Given access to detailed tracking data, the problem of attribution modelling has recently gained attention in both academia and the industry. Being able to determine the influence of each marketing channel in driving conversions can help advertisers to allocate their marketing budgets accordingly and ultimately increase their customer base and achieve a higher Return On Investment (ROI). However, Last-Touch Attribution (LTA), the current industry standard to approach the problem, has been criticized for oversimplification.  In this degree project, two data-driven attribution models are therefore compared to the LTA model on real data from an insurance company, with the objective to optimize for customer base growth and ROI. Raw attributions for each channel are obtained after training the models to predict conversion or non-conversion. By using a linear function to obtain a Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) estimate, the attributions are then adjusted to the ROI of each channel and finally validated through an attribution based budget allocation and historical marketing data replay. The experimental results demonstrate that all models reach approximately 82% accuracy on balanced data, just below the calculated theoretical maximum. While current research consistently argues for more complex data-driven Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) models, this project provides a nuance to this field of research in showing that the LTA model may, in fact, be suitable in some cases. A new approach to develop specialized models based on correlations between conversion and contextual variables, then shows that attribution models for mobile users specifically yield higher accuracy. The sum of such unnormalized attributions function as indicators for the conversion strength of contextual variables and can further assist decision making. / Givet tillgång till detaljerad spårningsinformation har attributionsmodellering nyligen fått uppmärksamhet i både akademin och näringslivet. Att kunna förstå påverkan varje marknadsföringskanal har på att driva konverteringar, kan underlätta för annonsörer att fördela marknadsföringsbudgetar och i slutändan öka antalet kunder samt uppnå en högre avkastning på investeringen. Last-Touch-Attribution (LTA), den nuvarande branschstandarden för att angripa problemet, har emellertid kritiserats för att vara överförenklande. I det här examensarbetet jämförs därför två datadrivna attributions-modeller med LTA på verklig data från ett försäkringsbolag med målet att optimera för kundbastillväxt och avkastning. Råa attributioner för varje kanal erhålls efter att modellerna tränats på att prediktera konvertering eller icke-konvertering. Genom att estimera kundens livstidsvärde med en linjär funktion, justeras attributionerna sedan med avkastningen på investering för varje kanal och valideras slutligen genom en attributionsbaserad budgetallokering och uppspelning av historisk marknadsföringsdata. De experimentella resultaten visar att alla modeller når ungefär 82% träffsäkerhet på balanserad data, strax under det beräknade teoretiska maximivärdet. Medan aktuell forskning konsekvent argumenterar för mer komplexa datadrivna multi-touch-modeller, ger det här projektet en nyans till forskningsfältet genom att visa att LTA i vissa fall kan vara lämplig. Ett nytt tillvägagångssätt för att utveckla specialiserade modeller baserade på korrelationer mellan konvertering och kontextuella variabler, visar sedan att attributionsmodeller för enbart mobilanvändare ger högre träffsäkerhet. Summan av sådana onormaliserade attributioner fungerar som indikatorer på konverteringsstyrkan för kontextuella variabler och kan ytterligare underlätta beslutsfattandet.

Touch is an expressive and powerful modality in affect conveyance. A simple touch like a hug can elicit strong feelings of affection both in the touch initiator and recipient. Therefore delivering touch over a distance to a long-distance family member or significant other has been an appealing concept for both researchers and designers. However compared to the development of audio, video channels which allow the transmission of voice, facial expression and gesture, digitally mediated touch (Remote Touch) has not received much attention. We believe that this is partially due to the lack of understanding of the capabilities and communication possibilities that remote touch brings. This dissertation presents a review of relevant psychological and sociological literature of touch and proposes a model of immediacy of the touch channel for affect conveyance. We advance three hypotheses regarding the possibility of remote touch in immediate affect conveyance: presence, fidelity and context. We posit that remote touch with relatively low touch fidelity can convey meaningful immediate affect when it is accompanied by a contextualizing channel. To test the hypothesis, two sets of remote touch devices are designed and prototyped which allow users to send/receive a squeeze on the upper arm to/from others effectively. Three in-lab user studies are conducted to investigate the role of remote touch in affect conveyance. These studies showed clearly that remote touch, when contextualized, can influence the affective component in communication. Our results demonstrated that remote touch can afford a rich spectrum of meanings and affects. Three major categories of the usage are identified as positive affect touch which serves to convey affects such as affection, sympathy and sharing, comfort etc., playful touch which serves to lighten the conversations, and conversational touch which serves to regulate the dynamics in the discourse. Our interview results also provide insights of how people use this new channel in their communication. / Ph. D.

How can architecture stimulate an increased haptic experience? People with sight lack the everyday immediacy of sensory awareness as compared with people with significant sight impairment. When sight is lost, the mind compensates by heightening the other senses for receiving information. In particular, people who are sight impaired depend on their "somesthesis," or skin sense, for information. In contrast, people who are sighted do not depend on somesthesis to accomplish everyday tasks. Many may go through an entire day without considering their sense of touch. If awareness exists, it is likely through discomfort such as that first barefooted encounter on ice cold tile first thing in the morning or grabbing a burning steering wheel after it baked all day in the hot summer sun. Heschong writes "If sight allows for a three-dimensional world, then each other sense contributes at least one, if not more, additional dimensions." (Heschong, p. 28-29) The sighted rely so heavily on the visual sense for information. They miss many simple tactile encounters along with all their contiguous sensational experiences, constricting the development of these additional dimensions, thus significantly diminishing the depth and complexity of their existence. This is an exploration of touch, a bathhouse, just south of Dupont Circle in the urban fabric of Washington DC. Experiencing a place where the entire body can intimately converge with a building saturated with tactile opportunities, the surprise of stimulating skin-to-surface encounters will remind us of our wonderful somatosensation. How we feel during these sensual unions will add vividness to our lives and a desire to again search for more tactile stimuli feeding our rejuvenated mindfulness. / Master of Architecture

This thesis studies increasing awareness of the connectedness of the body to architecture. The objective is to explore and investigate the levels of attention required by each sense to summon the corporeal nature of the observers, to call us to a quietness of mind, transcending our western pace and creating awareness that leads our bodies and mind toward a unified perception of place. / Master of Architecture

Contented Architecture : In search of delight for all senses is an attempt to discover and capture the delightful sensory experiences of the users in the architectural space. Architectural space is seen as an artistic space, that appeals to different senses. The project is a Bike Hotel in Old Town, Alexandria. The situation and orientation of the building on site, the program and the features altogether make it possible for bikers to experience the space through different senses. This assembly among other pleasant experiences offers those sensory experiences that counteract the bikers daily exhaustive activities. Their bodies and minds feel relaxed, revitalized and encouraged to achieve their next goals. / Master of Architecture

This study was conducted in the Indian state Kerala, among 15 physical education (PE) teachers. The aim of this study was to investigate intergenerational touch in the daily work of Indian PE teachers, and more precisely whether or not the teachers thought intergenerational touch was an issue and what their views on this subject were. The data was generated through semi-structured interviews with teachers from Keralan primary, secondary and upper-secondary schools. Collected data was analysed by using Michel Foucault’s theoretical concepts of discourse, power/knowledge, bio-power, governmentality, normalisation and panopticism. The study identifies a number of different discourses, in which physical interaction emerged as a dilemma for Indian PE teachers. Two of the most distinct ones were, what we refer to as, the “no touch”- and “risk”-discourses. Based on the findings of this study we conclude that the gender of the PE teacher plays a crucial role in whether a teacher choose to physically interact with their students or not. Societal norms have a great influence on PE teachers’ actions concerning intergenerational touch, which in this context cohere around no touch.

Nous étudions dans cette thèse une dimension particulière de l’emballage : la texture. Dans la première étude (A), composée de trois expérimentations, nous présentons l’influence de la texture, en l’absence de contact tactile, sur l’attitude envers un produit et sur le choix du consommateur. Nous manipulons la texture de l’emballage ainsi qu'une stimulation tactile au préalable en prenant en compte le niveau du besoin de toucher de l’individu. Nous montrons que la stimulation tactile positive induit une appréciation plus positive du produit lorsque ce dernier n’est pas texturé et ce, indépendamment du besoin de toucher. Lorsque le produit est texturé, les individus à faible besoin de toucher présentent une dévaluation du produit. Ensuite, nous présentons l’influence d’une stimulation tactile négative sur le choix entre un produit lisse et un produit texturé. En l’absence de stimulation tactile, le produit contenu dans l’emballage texturé est préféré. La stimulation tactile négative conduit principalement les individus à faible besoin de toucher à préférer le produit contenu dans l’emballage lisse. Dans la deuxième étude (B), nous étudions l’influence du contact tactile avec la texture de l’emballage sur le goût perçu du produit. Dans une première expérimentation nous montrons que lorsque la texture n’apporte pas d’informations sur le produit contenu, elle n’influence pas le goût perçu. Lorsque la texture de l’emballage induit des attentes sur le produit, l’évaluation dépend de la situation de congruence sensorielle. S’il y a une incongruence sensorielle entre la texture de l’emballage et celle du produit lors de la consommation, le goût du produit sera moins apprécié. Dans la deuxième expérimentation, en utilisant un électro-encéphalogramme, nous étudions les effets de la congruence sensorielle entre la texture de l’emballage et celle du produit sur les émotions du consommateur. Nous montrons que l'incongruence sensorielle induit un niveau d’éveil plus élevé mais induit également des émotions plus négatives comparativement à une situation de congruence sensorielle. / We study in this thesis a particular dimension of the packaging: the texture. In the first study (A), composed of three experiments, we present the influence of the texture, in the absence of tactile contact, on attitudes towards a product and consumer choices. We manipulate the texture of the packaging as well as a tactile stimulation previously taking into account the level of the need for touch. We first show that the positive tactile stimulation induces a more positive assessment of the product when it is not textured, regardless of the need for touch. When the product is textured, individuals with a low need for touch have a devaluation of the product. Then we present the influence of negative tactile stimulation on the choice between a product whose packaging is smooth and the other textured. In the absence of tactile stimulation, the product inside the textured packaging is the preferred. Prior negative tactile stimulation leads mainly individuals with a low need for touch to favor the product inside the smooth packaging. In the second study (B), we present the influence of tactile contact with the texture of packaging on the perceived taste of the product. In the first experiment we show that when the texture does not provide information about the product contained, it does not have influence on the perceived taste. When the texture of the packaging induced expectations about the product, the assessment depends on the situation of sensory congruency. If there is a sensory incongruency between the texture of the packaging and the texture of the product during consumption, the taste of the product will be less appreciated. In the second experiment, by using a EEG, we study the effects of sensory congruency between the texture of the packaging and the texture of the product on the emotions of the consumer. We show that sensory incongruency induces a higher level of arousal, but also induces to more negative emotions comparatively to a situation of sensory congruency.

Today’s society is earmarked by developments in technology so drastic, that our lives are continuously changed, impacted and remolded. When thinking about how many impressions one goes through during a single day, the results will be uncountable. And at an increasing pace, many of these impressions are shifting to the digital realm. This thesis acknowledges these rapid changes in the modern world of marketing, particularly the digital aspects of it. Yet while a great amount of research has been conducted to more closely understand digital marketing and how to conduct it, a significantly little amount of research has been spent focusing on the customer. This while the path that a customer takes from need to purchase may have grown to be more complex than ever. Not all the impressions that a customer gains on a certain product or brand come solely from the company behind it. As such, we decided to focus on exploring this customer journey – a relatively nascent theme in the field of marketing research. More specifically, we aim to answer the following research question: How is the customer purchasing decision affected by the customer’s interaction with touch points throughout the customer journey? Our main purpose was to arrive at a model as an answer to the research question, that could be used as a foundation for future research studies. We were intensely curious at gaining a better understanding of the customer journey and what the customers experience as they are touched by different influential channels during their travel from need to purchase. Our study shows that it is possible to synthesize the state of current research on the topic of the customer journey and support it with empirical data gathered from interviews with a variety of customers. Central to our thesis are the following two definitions that we have constructed based on current literature: The customer journey is the individual experience that a customer has when interacting with touch points in the path from a pre-purchase to a post-purchase setting. Touch points are moments of contact between customer and company that individually and collectively influence customer experience. The third critical element is that of the customer experience, which we don’t explicitly define, but implicitly construe as a distinct construct with a powerful impact by serving as the catalyst between touch points and customer actions and perceptions.The result is a conceptual model of the customer journey that we feel could be a foundation for future research on the customer journey to build upon and perhaps one day could serve as an overarching model for marketing as a whole.

Detta arbete har utforskat möjligheterna att exportera en ritning gjord i programvaran CET Designer och importera den i en iPad-applikation där man kan interagera med modellen i 3D med hjälp av enhetens multi-touchgränssnitt. Exporten gjordes till formaten obj och mtl med hjälp av CET Designers egna programmeringsspråk, CM. Applikationen för iPad byggdes genom att vidareutveckla en existerade applikation för obj-import och visualisering. Applikationen använder OpenGL ES för att visualisera 3Dmodellen, och ett antal fingergester användes för att manipulera scenen. Resultatet blev en prototyp som fick ett väldigt positivt resultat i ett användbarhetstest. Det som kunde göras för att förbättra utkomsten ännu mer var att använda direkt manipulation för navigeringen för att ge en bättre användarupplevelse, samt optimera export och import för att få lägre laddningstider och kräva mindre prestanda i iPaden. / This work has explored the possibilities to export a drawing made in the desktop software CET Designer and import it in an iPad application, where you can interact with the model in 3D with help of the device’s multi touch interface. The export was made to the formats obj and mtl with help of CET Designer’s own programming language, CM. The iPad application was built by further developing an existing application for obj imports and visualization. The application uses OpenGL ES to visualize the 3D model, and a set of finger gestures were used to manipulate the scene. The result of this was a prototype that had a very positive result in a usability test. To further improve the outcome, the application could be enhanced with direct manipulation to improve the user experience, and the export and import could be optimized to give lower loading times and less resource usage in the iPad

This thesis discusses commensality as a significant social activity, that helps to maintain and strengthen social bonds. It also examines the sense of touch as a communication channel, and provides an insight to how it can be used to communicate affect. Touch as contextualized medium and its relevance to interaction design is investigated. Based on studies made in psychology, physiology, sociology and communication it aims to find an answer to the question: ”How may we create togetherness -with the help of an interactive device- between loved ones separated by distance during dining, through remote communication?” In order to meet the objectives of the above question this research followed the Research Through Design methodology, with series of workshops and prototyping sessions.