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 ideas expressed in this thesis are meant to address the need for a transformation in the identity management systems currently in use in different parts of the world. Specifically, the paper presents a logical deduction of essential processes to allow for communication between individual people, governments, organizations, and private institutions to exchange and manage information pertaining to identity. This thesis proposes a conceptual framework for the design of an ecosystem that supports self-sovereign identity. The research reviews theory, methodology, and technology from subjects such as design, identity, and distributed systems. Through the design process, a set of elements and functions supporting interactions within an ecosystem were developed. The design is revolved around the ideas of privacy, security, distribution, and interoperability. The findings are presented as two parts of a whole, the first being the conceptual framework that describes a set of essential factors that an ecosystem requires in order to fulfill the goals of self-sovereign identity and interoperability. The second is a set of visualizations of how the framework can be used to design systems and interactions, inside and between the systems, to create an ecosystem. / <p>2022-06-20: Author's name has been corrected on the front page.</p>

Cryptocurrencies have since the creation in 2008 constituted a unique and modern addition tothe financial setting throughout the world. Such assets are commonly known to be associatedwith great risk but also the possibility of great reward. The corresponding research field hasadapted to the evolution of cryptocurrencies and has for over a decade undergone a constantexpansion. Despite this, there is still plenty of unexplored territory within the particular researcharea and this report seeks to examine a part of it. The central topic of this paper concernscryptocurrencies in relation to Swedish retail investors’ different demographic factors and theeffect those have on investment strategy and behavior. To examine this, the report centersaround two main aspects, the investment purpose which cryptocurrency investors associatetheir investments with and investors’ exposure to herd behavior. Additionally, both aspectswere put in relation to various demographic factors to allow an analysis of whether demographicfactors affect the investors’ strategy and behavior. A quantitative method was used for theprocess of collecting data whereby a survey was constructed and replied to by Swedish retailinvestors active in the cryptocurrency market. The primary data obtained was analyzed andpresented through descriptive statistics, t-Tests, and regression models. By interpreting theresults, it was evident that demographic factors were found to not influence the investmentpurpose or the herd behavior of investors. This contradicts previous findings regardingtraditional markets e.g., the stock market where demographic factors are established as factorsaffecting both aspects. Hence, this report suggests that there are differences between thecryptocurrency market and traditional markets. Further, the research conducted in this paperindicates that a majority of investors associate cryptocurrency investments with speculativetrading and there is also a strong bias toward herd behavior among Swedish retail investorsactive in the cryptocurrency market.

This essay by Andrew Allen-Olivar uses the film script form to present scenes that follow a fictional town where each scene follows different inhabitants – from the new kid, to the tree, to the fish, to the undead locals that inhabit the town. The work is inspired by magical realist writers, poets and philosophers such as Jorge Louis Borges, Alejandro Zambra, Anne Carson and Franz Kafka. Through these scenes, the author's intentions are to convey a place that shifts – between time and place; between memory and exaggerations; between narrative and documentation.

My project attempts to nuance the bodies of knowledge produced in relation to processes of natural resource extraction in Norrbotten, Sweden. Operating between fact and fiction, I have presented the project as a speculative video narrative. The protagonist is the Lule River, where the implications of its domestication and agency is explored.  This territory can be understood as a wilderness, a cultural landscape, the Sami homelands and a place of extraction. Prior to Vattenfall’s acquisition of Porjus, the estate belonged to Erik Abraham Olofsson Rim (1844-1920). Olofsson Rim was Forest Sami with background in Sjokksjokk sami village. Speculative fiction is a powerful tool to contemplate societal issues and grapple with complex realities. The result lies in the audience’s reading of the project, where the goal is to spark discussion and reflection. In the aesthetics of the proposed post-fossil world, I have ventured into the playfully surreal. The playful in terms of unexpected elements and color palette. The surreal is expressed through composition, scale and juxtaposition. Dealing with such huge infrastructure objects, which are surreal and abstract in themselves, I have attempted to make the line between the real and the unreal fluid, to evoke the audience’s reflection of the possibilities at hand.

This creative project’s ambition is to craft an original novel called The Dreams of Metanoia: The Advent Foreigner. The Dreams of Metanoia is initially influenced by The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a true narrative by Rebecca Skloot. Henrietta and her family were subjected to Jim Crow scientific racism. Henrietta, a black woman with cervical cancer, had her cells removed and cultivated by John Hopkins doctors without any consent. The doctors discovered that Henrietta’s cells continued to divide relentlessly outside her body. They then sold them to other researchers without their knowledge. However, the gap in literature occurs within a mysterious hallucination that happened within the nonfiction narrative. Henrietta’s cousin, Hector Henry, had a hallucination that may be connected to the obscure Philippine-American War and Filipino Folklore. The Philippine-American War was a somber conflict of racism and white American imperialism from 1899-1902. It is a war shrouded from most American textbooks; it was a war that tested American soldier’s ethical morality and allegiance to a 20th century Jim Crow United States. It is a war where enemies found a common strife within their woes. Because of how unknown these narratives are in today’s racial and politically divided world, it is essential to review and learn from these tragedies that united races as humans rather than individual racial identities. This research aims to repurpose these narratives to craft an original story relevant to modern America’s racial strife. Thus, The Dreams of Metanoia: The Advent Foreigner is an original piece that seeks to find the intersectionality in the meaning of being human.

This thesis explores the concept of ‘feral’ while speculating possible futures of more-than-human interactions in urban environments. Feral in this project is described as living and non-living entities that are uncontrollable, unintentional, situated and dethatched from humans. The aim of this thesis to implement more-than-human theory and concepts into design practice to expand the design space of non-anthropocentric design. A speculative design approach is used to question and alter the status quo of power relations within more-than-human interactions through its experimental and critical nature (Bardzell, Bardzell and Koefoed Hansen, 2015; Dunne and Raby, 2013). Further, a series of methods, approaches and speculative fabulations (Haraway, 2016) are proposed that tell stories of possible worlds and act as a catalyst for moving more-than-human theory beyond concepts towards design practice.

This thesis aims to answer the question how our relation to money will look like in a potential cashless society.  In a world where all cash has disappeared and the only existing way of paying is digital, what will the notion of money be? How are we interacting with it? How is it affecting our way of spending and saving? With the digitalization of money comes a lot of potential problems that may not be as clear in the beginning, and are being over shadowed by the much clearer and easier to grasp benefits. People tend to spend much more when using a card instead of paying with cash. Overspending a budget is easy when borrowing money through services such as “Buy now, Pay later” - payments. There is no difference between paying 50 units and 5000 units when doing it through the internet.  What will this do to us in a future society? By using Sweden as a context, this thesis is exploring how the transition to a cashless society will look like and the consequences it may have. Initially having a user centered-focus, trying to solve problem, the project takes a turn and switches to a more speculative point of view, exploring different possibilities of how we can connect and interact with money. The final proposal includes three probes acting as conversation pieces, enabling a discussion regarding the removing of cash.

Artikelns syfte är att undersöka hur vi kan skapa en gestaltning som väcker tankar kring ‘Human Enhancement Technologies’ (Pariseau-Legault et al., 2018) genom kritisk design och VR-teknik. Detta har skett genom ett utforskande av våra fysiska händers beröring (Puig de la Bellacasa, 2009) i vardagliga aktiviteter samt spelarens beröring i en VR-upplevelse. Denna undersökning ledde till en gestaltning som vill förändra en spelares upplevda beröring i samband med en vardaglig aktivitet, där vi genom teknologiska modifikationer ger dina händer ny funktionalitet. / This article aims to research how we can design an experience that challenges our ideas about ‘Human Enhancement Technologies’ (Pariseau-Legault et al., 2018) through critical design and VR-technology. This through exploration of our hands physical touch (Puig de la Bellacasa, 2009) in everyday activities and exploring touch in Virtual Reality. This research helped to create a design that aims to change a player's touch in connection with an everyday activity where we through technological modifications give your hands new functionality.

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