

Artificial intelligence is used today in both everyday applications and specialised expert systems. In situations where relying on the output of the AI brings about the risk of negative consequences, it becomes important to understand why the AI system has produced its output. Previous research in human-computer trust has identified trust antecedents that contribute to formation of trust in an AI artifact, understanding of the system being one of them. In the context of Pipedrive, a sales management system, this thesis investigates how can AI predictions be designed as understandable and trustworthy, and by extension which explanatory aspects provide guidance towards actions to take, and which presentation formats support for- mation of trust. Using a research-through design approach, multiple designs for displaying AI predictions are explored for Pipedrive, leading to a proposal for a set of design guidelines that support understandability, trustworthiness and actionability of AI. Both the designs and the guidelines have been iteratively developed in collaboration with users and design practitioners. / Artificiell intelligens används idag både i vardagliga applikationer och expertsystem. I situationer då förtroendet för utdata från AI innebär en risk för negativa konsekvenser blir det viktigt att förstå varför AI-systemet har producerat dess utdata. Tidigare forskning inom människa-datorförtroende har identifierat förtroendeföregångare som bidrar till att skapa förtroende för en AI-artefakt, varav förståelse för systemet är en av dem. Inom ramen för Pipedrive, ett säljhanteringssystem, utreder denna avhandling hur AI-förut-sägelser kan designas på ett förståeligt och pålitligt sätt, och i förlängningen vilka förklarande aspekter som kan ge vägledning gällande de åtgärder som ska vidtas, samt vilka presentationsformat som stödjer skapande av förtroende. Med hjälp av en metod för forskning genom design undersöks flera utföranden för att visa AI-förutsägelser för Pipedrive, vilket leder till ett förslag till en uppsättning riktlinjer för design som stödjer förståelse, pålitlighet och funktionsduglighet. Både design och riktlinjer har utvecklats iterativt i samarbete med användare och designutövare.

How are we moving, or how much physical activities are present in societal settingssuch as eldercare units, schools, universities and offices? This general question was explored using different design-oriented approaches in four cases, with children,elderly, students and office workers. The results unveil a complexity of the problemarea that initially seemed quite straightforward. In many of the explored settings and situations, and for many of the participants, the activities they are engaged with do not include or encourage their abilities for physical movements to any great extent and this is not in line with the extent of movement that they actually desire. Physical activity can be defined as an activity performed through movement that expends energy. Research results from the public health domains and related areas show a major concern for the negative effects related to low levels of physical activity and prolonged sedentary postures found in many of the above-mentioned settings. In general, physical activities of today seem mainly related to sports, and specific activities designed for improving health and well-being. The participants in the four explorative case studies in this thesis demonstrated how they would like their physical activities to be integrated in the everyday activities of the different settings explored and not mainly as a separate activity specifically dedicated for health and well-being. How can knowledge of physical activity inform the design and development of interactive products and systems in these settings? New insights were gained through design-oriented explorations together with the participants inthe different field settings and through analysis of these observations. The results are not only the insights gained through the analysed empirical observations but also include a physical activity-oriented design method called Physical Movement Sketching as well as experiences from using Movement Probes. The experiences from using these two design methods led me to formulate a proposal for a new approach called Movement Acumen Design. This approach applies a socioecological perspective on physical activities. It provides methods and concepts to support the integration of physical activities into everyday activities performed with the support of interactive technology and it argues that physical activity should reclaim a more central role in these situations. Let us design for it to happen! / <p>QC 20150217</p>

Algorithms currently have direct implications in our democracies and societies, but they also define mostly all our daily activities as users, defining our decisions and promoting different behaviors. In this context, it is necessary to define and think about how to design the different implications that these algorithms have from a user centered perspective, particularly in social media platforms that have such relevance in our information sources and flow. Therefore, the current thesis provides an introduction to the concept of algorithmic experience, trying to study how to implement it for social media services in cellphone devices. Using a Research through Design methodology supported by interface analysis, document analysis and user design workshops, the present paper provides results grouped in five different areas: algorithmic profiling transparency, algorithmic profiling management, algorithmic awareness, algorithmic user-control and selective algorithmic remembering. These five areas provide a framework capable of promoting requirements and guide the evaluation of algorithmic experience in social media contexts.

This thesis introduces and critically reflects on a design programme, Storyforming, that explores ways to design objects and places to enrich daily life narratives. Using an experimental design approach, the goal is to exemplify and explore this idea with discursive artefacts that, through their physical and temporal form, act as catalysts in the construction of meaningful experiences. In the current sustainability discourse, behavioural change has been pointed out as a key factor in achieving a sustainable society. Historically, design has been very effective in increasing production and consumption behaviours by creating new types of needs and, in a way, manufacturing desire (Forty, 1986). Drawing on this, the overarching aim of this thesis is the investigation of the ways design, through a suggested programme, can afford alternative types of meaningful experiences in contrast to the prevailing consumer culture. The empirical work reported in the thesis stems from several research projects looking into the matter of energy use in relation to design. In addition, two of the projects have been carried out in the author’s own design practice. Some concepts are explored more in-depth—involving events such as field studies, situated interviews, workshops, prototype building, design interventions in the form of domestication probes, and contextual studies ranging from a few weeks up to a year—while other concepts exist only as sketches or photo montages. The diversity of these concepts, the design experiments, helps span a design space becoming a new provisional design programme. The idea for this programme has evolved from observations and reflections made throughout the experiments presented in the thesis. The general results are the suggested approach of Storyforming, which focuses on the design of artefacts supporting daily narratives that can be used to create engagement, meaning, and alternative values applicable to the discourse of sustainable behaviour. Specific contributions are the selection of design experiments. In the thesis, the experiments have first been examined from the perspective of stories and forming as a basis for the new programme formulation. Through this articulation of the programme, the experiments are revisited through three leitmotifs, part of the provisional programme focusing on different properties related to the aspect of forming. From the perspective of the user, these themes—seeing and accessing designs, exploring and expressing complexity, and sharing experiences and negotiating use—are finally elaborated on in relation to other theoretical concepts as well as their implications for future research. / <p>QC 20140825</p>

In the field of human-computer interaction, the majority of domestic IoT and smart devices run on proprietary software that possess limited technical properties and predetermined functionalities. As practices of building, modifying, and making IoT applications grow, this thesis follows an open-source approach to IoT to investigate the relationships of humans and things in a domestic setting. As a result of this material exploration, proprietary frameworks for interactions with smart devices are challenged through speculative scenarios, that include diverse instances of human-things interactions. Thus, a research through design methodology is suggested to support series of experiments, conducted to explore instances of perceived intelligence of these open-source hardware, without the use of advanced computational systems as proprietary devices entail. The suggested process is the creation of a speculative design artifact that combines hacking practices, to support designers in generating insights and to further iterate on possible open-source IoT interactions.

The interest in football around the world is ever increasing with more than half of the world’s population watching the last World Cup. The amount and the granularity of information available about football is endless. In recent years the advent of new technology has led to possibilities to track and log all aspects of the game, making advanced statistics available to everyone. The focus of the research community of football statistics today is on professionals as the end recipient. The knowledge, requirements and goals of enthusiasts and experts differ which means that the design of statistics targeted at the different groups should differ. This design study took an exploratory mixed methods approach to study how to design football statistics for enthusiasts. A variety of methods were used including, expert interview, survey and interviews with 8 football enthusiasts led to design suggestions of statistics which were evaluated in two phases. The iterative approach led to general guidelines of how to design football statistics, and 12 design suggestions of visualizations of statistics. The visualizations function as instantiations of the knowledge gained throughout the study. The design suggestions communicate information about how the conclusions drawn in the study can be practically implemented in a smartphone application about football statistics. The results of the study can be used to guide the design of football statistics for enthusiasts.

In this Bachelor thesis we navigate the ample world of vocal storytelling. Stories are told in all types of media today, but it all started with voices and narrative—from when poetry was sung and theatrical performances such as opera were amongst the most popular and beloved arts. We lift the ground where voices lie today and take them to their deserved place, from solely being an audial companion in media to a main element in interactive storytelling. Hand in hand with Design Fiction as a chosen design perspective and Research through Design as our research approach, we explore ways of creating an immersive, dynamic experience both creative and academically. We found ourselves in infinite ideations of futuristic scenarios which we wanted to symbolize with a world and characters through voices. With Research through Design, we learn not only by doing research, but through actually designing a functional prototype that grants agency to the person interacting with it. The learning process in building this prototype helped us gain significant knowledge in programming, implementation technique and writing for games, especially considering that we had very little experience with these subjects prior to this project. One could say that we were confident in our audio production skills and came with blind eyes when approaching this theme for the first time. The results of our work lead us to the conclusion that, with the adequate knowledge and methods, voices can function as a main element in interactive media prototypes. Narrative, voice design and implementation techniques combined create a group of powerful tools that can achieve interactive storytelling. / I denna kandidatuppsats utforskar vi i en värld av röstligt berättande. Berättelser berättas i alla typer av media idag, men det hela började med röster. Vi vill lyfta fram röster och deras förmåga att driva en berättelse, från att endast vara en osynlig del i ett audiovisuellt verk till ett huvudelement i en interaktiv berättelse. Med hjälp av Design Fiction som designperspektiv och Research through Design som forskningsmetod utforskar vi ett sätt att skapa en uppslukande, dynamisk upplevelse både kreativ och akademisk. Vi lär oss inte bara genom forskning, utan genom att faktiskt utforma en funktionell prototyp där användaren aktivt interagerar med narrativet. Berättelsen befinner sig i tankar om futuristiska scenarier som vi försöker få till liv. Resultatet av vår undersökning leder oss till slutsatsen att med tillräcklig kunskap och rätt metoder så kan röster fungera som ett huvudelement i interaktiva medieproduktioner. Berättande, röstdesign och implementeringstekniker skapar tillsammans en grupp kraftfulla verktyg för att uppnå interaktivt berättande.

In our society multiple hierarchies exist when it comes to bodies. These hierarchies find their way to many fields of our daily life, including map applications (apps) and while places are becoming more inclusive, most of them are still tailored to a more “normal” user. In this explorative design thesis, I intend to explore different perceptions of the city and maps from the position of a wheelchair user by bringing multidisciplinary practices in Interaction Design field and through several design concepts. The thesis will follow the principles of Research-through-Design and will be supported with research in pluriversal design, phenomenology and norm creative innovation. It will explore the notion of “value” through different encounters between bodies and maps.

This project is initiated based on observations from me and other people in the design/technology community. Products and services are optimised for efficiency and standardisation caring more for profit than privacy. We, humans, are becoming the product to be consumed by our technologies. However I believe that good interaction design can also be the remedy to this issue created by it. Celebrating fluidity, creating interactions that trigger reflection and empower users. Designing things away and creating hacks.  This initiated the research question of this thesis: How do we design interactions that empower people in their engagements with the digital so a balanced relation can be formed? This thesis is approaching this issue through a process I call co-reflection through disruptive design. This is a hands on design methode that use experiments as contextualisations of the reflections done by the designer. The experiments are shared with people in order to reflect upon as well. The returning reflections are used to continue the project and often lead to a reframing of it. The big fluctuating issue being targeted in this project called for a process inline with this nature. Throughout this process three design principles and three design handles are initiated.  This project is finalised with a last experiment Huddle. This is a nomad server where the digital design manifesto is kept and collectively written. The proposed design principles and handles are a small stab at the bigger issue. Looking at the fluidity of the process and the community involvement I chose to not deliver a final solution but another experiment that is in flux. Through reading, signing and contribution on the website the manifesto is crafted. So this thesis report is a finalisation of the Undermine_Through_design thesis but the start of the live of _Huddle.  All photographs in this report which are uncited have been taken by the author, Ilse Pouwels.