In this thesis a discursive examination of backpacker attitudes towards and use of a New Zealand tourism website, based on their own accounts of their experiences of using the web for travel, offers a contribution to existing knowledge about human computer interaction. The study enhances current understandings of the processes through which backpackers interact with travel websites by including the social and personal context of their experience. Analysing interview data on user attitudes and behaviour, it argues the importance of taking into account the use-context of human computer interactions. Placing participants’ interaction with the newzealand.com website within themes of imagination, emotional engagement, and authenticity in experience allows an exploration of such context. It demonstrates that backpackers’ engagement with websites is shaped not only by their material circumstances but by their attitudes to travel in general, their assumptions and feelings about New Zealand as a place, and as a site for their own experiences. The research applies usability techniques and methods to observe and inquire into tourists’ experiential interaction with a destination website. The emotional, affective, reflective and behavioural aspects of tourists’ decision making processes are studied in order to show how websites, as a medium of communication, evoke users’ travel imaginings. In this way the study contributes to research into tourists’ web-related motivation and behaviour. In addition, by applying discursive, performative, and experiential lenses drawn from travel research to human-computer interaction, it augments current research techniques for studying the social effects of virtual technology and web related human behaviour. The thesis explores themes of representation of place and self in relation to backpacker experiences and frames them in terms of authenticity and trust. It argues that in navigating places, backpackers seek authentic experiences and that this notion of authenticity is mediated by their encounters with other travellers, locals, tourism providers, as well as books, television and the Internet. Websites as travel information sources shape how backpackers think about their tourist experiences; to do this effectively, what the site presents must resonate with the backpacker’s views on how they think those experiences should be.

In this thesis a discursive examination of backpacker attitudes towards and use of a New Zealand tourism website, based on their own accounts of their experiences of using the web for travel, offers a contribution to existing knowledge about human computer interaction. The study enhances current understandings of the processes through which backpackers interact with travel websites by including the social and personal context of their experience. Analysing interview data on user attitudes and behaviour, it argues the importance of taking into account the use-context of human computer interactions. Placing participants’ interaction with the newzealand.com website within themes of imagination, emotional engagement, and authenticity in experience allows an exploration of such context. It demonstrates that backpackers’ engagement with websites is shaped not only by their material circumstances but by their attitudes to travel in general, their assumptions and feelings about New Zealand as a place, and as a site for their own experiences. The research applies usability techniques and methods to observe and inquire into tourists’ experiential interaction with a destination website. The emotional, affective, reflective and behavioural aspects of tourists’ decision making processes are studied in order to show how websites, as a medium of communication, evoke users’ travel imaginings. In this way the study contributes to research into tourists’ web-related motivation and behaviour. In addition, by applying discursive, performative, and experiential lenses drawn from travel research to human-computer interaction, it augments current research techniques for studying the social effects of virtual technology and web related human behaviour. The thesis explores themes of representation of place and self in relation to backpacker experiences and frames them in terms of authenticity and trust. It argues that in navigating places, backpackers seek authentic experiences and that this notion of authenticity is mediated by their encounters with other travellers, locals, tourism providers, as well as books, television and the Internet. Websites as travel information sources shape how backpackers think about their tourist experiences; to do this effectively, what the site presents must resonate with the backpacker’s views on how they think those experiences should be.

A user using a Web application generates HTTP traffic which can be captured and logged to be used for further analysis such as finding potential security holes. This document provides a method to reconstruct user-interactions from HTTP network traffic with a specific focus on RIAs. The only input provided is the full, unaltered HTTP network traffic of the original user-session. This thesis presents a system to replay HTTP trace for reconstructing the user-interactions using a programmable Web browser that is used to simulate user's actions and to execute client-side scripts. The experimental results show that the proposed solution in this thesis leads to a system which has a good performance in reconstructing user-interactions. The system performs an automated reconstruction of the user-interactions which reconstructs every DOM state that has been visited by the user during the user-session and the actions taken by the user, including user-inputs provided by the user.

The generated HTTP traffic of users' interactions with a Web application can be logged for further analysis. In this thesis, we present the ``Session Reconstruction'' problem that is the reconstruction of user interactions from recorded request/response logs of a session. The reconstruction is especially useful when the only available information about the session is its HTTP trace, as could be the case during a forensic analysis of an attack on a website. New Web technologies such as AJAX and DOM manipulation have provided more responsive and smoother Web applications, sometimes called ``Rich Internet Applications''(RIAs). Despite the benefits of RIAs, the previous session reconstruction methods for traditional Web applications are not effective anymore. Recovering information from a log in RIAs is significantly more challenging as compared with classical Web applications, because the HTTP traffic contains often only application data and no obvious clues about what the user did to trigger that traffic. This thesis studies applying different techniques for efficient reconstruction of RIA sessions. We define the problem in the context of the client/server applications, and propose a solution for it. We present different algorithms to make the session reconstruction possible in practice: learning mechanisms to guide the session reconstruction process efficiently, techniques for recovering user-inputs and handling client-side randomness, and also algorithms for detections of actions that do not generate any HTTP traffic. In addition, to further reduce the session reconstruction time, we propose a distributed architecture to concurrently reconstruct a RIA session over several nodes. To measure the effectiveness of our proposed algorithms, a prototype called D-ForenRIA is implemented. The prototype is made of a proxy and a set of browsers. Browsers are responsible for trying candidate actions on each state, and the proxy, which contains the observed HTTP trace, is responsible for responding to browsers' requests and validating attempted actions on each state. We have used this tool to measure the effectiveness of the proposed techniques during session reconstruction process. The results of our evaluation on several RIAs show that the proposed solution can efficiently reconstruct use-sessions in practice.

This thesis investigates which type of user-related/-generated, personal, information is appropriate to share on an interactive public display in a public environment, e.g., user’s names and images, as a mean to enhance interactions with public display applications. This investigation is two-fold, how the content on the public display could be personalized and how interactions with the application can be emphasized. As a specific case of a public display application, an interactive shared music system with a collaborative playlist is chosen. A survey with static prototypes was created and sent out to identify which information users find appropriate sharing, regarding privacy and xyz, but also what information they feel interesting sharing. 47 participants answered the survey and the results informed an iterative design process that generated a series of static and four interactive prototypes. Four groups with three participants in each (third group with only two) were used to discuss the interactive prototypes highlighting the implemented features. In a focus group style setting, the participants were asked various questions for each of the four prototypes addressing this and that. During the sessions, notes were taken, and it was also audio recorded. All the data from all groups were analyzed and then also compared between the four groups. The result showed that people are ok with sharing their username and first name. The content on the music system can be personalized with pop-up notifications which show information about user’s choices, what song do they vote for or what song do they add to the playlist. Furthermore, the new features indicated a positive effect.

A oferta de produtos,informação e serviços a partir de perfis de usuários tem tornado os sistemas de recomendação cada vez mais presentes na Web, aumentando a facilidade de escolha e de permanência dos usuários nestes sistemas. Entretanto, existem otimizações a serem feitas principalmente com relação à modelagem do perfil do usuário. Geralmente, suas preferências são modeladas de modo superficial, devido à escassez das informações coletadas,como notas ou comentários, ou devido a informações indutivas que estão suscetíveis a erros. Esta dissertação propõe uma ferramenta de recomendação baseado em interações multimodais, capaz de combinar informações de usuários processadas individualmente por algoritmos de recomendação tradicionais. Nesta ferramenta desenvolveram-se quatro técnicas de combinação afim fornecer aos sistemas de recomendação, subsídios para melhoria na qualidade das predições em diversos domínios. / Providing products, information and services from user profiles has made the recommendation systems to be increasingly present, increasing the ease of selection and retention of users in Webservices. However, there are optimizations to be made in these systems mainly with respect to modeling the user profile. Generally, the preferences are modeled superficially, due to the scarcity of information collected, as notes or comments, or because of inductive information that is susceptible to errors. This work proposes are commendation tool based on multimodal interactions that combines users\' interactions, wich are processed individually by traditional recommendation algorithms. In this tool developed four combination of techniques in order to provide recommendation systems subsidies to improve the quality of predictions.

A oferta de produtos,informação e serviços a partir de perfis de usuários tem tornado os sistemas de recomendação cada vez mais presentes na Web, aumentando a facilidade de escolha e de permanência dos usuários nestes sistemas. Entretanto, existem otimizações a serem feitas principalmente com relação à modelagem do perfil do usuário. Geralmente, suas preferências são modeladas de modo superficial, devido à escassez das informações coletadas,como notas ou comentários, ou devido a informações indutivas que estão suscetíveis a erros. Esta dissertação propõe uma ferramenta de recomendação baseado em interações multimodais, capaz de combinar informações de usuários processadas individualmente por algoritmos de recomendação tradicionais. Nesta ferramenta desenvolveram-se quatro técnicas de combinação afim fornecer aos sistemas de recomendação, subsídios para melhoria na qualidade das predições em diversos domínios. / Providing products, information and services from user profiles has made the recommendation systems to be increasingly present, increasing the ease of selection and retention of users in Webservices. However, there are optimizations to be made in these systems mainly with respect to modeling the user profile. Generally, the preferences are modeled superficially, due to the scarcity of information collected, as notes or comments, or because of inductive information that is susceptible to errors. This work proposes are commendation tool based on multimodal interactions that combines users\' interactions, wich are processed individually by traditional recommendation algorithms. In this tool developed four combination of techniques in order to provide recommendation systems subsidies to improve the quality of predictions.

[pt] Os recentes avanços em tecnologias de reconhecimento, como fala, toque e gesto, deram origem a uma nova classe de interfaces de usuário que não apenas explora múltiplas modalidades de interação, mas também permite múltiplos usuários interagindo. O desenvolvimento de aplicativos com interações multimodais e multiusuários trazem desafios para a sua especificação e execução. A especificação de uma aplicação multimodal é comumente o foco das pesquisas em interação multimodal, enquanto a especificação de sincronismos audiovisuais geralmente é o foco das pesquisas em multimídia. Nesta tese, com o objetivo de auxiliar a especificação de tais aplicações, buscamos integrar conceitos dessas duas pesquisas e propomos estender linguagens multimídia com entidades de primeira classe para suportar recursos multiusuário e multimodais. Essas entidades foram instanciadas nas linguagens NCL e HTML. Para avaliar nossa abordagem, realizamos uma avaliação com desenvolvedores NCL e HTML para capturar indícios de aceitação das entidades propostas e suas sintaxes nessas linguagens. / [en] Recent advances in recognition technologies, such as speech, touch and gesture, have given rise to a new class of user interfaces that does not only explore multiple modalities but also allows for multiple interacting users. The development of applications with both multimodal and multiuser interactions arise new specification and execution issues. The specification of multimodal application is commonly the focus of multimodal interaction research, while the specification of the synchronization of audiovisual media is usually the focus of multimedia research. In this thesis, aiming to assist the specification of such applications, we propose to integrate concepts from those two research areas and to extend multimedia languages with first-class entities to support multiuser and multimodal features. Those entities were instantiated in NCL and HTML. To evaluate our approach, we performed an evaluation with NCL and HTML developers to capture evidences of their acceptance of the proposed entities and instantiations in those languages.

A pesquisa analisa as maneiras e práticas através das quais as pessoas corriqueiramente, movidas por impulsos, fatores e necessidades as mais diversas, se apropriam, repensam e transformam os objetos no seu uso cotidiano. Tais práticas constituem uma fonte privilegiada de aprendizagem dentro do processo de design, ainda que frequentemente menosprezadas em seu potencial. Aplicadas um tanto despretensiosamente, passando muitas vezes despercebidas, trazem questões importantes para uma reflexão sobre os pressupostos e ações concretas no âmbito do design, e podem e devem ser consideradas da concepção à produção e reuso de objetos. A partir de uma perspectiva histórica o trabalho recupera certas noções presentes na ideia inicial da constituição do design (forma, função, styling, valor agregado) que põem em debate questões como autoria, consumo, descatabilidade, bsolescência e as relações possíveis entre objetos e usuários. Para tanto, trazemos a discussão conceitos como o non-intentional design (NID), low-cost design, design espontâneo e não-design, buscando compreender os diálogos e interações entre as ações de não-designers e designers para então problematizar ideias de autoria e criação observadas e tensionadas em seu sentido a partir dessas noções. Uma verificação atenta dos usos e apropriações de objetos cotidianos - intervenções criativas, movidas por questões socioeconômicas ou não são práticas rotineiras, feitas na maioria das vezes sem uma pretensão consciente de questionar a noção de autoria - pode contribuir para recondicionar a avaliação das próprias qualidades dos objetos. / The present research analyzes the ways and practices through which people who are routinely moved by the most diverse of impulses, factors and needs appropriate, rethink and transform the objects in their everyday lives. Such practices are a prime source of learning within the design process, yet are often undervalued in terms of potential. Applied somewhat unassumingly, often going unnoticed, these practices raise important questions about assumptions and concrete actions in the field of design, and should always be considered from object conception to production and reuse. From a historical perspective, the present work restores certain notions present in the initial establishment of design (form, function, styling, added value) notions that call into debate issues such as authorship, consumption, disposability, obsolescence and possible relationships between objects and users . To do so, we bring to the discussion concepts such as \"non-intentional design\" (NID), \"low-cost design\", \"spontaneous design\" and \"non-design\" as part of an attempt to understand the dialogues and interactions between non-designers and designers to the discuss ideas of authorship and creation observed and challenged by these notions. A careful examination of the uses and appropriations of everyday objects - creative interventions driven by socioeconomic issues or not which are routine practices performed mostly without a conscious intention to challenge the notion of authorship may contribute to the reconditioning of the evaluation process of the very characteristics of objects.

A pesquisa analisa as maneiras e práticas através das quais as pessoas corriqueiramente, movidas por impulsos, fatores e necessidades as mais diversas, se apropriam, repensam e transformam os objetos no seu uso cotidiano. Tais práticas constituem uma fonte privilegiada de aprendizagem dentro do processo de design, ainda que frequentemente menosprezadas em seu potencial. Aplicadas um tanto despretensiosamente, passando muitas vezes despercebidas, trazem questões importantes para uma reflexão sobre os pressupostos e ações concretas no âmbito do design, e podem e devem ser consideradas da concepção à produção e reuso de objetos. A partir de uma perspectiva histórica o trabalho recupera certas noções presentes na ideia inicial da constituição do design (forma, função, styling, valor agregado) que põem em debate questões como autoria, consumo, descatabilidade, bsolescência e as relações possíveis entre objetos e usuários. Para tanto, trazemos a discussão conceitos como o non-intentional design (NID), low-cost design, design espontâneo e não-design, buscando compreender os diálogos e interações entre as ações de não-designers e designers para então problematizar ideias de autoria e criação observadas e tensionadas em seu sentido a partir dessas noções. Uma verificação atenta dos usos e apropriações de objetos cotidianos - intervenções criativas, movidas por questões socioeconômicas ou não são práticas rotineiras, feitas na maioria das vezes sem uma pretensão consciente de questionar a noção de autoria - pode contribuir para recondicionar a avaliação das próprias qualidades dos objetos. / The present research analyzes the ways and practices through which people who are routinely moved by the most diverse of impulses, factors and needs appropriate, rethink and transform the objects in their everyday lives. Such practices are a prime source of learning within the design process, yet are often undervalued in terms of potential. Applied somewhat unassumingly, often going unnoticed, these practices raise important questions about assumptions and concrete actions in the field of design, and should always be considered from object conception to production and reuse. From a historical perspective, the present work restores certain notions present in the initial establishment of design (form, function, styling, added value) notions that call into debate issues such as authorship, consumption, disposability, obsolescence and possible relationships between objects and users . To do so, we bring to the discussion concepts such as \"non-intentional design\" (NID), \"low-cost design\", \"spontaneous design\" and \"non-design\" as part of an attempt to understand the dialogues and interactions between non-designers and designers to the discuss ideas of authorship and creation observed and challenged by these notions. A careful examination of the uses and appropriations of everyday objects - creative interventions driven by socioeconomic issues or not which are routine practices performed mostly without a conscious intention to challenge the notion of authorship may contribute to the reconditioning of the evaluation process of the very characteristics of objects.